Quiet laptop ?

[ISedlacek]

Is there any laptop within 1000 - 1500 USD which behaves in a civilised way as regards fans ? So far I have Acer TravelMate and it at times sounds like a vacuum cleaner. COuld you recommend a laptop which is more or less quiet or only decently noisy and thus suitable for mobile recordings ?

[C.Lambrechts]

dunno bout others but I have a apple powerbook G4 17 inch I'm typing this message on and it is COMPLETELY silent ... can't hear a thing. I suppose the whole powerbook range is like that.

1500 is not much for a powerbook but I've seen some pretty good deals around for the whole range : 12 / 15 / 17 inch versions.

Maybe someone with an ibook can chime in and say how quiet they are ?

That said if your setting yourself up for mobile recording it might be the disk drives ... like external FW drives that'll produce some noise.

[ISedlacek]

At the moment I am saying good bye to Apple and switching to PC. I still have PowerBook G4 867 and it also sounds like a good vacuum cleaner most of the time ...

[jdunn]

Yeah, the PowerBook fans are pretty obnoxious. Are they newer ones quiet or something? You know the fan doesn't come on unless you're working the machine enough for it to get hot, right?

Switching to PC eh? Yeah, I already built a PC. Just need to get that Lynx AES16 and Sequoia, etc... Mac OS X is great for everyday computing, but for pro audio, I'm getting sick of the limitations.

[Reslo00711]

you could check out Red Submarine.com (in the UK). they specialize in computers for recording. you can check out their info on their various models...they are big on Intel's new Centrino processor and chipset for mobile music production. I know that doesn't answer your fan question...but you could see what they reccomend for a quiet rig, or just go to their configuration page(s) and write down the specs and look for them (the specs) in a stateside model. not suggesting you take over-advantege of them, but the conversion rate ($ vs. pd) is of course murder now, so buying something from overseas would be crazy I guess. . there always seems to be something fishy about the joints over here that offer to build 'em for recording...maybe I just don't have enough info yet myself. I am a techno-peasant...unable to overspend and afraid to underspend.

knowledge is power.

[ISedlacek]

Yes, I also got fully sick from the Apple limitations: my G4 867 stumbles at simple 96 kHz sessions with few inserted plugins and is noisy like an airplane. And the cost is awful (especially here in Europe - plus any service takes one month). The PCs are supposed to be much more powerful than G5s and very stable too. If I sell my Macs and get the most powerful PC built, still some money will remain for useful things. Mac upgrade would cost a fortune with uncertain results (including a traditional style of OSX updates - one problem removed, ten new created).
I will go for a superquiet PC and would also like to have a laptop with decent fans....
And will dispose Digi 002 for Lynx L22 with extra AES I/Os . 002 does not allow me to connect more than 2 digital channels in 96 kHz .... having 3 pairs of Schoeps and 4 channels of Millennia/Mytek I cannot agree with that ...

[nkf]

Originally posted by ISedlacek
COuld you recommend a laptop which is more or less quiet or only decently noisy and thus suitable for mobile recordings ?

I can recommend the Sony Z1 series and have the Z1RMP with 1.5 Ghz Centrino. This notebook is extremely quiet although I've read on the 1.7 Ghz the fan kicks in more often.
The notebook works very well with RME Hammerfall DSP in it'S PC-Card incarnation and I've also used it with Edirol UA5 and Digigram VXpocket V2 without problems.

[zimv20]

Originally posted by C.Lambrechts

Maybe someone with an ibook can chime in and say how quiet they are ?

That said if your setting yourself up for mobile recording it might be the disk drives ... like external FW drives that'll produce some noise.

my g3/ibook is very quiet (hard drive is the loudest thing, and it's pretty quiet). as mentioned, much less noise than an external FW drive w/ a fan.

[drundall]

Originally posted by ISedlacek
Yes, I also got fully sick from the Apple limitations: my G4 867 stumbles at simple 96 kHz sessions with few inserted plugins and is noisy like an airplane.

Wow, that sucks.

