Fan noise, college student

Hi guys, I'm looking for a new, light laptop for college and have some question.

1: I have a read a lot of reviews about how the R1 has much better battery life than R2, is this true?

2: I read that the fan on this thing kicks in for 1 minute, then is off for 10 mins. When the laptop is on integrated graphics and I'm sitting in the classroom, will the fan always be silent then, or will it kick in sometimes? I wouldn't want the fans kicking in when teacher is talking right next to me.

3: Will I be able to gaming in a library with this, or is it too loud?

4: Will the fans kick in when I watch movies on it, will it handle HD movies with the integrated graphics?

5: Isn't 11" a little small to be gaming on and watching movies? How do m11x owners feel?

I am either getting this or a macbook pro/air. I really like how the m11x looks and that it has better graphics card than macbook 13". But I also can't have too much fan noise to make classmates and teacher upset.

Thanks you

 

1) To an extent, yes

2) The fan is QUIIIIIIET. The quietest fan I've ever heard. You can hardly notice it.

3) Yes, they will turn on. No, its not too loud. I can't hear my laptop over the noises in my library (which isnt much)

4) Yes. No (I don't think so anyways)

5) You get used to it very fast, and I LOVE mine

I would try to take a video of my fan, but I think it's too quiet for my camera (HD camera, mind you) to pick up. It's a great laptop. I am also a college student and it is GREAT. To get maximum battery life, you have to disable AlienFX (turn the keyboard lights off) and dim the screen, but with just the lights off, I can get 3ish hours of constant use

 

The fan shouldn't be enough to bother those around you. The sounds coming from classroom/lecture hall projectors, fans, a/c and etc are far louder than anything the M11x will produce when you're simply taking notes or follow along a powerpoint. I use mine in class and it's whisper quiet compared to all the other noises going on.

As far as gaming goes, it's a bit of a compromise. It takes some getting use to and once you adjust to the smaller screen it works pretty well. If you don't intend to game however, I'd recommend a Macbook Pro/Air over this instead.

 

Thank you so much

I read this on a review:

"Dell claims that the M11x can deliver more than 8 hours of battery life when using the Intel integrated graphics. In our lab tests with the screen set to 70 percent brightness, Windows 7 set to a "balanced" power profile, and Wi-Fi on and loading a new website at a regular interval we obtained 6 hours and 59 minutes of battery life with the SU4100 processor overclocked and the graphics set to the Intel integrated mode."

How do you think of Dell saying 8 hours battery life?

 

Oh I see. Well, I do game a lot at home on my desktop computer. Then I thought how awesome it would be to have a good desktop and a good laptop. So I bought the M17x. It was so loud during gaming that I was shocked, and sooo heavy, sold it right away, too heavy for college. Then I thought about macbook air/pro. They are very light and look nice. But they really can't handle much gaming. Then I thought that the m11x might be perfect because I can get the m11x for 800 dollars on ebay, as the new macbook air costs me 1800 dollars in my country.

Just worried that the m11x is as loud as m17x. The m17x was super quiet when not gaming, but it was TERRIBLE when gaming. My dad didn't want me near him when I was gaming lol. And NO WAY I could game with that in a library, sounded like plane was taking off.

 

I see. My M11x doesn't get that loud at all when I'm gaming, though that might change in time as the fans become clogged with dust. The fan did become horribly loud when I was updating the BIOS however. I doubt that I'd ever hear it that loud during normal day-to-day use.

Lots of students in my classes use 13" Macbook Pros though and they love them.

 

I use my m11x in class all the time. The fan never comes on in class. Even when you bump us cpu usage to 100% on integrated, the fan isnt loud at all. Its only when you switch it nvidia that it gets kind of loud, but usually if theres some people around you talking then it'll cover up their noise. If your getting a laptop for gaming then you should expect some louder fans when gaming just because of all the heat the cpu+gpu generate.

 

Hi,

I'm a college teacher and I think the only thing that would bother me about a student using the m11x in class is that I'd be thinking: dang, that student's got an m11x; I wonder what games are on there. Then I'd probably lose my concentration because I'd start thinking about how I got totally pwned on Crysis the previous night.

I don't think the fan noise would bother me at all.

