Any final word on noisy fan?

[danny_isr]

hmmm

i'm using whatever came with the laptop and updated with the online updates .....

[southy]

Hi again guys,

May I suggest that everyone who reports either loud or quiet fans or working or not working power profiles, includes their GPU model? (Or TP model no)
Because obviously it should make a huge difference wether you've got an onboard or a X1.400.

So, again: Is anyone here with an X1.400 (!!!!)
- who has got his fan down by any means necessary to 3.200 rpm or below or
- who's GPU is not ideling at more than 65°?

(By the way: Of course I tried PowerPlay. No effect whatsoever.)


Something different:

You're talking about
- changing GPU clock speed and
- changing GPU voltage

I was looking for that option the last two weeks. I tried Notebook Hardware Control, but there I couldn't change the graphic settings, it said 'ERROR - Failed to read ATI control clock register'.
Whatever I change there or in Catalyst Control Center, with or without Powerplay, it's always the same GPU speed.
(btw: new GPU drivers aviable at IBM Homepage: as from 25.5.2006)

The same is with the omega driver which I just installed. Can't manually change the GPU clock and whatever I try I won't go down automatically.


BUT: I never realized you can manually declock and decrease voltage of the GPU in ATIs Control Center. In my Catalyst control center there have only been sliders saying "optimised battery .... optimised power" or something like that; but never real settings where you see what you're doing and really declock.

I figure that's because I didn't realise there is an 'advanced mode'.

So I will just get rid of the omegas and try the catalys(ATI/IBM) drivers again.

I hope so I get his [censored] thing to slow down the GPU.

You won't believe it, but I regrett not buying a T60 with intel GMA GPU. Being able to work in a quiet room would be worth loosing that extra power. I tried really hard about every setting in every tool the last 3 weeks, but I just won't get that [censored] thing below ~3.100rpm.

Ok, back to ATI catalyst now, going for the 'advanced mode'

greetz, southy

[meditate2001]

Same here; fan is never get under 3000rpm/gets off(even with nohigh-cpuload)

Are there also different fans for the t60 as there were for the t4x machines ?

[southy]

Ok guys,
turned out I had the 'advanced mode' all the time.

But in the end it doesn't make much difference: You can't just modify the clock, what I thought festher did.

You can just play with some sliders (did that before) which are ultimately useless because fan-speed doesn't change.

Yes, I tried using profiles (one with everything on min and PowerPlay on and more) but it doesn't help: fan is still on 3.200 rpm and bugging me like h***.

So my trip round all the aviable drivers has been futile: no progress at all.
(Just that NHC seems to be broken now, too: no more GPU clock is being displayed.).

Anyway, if I don't get this resolevd, I might just create my own TPfancontrol profile and nail the fan fixed on 2.800 rpm until GPU-temp gets above 70°.
As this is about the temperature the GPUI has anyway without intervention, things should be just fine: This is obviously what IBM designed it to be, so be it.

[astro]

So, again: Is anyone here with an X1.400 (!!!!)
- who has got his fan down by any means necessary to 3.200 rpm or below or
- who's GPU is not ideling at more than 65°?

Model: 2007-63U (X1400, 14.1" SXGA+)
Driver Version ATI 8.204-051220a1-031127C-Lenovo
AC adaptor: connected
Powerplay: Optimal Performance
Power Manager "Optimize Fan Control To": Maximum Performance
GPU temp: 62°C (according to TPFC)
CPU temp: 41°C
Fan speed: off

The fan is off some/most of the time. If I change the Power Manager setting to "Balance all parameters", the fan stays on all the time. This is nonsensical.

As I noted in the gaming thread, my GPU gets up to about 70°C when I am playing Counter-Strike at full tilt.

[southy]

Astro, thanks for the reply. I have the 2007-63G, also x1.400 SXGA+.

And even replicating your settings, things don't change a bit here:

GPU 69-70°, fan 3.200 rpm. (with just plain desktop, no load)
Got a slightly newer driver than you, but I've had the older one as well, no change.

