Noise of Clevo Machines

Hi guys. I'm thinking of getting a Clevo based laptop (they seem to be pretty popular on this forum, in general). I was reading reviews of the Sager np9150/Clevo p150em, and it said that the laptop was good on the whole, but fairly noisy.

What do you guys think of this? Is it a problem across more Clevo machines? Are there any sounds I can compare it with? I don't mind so much when I'm gaming, I suppose I'm more worried about the idle noise. A noisy computer does annoy me!

Also, if I do get one, it will probably be from here, since I'm from the UK. Is there a way of finding which Clevo model each of their gaming "Elite" laptops is based on? Because I'd like to read reviews.

Thanks!

 

I have the NP9170 and its is very quiet, over 4 days of gaming I only heard the fans turn on full blast once and even that wasn't loud. If you properly maintain your notebook and keep the vents clear and the dust out I dont think you have to worry about noise.

 

Idle noise is fine. I took a comparable laptop to the library once, no problems.

Mr. Mysterious

 

The 2760v2 looks like a p150em, but with an older SB cpu. There is very little in the way of customization on that site. Have a look at at the European resellers thread. There are other resellers in the UK. You may want to post your prefered spec here for further advice on what to go for.

 

If your GPU temp is under 91C, you won't be witnessing the loudness.

 

no problems with noise whatsoever,especially considering how much computing power they crammed in such a lil space

but before u buy the p150em, id first consider the petition link in my signature! the famous user upgradeability of the clevo machines isnt really what its said to be

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2

 

PCSPECIALIST u.k.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Sounds like sound won't be an issue then!

For me, upgradability is not one of my key desirable traits I would like it to have. So this is not a massive issue for me. Good to know though.

That's true, I'll check that out.

I don't want to spend over £1000. I'm keen on good looks, nice keyboard, matte screen, quiet, clear screen, quality build etc.

The actual performance is slightly more secondary. I essentially just want the best all-round components I can for that kind of money. I'm not too fussed about paying a premium for state of the art parts - I'm quite happy to go for last years generation if they pack more power for the cost.

Cheers, that already looks like it has good customisation options!

 

upgradability up until this point has been really good, just in doubt about some future GPUs.

Edit: shame on clevo for not being more forthcoming about GPU upgrades. I guess we'll see as they come.

 

I had a quick play around on pcspecialist, and came up with the spec listed below. What do you guys think? Any obvious bottlenecks etc.? I've been really out of touch with computer hardware lately.

It's based on this model.

The price comes to £982 ($1540.27) delivered.

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" Matte 95% Gamut LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-2520M (2.50GHz) 3MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 1.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 3 Gb/s, (7200rpm)**SPECIAL**

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BC-5550H 4x BLURAY COMBO DRIVE & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£59)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD

Firewire & Video Editing
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT

Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD

Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE

Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)

Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days

 

You have to realize that the guys on this forum are a little jaded to noise issues A lot of people are used to powerful rigs that make quite a bit of sound, so most Clevo machines aren't too bad to them.

They are louder than your run-of-the-mill mainstream computers. I've been working with a P151EM lately and it is louder than any other computer I've owned with the exception of an aged HP DV6. However, sound is one of my pet issues. Realistically, it's not too bad. This depends heavily on your situation. The fans whir up on idle/light loads moreso than I would like, but they are not so loud as to be able to bother or even be audible to people in normal circumstances.

If you are using the computer for school, I could see the fans bothering the people around you in lecture halls or the library. In those situations, people have enough trouble paying attention and any sort of noise, be it sniffling, chewing gum, or loud fans, can annoy people. On heavier loads, picky roommates (I've roomed with a surprising number of them) may be bothered by the fan noise when you're gaming, especially as they try to sleep or study. If you're in some similar sound-sensitive issue, it may be worth thinking about.

 

It's the price you pay for performance. It needs cooling, and that makes noise. You want a truly silent laptop, it's going to be slow. Depends on what's important to you.
EDIT. I'd probably bin the blueray and spend the extra on a better cpu. Optical drives are used far less these days, and many use the optical bay for an hdd, then use an external optical for the few times it's needed.

 

That being said, if noise really matters to you, i suggest you also take a look at the Asus G Series (G55/75), as they are significantly quieter, while keeping a decent performance. However, the graphics cards available are not exactly top tier (GTX 660M/670M), they are bulkier and heavier, and expect limited battery life, as it lacks Optimus (around 2-2 something hours of light usage).

 

We have posted the noise levels of the NP9150 and the NP9170 laptops in the video review thread, it can be found here http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/656018-youtube-videos-resellers-p150em-p170em-w110er.html
We measured the noise using a decibel meter purchased at Radio Shack.
Pages 2-3 of that thread should have your noise answers.

 

under load, sounds like a hair dryer.

 

I'm married, wife uses a hair dryer and I will state this now, that the 9150 and 9170 are certainly not rivaling hair dryers.

My Antec Twelve-hundred desktop with the Thermaltake OC Frio on the other hand....

 

Even my machine that has a desktop processor and 2 graphics cards doesn't sound like a hair dryer when its on load.

 

Thanks again for the replies people!

That is true. It's really hard to get advice on sound because what's accaptable is so subjective. I'm also pretty picky on sound, which is why it might be a dealbreaker if it is too loud

Maybe if someone can say how it compares to the sound of a Macbook Pro (there is one in my house and they are pretty ubiquitous) for example, that would help.

That is probably true that you will generally need louder fans with more power, however this is not necessarily always true. I've definitely seen pretty cruddy computers with terrible ventilation, causing their fans to go crazily loud. Of course it's always a trade-off, but I would definitely rather a silent computer if it means sacrificing a bit of power.

I picked the blu-ray because it will probably be the device that I will watch films on, so it would be nice to future-proof it in this respect. I can also see games and large software being distributed on this medium once the drives become more widespread.

Is the i7-2640M really that much better than i5-2520M for an extra £49?

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll definitely look into them. Less battery life is less of an issue for me. I do think that the big battery thing at the back looks pretty bulky and ugly though.

Thanks, I'll check that out now.

The reports of them sounding like a hair drier are slightly worrying, but that does sound like a bit of an exaggeration

 

If it's any help, I measured the sound level of the P151EM to be pretty close to 30-35 dB idle and light, which is not bad at all. When playing Skyrim and Diablo 3, the level got to the low-mid 40's dB. This is measured about 3 inches away from the keyboard.

To get a sense of how loud this is, if you have an Android or iPhone smartphone, you can look up sound meter apps and test on other noises, like your MacBook Pro. You could look up one of those dB charts online, but those are still too subjective for my taste. They are labeled things like "quiet library" or "average home," and you really can't get a sense of what those things are supposed to sound like.

 

That's a really good idea, however it seemed pretty unreliable. I downloaded two different apps, and both gave pretty different readings for volumes

 

Seems to be ok to me. Even the G Series when under load will get loud. As one mod said, you can't expect a desktop equivalent performance and not have noise. The HD7970M is supposedly based on the desktop HD7870.