Porsche Design Ultra One laptop short review: Noisy SSD antagonizes the expensive laptop

[Redaktion]

It's well known that products under the "Porsche Design" label don't necessarily offer a good price-performance ratio. As long as hardware and processing are of high quality, this factor isn't bothersome for the generous wallet. The Porsche Design Ultra One, however, has two quirks that seriously interfere with longer work sessions. Our review will show what this is all about.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Porsche-Design-Ultra-One-laptop-short-review-Noisy-SSD-antagonizes-the-expensive-laptop.442566.0.html

[william blake]

221 nits for 2k  ::)

[Dave M]

Notebookcheck is going too easy on this piece of garbage. It deserves 70% rating at most.

[M2018]

This is maybe a Porsche design, but otherwise only an overpriced piece of s...!!!

[S.Yu]

This is maybe a Porsche design, but otherwise only an overpriced piece of s...!!!

They made nice sunglasses frames, but I realized that these are not people who hold themselves to very high standards once I saw the Samsung ripoffs named "Porsche Design".

[Fredrik]

Is there any possibility you can have this model of the Ultra One re-tested, and maybe also get a hold of a test unit of the cheaper version, and see if the problems with the noisy SSD remains on either this or both versions, and if any improvements have been made regarding it's rather poor battery life?

Porsche refuses to acknowledge the noisy SSD when i've contacted them, but if that was only a problem on the test unit, i'm considering this model, since it is completely unique on the market, with a combination of 15.6-inch screen, fanless design, back-lit keyboard, with dedicated Home/End/PgUp/PgDn-key. The only other back-lit fanless 15.6-inch model i know of is a Chromebook, that has way to few keys on the keyboard, and how well it works with Linux i don't know.

Regarding the combination of the screen, the noisy SSD and the battery life, i don't get the score either.

[S.Yu]

Is there any possibility you can have this model of the Ultra One re-tested, and maybe also get a hold of a test unit of the cheaper version, and see if the problems with the noisy SSD remains on either this or both versions, and if any improvements have been made regarding it's rather poor battery life?

Porsche refuses to acknowledge the noisy SSD when i've contacted them, but if that was only a problem on the test unit, i'm considering this model, since it is completely unique on the market, with a combination of 15.6-inch screen, fanless design, back-lit keyboard, with dedicated Home/End/PgUp/PgDn-key. The only other back-lit fanless 15.6-inch model i know of is a Chromebook, that has way to few keys on the keyboard, and how well it works with Linux i don't know.

Regarding the combination of the screen, the noisy SSD and the battery life, i don't get the score either.

I suggest that you avoid fanless. Good ventilated designs often have the fan silent or off during low load but avoids most throttling on higher loads, the fanless will simply throttle, this isn't ARM after all.

[Fredrik]

I suggest that you avoid fanless. Good ventilated designs often have the fan silent or off during low load but avoids most throttling on higher loads, the fanless will simply throttle, this isn't ARM after all.

Your concern is misguided. I have had a fanless laptop for over 5 years, a Slatebook 14(at the time the first 14-inch laptop on the market combining fanless design with SSD), and i can tell you that as just with electric cars, once you've had a laptop, intended for home use in a quiet living room or bedroom, that's completely quiet 100% of the time regardless of load, you NEVER go back to a laptop with a fan and 100% meaningless processor power. The noise from a fan is 100% unacceptable.

I have zero problems with a fanless laptop throtteling, i can live with a 5 year old Atom or Celeron(or a Tegra as with my Slatebook), as long as it is combined with an SSD, 8GB memory, back-lit key board and dedicated Home/End/PgUp/PgDn keys. A laptop with a fan has zero value to me, so as long as a new laptop has a 2018-2020 processor with 5W TDP, it's processing power, even when it's throttled, will be plenty enough for anyone who use their laptop for browsing, reading, writing, movies, music and simpler programs.