CPU temp is like yours.

Guys, what could possibly make the results so different? Could it be the connection between GPU and the heat bridge isn't 100% allright?

I mean, CPU cooling works obviously just fine, only GPU ist 10° too hot. So the problem shouldn't be the fan; rather something about the GPU.

[astro]

Guys, what could possibly make the results so different? Could it be the connection between GPU and the heat bridge isn't 100% allright?

I mean, CPU cooling works obviously just fine, only GPU ist 10° too hot. So the problem shouldn't be the fan; rather something about the GPU.

I'd been wondering about this -- especially after the MacBook Pro debacle with the improper application of thermal paste. Anyone game to open up the T60 and see how the heat bridge cools the GPU? Because you wouldn't think it would be a GPU manufacturing issue.

[southy]

I'd been wondering about this -- especially after the MacBook Pro debacle with the improper application of thermal paste. Anyone game to open up the T60 and see how the heat bridge cools the GPU? Because you wouldn't think it would be a GPU manufacturing issue.

Not with a difference this big, no, I don't think so either.
Perhaps I will have a look sometimes later this week.

[drblue]

Hi Southy,

Have you looked at the thread I started?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=25304

I've had pretty much the same problem with you. I also have X1400 (SXGA+) with 128MB VRAM. My GPU temp stays at or above 72C (in most cases, it hovers around at 77C). I did quite a bit of research, and many (including astro who posted here) helped me to figure out what is going on. I also talked to quite a few Lenovo tech people.

After all these, I came to a conclusion that the GPU should not be this hot. As astro noted, his x1400 temp stays around in the mid 60s. Mine is 10 or more degrees hotter (more like 12-15 degrees). Other users have also reported that their GPU temps are usually in the 60s (some said their GPU also goes above 70s, but they usually said "GPU COULD go over 70s," which implies that their GPU temp hovers mostly in the 60s). Unless they live in Alaska and work in an igloo, this does not seem to make much sense (mine goes up to 78C idle in my over-airconditioned office anyway). Chip makers spend tens of millions of dollars to reduce the operating temperature of their chips by a few degrees. Thus, 15C variance in the GPU temp is too large--it is very likely that mine or your T60 (likely both) have some problems.

My tech support chief also said there is likely to be a problem (e.g., incorrect installation of GPU heat sink, blocked airflow, twisted fan, incorrect voltage allocation, shorted circuit, faulty chip, or all of above). He is usually very good, and has a great deal of experience with ThinkPads because our company has adopted ThinkPads for over 10 years.

So, I've sent the laptop for repair (I didn't choose to exchange because the model I purchased was out of stock, and could take up to 3-4 weeks). I have't received it yet, but, according to the conversation I had with a repair staff, they DID find some problems with the video card, and replaced it with a new one.

The moral of the story: southy, don't agonize over this any longer. Send your laptop in, and let them check. Make as much complaints as possible so that they would pay more attention. Write and include a detailed description of your problem including the high GPU temp--I did.

Good luck!!!

[southy]

drblue,

thanks so much for your reply. I thought at first I was over-sensitive or something. And the first time I called support they told me stories about too many running programs and stuff.
Ok, so I will wait some more days because I need it right now, but then send it in. Got another ticket open there anyway because of sth else.

Would you please be so kind to notify me when you get yours back and tell me if things have changed and what else they did other than replacing GPU.

I'm really relieved to hear this because today I was working in the libary and felt quite uncomfortable with such a loud machine.

Ok, thanks again and greetings from germany,
Southy

[drblue]

Hi Southy,

You're welcome. You are right in that both of us are on the more "sensitive" side of the "noise & heat sensitivity scale". I got a ton of comments saying "the fan noise does not bother me." It is true that T60s are still quieter than many, and the always-on-fan/high GPU temp may not cause serious permanent damage to the machine. It may even be the problem for those of us who have a set of bionic woman's ears.

