Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

vomix · 2007-12-09 08:57:31

Hi,

I don't know if I'm in the right place to ask something like that, but I'm planing to buy a new laptop. The actual one's is in a bad state: hardware problems, overheating (even with frequency scaling), ultra-noisy fan, etc. This is specially that noisy fan than that makes me crazy.
I'm not looking for high performance: I'm just using it for web-browsing, listening music, watching movies, etc.

Here are some criteria:

- It has to be SILENT & robust !!!
- Linux (and specially arch) hardware compatibility
- Wireless would be a plus
- Consequent autonomy & battery life
- Dvd reader
- Not so small screen
- And finally, an affordable price!

So, did you have some solid recommendations for me?
Thanks in advance,
Vomix.

Last edited by vomix (2007-12-09 08:58:01)

pelle.k · 2007-12-09 13:01:57

- It has to be SILENT & robust !!!

Every new laptop with core 2 duo, and a decent GPU should meet that criteria. Gone are the times of P4 burning holes in the chassis. Of course, there are exceptions, but those laptops are generally running high end GPUs, like the "Asus G1s" do.

- Linux (and specially arch) hardware compatibility

Arch has the best chance of working, out of *any* distro if you ask me. That's has been my experience any way.

- Wireless would be a plus

99.9 of all have wlan built in nowadays.

- Consequent autonomy & battery life

Again, core 2 duo are really efficient. Just avoid 7200 rpm drives and hungry GPUs. Most laptops already have 5200 rpm drives unless it'a a gaming laptop anyway.

- Dvd reader

You have a really funny idea of what a brand new 2007 laptop might have If you manage to find one without a DVD reader, then congratulations, you might just as well have won the lottery.

- Not so small screen

I recently bought a 14.1" laptop, and the screen size was too small for many hours in front of it. Belive it or not, a 15.4" was way more comfortable, even though in reality the difference shouldn't be that large. What you should worry about, is the screen quality. Really. Some laptops have really *crappy* viewing angles, spread of brightness and light leakage. Be careful, and read reviews first.

This is a good site where you can sort by rating in different criterias;
http://www.notebookcheck.net/

Good luck.

iphitus · 2007-12-09 13:35:34

I saw a nice silent laptop once. It was a demo model from toshiba. No moving parts. The HDD had been replaced with a 64GB of sweet fast flash, and the processor passively cooled.

The guy from toshiba then proceeded to casually drop it from about 2m. Nothing happened of course, no moving parts and a sturdy build.

But yeah.... expensive.... very expensive... and it was small. (though I prefer small laptops -- my main machine is a 12")

Matrix · 2007-12-09 14:57:11

You should take a look at the R55 or R70 Series of Samsung. They meet all of your criteria although they can be a bit expensive

Damnshock · 2007-12-09 15:52:01

iphitus wrote:

I saw a nice silent laptop once. It was a demo model from toshiba. No moving parts. The HDD had been replaced with a 64GB of sweet fast flash, and the processor passively cooled.
The guy from toshiba then proceeded to casually drop it from about 2m. Nothing happened of course, no moving parts and a sturdy build.
But yeah.... expensive.... very expensive... and it was small. (though I prefer small laptops -- my main machine is a 12")

You are talking about the toshiba r500 which is the laptop I'm in love with It's a bit expensive though ( 2400€ )

I have had good experiences with toshiba laptops about robustness, all the four laptops I've had have worked perfectly without any problems for at least 3 years (well, the last one is only 7months old )

As others have mentioned, any core 2 duo should fit your needs, but I'd go for a "known" brand (toshiba, sony, hp...)

z0phi3l · 2007-12-09 17:39:12

IF you don't mind Dells I got my laptop from them and I'm impressed, it came with Vista Ultimate and a 17" screen, 2gb RAM, came out to $1600 but you have to look around, also Acers are really nice laptops and my next one will probably be an Acer.

cry0x · 2007-12-10 05:11:23

I know they aren't the cheapest, but if you can find a refurbished or used macbook, I *highly* recommend them. Everything works extremely well with Arch, including suspend to RAM. The fan spins up when playing starcraft (kekeke ^_^) but this machine is dead silent at all other times. I get a solid 3.5 hours of battery life with WiFi on as well. There is excellent support for intel based macs under Linux.

vomix · 2008-01-13 00:24:58

It may be an useless post (and a relatively old topic), but I want to thanks everyone who took the time to reply to this post.

mips1 · 2008-01-13 09:27:50

1. Thinkpad - Can't go wrong here but might be a bit pricey
2. HP - But only go for their Business class laptops, NOT the home laptops.

On your old laptop it might make sense to check the contact between the heatsink & cpu, replace the thermal paste with fresh stuff (Arctic silver etc).
Next I would suggest replacing the fan, they are really cheap and easy to replace.

Thing is I find Arch so lightweight on my laptop that the fan seldomly speeds up which is very nice compared to some other distros I tried. And I have a old celeron m laptop.

vomix · 2008-01-13 11:01:38

mips1 wrote:

On your old laptop it might make sense to check the contact between the heatsink & cpu, replace the thermal paste with fresh stuff (Arctic silver etc).
Next I would suggest replacing the fan, they are really cheap and easy to replace.

Thanks, I'll try that but I'm sceptic: it's an Ipower 5000 from Packard Bell (:rolleyes:...), best known for his overheating problems (the CPU is a P4).
Anyway, I'm waiting for a new Asus Eeepc. In fact, some of my criterias are not met (especially the dvd reader & the "not so small screen"), but this machine seems to be fine for me (and the price is really attractive). Of course I'm planning to install Arch on it, first on an SDHC card, and maybe later on the SSD!

*Note to myself: never buy Packard Bell crap,... NEVER!*

Last edited by vomix (2008-01-13 11:03:46)

stylopath · 2008-01-13 11:25:29

*Note to myself: never buy Packard Bell crap,... NEVER!*

100% ACK!

My Girlfriend had a Packard Bell PC at home and in the first 3 months it broke 3 (!!!) times due to overheating.
It looked like the PC (A 3 GHZ Pentium 4 with Nvidia 6xxx graphics) was not able to run Compiz (My girlfriend loves the effects) without burning itself.

First, the support tried to tell me what software to use (i should install windows because it doesn't have these effects). After i went crazy (and started yelling that i didn't spend 600€ for a PC to let some idiots tell me what software to use) they stopped that after 3 repairs i got my (which means her) money back.

NEVER NEVER NEVER again PackardBell!

-----------------

On Topic:

I really had some nice experience with my HP business notebook. It is silent (even with a "crappy" sempron cpu), the display is nice (15" non glare), the price was excellent (500€) and the quality of the case seems really good (NX6325, also available with an TurionX2).

Arch Linux

#1 2007-12-09 08:57:31

Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#2 2007-12-09 13:01:57

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#3 2007-12-09 13:35:34

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#4 2007-12-09 14:57:11

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#5 2007-12-09 15:52:01

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#6 2007-12-09 17:39:12

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#7 2007-12-10 05:11:23

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#8 2008-01-13 00:24:58

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#9 2008-01-13 09:27:50

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#10 2008-01-13 11:01:38

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

#11 2008-01-13 11:25:29

Re: Recommendations for a SILENT laptop?

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