This post is by way of gratitude to this forum. I needed a completely quiet laptop to replace my high-decibeled Dell, and this forum led me to the ChemBook 2056 at Discount Laptops.
My assessment of the computer after five days of usage:
Word Processing and Internet browser usage involves no noise at all. The fan does not operate during this kind of usage. The hard drive occasionally ticks like a watch - a sound that can be discerned only if the room is quiet enough.
The fan does operate when the CPU is being used heavily. The only reliable cause of this that I found is examining the BIOS before Windows loads, but there were other occasions while loading software. The fan typically shuts off after a minute.
WARNING: do not set the machine on a pillow for laptop usage: this causes overheating and constant fan noise; I now set it on a clipboard for laptop usage.
The fan is about half as noisy as the fan on my Dell.
The CD/DVD drive is noisy. This is not a problem if you're just loading or saving data. But it might be distracting if you were trying to watch a movie.
Other issues. The battery really does keep going for 4+ hours. Discount Laptops has been an agreeable company to work with - so far.
I hope this message helps someone else, as earlier messages helped me.
ChemBook 2056
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