Nonethless, we have NO reason to put up with a dissatisfactory product, especially when we paid substantial premium to get a premium product. Do we have any? So, I strongly believe that we have every right to be sensitive about this when a product does not meet your expectation (of course, within a reasonable range).

Enjoy excercising your right!!!

P.S. Actually our tech staffs told me that T60s have been generating much more complaints than any other previous Thinkpad models. I truly hope this is a temporary hiccup after the acquisition by Lenovo, and NOT the end of the IBM tradition.

[christopher_wolf]

Hi Southy,

P.S. Actually our tech staffs told me that T60s have been generating much more complaints than any other previous Thinkpad models. I truly hope this is a temporary hiccup after the acquisition by Lenovo, and NOT the end of the IBM tradition.

People started saying stuff like that, 90% of which was from second-hand or third-hand experience, when the T43s came out. I knew better since I have a "silent" (and there are more out there because I have heard them) T43. Fan noise is on the border of those things that the end-user should be able to tweak within a certain range since, above a certain threshold, it does its job cooling the system very well and can be "fine tuned" so to speak.

[drblue]

People started saying stuff like that, 90% of which was from second-hand or third-hand experience, when the T43s came out. I knew better since I have a "silent" (and there are more out there because I have heard them) T43. Fan noise is on the border of those things that the end-user should be able to tweak within a certain range since, above a certain threshold, it does its job cooling the system very well and can be "fine tuned" so to speak.

I politely disagree to your points for two reasons:

(1) Our tech support staff's assessment was based on the number of returns/repairs that the tech support department had to do. According to him, the problem rate for T60s is 1.8x than the previous generation (T40s), and 1.5x than T20s. They track these very closely to maintain their tech support costs. Thus, at least, in my company, it is a HARD fact rather than a subjective assessment. I would say these data are more reliable than our personal experience (e.g., your silent T43 compared to the world) as the sample size is much larger (our company has almost 20,000 employees).

(2) I do not agree that fan noise is something that users need to tweak to get it right. If you are a tech enthusiast, and have time to do it, that is fine. In the corporate world where time is money, that is not acceptable. I am a tech enthusiast (used to be an engineer), so I spend time to do these as a hobby between my playtime with my daughter. But for most of my colleagues (mostly consutants and professionals), they cannot afford doing it. That is, not all the people have as much time as we do IBM T-series is supposed to be a premium corporate product, and we are not supposed to tweak those things to get it right (e.g., using Fan control program or mess with .ini files, etc.).

In my mind, though, the biggest problem is the BIG variance in how each T60 behave. If all T60s' fan are on or off, I will feel better. But according to what I've read, it is almost entirely pure luck whether your T60's fan will be on or not. For example, as shown in Southy and my thread, there is a huge variance in the GPU temperature (60-80C idle for the same X1400). 20C variance for the same component for the same machine is almost a joke. This directly translates into the increased inconsistency in product quality, and it is quite likely that this has been causing more complaints.

[christopher_wolf]

Most fan noise issues on laptops and desktops, not on big iron like servers or workstations, can be tweaked if the user is given a little application to do so (given a tweaking application, a user *will* tweak; basic law of modern computing). How much time does setting and looking after TP FCU take up compared to people working? Less time than that lost to web browsing for sure.

Further, few things presented thus far can be relied upon to generate significant statistics that allow one to predict, with acceptable certainty, what modeled ordered will or will not have fan noise issues.

As for services techs, tech support, and the likes of the help desk...I put about 65% of trust into them (and that is pushing it alot); if I can call up the same group of people and get different answers for something as fundamental as the fan hardware and any associated fan noise, I begin to get suspicious. I would much rather talk with a high-level systems engineer specializing in that area. I want a clear and concise answer on it and not people going "well that isn't normal!" then turning around and saying "Oh, well it might be if you are doing this and there is a full moon out." For me, at least, that decreases the amount of trust I would put into the individual in hopes of getting a useful answer for the issue at hand.

