Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2018 Mac Mini coil whine

xylitol said:
Here the OP says that his/her "xth(x>=10) replacement is quite acceptable":

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mbp-15-coil-whine.2128494/page-9#post-26806590

Two separate products. Similar issue, sure, but I personally wouldn’t deal with the hassle of swapping it out, possibly multiple times, in the hopes of landing one with a less “perceptible” noise. To each their own though. Not dealing with a quick firmware/software fix here. I do notice it but it’s not a deal breaker for me in the slightest. I was/am more simply curious of the cause from an education standpoint. I’ll just move mine another foot away from me if it ends up overly annoying me, which I doubt it will. I understand this won’t do for others.
Click to expand...
 
Damn, very apparent here too on i7/8/512/1gb.

Have run into i7 U chips making coil whine before, but they also had Iris GPUs which this one doesn't. It really does seem to follow the disk I/O as well.

Edit:

Here is video of the noise from a Toshiba ssd:

 
Last edited:
Yeah, I’ve decided not to bother and already installed a lot of software on mine. Like you said, I’ll just put it another foot away.
 
Just an additional observation. Last few days been using it in a non typical environment where it is only a few feet away on desk. I can now also hear electrical noise when I move the cursor, this is the more typical 'GPU' or other whine that a lot of devices get. Strangely enough the 'I/O' chirping is harder to hear in this position now! But I do get a nice bird like tweet when I do ML image enhance on Pixelmator pro.
 
Is this coil whine that you guys are talking about high pitched or low pitched? I can live with some low pitch sounds, but high pitched squeeling is the worst. I'm almost like a dog around it.
 
sufs said:
Is this coil whine that you guys are talking about high pitched or low pitched? I can live with some low pitch sounds, but high pitched squeeling is the worst. I'm almost like a dog around it.
Click to expand...

Mine almost sounded like there was a mechanical drive in there.
 
sufs said:
Is this coil whine that you guys are talking about high pitched or low pitched? I can live with some low pitch sounds, but high pitched squeeling is the worst. I'm almost like a dog around it.
Click to expand...

See video attached to posts 34, 43 and 52. It's the exact sound except muffled to larger degree due to the Mac Mini enclosure. It's really not bad at all, unless you are the type to let it drive you nuts for some reason.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ConvertedToMac and sufs
I got coil whine too... I send it back for a replacement.

Anyone has a Mac mini 2018 without coil whine ???
 
Present on my MM 2018 i5/256/8 here too. But it's very faint and doesn't bother me too much. If it gets louder / more prominent it'll be going back.

Only seems to happen when notable writing to the disk is happening. Has apple reinvented the SSD?
 
They are not reinventing the SSD, they are just using Toshiba SSDs instead of Samsung SSDs same with the new Macbook Pros of 2018 & this Coil Whine is a normal behavior with Toshiba SSDs. My replacement is having the coil whine again.
 
well if I have coil whine on my Mac mini replacement I will wait for the next generation... its so annoying when you are working in a quiet room ...
 
Ploki said:
Is there really NOTHING i can buy from apple in 2018?!
Click to expand...


I ended up with a dell optiplex same toshiba ssd a 256 gb but in a removable socket and space inside for a 2.5 inch.
So I got a 512 gb intel ssd 2.5 inch sata cloned the 256 gb toshiba nvme to it. then listed the 256 gb nvme toshiba on ebay.:)

this is what was in my optiplex note I am not this ebay person and I am not selling this unit. but apple basically is soldering this item into the board.

Dell Toshiba THNSN5256GPUK 256GB NVMe PCIe 2280 M.2 SSD Drive 08D5HT 8D5HT

ebay item number ends with 601



These are cheap nvme m2 ssd's apple is scoring big money on them:(
 
Last edited:
I have bought i5 base model recently and also experienced coil whine at the beginning during setup. Since Monday I had coil whine very seldom maybe 2 or 3 times for few seconds. Actually a noise is too low in my case. Noise from cooler under load higher than this coil whine. It isn't boring me and I will go with this mini. As I got from this thread and after googling this is nothing wrong just noise.
In general very great computer I enjoy with mine. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: galactic orange and ConvertedToMac
yes this is the toshiba ssd sound, i don't care , you should care about the performance
or if you want an perfect silent ,you want pick something with samsung ssd
 
i have to admit, this coil whine made me crazy at the beginning... i replaced my mac mini, the new one had the exact same coil whine again. Its just how the Toshiba SSDs are working on the new MacMini and Macbook Pros of 2018. But i dont even notice it anymore like at the beginning. The noise is gone when the fans are starting or when i hear music or anything else & even when its complete silent, its not that crazy noise like it used to be at the beginning.
 
fokmik said:
yes this is the toshiba ssd sound, i don't care , you should care about the performance
or if you want an perfect silent ,you want pick something with samsung ssd
Click to expand...

With the price that Apple charges it should be a forgone conclusion that nothing but Samsung SSD drives are used in Macs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ploki
DVD9 said:
With the price that Apple charges it should be a forgone conclusion that nothing but Samsung SSD drives are used in Macs.
Click to expand...
are the samsung ssd better at performance? Professionals are not price or noise sensitive, are performance sensitive and in this regard the mac mini its an ok mac
 
fokmik said:
are the samsung ssd better at performance? Professionals are not price or noise sensitive, are performance sensitive and in this regard the mac mini its an ok mac
Click to expand...

Yes, Samsung SSD drives are the best. That's what I bought for my NUC. Just about everyone does.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back