Alienowl

 

I just got my r2 for the exact same reason. If its gaming, you can hear the fan, no doubt, but its not too bad. On the other hand if you set the cooling to passive or power saver mode, you can barely hear anything, definetely not enough to be a problem while studying or in class. I dont mind the small screen, I rather like it, though I have a desktop so if I need to do something large I just use that. Ive gamed a little on it, for its size its amazingly good. Really this is more of a perfectly balanced netbook/ultra portable, than an average desktop replacement laptop or that sort of thing. Still, 40+fps on dirt 2 is pretty good. The battery life, depending on whether you are using power saver or not, and what you are doing with it (ie music, games, or just browsing/typing stuff) will vary between 3 hours and 5 hours. Expect 4 to 4 1/2 to be on the safe side. It is quite fast though. I didnt expect much from a 1.06ghz cpu, but my desktop is very fast and let me tell you this is no slouch. The core 2 duo is nice, it will get better battery life, but I prefer the increment in speed this thing gets, its really quite respectable. All in all, either one is a great idea for college, and it looks just plain awesome. I like the concept of the macbook air, they did a good job with it, and its power is quite respectable. As to the macbook pro...well the 15 inch is ok, but the 13 seems kind of pointless now without a separate graphics card in it. I wouldnt consider it, and the 15-17 are just mad expensive. I say go for the mba or m11x r2 (unless you really need a quad core cpu).

 

Haha, you seem like an awesome teacher!

 

Thanks. I was wondering if you are able to watch a 3 hour movie before the battery runs out? I read that while gaming the m11x r2 lasts for 2-3 hours on battery.

 

Well Im not sure, I havent been able to test that yet. Yesterday I spent about 3 1/2 hours studying and messing with settings before the battery ran out. I had it mostly on the balanced profile, pumping out music at about medium volume the entire time, and I watched a few youtube videos and a few online episodes of stuff with the likes of the nbc video player, etc. The screen brightness was about medium to medium high, so I was rather pushing it. My old laptop would had died in a little over an hour.

 

Just wanted to thank you for making this post. I have an m11x r1 on order and have been worried about the exact same things. After seeing the positive responses, the delivery date cant come fast enough! Good luck choosing which to buy. My choice was easy considering price and how much I miss pc gaming and browsing; I'm typing this on my nook color.

 

The fan noise is significant but I got completely used to it. I don't like the the vibrations in the palm rest caused by the 7200 HDD, but I got more or less used to that to. It's a noisy vibrating little bugger but I love it.

 

I guess every person has their view of what loud is, people might even have different hearing. Replacing the HDD with an SSD might solve the vibrations right?

I just read on another forum about some people experience the fans running for 1 minute, then turning off for 3 minutes, then running for 1 minute again. This was doing regular web surfing. Clearly something is wrong. Have never experienced this right? Because they returned their laptop, making me feel like it's risky buying the m11x, as I found the m17x too loud too. Maybe my opinion of loud is different from other guys. I think many people are worried about this.

 

I don't think the fan noise is that bad. If you aren't doing anything cpu or gpu intensive for a long period of time the fan shouldn't kick into ultra high speed mode. When the fan is running at its fastest it might be annoying. I went through college with an Inspiron 9300 which was louder than the M11x. That was never a distraction to anyone so the M11x shouldn't be.

 

Heres an example:

I'm sitting here watching TV and browsing the web. The TV is at a normal volume level. I have to hold the laptop within about 6 inches of my ear to hear the fan.

 

Ok thanks
The fan on the M11X has only 2 modes right? Either quiet when web browsing, and loud when gaming, like 2, yeah modes lol. When watching an HD video on youtube, or watching a movie on the M11x, does it sometimes go on the loud mode, then after a minute when the laptop has cooled down again, go back to quiet mode? and repeats? Or does the loud mode fan ONLY kick in when gaming? Sorry for asking rather stupid questions lol.

