Quest For The Silent Laptop [Updated - APM Tuner link]
by Charles W. Moore
One of the things I love about my iBook is that its little 20 GB hard drive is whisper quiet, even after 27 months of fairly intensive use. It is definitely the quietest laptop I've ever used, and silence is one of the qualities I value most highly in computers.
My first computer, actually a big old Wang office word processor, had no hard drive or cooling fan, but its internal transformer was extremely loud, and a particularly irritating and tiring sort of noise as well. Consequently, when I replaced it with a little Mac Plus, the contrast was radical. The Plus had a 20MB external Seagate MacCrate hard drive, which was not particularly quiet although a quantum improvement on the Wang's transformer noise. However, there was no cooling fan, and you could boot and run the Plus off an 800K floppy disk in virtual silence other than the clicking of the keyboard and an occasional grunt from the floppy drive.
My next Mac, an LC 520, had a fan and a 160 MB hard drive, both of which were moderately noisy, although not extraordinarily so in the context of desktop computers.
Quiet computing returned when I bought my PowerBook 5300 in 1996. Its 500 MB hard drive was reasonably quiet, and I could make it even more silent than the Mac Plus by running off a RAM disk. With a whopping 24 MB of RAM, I had room to create a RAM disk with a stripped-down version of OS 7.2 or 7.5.x, a minimal installation of Word 5.1, my GlobalFax software, and whatever files I was working on at the time. Word 5.1 had the happy quality of hardly ever accessing the hard drive, so I could literally work for hours with the hard drive spun down, and only keyboard clicks disturbing the silence. That ended when the Internet became a factor, but the 5300's hard drive remained pretty quiet throughout.
Not so with my next PowerBook — a WallStreet 233MHz. The original 2GB IBM hard drive was quiet when the machine was new, but soon began to get noisier, and within a year was annoyingly loud. The same phenomenon afflicted two other identical machines owned by family members. The noise level dropped again temporarily when I replaced the 2 GB unit with a Toshiba 10 GB drive, but within a few months it was getting louder too. I still have that drive in the WallStreet, and it's still loud, although doesn't seem to be getting any worse over the past year or so. pix
The original Toshiba 20 GB drive in my Pismo PowerBook was pleasingly quiet when I got the machine used at one year old, and it remained so. Not quite as quiet as the 20 GB drive in the iBook, but definitely subdued. Consequently, it was a bit of a disappointment when the 40 GB Toshiba 5400 RPM drive I replaced it with turned out to be noisier from the get-go. It's not nearly as loud as the 10 GB drive in the WallStreet, but a setback from the happy near-silence of the OEM unit.
I haven't mentioned laptop fan noise thus far. That's because it has never been a significant issue with any of my laptops. I owned the WallStreet for 3 1/2 years before the cooling fan ever cut in, that just before the original processor fried from heat. The fan in the Pismo never activated with the original 500 MHz G3 processor, although it has, in hot summer weather, on a few occasions since the 550 MHz G4 upgrade was installed. It's still no big deal. I have to take it on faith that the 700 MHz G3 iBook has a fan, because it's never come on.
However, with the TiBooks and later, especially as clock speeds crept toward 1 GHz and beyond, fan noise has become a significant issue for Apple laptop users. Higher performance creates more heat, and the issue is amplified by the cramped confines of today's thin laptop housings. It's one of the holdups in releasing a G5 PowerBook, and from a personal perspective, one of the reasons why I'm fairly content living with my relatively slow machines. I would hate to give up the silence.
Which is one reason why, as I mentioned in a recent column here, that I think the forthcoming Freescale e600 MPC8641D dual-core and MPC8641 single-core G4 processors sound like better bets for laptop CPUs than the G5, at least until a low-power version of the G5 is a reality. For example, the MPC8641D at 1.5 GHz with 768 MHz FSB, dual-core, and 7-stage pipeline is projected to draw as little as 15 watts — about the same or even less than the current crop of MPC74xx G4s, and much less than the current 1.6 GHz single core G5's 50+ watts.
If it's possible to keep cooling fans from howling, then the main noise generator remains the hard drive. Unfortunately, here again performance considerations are in tension with quiet computing. As a rule, faster 5400 and 7200 RPM laptop hard drives will be noisier than the standard 4200 RPM units. However, development engineers have been focusing on this issue.
