"Quiet" gaming laptop recommendation

Genoma · 14 Jul 2021 at 09:54

I know fan noise is pretty subjective and unavoidable in a gaming laptop, but are there any brands/models you would recommend on the basis of the cooling / low noise levels?

mickyflinn · 14 Jul 2021 at 10:03

Max Q laptops use less power giving up a bit of performance doing so but generally gaming pushes components to the limit.

Article.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.laptopmag.com/amp/articles/quiet-gaming-laptops

Brazo · 15 Jul 2021 at 19:07

Well I have a rog Zephyr referred to in the above article and it’s loud very loud!

Basically the fans are tiny like the size of a thumb nail so need to go at a zillion rpm.

My advice is to get a good laptop cooler, set it to max and the noise of that won’t be as bad as the laptop fans which can then be set to quiet mode.

Andrew_McP · 15 Jul 2021 at 19:14

I'm on my second Lenovo gaming laptop. The Legion 5i I have now is definitely louder than the Y700 it replaced, but the Y700 was ridiculously quiet (960M chipset, and all metal chassis, which probably helped cooling) and even at full tilt, the 5i (rtx2060, plastic chassis) isn't going to have others in the room tutting unless they're watching something quiet. Noise can, as you say, be very subjective, but when I turn my desktop on occasionally now, the first thing I think is "how did I put up with that racket?" I'll only return to a desktop now if I get back into 3 screen sim racing or flight sims.

Tediore · 17 Jul 2021 at 15:06

My Legion 5 Pro can get pretty noisy until I lift it off the table. Giving the fans more access to cooler air helps massively with noise levels. From my own research a laptop stand is no less effective than a cooling pad.

Andrew_McP · 17 Jul 2021 at 15:38

Tediore said:
My Legion 5 Pro can get pretty noisy until I lift it off the table.

Useful point to raise. My 5i is only ever used on a tray on my lap, with plenty of clearance around it, though only default clearance underneath, which isn't a lot. It could do with some keyboard style flip out legs at each corner to lift it up a bit. As my laptop rarely leaves the sofa and its tray I may try to make something which would serve the same purpose and ease airflow a little.

Tediore · 17 Jul 2021 at 15:54

Andrew_McP said:
Useful point to raise. My 5i is only ever used on a tray on my lap, with plenty of clearance around it, though only default clearance underneath, which isn't a lot. It could do with some keyboard style flip out legs at each corner to lift it up a bit. As my laptop rarely leaves the sofa and its tray I may try to make something which would serve the same purpose and ease airflow a little.

It wouldn't be very difficult to build a wooden frame with a leg and a rubber non-slip pad at each corner if you wanted something cheap. When I was trying out ghetto home solutions working out what helped the temps and noise levels most I simply propped up the back with a small 1" wide box my beard oil comes in and that did the trick. It went from a jet engine to just a moderate sound of air being moved which meant I could use speakers and not have to rely on my headphones.

I agree with the point you made above about the noise levels of desktops. I had a 3600/5700XT system that was no quieter than my 5 Pro is. The only time the laptop is louder is when it's gaming with nothing to raise it off the table. I never thought I'd say this but I'm a gaming laptop convert. I love the flexibility.

Brazo · 17 Jul 2021 at 16:28

Reference noisy desktops you can’t beat the laws of physics I’m afraid. A laptop will always always be much louder than a well designed/cooled desktop pc. Desktop 140mm fans barely need to turn to create the same airflow as a 20mm fan at 2000-3000rpm. They are simply not comparable.

radderfire · 17 Jul 2021 at 16:36

Have a look at the gaming laptop reviews on the Dave2D channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/Dave2D/videos

Andrew_McP · 17 Jul 2021 at 17:25

Tediore said:
I never thought I'd say this but I'm a gaming laptop convert. I love the flexibility.

Agreed, it took me by surprise too. Life changed, I thought this would be a short term compromise, but now if I try to game on my 27" desktop I get the same overwhelming sense of vertigo that I did with the Oculus Rift. And being able to game on the sofa while half-watching the TV allows me to convince myself that I'm not completely wasting my life shooting pixels!

Brazo said:
A laptop will always always be much louder than a well designed/cooled desktop pc.

Doing the same work, then yes. But by limiting ourselves to 1080p (which doesn't feel like a limitation at all on a 15" screen 2' from my nose) you can get desktop-like experiences at very acceptable noise levels. My laptop is way quieter than my desktop even at full whack. Ok, water-cooling could solve that, but water has never and will never go anywhere near any of my machines unless I spill my tea. The effort and fret-factor (I'd be on constant drip alert) have always made it a complete non-starter for me.

Brazo · 17 Jul 2021 at 18:18

Andrew_McP said:
Agreed, it took me by surprise too. Life changed, I thought this would be a short term compromise, but now if I try to game on my 27" desktop I get the same overwhelming sense of vertigo that I did with the Oculus Rift. And being able to game on the sofa while half-watching the TV allows me to convince myself that I'm not completely wasting my life shooting pixels!

Doing the same work, then yes. But by limiting ourselves to 1080p (which doesn't feel like a limitation at all on a 15" screen 2' from my nose) you can get desktop-like experiences at very acceptable noise levels. My laptop is way quieter than my desktop even at full whack. Ok, water-cooling could solve that, but water has never and will never go anywhere near any of my machines unless I spill my tea. The effort and fret-factor (I'd be on constant drip alert) have always made it a complete non-starter for me.

Your laptop may be quieter than your pc but that’s not to say your pc couldn’t be way quieter than the quietest laptop known to man with or without water (on the desktop)