A bonus of a fanless laptop is that without the air intakes, it will have a longer life span, because no dust find's it's way to the inside.

I have read hundreds and hundreds of private reviews and posts in forum threads from people reasoning as me over the least 7 years, and they are all in complete agreement, regarding how important complete silence is, and how equallý unimportant processing power is on modern laptop, especially if you run Linux. You, just like the laptop manufacturers(and their continously declining market), have no understanding of the fact that a lot of people reason a whole lot different from you, regarding what's important in a laptop. 15W TDP processing power does not equal luxury, comfort or any sort of value to us. A fanless design combined with a back-lit keyboard(with proper maneuver keys) does.

[S.Yu]

I suggest that you avoid fanless. Good ventilated designs often have the fan silent or off during low load but avoids most throttling on higher loads, the fanless will simply throttle, this isn't ARM after all.

Your concern is misguided. I have had a fanless laptop for over 5 years, a Slatebook 14(at the time the first 14-inch laptop on the market combining fanless design with SSD), and i can tell you that as just with electric cars, once you've had a laptop, intended for home use in a quiet living room or bedroom, that's completely quiet 100% of the time regardless of load, you NEVER go back to a laptop with a fan and 100% meaningless processor power. The noise from a fan is 100% unacceptable.

I have zero problems with a fanless laptop throtteling, i can live with a 5 year old Atom or Celeron(or a Tegra as with my Slatebook), as long as it is combined with an SSD, 8GB memory, back-lit key board and dedicated Home/End/PgUp/PgDn keys. A laptop with a fan has zero value to me, so as long as a new laptop has a 2018-2020 processor with 5W TDP, it's processing power, even when it's throttled, will be plenty enough for anyone who use their laptop for browsing, reading, writing, movies, music and simpler programs.

A bonus of a fanless laptop is that without the air intakes, it will have a longer life span, because no dust find's it's way to the inside.

I have read hundreds and hundreds of private reviews and posts in forum threads from people reasoning as me over the least 7 years, and they are all in complete agreement, regarding how important complete silence is, and how equallý unimportant processing power is on modern laptop, especially if you run Linux. You, just like the laptop manufacturers(and their continously declining market), have no understanding of the fact that a lot of people reason a whole lot different from you, regarding what's important in a laptop. 15W TDP processing power does not equal luxury, comfort or any sort of value to us. A fanless design combined with a back-lit keyboard(with proper maneuver keys) does.

lol, my last device that's arguably a 5 year old design now, was a tablet(like Surface) with a 45W processor and 3 fans and 16GB RAM, and I never regretted the extra performance when I had a big Onenote page open full of scribbles and screenshots and a couple dozen Edge tabs. A fanless running the same task would not only lag severely when inking or moving and resizing page elements but crash from time to time due to insufficient memory(8GB).

I would argue just the opposite for the noise, if it's always noisy, it doesn't bother you. While audio experience could be affected by fan noise, I have a +100W soundbar that more than makes up for it, and fan noise masks coil whine (which is more annoying as it's generally more erratic and higher pitch) as long as it's not too severe. A few years ago I couldn't sleep with a ticking clock in the room, but then I got a nice looking clock that unexpectedly ticked very loudly. I tried to replace the movement but it was in fact some high torque type that just has to tick, so I insulated it by stuffing it full of tissue paper and just left it there, after a short while of getting used to I now sleep with a ticking clock in the room with no issue, I don't even notice it most of the time. I also have an iPad Pro I sometimes use which is obviously fanless, I don't prefer it because of lack of noise but because of the superior performance(Apple works magic with its SoC on a limited power envelope, but not x86) and the better integration with touch operation.

