Well folks, yep, my SL400's got an audible fan.
The hum from the fluorescent lights in my living room is louder than the working of the laptop, and compared to my old desktop, this SL400 is a whisper, but... in a quiet, dark, wee small AM hours room, the fan is audible. Basically, the fan's on when it shouldn't be. Mainboard temp readings are a mere 34 degrees, but the fan's on anyway. And fan control programs don't exist for the SL series.
I downgraded the BIOS to 1.16 since people have said that worked for them, and it seems a little quieter. I'll have to leave it overnight to cool down to ambient temp and then turn it on tomorrow and see how it works out, but I suspect it'll still be there.
There is some internet scuttlebutt saying the SL series is about to be discontinued too.
Do anything other than sit there and listen for the fan, and the noise recedes into the background easily, and I guess I'm being sensitive just now, but there it is. The oppressive hum of the old desktop was in a way easier to ignore.
So if I may for one moment mimic the workings of the Firefox Profanity Filter and at the same time issue a terse comment summing up my current feeling, I'll just say this:
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