 

I just watched 10 minutes of HD videos on youtube (full screen) and only had the fan turn on like I described earlier. Quiet. It goes on and off randomly, I didnt notice a 1 minute on, 3 minute off pattern. I had the speakers on 16% level and had to press the fan up against my ear to hear the fan. It's quiet. I'm not sure about gaming, as i have homework to do and can't play League of Legends right now LOL. I can get back to you on that tomorrow

 

Ok awesome. Wouldn't want the loud fan to kick in in class and everyone knew I was watching movies/videos lol. Only 12 students in my classes. Not that I would watch youtube videos in class, like, no chance.

 

Yeah, I've got small classes also (my lowest is 4-7 people) and I have NO worries at all!

 

Let me put it this way. Under the high power gaming profile, the computer gets slightly loud when running high stress programs (ie gaming). I was playing dirt 2 last night and it was audible. It really depends on your definition of loud, Ive heard louder laptops trust me. However, if you go to the power saver setting and set it to passive cooling rather than active, the fan is barely audible at all. Usually you cant hear anything without any games or videos playing, so its really 2 computers in one. Thats why I respect the machine so much. In class its a netbook and once you find an outlet in the lounge its a gaming machine, and thats hard to even touch for any other computer.

 

Im a new m11x r2 core i7 owner, and the fan is ALWAYS SO FREAKIN LOUD.
I updated the bios to A04, the fan stopped for one session and now its on all the time again, can youhelp me plz??? its soooooo loud allll the time

 

Ok this is an edit. I just checked and mine is automatically set up as A04. A05 is for the r1 only, and the fan is a bit loud on A04 but only when its all systems go. On passive cooling while web browsing and watching vids, etc, it really isnt loud at all. Im not sure how to change back to A03 though, ask about in this forum.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/549342-m11xr2-bios-a04-available-discuss-here.html

 

The fan isn't that loud while gaming or on normal usage (coz I'm using a standing fan beside me LOL)
The fan will only be crazy noisy if you update your BIOS though

 

R1 doesn't get 8 hours of battery life. 6:40 to 6:53 with wifi on, low brightness, balanced power plan, integrated card. The fan is pretty quiet so I wouldn't worry about that.

 

Thanks guys for all the help. After reading all your comments the fan doesn't seem as bad as I thought. I am either buying the R1 for $820 or the R2 for $930. The only reason I am even considering the R1 is because of battery life. Over 6 hours on the R1 is sick.

 

The fans really quiet in my experience and when it kicks up its not noticeable at all. But sadly I do feel the 11 inch screen is a little bit small for gaming, movies not so much cause there are mini dvd players out there :/

 

It does get 8 hours of life if you want it to, however it involves turning off the backlit keyboard and wifi, on top of no sound, or plugging in any items that require power (This includes headphones and mice...). So it's pretty limited on what you can do in those 8 hours.

And OP, you can game on the PC and it won't disturb anyone. I played a Mass Effect and Crysis in its entirety on the screen, so I really didn't find any problems with the screen. Personally I'd get an R2 over a R1 based on the fact that an R2 can get driver updates directly from NVIDIA, as opposed to waiting for Dell to provide updates.

 

Just ordered a new M11x R2 from ebay. Hopefully it's as quiet as you guys say it is, or atleast not so loud that it sounds like a plane is taking off when gaming. (Apple is so overprised it's not even funny)

Anyone know if putting a 128GB Crucial C300 SSD in the M11x R2, will the battery life become longer? I read about how 7200rpm drives use more power than 5400rom drives. And that the Momentus XT drive also uses a lot of power.

 

Well this is amusing. Today I went into my professors office to ask him something and he saw my m11x, and wanted to look at it. And I quote "wow...Im holding an alienware". No really he said that...hes a programming teacher so go figure. On the other hand I was testing it a bit and I couldnt hear the fan at all on the powersaver setting. I mean nothing. Course the girl sitting behind me playing WoW drowned out everything else in the class, the damn fan on that stupid dell inspiron could have moved a small wind turbine. But yea you will like the computer alot. At this point I am trying to figure out how to optimize it for maximum battery life.

 

Wow lol. I am so glad I chose the m11x over the macbook air. I am also thinking about buying anti-glare thingy to put on the m11x to prevent the reflective screen. At my school the library has huge lights over each desk, making it very bright. For saving battery life I think I will just turn off the lights on the m11x, and maybe turn the brightness down to low-medium.