Fan noise on S series Sony

I have an S360, and the only time when the fan cycles on is when thigns are heating up such as gaming for a while or in a very hot room. Right now I'm sitting at my desk with several things running and no fan noise at all.

The hard drive will be compatible, just a PITA to switch out - around 20 screws or so.

Got a S360 recently, very quiet, you can hear the fan pickup if your in a -totally- silent room, but past that its not even noticable, combo drive is noisy, but what can you expect ;p?

From what I hear swapping the HD should not be an issue, its just not easy access.

But bear in mind that it is also a subjective. What may be tolerable to one may be intolerable to others. That being said, it is quieter than earlier S notebooks with perceptibly less "whine." Right now my room is dead silent and I can hear it, but the room is also quite warm.

I was thinking of ordering a custom configuration from Sony, what Sony calls the S270. It's safe to assume that the custom S270 and and the S360 will have the same level of fan noise, correct?

I'm actually not entirely sure. I would think it would be comprable at the very least, but my S360 keyboard doesn't flex the way the S260 keyboard does when typiong at the same speed. So there may be some difference like that. Whether or not it extends to the fan I simply don't know for sure.

I just got my S360 2 days ago and I must say that I disagree w/ everyone else regarding the fan.

I'm not a silence freak, but the fan is starting to get annoying. I don't know if this problem is isolated to a few S's but mine is one of them. I installed Mobile Meter, and I notice that the fan turns on at > 40 deg C. It has a slight whine which is annoying and I can clearly hear it when I'm near it, even with a tv on in the background. The fan speed gradually ramps up when above 42 deg C, and it gets really loud above 50 deg C, almost as loud as the optical drive when reading/writing.

All the above is w/ the CPU power management set to adaptive (usually running at 600 MHz) and the fan setting on 1/Quiet. I don't think the fan should come on at all when doing light tasks and websurfing, especially when the CPU is at 600 MHz and the temperature inside my house is 65 deg F.

I just wish Sony would redo the fan settings, shifting everything up 10-15 deg C so I wouldn't hear the fan 95% of the time. The CPU has a thermal spec of up to 100 deg C and Sony is keeping it cooler than a watercooled P4.

I too was thinking of getting a 7200 rpm hdd, but after playing around on the standard 80gb with 8mb cache, a faster Hitachi is no longer appealing. Plus, I can use the extra 20 gigs more than the extra 3000 rpm and possible lack of warranty.

My 2 cents. If anyone w/ an S would like to dl mobile meter and post when their fan turns on, please do

I got an S360 yesterday and notice that the cpu fan is always on which is very annoying. I measured the temperature with Mobile Meter. The fan started at about 40C and the temp stayed around 45C even if I didn't do anything.

When I turn it on after cooling down the machine, the fan is not rotating. Really quiet. But after 1 or 2 mins it starts and never comes down. Really disappointed.

What I wonder is that this problem happens on all S360s or just some of them. If this is the latter case, I'd like to bring it back to BestBuy at which I bought it.

It seems quieter than my old S260.

James

Oh, You mean yours also makes some fan noise which is louder than other manufacturers but quieter than older S series in terms of temperature? Did you check at what temperature the fan starts? If this is common in this model, I'll have a piece of mind.

I'm not sure whether it depends on a person or a system as some say the fan noise is hardly noticeable:
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=70372

The fan noise isn't annoying (to me, at least). You'll notice its there if you're paying attention, but is easily ignored. Compare it to the sound level of a desktop PC's fan... if you pay attention, you'll notice the fan is there, but it is easily ignored.

And yes, you can definitely swap out the hard drive with a faster 7200rpm model. It is probably the best thing you can do for your performance.

Did you check my post above yours? The fan noise is common to all S series laptops, the loudness and annoyance of the fan varies from person to person b/c of subjectivity not build quality.

Maybe those of us that don't like the fan on the S (or think that it could be quieter) should petition Sony to fix it? I'm sure a simple bios fix could quiet down the noise at a negligible increase in cpu/video temps, ex: 48-50C idle instead of 45C.

yah the is is not exactly quiet

I brought my s360 to BestBuy to show how loud it was because one that was displayed was not that noisy. I tried to heat it up there but it was not easy unlike at home. After that, I returned home, turned it on and the fan started making loud noise with higher cpu temperature. It seems due to environment temperature.

So I decided to let it idel all night with window opened and found this morning the fan was still running at around 46C. It never goes down. DEFECTIVE? what about yours?

BestBuy told me that I can exchange it with the same model without restocking fee. But I'm not sure if I should do because my LCD has no dead pixels. It's hard to make decision.

NeoGeo, I agree with you. But how can we petition sony to fix it? I searched sony.com and read http://129.33.22.7/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=489,E=0000000000494764860,K=3764,Sxi=3,Case=obj(383312),UseTemplate=Case.tem . This issue is officially being investigated though I'm not sure if they REALLY do.

I'd be all for that NeoGeo. I agree that the fan should turn on at a higher temperature (like others here, mine turns on at around 40-41 deg and then ramps up from there) If you do get a petition or something going, let us know!

The fan noise on my S360 is noticeable, although I wouldn't call it "loud" (as compared to a desktop PC). The fan speed (and noise) does ramp up and down quite frequently, so I could see how some would find this annoying.

However, I am just absolutely amazed at this notebook's performance and display quality. Although I didn't purchase it specifically to play games, I can play HaloPC, Painkiller, Half Life 2, and Doom 3 very nicely on this notebook. In my opinion, a little fan noise is more than an acceptable trade-off for the performance this little guy offers.

Personally, I have not had any problems with the fan noise...it is controllable from the power settings, and even when running, its not bad. But then, I'm coming from a P4 mobile which was as loud as some desktops....still, the S360 fan is not bad at all

For those of you looking for a more aggressive fix for the fan noise, try using the Right Mark CPU utility. This will allow to change the voltages put to your cpu. This greatly reduced my idle temp. At full bore "always on" idle before utility 48-51C. After undervolting utilty, "always on" idle 41-42C. When adaptive at 600mghz my idle has dropped to 39-40C. Do a search, there was great post about this in the general forum..

Good Luck

Here is the link to the thread....

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=70943