[quote name='enufs8d']How quiet is the slim? My brother complains how loud the 60 gets. He would only accept a slim if it is whisper quiet. Have there been any sound tests done on the fan noise (dBs)?[/QUOTE]
That all depends on how close to the system you sit really, since I can't hear my friends' families system(40gb) when it's on and he's playing a game. Then again, he cranks the volume up to where it's about 2 steps below deafening on their HDtv when he plays.
I sit about 3-5 feet from my PS3(and sat 3-5 feet from my fat model when I still had it) and after about 20-30 minutes it got quite loud. I mean, not as bad as a jet taking off or landing, but it was definitely loud. I had a 40gb model prior to getting the slim.
Thing is, I think how loud the fan gets is directly related to how much processing the system is doing at that point. When I was in the middle of a game, it would sound like my PC does when it's running an anti-virus scan, but when I was just sending messages to friends on PSN it got very quiet.
The slim model by comparison only seems to rev up to a humming sound when the fan(s) kick into high gear. It's not as prevalent as the fat models fans, but it is still noticeable.
The 60 gb models(which are commonly the ones in the kiosks in many stores) tend to sound like a jet plane when they get really warm though.