Got a G4 867 desktop that blazes through 96K session but that's non native. What size powerbook do you need to handle 002 96k sessions well? Anybody have a solid system?

i had a g3 ibook 700 for a while and it was pretty much dead silent. like zimv said, the ony noise was the hd, which was very quiet.

ive got a powerbook 867 which is hell of noisy. very annoying. ive trying to figure out how to make it quieter. the fan on mine runs pretty much all the time. i heard if you just have it sitting on top of something where the bottom is exposed to air(nstead of a table) that helps. i was thinking about just using ice packs or something... that would be a pain in the ass...

p.s. the ibooks are getting so cheap. one like my old one would run you about 800 bucks i think. i wonder if the g4 ibooks are as quiet too? i heard the new g5 powerbooks were going to be liquid cooled

[zimv20]

Originally posted by drundall
What size powerbook do you need to handle 002 96k sessions well? Anybody have a solid system?

for tracking (the mix happens on my desktop), i got some impressive results from my g3/800/ibook w/ external fw drive and 002r.

at 96/24, i was able to record 8 tracks while playing back 16. i was also able to play back 24 tracks.

note that there were no plugs in use. i can post all the details if anyone's interested.

[littledoodler]

i have a 1.25 GHZ powerbook 15", and when the fan comes on (which is hardly ever) you can barely ever hear it. i bought an icurve stand to raise it up and i think this helps some.

don't know if there was a problem with the Titanium fans. sounds like there is...

[drundall]

Thanks for the info, zimv20.

I'm slowly looking to dump the 001 and get an 002 setup for 96K editing and O/D.

If I could play back 16-24 tracks while recording 2 or 3 I should be fine.

[zimv20]

Originally posted by drundall

If I could play back 16-24 tracks while recording 2 or 3 I should be fine.

just to be perfectly clear, i was unable to record even one track when playing back 24.

fwiw, it seemed to be more of an issue w/ the fw drive (which had a 2mb buffer, btw) than a speed issue w/ the ibook itself.

Old white Ibook 600 cobo drive - silent

[cajonezzz]

BTW, does anyone have an inkling as to when Apple may come out with the new powerbooks, if at all?

Will there be a speed bump to the g4's or do we have a G5 comming soon?

How soon?

I want a powerbook really,really, bad. But if it's a matter of a few months wait... I will.

[zimv20]

Originally posted by cajonezzz
BTW, does anyone have an inkling as to when Apple may come out with the new powerbooks, if at all?

you can always go to http://www.macrumors.com/ and click on Buyer's Guide to see where any product is in its release cycle.

Will there be a speed bump to the g4's or do we have a G5 comming soon?

nobody knows when the g5 pbooks will be out. i don't have much confidence it'll be this year. then again, i was surprised by the g4 ibooks...

g5 powerbooks i heard are supposed to be out maybe this summer? i am not sure how i got this idea...

[ISedlacek]

I have been a loyal Apple user, but I have just decided to stop sponsoring the permanent beta versions of their hardware : my vacuum cleaner like PB G4 867 with scratching paint or the yelling slow PM G4 867 are on the way from my house forever

I have not much faith left in new powerbooks with white spots or G5 with whistling sounds throughout the recorded audio ...

Pentium Xeon double processor based new super PC will be hopefully more solid and effective friend (and for sure 3 times cheaper than overpriced Macs ...)

[Bernd G]

Originally posted by ISedlacek
I have been a loyal Apple user, but I have just decided to stop sponsoring the permanent beta versions of their hardware : my vacuum cleaner like PB G4 867 with scratching paint or the yelling slow PM G4 867 are on the way from my house forever

I have not much faith left in new powerbooks with white spots or G5 with whistling sounds throughout the recorded audio ...

Pentium Xeon double processor based new super PC will be hopefully more solid and effective friend (and for sure 3 times cheaper than overpriced Macs ...)

I., I think you are in the wrong place here. I suggest you check the computer/desktop music forums, preferably one of your software. I used an IBM A31 laptop which is a hell of a machine, the Dells work but their fan is incredibly annoying once it comes on. I suggest to look for a Centrino machine, not a regular PIV, those tend to run very hot.
Good luck

[littledoodler]

Originally posted by chikkenguy
g5 powerbooks i heard are supposed to be out maybe this summer? i am not sure how i got this idea...

probably not 'til fall

[ISedlacek]

I bought Acer Aspire 2003WLMi (Centrino 1.6, 15.4 megawide screen, DVD-RW etc.) and I am extremely happy with it. I like it much more than PowerBook (for half price). And before all - it is absolutely DEAD SILENT, even after 20 hours of continuous use, even after 2 hours of DVD film... no fans, nothing. Such a great relief after the vacuum cleaner PowerBook ... It does not stop to amaze me - I love to listen to this silent run :-)
Two days ago I also got a specially constructed P4 3GHz PC. If I make two steps back, I am not sure - is it on or off ?
Good bye noisy and costly Apple ...

