Thinkpads Forum

Hi all, first post! I am about to pull the trigger on a T61. my HUGEST concern is fan noise. I already returned a DELL m1330 and a toshiba earlier for thier noisy fans, so I really want to hit the mark on this. I have heard good and bad things about the T61.

please keep in mind that i work in a zero noise environment, so the noise even from a quiet fan that is always on would bother me. also, i have super sensitive hearing.

I am assuming that heat and fan noise are correlated...so to reduce heat/fan noise...

1) integrated graphics, less power consumption
2) windows XP - less graphics demands/indexing etc.
3) TPfancontrol - has anyone used this successfully on a T61? is it safe?

anymore suggestions/comments about the T61 and its fan?

I got T61 14" 1440x900. The fan only spin from time to time. It's not too lound. It runs at about 3000 rpm. When I stop the fan with Thinkpad fancontrol, the Core 2 Duo reach about 60°C and the Quadro also 60°C (basic usage). With a GMA X3100 and a *small* Core 2 Duo, you can run fanless most time.


Here is my T60p fanless

1 CPU 55°C (0x78)
2 APS 40°C (0x79)
3 PCM 42°C (0x7a)
4 GPU 65°C (0x7b)
5 BAT 50°C (0x7c)
7 BAT 36°C (0x7e)
9 BUS 43°C (0xc0)
10 PCI 48°C (0xc1)
11 PWR 49°C (0xc2)

I will try with the T61 later.

PS : You will have the choice : no fan but hot (T61 gets hot with any fan) or a very cool unit with a few minutes with the fan each hour.

well, i dont have super sensitive hearing, but its really quiet, and im able to easily tune it out. i forgot that the fan made noise until i read this post, and concentrated on it.

paOol wrote:well, i dont have super sensitive hearing, but its really quiet, and im able to easily tune it out. i forgot that the fan made noise until i read this post, and concentrated on it.

I don't if it's better to have a low sensitive hearing then a high one. But even busy/working, I always hear the fan even at low speed. My house is very silent (about 30 to 31 dBA).

Today, I run Windows Vista and the fan comes more often then with Windows XP. I prefer running Windows XP to have a fully working Thinkpad Fancontrol and go fanless.

tpfancontrol doesnt seem to run on a t61, because of the new chipset....unf. nhc is also not running, but hopefully soon an update is coming....

as for itself, the t61 is very quit, more quiter than the t60, the fan only hits it very less, compared to my old t60...and of course it is much more cooler...