[drblue]

Most fan noise issues on laptops and desktops, not on big iron like servers or workstations, can be tweaked if the user is given a little application to do so (given a tweaking application, a user *will* tweak; basic law of modern computing). How much time does setting and looking after TP FCU take up compared to people working? Less time than that lost to web browsing for sure.

We--self-acclaimed computer geeks who enjoy debating on this board--are willing to do this. However, how many corporate users (managers and consultants) do you think is willing to do this? Many of my colleagues (most of whom have an MBA or Ph.D.--they are not undereducated fools) call the tech support when they need to archive their emails. I wasn't talking specifically to us, the enthusiast community. I was talking more broadly.

Also, I think you missed my more important point. As many people have already said, we should not be expected to use a 3rd party program to tweak a brand new premium computer to work properly. In addition, some tech support department (including ours) will specifically prevent us from doing it (although I do those anyway).

Further, few things presented thus far can be relied upon to generate significant statistics that allow one to predict, with acceptable certainty, what modeled ordered will or will not have fan noise issues.

Isn't this exactly my point? It has been quite possible, but, for T60, it has become quite unpreditable. How would account for the huge variance in the GPU temp for the same models?

As for services techs, tech support, and the likes of the help desk...I put about 65% of trust into them (and that is pushing it alot); if I can call up the same group of people and get different answers for something as fundamental as the fan hardware and any associated fan noise, I begin to get suspicious. I would much rather talk with a high-level systems engineer specializing in that area. I want a clear and concise answer on it and not people going "well that isn't normal!" then turning around and saying "Oh, well it might be if you are doing this and there is a full moon out." For me, at least, that decreases the amount of trust I would put into the individual in hopes of getting a useful answer for the issue at hand.

I agree that some (if not most) tech support staffs could be very ignorant. However, I was not talking about their opinion. I was talking about the hard statistics. More failure for T60s than T40s (and T20s) during the first year of adoption. It may be just for our company, so I didn't generalize too much. But, I was simply saying that, at least within our company (with sufficiently large sample), T60 has proven much less reliable than prior models during the intial adoption period. That's not our tech support's opinion, but the data they collected (simply how many were returned or repaired due to unresolved problems).

[christopher_wolf]

I didn't miss any point. Period. As you noted those are the same points that you picked up upon previously.

What is tech support going to tell the MBA that phones up about fan noise? Send the unit in? Unlikely. The kind of image that IBM has been projecting to that part of the "Business" clients is a fast, reliable machine that is highly mobile, with several neat features to boot. For the people who are clearing it at QA Engineering Central, it is most likely that all they do is pick a few models, test the fan assembley, look at the temps, then call it a day. Further, how many MBAs out there, or non-geeks, will actually start comparing fan noise in an, admittedly, geekish manner? If it is irritating, one of two things happen first; either such a client will call up IBM and order a new unit, hence the 30 day period, or take their chances and go looking for a utility to fix it (as you pointed out, they aren't *that* dumb; let me say I never said anybody was dumb or otherwise).

If you pay a good $3000 for a system, you deserve to get that system and have all of the trappings that you believe go with it. Nobody is debating that. Paid the money for the system. What I have trouble with is the following; why is this a "new" problem? To me, at least, it isn't. The only thing left for IBM/Lenovo to do if this is a larger problem is to do a re-design of the fan and cooling system on the T6X Series and/or roll out a BIOS/EC update. On the T4X Series at least, there have been updates that claimed to have fixed fan noise issues; to my knowledge, that leaves only a hardware re-design as the last viable option.

Also, it is user-subjective; you can't say one person's unit doesn't have fan noise because that person has different hearing than another. If it was like the memory slots coming loose on the T30s, that *isn't* a subjective matter, far past objective as well, and can cause serious interruptions in operability. IBM fixed that and, from all the BIOS/EC firmware updates that have been put out for the T4X Series, it looks like they, at least the engineers, realize there is room for improvement within feasibility and cost margins and have set about doing it.

Either way, I am waiting for the T61...At that point, they will have gotten a good chance to get some user feedback and we will see what changes they have made.