Western Digital recently announced its new WD Scorpio line of 5400 RPM hard drives which it claims to be the quietest 2.5-inch drives on the market, as well as having power consumption specifications similar to slower 4200 RPM drives allowing longer battery life and increased overall reliability. The Scorpio's quietness is thanks to Western Digital's proprietary WhisperDrive technology with SoftSeek algorithms.
The WD Scorpio is available in 40, 60, and 80 GB capacities with either 2MB or 8MB buffer caches. The top of the line 80 GB Scorpio with 8 MB Cache lists for $179.99.
For more information, visit:
http://www.wdc.com/en/index.asp?Language=en
Another laptop hard drive with a reputation for quietness in the Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 4200rpm, ATA-6 hard disk drive available in capacities from 20 GB to 80 GB.
One of the quietest laptop hard drives available, the Hitachi Travelstar 80GN incorporates state-of-the-art Drive Noise Suppression System (DNSS) technology and Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motor technology for exceptional idle and operating acoustic performance
For more information, visit:
http://www.hitachigst.com/
The other two major laptop hard drive suppliers, Toshiba and Fujitsu, make no particular claims of unique technology to quieten their drives, but just say their drives are quiet. As noted, I've had mixed results with Toshiba drives in terms of quietness, although they have all been reliable performers.
I don't know what brand the quiet hard drive in my iBook is, but whoever made it did something right.
Motor and bearing noise isn't the only sound issue related to laptop hard drives, some of which are also plagued with a maddening degree of clicking and clunking from their read/write heads, due to the fact that the hard drives of 'Books with G3/G4 CPUs take little 'naps', even between keystrokes, and the system software also tells the hard drive to stand down in readiness when it's not doing anything, resulting in a continuous series of starting/stopping/etc. noises from the hard drive during the most simple on-screen functions or even while it is idling. If you're computer noise conscious like me, this racket can drive you nuts.
A potential remedy was APM Tuner, a freeware utility which adjusts the 'Book's Advanced Power Management (APM) feature of the hard disk, resulting in a quicker, quieter HD, relatively free of the annoying clicking and clunking that's caused by frequent head parks. Advanced Power Management is a feature found in hard disks for portable computers aimed at conserving power. Unfortunately, APM Tuner only works with some hard drives, and is no longer available at it's developer's site or through links from VersionTracker and MacUpdate. If anyone knows of a download source for either the Classic or OS X versions, please let me know.
Update: Ralf, author of the VGP2 FIA Cars 2004 gaming application, has kindly granted permission for me to post a link to APMTuner X which can be downloaded from his site here:
http://freespace.kb-hosting.de/smatchy/APM_Tuner_X_1_0a2.zip
Ralf asked me to note that he is not the author and therefore not responsible for any damage that may be caused by this software, and says:
I also cannot guarantee the reliability of this link because it is a freespace provider. So there may occur traffic limitations.""The original author seems to be completely disappeared. I downloaded it years ago from his homepage.
Thank you kindly, Ralf
APM Tuner is the Mac equivalent of freepower.exe from IBM for Windows laptops:
http://www.almaden.ibm.com/almaden/mobile_hard_drives.html
Happily for me, head parking noise has not been an issue with my iBook.
Looking into the crystal ball, someday we may have plasma based data storage devices that should (I think) be completely silent, but that's science fiction right now. Something that's a little closer to reality perhaps is this technology described in an IBM engineering paper.
However, it looks like the good, old, magnetic hard drive will be with us for some time yet, so enginerring efforts to make it quieter are much appreciated.
And if you're interested in the general topic of quiet computing, check out SilentPCReview.com, which has in-depth articles, equipment reviews and news stories related to silent computing. It's PC and desktop oriented, but there's a lot of interesting stuff there.
You can check it out at:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/
The PowerBook Mystique Mailbag
Re.: Tough 'Books Article
The Pismo Turns Five
Powerbook Pismos
From: Jonathan Fletcher
Charles,
You Didn't Mention Any Abuse Stories About Dual Usb Ibooks In Your Article. I Thought I Would Lend You One.
