Are people exaggerating loud fan noise?

[goodintentions]

As an experiment, last night I pushed my device to the limit. Ran several heavy duty software at once. The upper right hand quadrant of the back got really really hot. Here's the thing. I put my that side of the sp3 up against my ear and I heard the fan. Otherwise, I knew the fan was running big time but I could not hear it at all.

A lot of people on the internet have been crying bloody murder about how loud the fan noise is. Are they exaggerating or am I going deaf?

 

[NeilG]

I've had the fan on my SP3 running a few times now and it's not really noticeable, you can hear it if you deliberately listen out for it but it's not intrusive. I wonder if people coming from fanless iPad an Android tablets find it more noticeable.

 

[markusbeutel]

It seems to have gotten better over time - but it was pretty bad for me in August/Sept when I first got it and it was installing updates - easily heard from across a small room.

 

[ctitanic]

As an experiment, last night I pushed my device to the limit. Ran several heavy duty software at once. The upper right hand quadrant of the back got really really hot. Here's the thing. I put my that side of the sp3 up against my ear and I heard the fan. Otherwise, I knew the fan was running big time but I could not hear it at all.

A lot of people on the internet have been crying bloody murder about how loud the fan noise is. Are they exaggerating or am I going deaf?

I think that the fan noise has been highly exaggerated.

 

[goodintentions]

I think that the fan noise has been highly exaggerated.

I remember coming across some tech reviews that slammed the sp3 because the fan noise was deafening. This was when it first came out. I remember asking myself "could it really be that bad?"

 

[mtalinm]

it's hardly deafening, but I would characterize it as shrill and annoying. it's more of a high-pitched whine than you get from a typical laptop.

 

[RémiM]

I actually had a misbalanced fan in my previous SP3. The fan was not loud, but the noise was annoying. "Bzzzzzzzz". Particularly when the SP3 was used as a tablet and tilted a little bit.

On my new SP3, the fan seems perfectly balanced so far, and the noise is a lot less annoying. I am not sexually attracted to fans, but I kind of love the noise it makes. "Pshhhhhhhhhh"

 

[goodintentions]

User problem exaggeration really doesn't do anyone any good. And we know exaggeration exists.

Here is a video of Steve Jobs addressing the antennagate report exaggeration.

 

[MadCruzer]

The only way I know my fan is running is if I put my ear to it or my hand in the upper right corner and "feel" the breeze...or slight breeze.

 

[ScottyS]

My fan was never loud until last updates in Window 10 tech preview. When plugged into the charger it gets as hot as 180ºF just idling, and the fan runs loud. On battery it stays cooler, as it does in Win8.1 (<130ºF) and when the fan comes on it is quite.

 

[bluegrass]

My impression is that fan noise is highly exaggerated by people who had parents that made them wear noise blocking headgear at rock concerts so they would have perfect hearing ability when they grew up. I have an SP3 and have setup 5 more for people where I work and I have never heard a fan once.

 

[Moonsurface]

Well I can certainly hear the fan on my i7 when it's running full blast (which isn't often) I wouldn't say it's loud but it is quite high pitched so it might depend how good your high frequency hearing is as to how you perceive it. It's certainly not half as loud as the fan on my old Dell which runs almost constantly.

When the surface fan is on low speed mode I can not really hear it unless I put my ear right to the vents.