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Gaming Laptop w/ Low Noise

post #1 of 6
5/22/07 at 10:55am
Thread Starter 
I have an old Dell XPS monster that cranks up the fans to full every time I start a game. I want to replace this with a laptop that has a better graphics card (9800 pro currently) but I am concerned about heat and noise. I typically play in the evenings next to the wife while she is watching TV and I need to keep the noise down?

I'd love to have the top of the line graphics card and processor, but I don't think heat/noise and the fore-mentioned go together. Maybe the Santa Rosa laptops? Any idea how much heat the 8x00 video cards pump out?

And recommendations?
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post #2 of 6
5/22/07 at 11:59am
Get her headphones to watch TV.

Seriously, gaming mobile systems make more noise and generate more heat than less powerful (i.e. office) systems. Although one system may look more silent than other you will not find a mobile gaming system with low noise (which is relative to the person hearing it).

For systems with "lower" noise you could go with one in the realm of 14"-15" screens BUT the trade is that you won't get to play with all graphics settings turned on, due to their size you can only fit mid-range cards there.

You can get medium to medium-high graphics settings depending on the game. Btw, Santa Rosa does not magically reduce system heat or noise so you're always going to get some noise and heat.
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post #3 of 6
5/23/07 at 11:44am
You'll find today's generation of laptops do extremely well. More performance for less power, less heat. You could pay more for the more energy-efficient versions of the Core 2 Duo or Turion 64 x2, but I'm not sure how many laptops use them .. esp in a gaming system.
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post #4 of 6
5/25/07 at 9:19am
Mind you the XPS Gen 1 was an abomination of Desktop Preshott CPUs and video cards that were equally as hot. The XPS Gen2, M170 and M1710 fixed the noise and heat issues. An M1710 doesn't make near as much noise as a Desktop gaming PC will and significantly less than the XPS Gen 1.
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post #5 of 6
5/25/07 at 2:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrEvil
Mind you the XPS Gen 1 was an abomination of Desktop Preshott CPUs and video cards that were equally as hot. The XPS Gen2, M170 and M1710 fixed the noise and heat issues. An M1710 doesn't make near as much noise as a Desktop gaming PC will and significantly less than the XPS Gen 1.
I also had a 9100 series which was identical to the XPS Gen1, and I know exactly what your dealing with as that thing can take over a whole room with the fan noise. Luckily manufacturers have learned a lot since then, and the P4 caused a lot of that heat and noise. Most current gaming notebooks(while not whisper quite) don't even come close to that amount of noise, and are classroom/library acceptable. Keep in mind that everyone has their own threshold, but newer notebooks are generally not as loud as they used to be.
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post #6 of 6
5/25/07 at 4:01pm
Thread Starter 
Excellent responses! Thanks!
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