[drblue]

I didn't miss any point. Period. As you noted those are the same points that you picked up upon previously.

Unfortunately, you DID miss my most important point all along. My issue was not really about the fan noise. Yes, I hate it (who doesn't? I am sure everyone wants their fan off as far as their machine is not harmed in any way). However, if it is unavoidable (due to faster GPUs, etc.), let it be. I can--and have to--live with it.

But my whole point has been the GPU temperature. There is a high variable in the GPU temperature as confirmed by this thread and my own thread. Someone has X1400 that operates at 60-62C, and another has one that operates at 78-80C (same idle condition). Further, all the posts and PMs (about 30 people) reported a quite wide range of GPU temperature (high standard deviation and range from 58 to 82 idle), which led me to believe that the GPU temperature is the source of most fan issues. You've been ignoring this argument of mine all along, and exclusively focused on the fan noise issue.

Also, you continue to ignore the pieces of data I provide. I provided direct comparions of the rate of repair/return of T20s, T40s, and T60s. I am not telling my subjective opinion; rather, I provide hard data (albeit this is just from my company, but with 200 ThinkPads in our department alone (of course, more company-wide) make this an ample sized sample), which show that T60 did not fare as well as prior models in the quality control department. What are the other potential explanations to this? Our company is somehow getting low quality T60s consistently due to bad luck (statistically unlikely)? To make the comparison fair, I only compared the return/repair rate for the first 9 months of adoption periods for all models (because, as you said, models tend to improve later on, decreasing the rate of defect).

Thus, my whole point is: (1) high variance in the GPU temp (this is very crucial design element); and (2) increasing number of issues (based on the hard fact) led me to suspect that ThinkPads' quality may be slipping. Nothing more; nothing less.

What is tech support going to tell the MBA that phones up about fan noise? Send the unit in? Unlikely.

No, you are incorrect. When I phoned in, their first response was to return the unit to Lenovo right away or send in for repair.

The only thing left for IBM/Lenovo to do if this is a larger problem is to do a re-design of the fan and cooling system on the T6X Series and/or roll out a BIOS/EC update. On the T4X Series at least, there have been updates that claimed to have fixed fan noise issues; to my knowledge, that leaves only a hardware re-design as the last viable option.

Isn't this my point all along? All I have been saying is that, for whatever reasons (e.g., redesign, organizational issue, etc.), the variance in quality is not as good as it used to be. Yes, the problem was present in T40s (especially T43s), but at a lesser degree (again, at least within my company).

[southy]

Well,
all this fuss was just the reason I was not sure wether there was a real problem in the first place. Actually I have worked in tech sup. for some time as well in my company [everybody should do that for some time ] and I know about picky users complaining about stupid stuff. Just look at many of the 'dead pixel'-threads around here [just my personal opinion ]
But then I do work in quiet environments e.g. libaries and e.g. have to read a lot next to it and it is just really bugging me to have that sound all the time.
plus: there is some kind of high-pitched sound as well coming aparently from the fan. So I will talk to them later this week and see if I can get a go for repair, if not, I'll just send it in anyway.

drblue thanks for the link to your other thread; I read there some time ago when there were only few postings.
Let's see how all of this plays out.

Have a nice day,
southy

[astro]

plus: there is some kind of high-pitched sound as well coming aparently from the fan.

Southy, I also noticed this fan squeal on my T60. It was annoying when I first got it. I think my brain has blocked it out now, though.

[drblue]

Southy,

I think many people have a tunnel vision, and try to see the things the way they want to see. When the fan noise does not bother them, someone who complains about it is a "Monk" (the detective in the USA series). If a couple of dead pixels do not bother you, you will consider others who complain about 4 dead pixels to be "absurd." The main reason I've been using ThinkPads is the clean/professional look of the machine. Many will laugh at me, but that is important to me.

So, the morale of the story is that, whatever others say, I try to stick to the fact. For me, the conclusion was easy to draw:

"There are two almost identical T60s (2623)--mine and another owned by a board member. My fan always runs and my GPU runs at 78-80C idle while his fan does NOT always run and his GPU runs at 62-64C."