The XPS 13 I now have has two quiet fans that only displaces about a third of the air my tablet's three fans could, the many years of tiny improvements by Intel means that the 15(25)W 1065G7 finally matches the 45W 4770HQ in terms of CPU performance(boost considered), with additional GPU performance, which is why I finally made my switch. Aside from Onenote, the performance could be put to use at some light gaming, like the XPS runs Frostpunk full resolution on medium graphics at playable frame rates, impossible for a fanless, I also watch videos with MadVR, which provides tangible improvements to playback quality at the cost of far higher processor load, I guess a fanless would play high bitrate videos without lag with the Photos app or something which messes with the video feed to reduce load.

[Fredrik]

lol, my last device that's arguably a 5 year old design now, was a tablet(like Surface) with a 45W processor and 3 fans and 16GB RAM, and I never regretted the extra performance when I had a big Onenote page open full of scribbles and screenshots and a couple dozen Edge tabs.

Good to know for someone who uses Onenote and Edge, i don't.

A fanless running the same task would not only lag severely when inking or moving and resizing page elements but crash from time to time due to insufficient memory(8GB).

Thanks for the tip, i'll continue to not recommend anyone using browsers or services that uses that much memory and CPU power!

I would argue just the opposite for the noise, if it's always noisy, it doesn't bother you.

You do understand that billions of people don't feel like you about different things in life? Not everyone is like you. Regarding fan noise, i have years and years experience of the difference between fanless vs fan noise in both desktop, laptops and tablets, so i would argue that i should trust my own experience and opinion more than yours, regarding how i feel about something.

..and fan noise masks coil whine (which is more annoying as it's generally more erratic and higher pitch)..

I always return gadgets with coil whine under warranty, and have them repaired or replaced, and instead become happy with the a unit that lacks the coil whine. Maybe a tip for you.

Obviously(you don't understand this self evident fact on your own?) you are different from both me and everyone else that for thought through fully valid reasons prefer fanless laptops and don't care about the lower performance, so why do you even post meaningless comments with ignorant fanboy arguments in a thread about fanless laptops? Is it important for you to push your meaningless personal anecdotes and subjective beliefs about fan noise and CPU performance on to everyone else? Everything i wrote in my previous comment stands exactly as it was written, and nothing you wrote or can write will have the slightest bit of relevance or make any difference.

[S.Yu]

You do understand that billions of people don't feel like you about different things in life? Not everyone is like you.

Everything i wrote in my previous comment stands exactly as it was written, and nothing you wrote or can write will have the slightest bit of relevance or make any difference.

Stands? What stands? Do YOU understand that billions of people don't feel like you about different things in life? You called a ventilated design, the choice of the vast majority of PC users around the globe, "100% meaningless processor power", compared to the so-called

hundreds of private reviews and posts in forum threads from people reasoning as me

you hear in your own little echo chamber of fanless fanatics, and you're lecturing me about how people could feel differently? Rather, your hostile ranting is 100% meaningless to most people around the would.

I always return gadgets with coil whine under warranty, and have them repaired or replaced, and instead become happy with the a unit that lacks the coil whine.

Coil whine is not a defect, just because you could return and return until you get a unit of a certain model that may lack coil whine, doesn't mean every model with coil whine has units that lack coil whine, also know that most people around the world have other priorities than obsess over a bit of noise, for example a better CPU bin, a better SSD draw, or they don't return at all because whereever you buy that has such a generous return policy, you'll be paying for that one way or another.

valid reasons prefer fanless laptops and don't care about the lower performance, so why do you even post meaningless comments with ignorant fanboy arguments in a thread about fanless laptops? Is it important for you to push your meaningless personal anecdotes and subjective beliefs about fan noise and CPU performance on to everyone else?

This is a thread about Porsche Design Ultra One, where none of the commenters before you mentioned fanless, where I replied about how Porsche Design has disappointed me, which is why I was notified about your reply in the first place. Just because Fredrik the Fanless God came doesn't mean this becomes a thread regarding fanless.
You act as if your personally valid reasons could invalidate the reasons of everybody else. Now let's review how you began your ignorant fanboy trash talk by assuring to me:

i can tell you that as just with electric cars, once you've had a laptop, intended for home use in a quiet living room or bedroom, that's completely quiet 100% of the time regardless of load, you NEVER go back to a laptop with a fan and 100% meaningless processor power. The noise from a fan is 100% unacceptable."

