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Are people exaggerating loud fan noise?

goodintentions

Active Member
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

New Member
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.
 
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

Well-Known Member
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.
 

mtalinm

Active Member
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

Active Member
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"
 
OP
G

goodintentions

Active Member
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

New Member
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

Active Member
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

Well-Known Member
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

Super Moderator
Staff member
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.
 
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