Now, how can someone argue that I (and you) do NOT have a problem. If everyone's fan always runs, and their GPU runs at >75C, we have nothing to complain--that is just a design, however bad it is. But, if it is not, then there are only two conclusions we can draw from this: (1) we have a problem--if not a problem, there is a room for improvement; or (2) the other person has a problem because his fan does not always run and his GPU runs cooler. I bet (1) is more likely

Let's see how it turns out. If my laptop comes back without any improvement, you will hear I curse. If I see any improvement, I will certainly let you know the details.

[lophiomys]

I want to emphasise that buying a premium product for 2000+ bugs,
(or for approx 2x the price of competing products)
I expect it to be perfect, and I expect to have good service when something breaks, not "used servicable" spare parts, which are
likely to break again quickly, as it happend to me personally.

I too observe from my own experience and from our customers from
big cooperations, who bring in their Thinkpads during training sessions,
that the variance of their reports on HW and service quality tend towards "too many complaints" for a premium product.
Even if the majority of aspects is still OK for Thinkpads.
No representative statistics needed here.
It's simply and pragmatically about market expectations not being met.
And for that price I do not want to gamble if I get a hot or cool GPU.
That is someting the QA has to sort out at Lenovo/IBM.

If you buy a Mercedes (Austria is the Mercedes land after HongKong,
in relation to the poulation) and the electronics keep fooling you
after several visits to the certified garage,
even enthusiasts are quickly going to exchange it for a Toyota!

I personally am not going to accept that quality standards are slipping,
even if it could be considred a standard to tweak your computer in
nowadays computing world, as cristopher_wolf mentioned above.
Not for a premium product.

A musician recently asked me what laptop to buy. I recommended an
R5x model, reflecting the budget contraints. The IBM reseller did a good
job, but it ended up to be an Acer Aspire 1694 from a discount retailer,
because it was costing only 1000 EUR, had significantly better specs,
and because the Thinkpad was not offering an audio line in connector.
So I was testing the Aspire expecting a shabby unit. But not so!
It was cool and quiet, even under 100% CPU load on AC.
The case was of course not so sophisticated, but OK for the price it costs.

And my point is, that this Aspire did not violate the basic rules
of ergonomics, in terms of heat and noise, even for the low price.

[Phantom Gremlin]

"There are two almost identical T60s (2623)--mine and another owned by a board member. My fan always runs and my GPU runs at 78-80C idle while his fan does NOT always run and his GPU runs at 62-64C."

Don't overlook possibility of external monitor being connected to one or another system. If so, what is refresh rate, etc? A long shot, but a definite possibility!

[sergej99]

I got a T60p with FireGL graphics a few days ago, and I must say, I'm quite dissapointed by the noise it makes. Part of the reason for buying it was that I read several reports saying it was very quiet.

I understand that under heavy load the notebook can't be silent, but when just browsing the web or writing something in word (when the cpu is on 1 GHz, 0-10% load), a laptop MUST be silent. Well it isn't at all.

All the following observations have been made while surfing the web or similar:
At the lowest fan speed (~ 3000 rpm) the temperatures are fine, cpu stays around 40C, GPU around 58C (downclocked to the minimum with powerplay). Fan never goes off though, and it is NOT quiet.
When playing with TP Fan Control, I found that I can get halfway acceptable results when setting that the fan goes on (at slowest level) at 60C CPU, and off again when down to 52C. Like that the fan goes on after about 10-20 minutes for 1-2 minutes. This is still far away from what I've hoped for. The GPU then goes as high as 74C. Then again I don't know if these temperatures are a bit too high, but if I set them lower, the fan doesn't stay off as long.

If it was a silent fan, then it wouldn't be a problem, I could easily live with it always on. But like that, I'm really thinking about selling the T60p and getting something with onboard graphics. The LG T1 seems silent. Or maybe the Macbook Pro once the issues are sorted out (I know it's not onboard graphics, but at least silent, but hot).

