Does anyone make a silent (no fans) laptop?

[eflat]

Are there any manufacturers making a really quiet laptop? I'm looking to get a new one but the fans are all too noisy for my taste. Are there any models made without a fan?

Thanks

 

[imgod2u]

I believe the Apple iBooks use passive cooling, although I'm not sure. Some of the current Celeron models might also use passive cooling. Although passive cooling in a laptop is kinda kinky, as there isn't that much free space anyway. Another thing you might try are laptops based on Transmeta chips. I think Toshiba makes a couple of them. They're pretty powerful (compared to other mini-notebooks) for your average word processing, and maybe even some photoshop work (although you're prolly outta luck for games) and I don't think the transmeta chips use active cooling.

 

[n0cmonkey]

My iBook is almost totally quiet.

 

[eflat]

So I'm stuck with a Mac or a mini-notebook?

Did any older model laptops with slower processors use passive cooling?

 

[VBboy]

You will be suprised, but the biggest noise source is the hard drive, not the fan. the fans are usually extremely small and weak, and are located at the BACK of the laptop, shooting the noise away from you. Whatever noise is going through the case is getting blocked almost entirely.

THe hard drive, on the other hand, is much closer to your ears, and it only blocked by the keyboard and a thin piece of plastic. Moreover, the CD-ROM drive will drive you crazy; it is much more audible than a regular's PC CD-ROM drive simply because it's some 15-20" away from you.

I had to make custom noise-proofing for my laptop's HD.. dual cardboard layers, some cotton balls and special foam... still noisy, what a bitch!!! I hate laptops.

 

[Jeff7]

Heh, and here I am trying to find a place to add a fan to my laptop. 😉
Tried to overclock it using CPUFSB, but the clock generator isn't advanced enough to do that.
Be cool to integrate something into the docking station to boost the clock speed and cooling.

 

[eflat]

I have an IBM Thinkpad right now. When I turn it on initially, there is no noisy and only the ocassional soft grind of the harddrive. Then the fans kick in and it gets really loud, so I'm pretty sure the fans are the problem.

 

[apoppin]

I guess I am so used to my noisy system with the case side usually off, I never even heard my Dell 4100 notebook.

In fact I just now turned it on to be absolutely certain it is silent . . . the HD's soft clicking is all I can hear . . .

. . . and after 15 minutes of playing Serious Sam SE Demo (at the end with all the enemies, the fan STILL hasn't come on . . . it's a little warm where the CPU is but that .13 PIII-M just doesn't get hot . . . I have NEVER heard my notebook's fan. :Q

 

[neutralizer]

Via C3!!! 🙂

 

[eflat]

Is anyone making a laptop with the Via C3 yet?

 

[zzzz]

There was one in hotdeals( C3 based notebook). Don't know the quality etc..

 

[jschuk]

All of the Toshiba Librettos that were made for the U.S. were fanless (50CT=P75, 70CT=P120, 100CT=P166MMX, 110CT=P233MMX). Also, the Toshiba Portege 3010/5CT (P266MMX) and 3020/5CT (P300MMX) were fanless. Most of the Toshiba out now, have an power saving option that allows you to put the fan on quiet mode. It slows down the CPU before it kicks the fan on. And the Toshibas made in the past 1.5 years have multi-speed fans.
As mentioned above, you could also look for laptops using the Transmeta processor.

 

[apoppin]

Now I am getting a little worried . . . I have really been listening for the last 12 hours or so and My Inspiron 4100 fan has NEVER once kicked in despite heavy CPU usage (on battery or AC). It hasn't got overwarm either.

Aside from the HDs, it is dead silent (and I am NOT deaf, either).

 

[eflat]

Apoppin,

How fast is the PIII in your Inspiron?

 

[apoppin]

It's a 866Mhz PIII Speed Step Mobility (512KB L2 Cache . . . .13 micron). It steps down to 667Mhz on battery.

Actually, when I booted up mid day, the fan actually came on for a moment - so I know it works - I guess it just never gets hot. 🙁

 

[Justin218]

Yup, iBooks are silent, other than the HD.