We measure noise with a calibrated meter – which has a realistic limit around 30 dBa. This could be considered ‘almost silent' in real world terms.
There is no doubt – this is a noisy laptop. As soon as I started a game such as DIRT 3 the fan noise shot up from an inaudible background level to an annoying 47dBA. While I was playing the game the highest noise level I recorded was 51dBA.
In fairness it has to be said the noise is directed away from you but there is no denying the noise levels are intrusive unless you are wearing headphones. Part of the problem is that Gigabyte has used a cooler that is very responsive. The noise constantly changes as the fans speed up and down, clearly reacting to the thermal load inside the chassis.
Sadly this is an incredibly annoying laptop to live with on a day to day basis.
A number of the pictures show the base to be curved? Is this the case?
I bought the machine and it is lovely. However, some serious issues! Sound does not work through the speakers when you turn the machine on! You have to fiddle with FnF9 to try and start it? Whether it starts or not is pure luck. It is currently silent and I have no idea what to do?????
Also the dvd drive bay is very temperamental and often only works on the 2nd or third go.