Hmmm. I think I learnt my lesson the hard way - ignore marketing. The Celeron Ms are *supposed* to be have reasonable power qualities but I bought an Amilo Pro v2010 and the fan is on pretty much most of the time. Which is quite annoying really.
I looked at a number of different Celeron M laptops in a store and they're all the same as far as I can tell as regards heat/fans - they do make noise. Some of them really howl!
I see a few threads down that "nici" has the same laptop and the same complaint (Dang - I should have read spcr earlier).
I get the impression though that most Centrino laptops (excepting those with hot X700 and Geforce gfx chipsets) *should* be fine, so based on that an Amilo Pro v2040 (Pentium-M 1.7) should be quiet once you configure speedstep. Any owners of this one cause I'll probably go and buy it otherwise?
So, there you go - buy a Centrino. Haven't seen any of the AMD Turion laptops yet. One day I'll buy a Aopen 916GMm motherboard - they are supposed to be very nice for a quiet Pentium M based system.
Celeron and Amilo Pro v2010
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I listened to the v2020 in the shop and couldnt hear any fans running, i would have bought it but they didnt have any in stock so i got the cheaper 2010. I needed a laptop right away so i didnt have much choice.. the 2020 was one step up, with a "slow" PM and integrated Intel graphics and much better battery life.
The celeron Ms dont have as advanced power saving as the Pentium M has, and since the CMs are used in the cheaper models they also have crappier batteries wich mean even less time to use.. Mine can run 1h 40minutes off the battery when idling, wich is just crap.
My dad has a home model Amilo in the same price-range as the 2010 wich has a slightly faster cpu but double the battery capacity, compared to that the 2010 sounds smoother though both are definately too loud imo. The home model is still worse except for the battery life, it has widescreen, the mouse button is just one button with two swithes under it(design.. Ooh..) and doesnt works as good as the 2010 buttons, it also doesnt have the scroll thingie on the touchpad wich i find very useful.
Whe i looked for a laptop a happened to visit a Sony Center(or whatever they are called) and said i neeed a silent laptop, the salesman puts his hands on the top of the range 2GHz X700 magnesium shell 12" laptop and firmly says "This is it!". All that hot hardware stuffed into a 12" screen laptop.. i could hear it hownling from several meters away and it was probably the noisiest vaio available..
It was probably also the most expensive model. Some other VAIOs seemed nice though, but they are still pretty expensive. They feel expensive too, but i guess thats the point. Kind of like the "MAC of PCs" if you can say such a thing
Laptops can be very very quiet and have good battery life, but that comes at a price. With Pentium M LV(low voltage) and ULV(ultra low voltage) cpus and proper lithium batteries, usually only the top of the range corporate models have the ULV cpus though.
undervolting might be possible on some laptops though. the regular, LV and ULV models are technically the same, its just that the best samples that can run at lower voltages is being sold as LV and ULV models.
Long post, im tired, its late, im tired, im going to bed.
The celeron Ms dont have as advanced power saving as the Pentium M has, and since the CMs are used in the cheaper models they also have crappier batteries wich mean even less time to use.. Mine can run 1h 40minutes off the battery when idling, wich is just crap.
My dad has a home model Amilo in the same price-range as the 2010 wich has a slightly faster cpu but double the battery capacity, compared to that the 2010 sounds smoother though both are definately too loud imo. The home model is still worse except for the battery life, it has widescreen, the mouse button is just one button with two swithes under it(design.. Ooh..) and doesnt works as good as the 2010 buttons, it also doesnt have the scroll thingie on the touchpad wich i find very useful.
Thats what i figure.carveone wrote: I get the impression though that most Centrino laptops (excepting those with hot X700 and Geforce gfx chipsets) *should* be fine, so based on that an Amilo Pro v2040 (Pentium-M 1.7) should be quiet once you configure speedstep.
Whe i looked for a laptop a happened to visit a Sony Center(or whatever they are called) and said i neeed a silent laptop, the salesman puts his hands on the top of the range 2GHz X700 magnesium shell 12" laptop and firmly says "This is it!". All that hot hardware stuffed into a 12" screen laptop.. i could hear it hownling from several meters away and it was probably the noisiest vaio available..
It was probably also the most expensive model. Some other VAIOs seemed nice though, but they are still pretty expensive. They feel expensive too, but i guess thats the point. Kind of like the "MAC of PCs" if you can say such a thing Laptops can be very very quiet and have good battery life, but that comes at a price. With Pentium M LV(low voltage) and ULV(ultra low voltage) cpus and proper lithium batteries, usually only the top of the range corporate models have the ULV cpus though.
undervolting might be possible on some laptops though. the regular, LV and ULV models are technically the same, its just that the best samples that can run at lower voltages is being sold as LV and ULV models.
Long post, im tired, its late, im tired, im going to bed.
Thanks for the reply! I eventually listened to several laptops in a local Harvey Norman. You get some strange looks by going from machine to machine putting your ear to the keyboard 
The celerons were all pretty warm with blowing fans, one centrino model was cool and quiet. Some of the big 17" widescreens were hovercraft!
Yes, the v2010 has a 28Wh battery which gives about 100 mins of battery life. I thought it interesting that a recent review in Computer Shopper which criticised the model for its battery life said "there must be some high power components in this notebook". Guess they don't read datasheets.
Your comment on undervolting is interesting. I wonder how easy it is to take a laptop apart and mod it. The warranty would be toast of course... Hmmm.
Thanks for the info
The celerons were all pretty warm with blowing fans, one centrino model was cool and quiet. Some of the big 17" widescreens were hovercraft!Yes, the v2010 has a 28Wh battery which gives about 100 mins of battery life. I thought it interesting that a recent review in Computer Shopper which criticised the model for its battery life said "there must be some high power components in this notebook". Guess they don't read datasheets.
You too! They're all the same those guys. When I worked for Gateway, many many moons ago I remember several customers just returning their PCs (Pentium 133s mostly) because they were too noisy and Sales had told them they'd be quiet... We had to take em all backsaid i neeed a silent laptop, the salesman puts his hands on the top of the range 2GHz X700 magnesium shell 12" laptop and firmly says "This is it!".
Your comment on undervolting is interesting. I wonder how easy it is to take a laptop apart and mod it. The warranty would be toast of course... Hmmm.
Thanks for the info
To clarify, it is the celeron Ms that do not have the speedstep. They run at their full speed 100% of the time. The Pentium Ms are the ones that step down, which saves battery life AND reduces noise as the CPUs dont make as much heat, therefore a slower fan speed can be used.
In my experence, the only laptops that are truly quiet are the ones that
1. Have Pentium Ms (NO pentium 4's OR Athlon64s)
2. Have integrated graphics (Intel Extreme for example). Dedicated graphics chips such as the X600, X700, GeForce6600go all run significantly hotter than the integrated graphics ones, meaning more fans/louder fans.
In my experence, the only laptops that are truly quiet are the ones that
1. Have Pentium Ms (NO pentium 4's OR Athlon64s)
2. Have integrated graphics (Intel Extreme for example). Dedicated graphics chips such as the X600, X700, GeForce6600go all run significantly hotter than the integrated graphics ones, meaning more fans/louder fans.