My 600 Mhz Ibook Got Knocked Around A Bit While I Used It About 12 Hours A Day As It Went With Me Everywhere. I Never Turned It Off--Just Put It To Sleep To Go Into My Shoulder Bag. One Day It Flew Out Of Its Slipcase While I Was Tripping Up A Flight Of Concrete Stairs. It Bounced Off A Stair In Front Of Me And Then Cartwheeled Back Down About A Dozen Stairs To Come To Rest On A Concrete Slab. The Cd Tray Popped Out And Broke Off, But Upon Opening The Lid, The Computer Woke Up Fine. A Little Super Glue On The Cd Tray And It Continued To Burn Cds Fine Until I Got Rid Of It. No Other Issues Directly Related To The Fall.
A Year And A Half Later Some Miscellaneous Motherboard Issues And Finally A Botched Hard Drive Replacement By Apple Got Me A Shiny New 1.2 Gig Ibook G4 The Very Week They Came Out (Two Weeks Before My Applecare Ran Out, Too). I Love My Ibook And Am A Big Fan Of Apple's Dedication To Standing By Their Customers.
Btw, The Ibook Has Rubber Drive Supports, Too.
They Sell Them To Schools, Don't They? 'Nuff Said.
Others' Mmv, But I'm Sold: The Ibook Is Apple's Ruggedized 'Book. They Just Don't Call It That.
Oh, Another Thing: Os X. Never Crashes. And I Only Shutdown/Restart Mine When Some Stupid Installer Insists On It. That's What I Call Ruggedized In A Way That Panasonic Can Only Dream Of. And I Wonder About The Moisture Content Of Those Dreams.
::-)
J.
--
Jonathan Fletcher
Hi Jonathan;
Thanks For The Report. So Far, My Own 700 Mhz Ibook Has Been Flawless (27 Months),
However, Tough As It Is, The Ibook Is Not A Ruggedized Laptop In The Sense That The Toughbooks Are.
Charles
From William Baetz
Great Article!
Do You Know If The Fastmac Superdrive Upgrade Module Requires A G4 Or Will It Work With The Stock G3 In The Pismo?
My Cd/Dvd Drive Died Today And I'm Considering The Superdrive You Mentioned In Your Article.
Thanks!
Regards,
Bill Baetz
Hi Bill;
The Fastmac Superdrive Should Work Just Fine With The Original G3 Processor, And I Think That It Would Make A Great Replacement For A Dead Oem Drive.
Charles
From Dean
Hey Charles,
I Read Your Article Discussing The Powerbook G3 Upgrades. I've Had The Pismo For About 5 Years. Love It. Been Debating On Which Upgrade To Get. I've Been Visiting Powerlogix For The Last Few Months And Cannot Get Any Pricing Or Seller Info On The 900mhz Blue Chip. Has This Been Discontinued? What Is Your Opinion On Powerlogix Statement Of The Blue Chip Being Faster Than A G4 500 Chip? I've Also Read Articles About People Having Problems On The Fan Being On All The Time Because The G4 Chip Runs So Hot. So What Is One To Do Here? I've Only Been Considering The 900mhz Because I Feel It Would Give Me An Overall Speed Increase And Low Fan Noise Yet I Cannot Find Anyone Selling It??
What Is Your Opinion On The Best Upgrade Card To Get For The Pismo With Overall Performance And Low Heating Issues??
Thanks For Your In Put,
Dean
Hi Dean;
No Doubt The 900 Mhz G3 Will Be Faster Than A 500 Mhz G4, For Some Tasks, But The G4 Will Dust It For Altivec Tasks. Depends On What You Do With Your 'Book.
My Daystar 550 Mhz G4 Upgraded Pismo Is Definitely Faster Than My 700 Mhz G3 Ib, Even Though The Ibook Has Twice The Video Ram And Supports Quartz Extreme.
As For The Fan, Since The G4 Upgrade, My Pismo's Fan Has Cut In Maybe Three Or Four Times In 14 Months, And Only In Hot Weather Under Significant Load. My Understanding Is That The Fan Issue Has Proved To Be More Of A Problem With The 900 Mhz G3 Upgrade Than With The G4.
Personally, I Am Delighted With The Daystar 550 Mhz G4 Upgrade, And Have No Hesitation Recommending It. There Have Been No Stability Problems, And The G4 Power Is Great For The Sort Of Computing I Do.
Charles