"you" "you" "you" "you" "you"
You "push your meaningless personal anecdotes and subjective beliefs about fan noise and CPU performance on to everyone else" as if your opinion is gospel. When your sentence serves the purpose of stating your own personal opinion, the correct way to write it is to use "I" as the subject, or don't you understand this self evident fact on your own?

i should trust my own experience and opinion more than yours, regarding how i feel about something.

Indeed, just don't spray it like you're the indisputable authority regarding the trade-off between performance and ventilation and how you can brainwash everybody to convert to your cause and NEVER go back to ventilated.

[Fredrik the Fanless God]

Stands? What stands?

That which i wrote in the previous comment to you, reply #7. Nothing you wrote changed any of it.

You called a ventilated design, the choice of the vast majority of PC users around the globe, "100% meaningless processor power"

1. Choice indicates that one and the same model is available with both fan and fanless design, this is not the case. Rarely is one and the same model avaible with both a fanless closed design and a ventilated model with fans, so there's not much choice, people need a laptop and buy what's available.

2. Regarding what they actually buy in the end, would you say that a large portion of all laptop buyers in the world have a high level of knowledge regarding how CPU efficient a laptop can be using a CPU efficient operating system, or a tweaked version of Windows, and the most CPU efficient browers and programs, instead of well known CPU hoggers like Edge and Onenote? Of those who aren't, who instead buy based on the retailers advise, do you think that the seller would steer people towards laptops with cheaper 5W TDP processors, or towards expensive 15W TDP processors with ignorant, false or misleading bogus arguments as CPU power needs for programs like Edge, Onenote and MadVR?

That a large majority of people buy ventilated laptops does not equal that they do so based on their actual need for processing power, compared to their need for a silent laptop. Correlation does not equal causality.

3. The quotation about 100% meaningless processing power refered to those who have actually tried a fanless laptop and considered the silent design more important, over the added processing power compared to the fanless model.

Rather, your hostile ranting is 100% meaningless to most people around the would.

I'm not trying to convince anyone who knows for a fact that they need a certain amount of processing power to switch to a low power model, you on the other hand is trying to convince someone who knows very well what processing power they need, that they actually need more, which they obviously don't, which makes you ignorant, or worse.

You might also wanna factor in that 20-40% of the population is noise sensitive(that would be 1.5-3 billion people), and 12-15% are highly noise sensitive. I have over the last 6 years helped over three dozen friends and acquaintances(most from the latter category, HNS) with a switch to a fanless laptop based purely on the fanless design and noise level, and of those 100% love their silent laptops because of their silence, and 0% have turned back because of lack of CPU power. I haven't heard a single complaint about lack of CPU power, but that might have something to do with the fact that i have also helped many of them move away from either Edge and Onenote, or Windows alltogher.

I have not argued that my argumentation is meaningful to any portion of the population, although it clearly is. I was simply trying to help you understand the fact that your opinion about how much processing power other people need is irrelevant and still very misguided.

Coil whine is not a defect

Is this your personal opinion? My personal opinion is that it is a defect, and i have never come across any problems returning, exchanging or repairing a whining unit under warranty, either from consumer legislation or retailer or manufacturer policy.

..doesn't mean every model with coil whine has units that lack coil whine

So now the coil whine is intended on certain models, and on those models it isn't certain that you can find a unit without the intended coil whine? Good to know.  ::)

..also know that most people around the world have other priorities than obsess over a bit of noise, for example a better CPU bin, a better SSD draw..

Yes i would very much like to see statistics that supports what people are most interested in regarding low noise levels vs processing power, and in particular how large the market share is for all fanless models on the market, as in all Celeron laptops since 6 years back and other 5W TDP processors in budget laptops.

