Fan noise and heat on NX8220/NC8230/NW8240 ?

To all owners of NX8220/NC8230/NW8240,

I just had a bad experience with my Toshiba Tecra S2. It was so uncomfortable to use because of (1) fan noise, (2) heat and (3) lack of keyboard precision that I decided to return it !

HP notebooks are on my new shortlist (actually NX8220, NC8230 or NW8240)

Can you guys tell me more about fan noise and heat on these models ?

NB: I am a normal "business" profile, mainly using my laptop for emails, wordprocessing, surfing, etc and occasionnally playing a DVD.

Thanks a lot for your feedbacks

 

Vinny,

Here are the reviews on the HP Compaq nx8220, nc8230 & nc6230 which users, including myself, wrote for this site.

nx8220
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2397

nc8230
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2357

nc6230
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2408

The nc6230 is a 14.1" non-wide screen notebook. I just thought this might be more suited to a business oriented user since it's smaller and lighter.

Regarding the nx8220 (since it's the one I have), the fan noise is very quiet. When running at full speed, it is noticable, but not bothersome. When connected to AC, the fan runs constantly at low rpm. It will kick into high gear to lower the CPU to the desired temp (approx 40 degrees celcius). I'm not sure how loud the Tecra's fan was, but personally, I don't mind the noise that comes from the fan.

Heat wise, the majorit of the heat comes from the CPU & GPU. The CPU is located on the bottom left corner of the keyboard and the GPU is around the #5 key on the keyboard. This is where the most of the heat comes from (on top). On bottom of the unit, it's generally localized to where the CPU is located. It's a bit warmer there, but I don't use it on my lap, so I can't really say if it's too warm to use on your lap. One thing I did notice, which I also put on my review, was that the fan vent (most likely air intake) is located right where your lap would be located. This will effectively block airflow into the unit and therefore increasing the temp.

The keyboard itself, well, I like the feel of the keys. When I wrote my review, it was with my original unit. I returned the unit for exchange, due to a high-pitched noise & concern I had regarding the unit only having 1 IDE channel (there are multiple posts in the HP section regrding this noise & the 1 IDE channel is a result of the Intel 915 chipset only having 1 PATA IDE channel). The keyboard on the original unit was very comfortable, the keys provided just enough resistance to give it a solid feel. Well, the replacement unit also has a good keyboard, but it's stiffer than the old one and makes me tap harder when typing. I may get a replacement keyboard to fix this issue.

On my review of the nx8220, I indicated that the LCD was below par. The screen looked "dirty" or other users have described it as a crystal-like shimmer, and also the backlight could have been brighter and more even. Well, the replacement unit apparently has a different brand of LCD and seems to have corrected these issues. The screen is very bright, the "dirty/shimmer" is gone (or hardly noticeable) and the lighting is even lit on the display.

It seems that all the new HP Compaq business notebooks are based on the design used for the nx8220. The nc8230 and nw8240 will also have a similar design to the nx8220 except for minor changes to the specs.

I hope this helps.

-Vb-

 

Thanks a lot Vb, it does help.

 

Vinny,

Just an update on the temp of the unit. I was just re-running some of the performance tests on this new unit and I had MobileMeter running in the background to tell me the temp. Well, working the CPU & GPU pretty intensively made the CPU/GPU hit approx 60 degrees celcius. The fan of course would run at full speed. After the load decreased/stopped, the temp of the CPU dropped to approx 50 degress and gradually dropped below 50.

-Vb-