7. Keyboard, Mouse And Speakers

Obviously, a pair of small laptop speakers cannot be expected to work miracles, but the sound quality of the Compaq NW8240 was impressive nonetheless. The playback of a classical music CD revealed distinct, clear mid-tones and highs; of course, a deep solid bass cannot be expected due to the lack of volume. Still, the sound generated is fully adequate for customer presentations, DVD movies and games.

Noise And Temperature Levels

Despite its high performance levels, the NW8240 is a relatively silent laptop. When using office applications, the fan spins at a very low speed, and the computer's maximum sound pressure level of 36.3 dB(A) can hardly be distinguished from the environment (base level in the office of 33.5 dB(A)). When running on battery power, the fan usually remains silent while typing.

When the CPU and graphics subsystem are subjected to a heavy workload - due to a computing - and graphics-intensive rendering application, the noise level rises dynamically, up to 47.5 dB(A). When the load is alleviated, the fan noise drops gradually. After a post operation and cooling phase of no more than 5 minutes, the device is back at its original level. Under full load, the bottom of the NW8240 can heat up to temperatures of as high as 118.4° Fahrenheit in the area of the cooling system, so you would not want to do rendering jobs with the mobile workstation on your lap when wearing shorts. But then again, how many architects actually wear shorts? ;-) Fortunately, the palm support hardly heats up at all; the maximum temperature on the left palm support was only 88° Fahrenheit after one hour of steady operation under full load.

The noise that the DVD drive generates during DVD or audio CD playback is a nuisance. Instead of reducing the rotational speed after the medium is inserted, the disk continues to rotate at high speed, resulting in a noise level of up to 43.2 dB(A).