[Momaw Nadon]

FYI and discussion.

Could anyone recommend a silent PC and/or laptop?

[Momaw Nadon]

Ping.

[ShadowAce]

Here's a good site.

[darkwing104]

I built a Shuttle based system a while back and the guys on Silent PC Reviews liked it. It’s the site ShadowAce recommended.

[shorty_harris]

Hmmm...I have one of the Antec 2 cases, but didn’t like it so much (I currently use it as a door stop at work). The hard drive layout is nuts, and it wasn’t really all that quiet. I’ve since bought 2 Antec Solo cases. They’re much nicer, easier to work on, and are the quietest cases I’ve ever used. The loudest component is the video card fan.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

I’ve heard that Toshiba has issued a new laptop with flash memory, no harddrive.

[PissAndVinegar]

‘Silent’ PCs are nothing new. I’ve used this site with great success:
http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/fanless_systems

I prefer the VIA line of boards and use laptop HDDs for lowest power consumption / noise.

[theDentist]

Could anyone recommend a silent PC and/or laptop?

Here's my favorite Laptop...

[JerseyHighlander]

Try the Zalman TNN 300 or Zalman TNN 500AF series pc cases. Add hdd enclosures and it is completely silent.

[SunkenCiv]

I plan to “monitor” this discussion for helpful information. /rimshot

[Kaylee Frye]

Your best shot for a PC would be to build your own. When you use custom parts, you can choose them specifically for silence and you can maximize your value for your money. The main noise offenders: fans (of all kinds, case fans, processor fan, power supply fan, some graphics cards have fans, etc...) and drives (hard drives and disc drives like DVD players). If you can minimize the noise of those items, you're going to get a virtually silent machine.

For a laptop, I've found that they are getting significantly better. I just bought a brand new HP and it's amazingly quiet. :)

[King of Florida]

“What’s nice about the Antec 2 is that it has a temperature-sensing power supply with attachments specifically for the fan,” he said. “When the temperature does rise, it will speed up the fans.”

Although the base silence of the Antec may be new, the concept of speeding up the fans is not. I have an almost 3-year-old Gateway whose fans speed up when things get hot and heavy with the processor. Drives me nuts.

[KoRn]

I prefer a somewhat noisy machine. Noise, or sometimes lack thereof, is good for troubleshooting. ;^)

[antiRepublicrat]

Practically silent for almost three years now. It's about as quiet as ambient room noise, but you can hear the optical drive when it's going if you're close enough.

The iMac is pretty quiet, too, the loudest thing again being the optical drive when accessing it.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

...whining capacitors...

Methinks Peter Wayner wouldn't know a capacitor if he found one sitting in his Vichysoise.

[JoJo Gunn]

“After a while, the noise gets to you during quiet scenes,” he said. “It overwhelms you and takes you away from the movie.”

What a helpless widdle crybaby, welded to the Hollyweird teat. At some point you have to accept the noise as a necessary part of the life of your equipment. Real men recognize that fact and learn to ignore it.