Is N5010 Loud and Hot?

I'm thinking about buying an N5010. Cany anyone of you lucky souls that already posess one tell me how loud/noisy it is at idle and max cpu use? Any comparisons would be great, e.g., normal desktop pc loud, louder than a conversation, whisper, cat purring, whatever.

I'm also interested in how hot it gets. I realize that a P4 will get hot, but I have seen some posts by folks in the HP forum that seemed to think their new HP large screen P4's were getting disturbingly hot. Just wanted to make sure the fujitsu didn't do that. Thanks so much.

 

This is really weird...i swore i made a reply to your post. Anyway yes the notebook gets disturbingly hot...it's hot enough that i cannot put it on my lap. The silver part left of the touchpad (where my left hand rests) gets quite hot as well. In celsius i'd say a good 40ish degrees. During max usage I hear the fan go on and it releases the heat through the left side of the notebook....the heat is hot like the heat you feel coming at your face when you enter a car during a summer day.

I'm thinking about purchasing a laptop cooler. It really feels uncomfortable typing this post.....i'm already starting to sweat lol.

The noise doesn't bother me too much when it's idle i can't hear anything.....but it's definitely louder than the average desktop. If I had to compare the fan noise to anything it's like a person blowing a "quiet" sigh of relief.

What bothers me is this annoying clicking sound that i hear from time to time....and from what i read it's probably coming from my 7200 rpm hdd.

Anyway this is what I can say about fujitsu n5010 and the other desktop replacements....they are probably all hot and probably they are all the same regardless of brand (although I hear the sony grts dissipate heat very well...but I can't test them....so). If you are extremely concerned about heat I would take a look at the sony grt's......

In the meantime I better start looking for a laptop cooler....

 

jesoonster,
Thanks for the reply. Wow. 40 C is pretty hot. I spent some time in Brasil, and it was 42-45C everyday for 2 months or so. Ughh. Strange that none of the reviews or other users mention this (not just here, but all over the net). Kind of important, I think. Who really wants to roast their hand while typing? How long does it take to get up to uncomfortably hot for typing? 5 min, idling an 1hr, 10 min running hard? Also, is the HDD clicking/noise louder than in desktop pc's/other laptops? Or is it just loud because there's no other noise? I have a western digital 7200 RPM drive in my desktop, and it isn't especially loud. Actually much quieter than any of the seagates i have ever used.

 

Hi folks,
I've been using my N5010 for over a month for 8+ hours/day so I've gotten pretty used to my laptop's noises. The cooling fan does kick in pretty frequently, but it's not loud enough to bother people who sit next to and behind me in my office (they sit about 3 feet away from me in a quiet office - they didn't even notice my fan running when I asked them about it). I hear the HD clicking noise too. I measured the temperature of the air (I work in a lab) coming from the fan a few times and it never got above 41C. The silver part to the left of the touch pad is warmer than on the right, but for me it's not uncomfortable - like if you touch someone's skin who is a little warmer than you are. Unfortunately, I don't have the right kind of thermometer to measure the surface temperature for you, but on my laptop I doubt it's near 40C. For reference, normal core body temperature is 37.3C (98.6F). Hope this helps.

 

Not trying to be cocky, but I work in molecular biology lab and I routinely (I say on a daily basis) deal with tons of waterbaths and incubators set at 37 degrees. Prior to doing restriction enzyme digestions (AKA layman's terms=cutting DNA with enzymes) I stick my hand in the 37 degree waterbath to check the temperature (after confirming the reading from the thermometer) and I have to say the BOTTOM of the notebook is hotter than that. The top? I agree with erichen's assessment that it's <37 degrees. And in regards to the fan noise I don't think it should bother you at all. The fan comes on and off from time to time ...again...the clicking noise is the issue but that comes from the 7200rpm NOTEBOOK HDD (the notebook HDD is not the same as the desktop HDD so you cannot make comparisons about clicking noise). Anyway, I'm not noticing the clicking noise anymore. I guess I got entrained to the noise or the sound stopped...I'll check again over the course of the next few hours and give an update.

But to answer your question, yes it's louder than my dell desktop that I have. And yes the noise is amplified b/c the notebook is 1 foot away from me (vs my desktop which is a good 2.5 feet away). Honestly, the noise shouldn't be an issue...I haven't seen any that loud yet (unless those 17" wides are really really loud)) and I don't understnad why this is such an issue with so many people.

How long to get uncomfortably hot for typing? well....depends on what applications you use. I really think it depends on cpu usage. If you use hard core applications that gobble up CPU power (ex. dvd burning) you're going to keep your hot for a while.

Regardless of this I swear I think this notebook is outstanding...
the only other notebook that's a desktop replacement that's on this level are the Sony GRTs with the xbrite screens

 

Ok I figured out all the problem and disagreements that I had on this post.

First of all, when i purchased the N5010 I purchased 2 notebooks...one for myself with a 7200rpm hitachi drive and the other for my father with a 5400rpm drive.

I notice that the fan runs at high speed a lot fewer times than it does on my notebook with 7200rpm hdd. Also the silver region where my left hand rests is nowhere near as hot as my notebook. I've been using my father's notebook to install some programs for the last hr and so far the notebook is relatively cool to the touch.....

In addition, I'm NOT hearing those annoying clicking noises...it's got to be the HDD.

From what I'm seeing I strongly recommend the 80gig HDD 5400rpm if you are to go with the fujitsu. My father's notebook is extremely quiet (fan goes on max only during the booting process and I must say it seems that the fan's activity strongly correlates with HDD activity).


I'm going to call laptopinc to see if i can do anything about replacing my freakin' 7200rpm hdd.....

I'll test again with my notebook to make sure....

 

I feel like a tard saying this...but please disregard my theory on the HDD causing the heat...it's not. In addition, I'm not hearing hte clicking noise either....I'll give more of an update on what it is later on...if I find out what it is that's causing it.

 

Jesoonster and erichen,
Thanks for the reports! I really appreciate them. Coincidentally, I work in a lab too! I'm working on PhD in Chemical Engineering, scaling up electrophoresis. I do lots of mathematical modeling, which eats up cpu cycles, hence my worries about noise and heat transfer. Jesoonster, do keep me posted if you can figure out what's going on. thanks to you both.