Quietness: X32 vs X40 vs T42

[dimon]

I would like to have the level of noise coming from fan and/or harddrive to a minimum. How would you rate above models in terms of overall noise level? Thanks!

[DavidNZ]

X40 is super quiet aside from the audible HDD clunk ever couple of minutes. I think I have an abnormally noise HDD. *sigh*

[dimon]

Cool. Did you compare the noise to other models? Noise freaks, I know you are here - speak up!

[sugo]

To battle the the system fan, an ULV X40 might be the best option. Hopefully the fan will stay off most of the time.

If you are truely noise freak, stay with 4200rpm drives.

[DavidNZ]

I didn't compare, actually. Well, I guess I did in a way as this is my third thinkpad. Where I live (southern NZ), you can't exactly go into a store a buy them. In fact, that's apparently hard to do wherever you are in the world!

[KentM]

I have a X40 LV 1.2GHz which I never use because of noise problem. The hard drive has a high pitched noise which give me a headache. I have had the disk changed 3 times (!). This is not the only problem. After the CPU fan goes on (39C) it seldom stops AND it is loud.

I have had many TP's before and compared to them this unit is by far louder. My X22 on full throttle can't be heard at all if the X40 is within 2 meters.

IBM has investigated my X40 but they claim the noise level is within limits (!). I have had it sent in to IBM 3 times, done various tests on my own during 6 months to get it less noisy but now I have given up.

I don't know what is going on here since many people in this forum rate the X40 as very quiet. I have seen posts in other internet forums about the same problem with X40's as I experience.

[daeojkim]

My T42 fvu in adaptive CPU mode is dead silent.
I have not used X32, or X40 so I have can't comparion to make between them. I think to make even quieter than fvu is to go fanless.

The only time I hear the fan is during gaming and demanding job. Otherwise it is the quitest notebook I ever used.

[azX32]

The X32 is super quiet. I've yet to hear any sound at all from the hard drive or the fan, and the fan is definitely running because I can feel the hot air it's blowing out.

[LordGop]

I think my X40 is pretty dang quite....I can barely tell when me fan goes on. Other then that the usual HDD clicks

[mappoint]

The X40 (mine has 1,2 GHz) is quiet but the fan is running almost all the time when WLAN is switched on and the machine is not on battery.

[alant]

If I set up the power management correctly I can get my X41 to run without the fan. I have one power setting where the CPU is set to minimum and fan control set to "balance all parameters".

Next, I have to be careful which applications I run. MS Outlook is guaranteed to cause the fan to turn on. If I run only FireFox and Thunderbird, the fan is switched off. Sometimes, it may turn back on for reasons I have not discovered, though one suspicion is the large 8 cell battery rather than the 4 cell. However, this is rare and the work around is to click the Power Manager icon and then click the power scheme, which causes the fan to turn up and then turn off.

In summary, its dead quiet except for my fingers on the keyboard, typing this message.

X41 1.5Ghz with 1.5GB RAM and 60GB disk.

Rgds - Alan.

[dimon]

2 aspects to quetness:
- fan;
- hard drive;

Hard drive is the hardest issue.

My verdict:
with stock 40gig drives on all boxes, they are all pretty much the same. I have upgraded my T42 to Fujitsu 40G drive and it is much quieter than other options. If interested, search for threads where I have participated until present.