It's such a shame, because the T60p really has everything else that I wanted. Anybody else a bit picky about the noise thinks their T60p fan is better? If so, I'll try to get it replaced. But also with the fan completely off, the laptop still isn't completly silent. There is still the HD parking noise, and what I guess is the HD spinning noise. I could live with that though.

[astro]

I think I am pretty sensitive to laptop noise, especially after having used an R40 for a couple of years, which was totally silent.

The most noisy thing on my T60 is the Fujitsu 5400RPM HD. I can't even hear the fan over the sound of this HD -- it is the sound of it spinning, which kind of sounds like rushing air. So because the HD is continuously going anyway, I got used to the minor sound and my brain completely ignores it now.

I realised that it was noisy when I first got it (compared to the R40) and was disappointed ... For all of 5 minutes when I realised that the only person getting annoyed was myself and I might as well get over it and enjoy this great machine.

[sergej99]

Ok, thanks for the reply. I guess I'll send it in and hope they replace my fan, as it's significantly louder (at the lowest possible speed) than my 7200rpm HD (with accoustic management on, however).

Just have to wait for a time where I don't need the laptop for a few days/weeks

[drblue]

Don't overlook possibility of external monitor being connected to one or another system. If so, what is refresh rate, etc? A long shot, but a definite possibility!

I haven't thought of that. But, I experimented with and without an external monitor, so I think I can rule out this possibility.

[drblue]

As I wrote earlier, I sent my T60 in for repair to check the high GPU and the fan. I got it back yesterday. Well, let me tell you the conclusion first: the laptop was RETURNED back to Lenovo 30 minutes after I received it (not for repair, but for replacement).

I was keeping my figures crossed that my T60's weekenk trip to TN will solve the problem, but, deep inside me, I knew something would go wrong. Unforunately, my instinc was proven correct. I asked them to look at the GPU because my concern was more on the high temp of the GPU than the fan noise (it was a secondary concern). Of course, they did not do anything about it. Interestingly, they changed the fan, AND IT MADE THE FAN TWICE AS LOUD AS BEFORE!!! I specifically asked them NOT to change the fan!!! The laptop fans are small and fragile. If you don't handle it carefully, the blades may bend slightly, and a very, very slight bent in the blades could make a huge difference in the accoustic characteristics (i.e., louder).

But it was not the highlight of the event. They managed to make a hole (YES, A PHYSICAL HOLE) on the palm rest as if someone used it as a drilling platform. At that point, the choice was obvious, and I was glad that I was still in the 30-day grace period. I would have returned it completely if it were my personal stuff. But since it was all paid by my company, all I could do was an exchange.

I hope Apple solves their heat problem with the Powerbook Pro by next year. Then, my next laptop will be a Powerbook Pro.

Ok, thanks for the reply. I guess I'll send it in and hope they replace my fan, as it's significantly louder (at the lowest possible speed) than my 7200rpm HD (with accoustic management on, however).

sergey99, do you still want to send it in ?

[sergej99]

Sounds promising, drblue

Doesn't really encourage me to send it in though.. I don't know yet. I hope there is another solution, check out my thread Adjust fan voltage?

I'm from Switzerland and bought the laptop under special conditions for students, there is no way I can return it, but I guess I would if I could. I might sell it and get another one though, the LG T1 sounds interesting, as do some asus a8j models. My next laptop has to be dead silent, don't care if I have to get integrated graphics.

[darrenf]

They managed to make a hole (YES, A PHYSICAL HOLE) on the palm rest as if someone used it as a drilling platform.

And you sent it back?!?! You're the first to be blessed with the new Lenovo thermal vent!



-darren

[southy]

Don't overlook possibility of external monitor being connected to one or another system. If so, what is refresh rate, etc? A long shot, but a definite possibility!

Just to get that straight regarding my complaints:
No external Monitor used during the test that produced the data I quote here.

Just standard SXGA resolution.