I am considering getting a basic notebook to replace my 0 dB desktop. Most usage willl be surfing, music streaming and office docs. It'll spend a lot of time on my desk with an external KVM. I also suspect I'll replace the main HDD with an 8GB 1.8" Samsung SSD from NewEgg.

I have a high-end external USB audio box for interfacing with a stereo.

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive laptop for this? I see Dell is selling C2D T5270 Vostro 1500's, with 2 GB RAM for around $650. Is it a good bet?

Ideally, when surfing, it can stay cool enough so that fans won't come on. I suspect I'll put XP on it, and strip that down with XPLite.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

Midrange Dell’s these days tend to have 2 fans and one of them seems to be permanently on and can’t be addressed by the various software tools aimed at laptops. It used to be possible to stop all the fans in some Dells and control them with I8kfanGUI. Also look at Notebook Hardware Control.

The Vostro 1500 looks pretty nice but the black finish is incredibly prone to showing marks and fingerprints; I’d swear it was designed that way!
I haven’t listened to a Vostro 1500 so I can’t say whether it suffers the same fan noise issue. Try looking at the Service Manual for the Vostro 1500 as if you look at all the diagrams you can usually determine how many fans a particular model has.
Of course they do make hardware revision changes and BIOS changes that can influence fan speed control as well.

Can you recommend a model where the fans can safely be turned off while running low-intensity apps?

If the fan is permanently enabled, the 1500 doesn't sound like the model I want.

Thanks.

The Vostro 1400 is a better bet than the 1500.

How long will it run with no fan? I'll be able to post in a month or so as I plan to buy one, but it should outperform every other new Dell I've been able to find specs on.

Most of my digging has been based on working through the manuals to see how many components the main fan cools in each model. If it cools the GPU, chipsets, etc you can bet that model won't run passively for very long.

Secondly, the 1400 is more volumeous than most notebooks these days, allowing more internal air circulation (there are plenty of air vents).

Thirdly, it boosts lower CPU temps than the T61 according to a forum thread I fould. Achieving this despite having Dell's lowest stated noise level for any of their notebooks (by 1db at 50cm) spells good news to me.

I'm currently using a T41 which will run passively all day long (with low CPU utilization) but which had some weird compatibility problems with the Transend SSD I bought for it (and returned).