[James Lehmann]

We have...

- One user reporting a noise problem with a laptop Mac

- Several others reporting that theirs are dead quiet

Hmm...

+ The fact that the original poster seemed unwilling to invest any time in trying to source a silent laptop Mac (of the type that others clearly own) confirms that s/he had already decided to switch to PC anyway for a bunch of other reasons.

So, in reference to the original thread topic, the jury is still out.

Perhaps we could organise some blind listening tests?

i was sitting in the music tech lab at school today. it has a g4 933. its not the mirror door type. and it was quite a bit louder than my powerbook. and my powerbook is even too loud for my liking. but it sort of put things into perspective. i think that the fans in a lot of desktops are in general louder than laptops are.

[ISedlacek]

Originally posted by James Lehmann


+ The fact that the original poster seemed unwilling to invest any time in trying to source a silent laptop Mac (of the type that others clearly own) confirms that s/he had already decided to switch to PC anyway for a bunch of other reasons.

I paid huge money for crapped and noisy Apple products (G4 867, PB G4 867). So many users complained about them, Apple did not care. ALthough bought not long time ago, today I am able to get just a fraction of the original price for them.
Yes, I spent time to find out about new Apple computers. G5 is maybe more quiet than G4 airplane. But you cannot use IDE HDD, it is still quite weak comparing top PCs and many users complain about strange sounds interfering with audio. And for the price I can have two PCs.
PowerBook ? Yes, AluBook seems to be more quiet than vacuum cleaner TiBook. But some users still complain about the noise. Almost everybody mentions very high-pitch whistling sound and white spots on display became quite famous. It costs twice as much as Acer Aspire which has yet better features.
Apple service is quite infamous here - you have to wait one month for any repair (sent to Holland) and the machines often come back in worse condition than before.
Although I am not too enthusiastic about Windows OS, I am not going to sponsor proud and big-mouthed Apple any more

[James Lehmann]

Originally posted by ISedlacek
So many users complained about them...

But not, it seems, on this thread.

Sticking to the topic (which you started) there doesn't seem to be any conclusive proof here that one maker of laptops is consistently quieter or louder than another, and no evidence to suggest that it is a Mac vs PC thing. Some Mac laptops (yours) seem to be unacceptably loud and some aren't and it appears to be the same with PC's; however, it seems that if you are or want to be a Mac user there are some models of laptop that are nearly silent, likewise there are apparently some PC's (yours) that are equally quiet.

So has anyone else reached any definitive conclusions about laptop noise from the information in this thread or is it starting to resemble another excuse for a Mac vs PC mud-slinging exercise?

[ISedlacek]

Originally posted by James Lehmann
But not, it seems, on this thread.

Not here. You can however find thousands desperate contributions (including petitions) in macnn or apple com users forums - at times when 867 and 1GHz TiBooks were introduced.
But anyway - I am far away from any platform disputation. I am just happy that I can have and use much better, cheaper and more powerful SILENT computers now ....

[edmann]

Originally posted by zimv20
my g3/ibook is very quiet (hard drive is the loudest thing, and it's pretty quiet). as mentioned, much less noise than an external FW drive w/ a fan.

FWIIW - Apple tech support told me that the ibooks are more quiet than the PB's - due to the materials and methods of construction

[filarion]

most likely because the newer iBooks are fan-less. My Powerbook G4 800 has the vacuum-fans which come out for a couple of minutes at a time, usually when most inconvenient ( speaker forgets sheets, must read off of Powerbook screen while tracking, one minute into it I wonder who turned the hairdryer on next door ). Anyway, I'd never buy a laptop as a desktop replacement again, ever. I don't record 96 kHz, so I can't chime in on those trackcounts.