Are G3 thru G7 Xeon/ECC ZBooks Noisy Under Light Loads?

I'm very badly overdue for a new laptop; embarrassed to say how old my Sony laptop is. But as I want to absolutely minimize bit errors, it’s sensible to choose ECC memory over non-ECC memory. But ECC RAM is only supported by motherboards supporting Xeon (and some AMD?) processors.

However, a noisy laptop is not acceptable, and I’ve read that Xeon based laptops can be noisy. But under all load conditions? I never play games and the most resource hungry tasks would probably be occasionally playing 1080p youtube videos. Most tasks would be downloading youtubes, MS Office, shopping and backing up to a multi drive NAS or server with ECC RAM; Synology or Qnap.

I'd like this laptop to last ten years so I don't too much mind paying ~ $2100. for a well built with a 15 or 17" screen that stays cool and quiet under most loads.

Will Xeon/ECC laptops be as quiet as most laptops under these kinds of loads, or does this kind of hardware usually mean a noisier laptop in any case and even when just idling?

 

Xeon != noise. They're literally i7 and i9's with ECC enabled.

 

ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! Even when just word processing or downloading a Youtube video?? Even just idling???? Why would any user spending > $2K for a laptop tolerate that crap?? Are the engineers designing those premium laptops typically hearing impaired????

 

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! Even when just doing word processing or downloading a youtube file? Even just idling??? Why anyone spending > $2K for a laptop tolerate that crap? How could they hear themselves think? Are the engineers designing these premium business laptops typically hearing impaired?

 

you can get a xeon based laptop and disable the ECC and they will come with dedicated graphics to lower to the cpu graphics also that will help

 

WTF?? No, the whole point of a Xeon laptop for me is that its motherboard (usually) supports ECC memory. Why would I want to disable it? What I am going to do is ask Intel and AMD if any of their Xeon and Ryzen cpus can be undervolted enough to reduce heat and excessive fan noise if it still happens under light task loads. And also if using dedicated GPU-rather than using any graphics built into the CPU-will also reduce fan noise.

 

I'm not sure where this line of thinking comes from but yes of course you can find a Xeon based laptop with ECC that is silent. Most of the newer Zbooks operate with zero fan speeds at the desktop, plus you can disable turbo behavior to reduce power and noise further. I've owned several and they are exactly the same as their normal notebook counterparts other than ECC support. If you can run a Thinkpad P1 with a Xeon and a T2000 without active cooling on battery you absolutely can on something like a Precision/Zbook device.

I mean the whole reason the Fury line of Zbooks exist is for the very thing you mention however the price range you reference is about half of what they cost retail.

Your best bet would be to go onto ebay as I have done and find a good used Zbook Studio, Fury, Create or similar. All should be silent, all can be equipped with Xeons and within the price range you want.

 

This is very encouraging all around, though I don't know why I've read so many posts at several forums claiming that Xeon business/video studio laptops run a lot hotter and noisier than consumer laptops with comparable or nearly so horsepower and when under similar loads.

And so there would be no need to ever attempt undervolt the Xeon CPU and/or discrete GPU (assuming you could do so safely and effectively) as some have thought to resort to, at least those users running heavier loads?

How much should I consent to pay for a duo or quad core Xeon laptop and 16GB ECC RAM on ebay? Some at soundonsound.com said that you can buy from ebay sellers who can get Dell Precision laptops re-warranted for at least a year. True? Same for HP and Lenovo? Anymore ebay laptop warranty details I should know about?

 

Can't speak for Dell but HP warranty is transferable. I'd say for any U series quad with a 4k panel for around a grand and a 6 core UHD for 1500-2000. I'd shoot for something no earlier than a P based Quadro (10 series GTX)

Personally I'd offer $1300 on this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/203520133281?epid=10031094341&hash=item2f62bec8a1:g:veUAAOSwuJRg5Kxz

$1800 on this
https://www.ebay.com/itm/164918368479?epid=28047520878&_trkparms=ispr=1&hash=item2665e698df:g:r0AAAOSwo89gzCCS&amdata=enc:AQAGAAACkPYe5NmHp%2B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsSLY2M1Gjmuwt9c03vWNfiRmAsU6zl6lYSn4UG5p4mrWk%2B%2BlWf2cAMjZ435BdCYABtyxd5OMsRS8obRFOqrp%2FyyTpRcdAXT1fMmd4HMwf2FDsZa0rHDhG7zD6irvbHWkwSn6ythNwUHeb0ZBVcITe2CKMrCI4zJozcEqzvlIZq6Uwvgel3lH5SwR5A5WPjDBF%2FajQTqbCo5KX5eaB7VSJkikD%2BpaaVPNONvZetBuMA516JCMDEFTjx8ZtBxYB8GqHpP3RsicsPo9%2Bvwp5f%2FmrQpfGnfzqnYVf6pBO7%2Bj05RAt9CiuEm7UB96i8jfSBlwCp9J1GM%2BlG0VzpD15yxxzs7EAVdOSuHrvOL7SuDIHfzVUX8HTfhzrsjyDAUqFMRF4di6b4pA6meGVTUWyzwuFF3Pi%2BINTGRWngaCJ2%2BXErkIzwy%2B1Oc4t6yzsbRCCnVPeKZS0g1W9XqaYJqSgZIcAtRGy8E54aofh9sM3oXsKb4pS8pEnwhTf2B3f4iLEwU4SdHD9HjjUpN3TIooZUnfczATRbLr60t6vNzAVjYzCjE8XiD3Pb%2FQHKIIzNAQfDK7E0vRWcQYS%2BfYXbJz%2BP%2FhJov1vEWzCgczbshcl%2BjQNONqFW3rs4lhGrLh3mKIBQOESOQ6r9tmAUqIf1lrtIfIe6AoJslDYSiXWdNlbI2kUot%2B7awXxBY2qY15Y7xLk1xxFobge1x2EThO9wMA%2FceXBGviq0wD6pVP2XPuV7TVhmV5E4VENIgFrOk32wr1bBytcDiVkEuJbf6PYSeYypgZd3Y7hJNUOXDNsRTAXthlXaZS%2FC30b4hM1JE3jUUm6AEyfR|ampidL_CLK|clp:2334524

Etc etc

I honestly don't understand who would say Xeons run hotter or louder if anything it's the opposite. Xeons are the highest binned chips Intel uses and workstations are designed to be used in very hostile environmental conditions that are far beyond what normal laptops are used. For that reason they run quieter and cooler than normal laptops.

 

And so there would be no need to ever attempt to undervolt the Xeon CPU and/or discrete GPU (assuming you could do so safely and effectively) as some have thought to resort to, to wind up with less heat and fan noise?

 

I mean you can but honestly there's no need. What I normally do is disable turbo on batter ie under power options set cpu speed to 99% on battery

 

Also, chane, I wonder if you know the meaning of the mathematical notation CLASSIF1ED posted: "!=" means "is not equal to" rather than "is equal to" with the exclamation point indicating emphasis.

 

I run my zbook with Maya and Zbrush on it constantly on discrete mode, I haven't had issues with heat or noise at all. Disabling ECC in the Bios and using CPU graphics, taking off turbo and all of that jazz. I didn't notice much difference at all.
Mind you and i Hope it's ok for me to post this here but I am selling my laptop that is already up on the site for 3500.