Yesterday was the “most unforgettable night” in recent years for me, because our delivery guy in the park was a “close contact”, so we were sealed in the office and forced to work overtime playing games together at night.Last night we urgently purchased sleeping bags, one for each person to “sleep on the floor”, thinking we could make do for a night, but little did we know the torture was just beginning…
One colleague snored incredibly loudly while sleeping, and our colleague responsible for testing noise suspected it was at least65dB or more, because even the floor was vibrating…Heaven knows how we finally fell asleep, but from today on, I have truly started to care about noise control in laptops.
How can laptops limit noise, and which products have inherently low noise levels? Today we will use a computer as an example to briefly analyze:
ROG Magic 2022
Swipe left to see the ports
Left side of the body
Right side of the body
Back of the body
Its configuration is as follows:
R9 6900HX Processor
RTX3060 6GB Independent Graphics Card (140W)
16GB 4800MHz Memory
512GB Solid State Drive
15.6-inch 2560×1440 resolution 100% DCI-P3 color gamut 165Hz refresh rate IPS screen
Battery capacity 90Wh
Thickness 22.8~26.4mm
Weight 2.28kg
Adapter weight 714g
Current price 8999 yuan
Its pros and cons are as follows:
Pros!
1. High screen quality, actual performance is good
2. Low surface temperature under high load;
3. Longer battery life among gaming laptops, supports 100W PD charging
Cons!
1. No numeric keypad, directional keys are only half-height
2. No camera, and the screen bezel is quite wide
3. Limited configuration options, only one model available
【Upgrade Suggestions】
This laptop is not difficult to disassemble; just unscrew the bottom screws and disconnect the bottom light strip cable to reveal the back cover.
2×8GB DDR5 4800MHz memory can meet the needs of most uses, and can be replaced if necessary.
The solid-state drive capacity is 512GB, model Micron 3400, supports PCIe4.0×4 and NVMe, and can be added or replaced if necessary.
【Purchase Suggestions】
1. High requirements for screen quality
2. Certain demand for gaming laptop battery life
3. Users who do not often use the numeric keypad
ROG Magic 2022 is the most cost-effective model among ROG gaming laptops, as most ROG gaming laptops sell for five figures, while Magic has always been an exception.
In terms of the screen, the actual color gamut volume is 100.7% DCI-P3, color gamut coverage is 97.6% DCI-P3, average ΔE is 0.89, maximum ΔE is 2.02, and the actual maximum brightness is 352nit.
In terms of ports, the left side of the body has two USB3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports, the back has one USB3.2 Gen2 Type-C, a full-featured Type-C, HDMI2.0b, and RJ45 port, while the right side has no ports.
In terms of noise, its full load noise level is 55.8dB, and manual full speed is 58.5dB.
In terms of battery life, its PCMark10 battery life test score is 11 hours and 1 minute (mixed mode), and 11 hours and 42 minutes in iGPU mode, performing relatively well among gaming laptops.
ROG Magic 2022 only has this configuration available today, launched8999 yuan, and there has been a promotional activity of “returning to the launch price” recently.
We once bought it for 9999 yuan, and now it has dropped significantly…
So if you want a cost-effective product under ROG, this laptop is worth considering.
However, if you have high requirements for noise control under high load, then it may not be suitable for you.
【Final Thoughts】
The above image is a disassembly shot of the ROG Magic 2022, featuring a combination of six heat pipes and dual fans.
Room temperature 25℃
Reflectivity 1.0
BIOS version: G513RM.310
In full load state, enhanced mode on, CPU temperature peaks at 95.1℃, stabilizing around 87.6℃, power consumption 54W, frequency around 3.9GHz.
Graphics card power consumption 116W, temperature 80.5℃, frequency 1762MHz.
Manually maxing out the fan speed, the CPU will drop by 2℃, and the GPU by around 5℃.
Single stress test on Stress FPU, CPU temperature stabilizes at 95.1℃, power consumption 88W, frequency 4.4GHz.
Single stress test on Furmark, graphics card temperature stabilizes around 74.4℃, power consumption 140W, frequency 1875MHz.
Surface temperatures are shown in the above image, with the highest keyboard key temperature at 40.4℃ occurring above the space bar, around 34.7℃ near the WASD keys, and 29.5℃ for the directional keys. The left wrist rest temperature is 26.1℃. Overall, the ROG Magic 2022 performs well in terms of heat dissipation, with low core temperatures, sufficient performance release, and low surface temperatures, providing a relatively good overall experience.
We almost always introduce “noise measurement” data in our laptop reviews, but to be honest,everyone’s noise testing standards are different, and data can only be compared with oneself, not cross-referenced.
Under the testing standards of the notebook evaluation room, a gaming laptop’s noise around 53dB is normal, exceeding 55dB is relatively high, and exceeding 60dB is “destructive” noise. At 60dB noise level, it is impossible for a person to use the computer normally, and some means must be used to reduce noise.
As for reducing laptop noise, I personally suggest the following points:1. Use noise-cancelling headphones This is the simplest and most effective solution.
2. Enable low-performance mode (silent mode) Most gaming laptops have a silent mode, but enabling it sacrifices some performance; I now believe that sacrificing performance for noise is not a big deal.
3. Lower the computer temperature Many laptops (especially thin and light ones) have a significant relationship between fan speed and temperature; if you can lower the temperature by turning on the air conditioning or using a fan, the noise will also be alleviated.
As for which products have low noise when purchasing laptops?1. Fanless laptops If you find fan noise annoying, removing the fan is the simplest method. Some thin and light laptops are fanless. For example, Apple MacBook Air, Huawei MateBook E Go, MateBook X, Microsoft Surface Go, etc…
2.Low-voltage processor business laptops Today’s thin and light laptops also like to push performance, often using H45 standard pressure processors, which are powerful but also generally increase noise. If you care about noise, it is advisable to buy business laptops with low-voltage processors, such as R7 6800U or Intel U15 processors.
In summary, gaming laptops are generally noisy, even those models with relatively good noise control, such as Alienware x17 and Lenovo Y9000K, still have significant noise compared to thin and light laptops. So in my opinion, if you are particularly sensitive to noise, it is better not to buy a gaming laptop; consider a desktop instead, equipped with low-noise fans like Noctua, so the noise from the computer won’t be so exaggerated.