Any relatively quiet but slim/gaming laptops

Sparda · 7 Jan 2014 at 06:37

I'm beginning to think what I am asking for is impossible. The only thing I can find that is really quiet is the Asus g750 but i'm looking for a 15 inch, it's too big and I also don't like its design. I was dead set on the Gigabyte p35k or the p34g til I heard the fan noise... So now I'm back to the start and thinking of just getting a clevo p150sm or a p151sm1 model, the noise is still pretty loud but more bearable than the p35k with the thickness also being a bit meh...

Is there anyone with more experience using any of these laptops that can comment or give a comparison... any other recommendations will be welcome.

oweneades · 7 Jan 2014 at 12:28

Siim wise there is the MSI Stealth laptops (and Razer pro), but if you want "really" quiet a gaming laptop is not the place to look.

My P170SM is not "loud" but there is a noticable wooshing sound coming from both fans. Cooling a GTX780M and Quad core i7 takes some doing. The P150SM has the same basic cooling setup so should be similar in terms of noise output (the CPU / GPU cooler is identical).

The fans used by each laptop might make a difference but I imagine all of the high end gaming laptops will generate a wooshing like noise at load.

Sparda · 8 Jan 2014 at 09:29

I would consider the stealth but I can't find a 15.6 inch version of it. Unfortunately a gaming laptop is my only option as i'll be in hong kong for 6 months then beijing for the rest of the year, I've just dismantled my desktop and flogged it off. I'm not too concerned about noise under load as I'll be wearing a headset, it is just some laptops I've been looking at seem to make horrendous noise while just browsing the web or using light applications.

leigh_boy · 8 Jan 2014 at 10:20

My Alienware is faily quiete, m15x fan only kicks in after 20 mins of playing the secret world

kevpuk · 8 Jan 2014 at 11:02

I don't find my P35K fan noise worth mentioning at all, under normal use. I am sat on tha sofa typing this, with the TV on low, and although I can hear something I would hardly describe it as noise......and this is without using a fan profile or similar to quieten the machine down.
Still, YMMV...

oweneades · 8 Jan 2014 at 12:16

Sparda said:
I would consider the stealth but I can't find a 15.6 inch version of it. Unfortunately a gaming laptop is my only option as i'll be in hong kong for 6 months then beijing for the rest of the year, I've just dismantled my desktop and flogged it off. I'm not too concerned about noise under load as I'll be wearing a headset, it is just some laptops I've been looking at seem to make horrendous noise while just browsing the web or using light applications.

Setup properly most "gaming" laptops should be pretty silent when just doing normal "stuff" - web browsing etc. My P170SM sits with its fans off (or running very low) for the most part. This is mainly down to Optimus turning off the 780M and CPU entering low power states. I am somewhat surprised that the Gigabyte wouldn't act similar in this situation - of course the differences in cooler design and software control can cause all manner of strange behaviours.

Some people have noticed issues with certain clevo models whereby the fan would randomly ramp up and down with the laptop just idle. I believe this was down to the bios - not sure if this has been fixed though.

I have noticed some strange behaviour if I run MSI Afterburner on my laptop when not gaming. The GPU randomly ramps its clocks up and down for seemingly no reason. This of course causes the fan to ramp up as well. It doesn't do this all the time mind which is just plain odd. I simply "cure" it by not running MSI Afterburner when I don't need it.