Fan noise on Vaio T13 ultrabook

Just bought this new ultrabook.

I'm experiencing a major issue with the fan. It runs at maximum speed at around 45°C, which means just browsing the internet. When running at maximum speed it produces a very loud noise.

The point is that there is no apparent reason to run so fast, because the laptop is very very cool in any situation. It seriously affects the acoustic comfort, as you can hear here (it's not my laptop, but the behaviour is the same!): Ventola T13 - YouTube


Update: If you are facing the same issue, in order to get a bios update from Sony, please report your issue to Sony Support here: e-Mail / e-Support

and by email to Amanda Jeter (Sony Support USA) at [email protected] with contact information. Also, include your full model number and serial number:

Issue: Sony Vaio T13 Fan noise
Model number: SVT1311XXXXX
Serial number: xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx
E-mail: xxxx @ xxxx .com
Mobile phone: xxxxx

 

I bought my T13 2 weeks ago, initially the noise was loud, mostly quiet when just idling on the desktop, but as soon as i fired up the browser the fan would come on.

I uninstalled most of all the preinstalled crapware, including the Mcafee programs, only thing i left is Vaio Care.

Now my laptop is quit when idling, and the fan comes on on low speed when surfing the web. When i play a 720p youtube video my fan comes on like in your link.

Just out of curiosity, what is your ambient temperature? Mine is about 20-22 degrees celsius.

 

I'd say that's ludicrous, I only hear that noise when someone exported a movie from imovie on a macbook air. As above remove all the crapware, the list includes: mcafee internet security trial and some of the vaio stuff that sony includes that you're simply not going to use, although keep vaio care and some of them as they are essential for stuff like keyboard shortcuts and your fn keys.

Actually could you tell us what temperatures your CPU is running at, use coretemp. Also is it blowing out cool air?

 

Ambient temperature: 26°C
Cpu temperature in idle: 45°C
Cpu temperature when just surfing the web: 51°C

Clean install already performed. Neither bloatware installed nor heavy software running in backgroung.

Air blown out and palmrest temperature absolutely cool

I'think I'll post it back, buying a Samsung Serie 5 instead.
What a pity... it seems a really good and very performing laptop but this major issue!

 

Either sony made the fan too agressive and thus apparently (according to Jamerican) released a bios update for it. Or your Heat sink is not doing a very good job at removing heat that could mean that Sony didn't apply thermal paste properly. Apparently some t13 are silent so it must be something wrong.

 

Hello man, I got a sony t13 for 2 weeks now and the fan noise is really low in acceptable levels.
I am not a heavy user though. The only noticeable i can feel is the heat, the laptop gets really hot that most of the times you cant even hold it.
But i live in a place which is 38-42 Celsius degrees now.

 

After 10 minutes of superpi running just 63°C... I think my heat sink is doing even too well!

And an absolutely fresh chassis even with 30°C ambient temperature

 

I was afraid to post this but I took off the heatsink to see the thermal paste and took high-quality photos. Now that I see others have the issue I have after taking the heatsink off and replacing the paste, I'll post my findings later today. I'm also going to attempt to use MX-4 paste (I used Arctic Silver and still get high temps in the 40 @ idle and 70 while playing games. HWMonitor reports 83 @ the package while playing games.

 

I didn't say that they released it for that issue. I just said that there was an update available.

 

Do you really think my heat sink has a problem? Do you think my 7 days old laptop already need a service? The laptop is always very cool, and it goes over 60°C only when I run superpi, mobilemark and stuff like that.

It seems to be more a problem of bios settings, since I would rather prefer 5°C more on my palm rest (that's actually completely cool) and 10°C more in my cpu than a so aggressive and noise fan regulation!

 

All I know is I've seen the inside and out of this machine and I have a love/hate feeling about it because it is the only laptop I know if with a 13" screen and ultra-portable with an mSATA III slot. Yet, the cooling for this machine seems less than adequete because of the Turbo Boost IMHO. I'm considering the Thinkpad X230 although it has smaller screen and slower mSATA II slot, it seems like the machine for me.

 

I think the opposite! Have you taken a look at other ultrabook cooling systems?

65°C and a very cool and confortable palm rest in full load with 30°C ambient temperature means that the cooling system is more than adequate IMO. The point is that, in order to achieve that, the fan is quite noisy and set in a not gradual way. Moreover no quite mode options have been provided either in bios or in Vaio Control Centre, so you are not given any choice whether you prefer noise or heat.

There are plenty of software options to solve this issue! But Sony have to be aware of this issue and want to solve it!

Does anyone else else think like me?

 

While cool at the palm rest, the CPU is running quite hot IMHO at 65 degrees C with things like Word and Firefox. The computer is up to the task but not sure how long it will last running like this day to day. I mean over the course of years. Running Fallout New Vegas, I got package temperatures as high as 85 degrees C. I think that's too high for the very minimal cooling for the CPU and no cooling for the Northbridge. The Northbridge is actually cooled by the ambient air passing over it.