Setting up a new laptop has become routine for me. I’m the only “tech guy” in my family, so whenever someone gets a new laptop, it usually ends up on my desk before they start using it. I’m expected to install their favorite apps, remove any bloatware they don’t want, and make sure everything works as it should.
Before I do any of that, though, there’s one thing I always check in the BIOS: the laptop’s fan settings. Trust me, I didn’t always do this. For years, I just accepted that laptops were supposed to spin their fans up at the slightest hint of work. Opening a few browser tabs, downloading a file, or installing an app was sometimes enough to make my laptop sound like it was about to take off.
Eventually, I learned that many laptops let you choose how aggressively the fans behave, and I’ve been checking for that setting on every new laptop ever since.
Switching the fan profile makes your laptop much quieter
It solves a problem most people just live with
Most laptops default to a standard or balanced fan profile that tries to keep temperatures as low as possible. That’s totally fine if you’re constantly pushing your hardware to its limit, but that isn’t how most people use their laptops.
I, for one, have a daily workload that usually involves writing, researching, editing documents, and having far too many browser tabs open. Those tasks don’t need the fans running at full speed every chance they get.
So, whenever I find a quiet fan profile in the BIOS, I switch to it straight away. My laptop stays noticeably quieter during everyday use, and I barely notice any difference in performance for the work I actually do. And if there’s ever a need for maximum cooling for something more demanding, I can always switch back later.
It only takes a minute to change the setting
The steps will vary, but the process is usually similar
The exact BIOS menus depend on your laptop manufacturer, but the overall process is usually very similar. I use a Dell Latitude laptop, so the steps below are based on Dell’s BIOS. If you have a laptop from another brand, the names and menus may look different, but you should find similar options.
- Restart your laptop.
- As soon as the manufacturer’s logo appears, press the BIOS key repeatedly. On my laptop, this is F12, but other brands also use F2, F10, or Delete.
- Once you’re in the BIOS, look for a section such as Hardware Monitor, Power, PC Health, Advanced, or Cooling/Thermal. Mine was Power.
- Find the Thermal Management setting, or a setting named something like CPU Fan Speed Control or Smart Fan Mode.
- Then, change the cooling fan profile to Quiet or Silent.
- Save your changes and restart your laptop.
Not every laptop has a BIOS setting to change fan speed
But there are alternatives
If you went through the steps discussed above and couldn’t find the fan settings, don’t worry; your laptop isn’t defective or anything. The thing is, a lot of laptop manufacturers either hide the settings so users can’t easily access them or leave them out of the BIOS altogether.
If that’s the case with your laptop, then your first course of action should be to check out your laptop manufacturer’s utility. There are manufacturer software programs like Dell Power Manager, Lenovo Vantage, ASUS Armory Crate, and HP Command Center that include fan profiles or thermal management settings.
You can also check out third-party apps like Argus Monitor or SpeedFan. These apps support fan control on many systems and can be a good alternative. Just keep in mind that compatibility varies from one laptop to another, so they won’t work on every device.
However, I still prefer to change the fan profile through the BIOS whenever the option is available, because it’s a one-time change that stays in effect every time I use the laptop. But if your BIOS doesn’t offer fan controls, manufacturer software or a compatible third-party app can get you much of the same result. Besides, a lot of people are usually scared to change anything in the BIOS, so if your laptop doesn’t have the fan settings there, I’d honestly consider it a small mercy.
It’s a little change that makes a huge difference
It takes maybe a minute to dig up the fan setting in the BIOS, if it’s available, and I’ve stopped skipping it on any laptop that comes across my desk. Switching to the quiet profile reduces noise without me noticing any real hit to how the laptop performs on a day-to-day basis. Most people have no idea their laptop even lets you do this in the first place, but it’s become the first thing I look for now before anything else.
- Operating System
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Windows 10 Pro
- CPU
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Intel Core i7-1165G7