Indeed..

Well if you agree with me, why did you even begin to rant about throttling and CPU in reply #8 , if you knew that i was in the right about knowing my personal needs for processing power as described in reply #7? Nothing you wrote in reply #8 was the least bit helpful.

In reply #5 i clarified that it was the noise levels and fanless design that was the selling point to me. In reply #6 you, assuming i didn't know what i was talking about, tried to steer me away from fanless based on processing power. In reply #7 i clarified to such a degree that you can't possibly have misunderstood it, that to me and those others who prefer fanless models for thoughful reasons, that processing power has little or no relevance compared to fanless design. Then in reply #8 you started laughing and went on rant about your power needs, and argued that your opinion, that you now admit you knew was irrelevant, should be taken into consideration.

..just don't spray it like you're the indisputable authority regarding the trade-off between performance and ventilation

You can dispute whatever you want, but as someone who has over a decade experience on the topic, compared to someone who values CPU power based on CPU drain from Edge and Onenote, and obsessive video quality from MadVR, i would say that to anyone who is noise sensitive, i am the authority, not you. If someone had the need for gaming, obsessive video quality, Edge and Onenote, i can see why some misguided people would consider asking you for advice.

[S.Yu]

That which i wrote in the previous comment to you, reply #7. Nothing you wrote changed any of it.

why did you even begin to rant about throttling and CPU in reply #8 , if you knew that i was in the right about knowing my personal needs for processing power as described in reply #7? Nothing you wrote in reply #8 was the least bit helpful.

In reply #7 i clarified to such a degree that you can't possibly have misunderstood it, that to me and those others

No. I replied to you with #8 specifically to tell you that your rant in reply #7, in which the subject was "you", (i.e. everybody else; or possibly worse, me, the subject of your reply, since you failed to provide context):

i can tell you that as just with electric cars, once you've had a laptop, intended for home use in a quiet living room or bedroom, that's completely quiet 100% of the time regardless of load, you NEVER go back to a laptop with a fan and 100% meaningless processor power. The noise from a fan is 100% unacceptable.

doesn't stand, with my own experience, which you called "meaningless personal anecdotes", more laughably, "subjective personal beliefs", as if your obsession with fanless is based on objective facts.

Indeed..

your opinion, that you now admit you knew was irrelevant

My opinion was irrelevant only under the condition that your statement expressed your opinion, yours only, at which you obviously failed, as you tried to represent everybody including me; therefore my opinion was not irrelevant without the above condition having been met at the time of my reply. It was relevant to disputing your blanket statement.
Citing one word out of the context of a paragraph, talk about futile struggle.

1. Choice indicates that one and the same model is available with both fan and fanless design, this is not the case.

There's no practical value in your argument, because the vast majority of electronics isn't configured like that. Following your argument Samsung would never acknowledge need for a headphone jack because they've never released the same model with and without the jack as an experiment to determine how many people need the jack. However because Samsung killed the jack in their flagships I'm now looking elsewhere, entirely different models from different brands aside from the fact that they keep the jack, as are other people who need the jack. People who truly need fanless would buy fanless regardless of lack of complete equivalence otherwise.
Also, devices configured like that lose what you call "a longer life span, because no dust find's it's way to the inside", because it will share a grilled chassis with the ventilated variants. Lack of ventilation also commonly leads to much higher SoC temperature to partially relief throttling, which shortens the lifespan of the silicon. For example the SoC in the fanless Macbook easily reaches 95°C.

2. Regarding what they actually buy in the end, would you say that a large portion of all laptop buyers in the world have a high level of knowledge regarding how CPU efficient a laptop can be using a CPU efficient operating system, or a tweaked version of Windows, and the most CPU efficient browers and programs, instead of well known CPU hoggers like Edge and Onenote? Of those who aren't, who instead buy based on the retailers advise, do you think that the seller would steer people towards laptops with cheaper 5W TDP processors, or towards expensive 15W TDP processors with ignorant, false or misleading bogus arguments as CPU power needs for programs like Edge, Onenote and MadVR?

1.   You're saying that devices with low performance are necessarily cheaper and have lower margins than those with high performance, this was never the case, as demonstrated in the past by devices like VAIO X, and Dell Adamo, and still is not the case, case in point the subject of this very thread, the Porsche Design Ultra One.
2.   You say it as if Edge is at fault, however Edge is commonly used in battery benchmarks not only because it comes preinstalled but because it's more efficient than Chrome, and Chrome is the most popular browser in the world by far, overall and on PC. The alternatives to Onenote are also far inferior, like Evernote, which rather functions like a database for Word documents than a true digital evolution to the paper notebook.
People can also have valid reasons for using what they're using, instead of suggesting that they don't know how to jump through the hoops to go fanless, there's also the possibility that they could simply choose not to jump, and choose one of the vast majority of PCs with a fan, as if that fact wasn't obvious. That ventilated designs simply work without software limitations, extensive user end adjustments and modifications(much less Linux!) is a valid reason for many to choose ventilated, the fuss-free experience to those people is more important than absolute operational silence.

3. The quotation about 100% meaningless processing power refered to those who have actually tried a fanless laptop and considered the silent design more important, over the added processing power compared to the fanless model.

Too late for that, the original sentence read nothing like your current interpretation.

you on the other hand is trying to convince someone who knows very well what processing power they need, that they actually need more, which they obviously don't, which makes you ignorant, or worse.

Let's review what your original comment said:

Is there any possibility you can have this model of the Ultra One re-tested, and maybe also get a hold of a test unit of the cheaper version, and see if the problems with the noisy SSD remains on either this or both versions, and if any improvements have been made regarding it's rather poor battery life?

Porsche refuses to acknowledge the noisy SSD when i've contacted them, but if that was only a problem on the test unit, i'm considering this model, since it is completely unique on the market, with a combination of 15.6-inch screen, fanless design, back-lit keyboard, with dedicated Home/End/PgUp/PgDn-key. The only other back-lit fanless 15.6-inch model i know of is a Chromebook, that has way to few keys on the keyboard, and how well it works with Linux i don't know.

Regarding the combination of the screen, the noisy SSD and the battery life, i don't get the score either.

Where does it say, "I, Fredrik the Fanless God, know very well what processing power I need, which is not the, according to me, '100% meaningless' processing power afforded by the fan."
Oh, so whoever can't get inside your head is automatically "ignorant or worse"? That certainly says a lot about you, though much of that was already clear from how you phrased your first reply to me.

You might also wanna factor in that 20-40% of the population is noise sensitive(that would be 1.5-3 billion people), and 12-15% are highly noise sensitive.

You might wanna tell that to the manufacturers. Wow! 20-40% of the population need fanless! Surely there's a way to sell fanless to all those people marketed as some premium feature instead of allowing low performance to be associated with low end and hurt margins! Why isn't it "available" to all those people!

I have over the last 6 years helped over three dozen friends and acquaintances(most from the latter category, HNS) with a switch to a fanless laptop based purely on the fanless design and noise level, and of those 100% love their silent laptops because of their silence, and 0% have turned back because of lack of CPU power.

Talk about "meaningless personal anecdote".

I have not argued that my argumentation is meaningful to any portion of the population,

Again, too late, you comment obviously didn't read that way.

although it clearly is.

Ha, there again your personal anecdote is "meaningful to the population", while mine is "meaningless and misguided".

I was simply trying to help you understand the fact that your opinion about how much processing power other people need is irrelevant and still very misguided.

Oh really, here we are at Notebookcheck with a battery of dozens of benchmarks conducted for each model directed at processing power, while Fredrik the Fanless God comes along and says "processing power is irrelevant, to the extent that any performance afforded by a fan is 'meaningless', 'other people' just need a 5W fanless, just tell me about the NOISE NOISE NOISE NOISE NOISE, oh, and the screen size."

Is this your personal opinion? My personal opinion is that it is a defect

No, it's legally not a defect, like how TV panels can ship with usually under 3 black or white pixels without being liable to return as a defective unit. If your manufacturer policy explicitly states that coil whine is a defect, then good for you, you're probably in Europe where consumer protection is somewhat over the top and electronics have a significant markup compared to the most of the rest of the world, in which case you're still paying for it, as I said.

So now the coil whine is intended on certain models, and on those models it isn't certain that you can find a unit without the intended coil whine? Good to know.  ::)

No, but complete absence of coil whine is not universally intended.

..just don't spray it like you're the indisputable authority regarding the trade-off between performance and ventilation

to anyone who is noise sensitive, i am the authority

Did you really dispute me? At reply #6, the one you replied to, did anybody in the thread say that they're noise-sensitive and needed your spiritual guidance? Is anybody noise-sensitive in this thread aside from you? Who were you imposing your Godly authority onto with your arrogant and condescending reply to a comment that only consisted of a suggestion based on a fact, which, entirely unclear at the time, happened to be irrelevant to your personal needs?

If someone had the need for gaming, obsessive video quality, Edge and Onenote, i can see why some misguided people would consider asking you for advice.

Godly Fredrik continues his holy preaching: gaming, proper playback of video content, Microsoft's embedded browser and a functionally irreplaceable productivity app are all misguided, THE ONLY WAY IS THE WAY OF ABSOLUTE SILENCE.

[MxRp]

As the proud owner of a 12 year old Asus R1F (still working) I have some experience of tablet convertibles, although not as a daily work tool over a long period of time. It was always a personal PC for study work.

Edge tabs shouldn't have fans dancing and singing. They do nothing, it's RAM. Once you've downloaded the web page, that's mostly it, with the odd stuck script. It's network and buses more than anything. Same for OneNote, unless you're a robot version of Da Vinci. Using the tablet is basic input. Photoshopping a terrabyte's worth of pictures isn't.

Also, there are CPU fans and GPU fans. Excel can sweat a ton without bothering Miss nVidia. It's getting a bit lost now that we have so much more of everything from clock speeds to RAM chips, but not everything requires a trillion computations a second for very long. Lolcatz sure don't.

[S.Yu]

As the proud owner of a 12 year old Asus R1F (still working) I have some experience of tablet convertibles, although not as a daily work tool over a long period of time. It was always a personal PC for study work.

Edge tabs shouldn't have fans dancing and singing. They do nothing, it's RAM. Once you've downloaded the web page, that's mostly it, with the odd stuck script. It's network and buses more than anything. Same for OneNote, unless you're a robot version of Da Vinci. Using the tablet is basic input. Photoshopping a terrabyte's worth of pictures isn't.

Also, there are CPU fans and GPU fans. Excel can sweat a ton without bothering Miss nVidia. It's getting a bit lost now that we have so much more of everything from clock speeds to RAM chips, but not everything requires a trillion computations a second for very long. Lolcatz sure don't.

I don't know what to tell you, my ~8 year old standard voltage Ivy Bridge has the fan whirling at 7-10% CPU load, and this unit requires a restart once every couple weeks to prevent crashing because of some sort of memory leak or something that eventually has everything failing to start including the display driver with ~3GB RAM seemingly idle.
Onenote lags the least by a clear margin on my ventilated (and probably cTDP up) 1065G7, compared to an old standard voltage Broadwell(even in performance mode), and a 1st gen iPP which would otherwise lag very little. Each page may contain over a hundred screenshots but lags could occur with far fewer than that. There are definitely unfixed bugs in Onenote's most basic operations but in the years until MS fixes them, if, MS ever fixes them, a fast CPU helps.