2020 MBP "13 - Coil Whine - Here we go again?

[iRun26.2]

Metal Composite Inductors, see the coils: https://www.samsungsem.com/global/product/passive-component/inductor.do

Mine sounds like a much milder version of this:

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Thank you. I am quite familiar with inductors making noise. I have some in my own designs that do. I still think that Apple would not use a module like you’ve shown but would use a few memory integrated circuits instead.

What you’ve shown is a module that could be replaced. We know that Apple’s memory can’t be upgraded so I doubt there are any inductors associated with the SSD. There probably is a power supply that supply’s power to the SSD and other components but I doubt there is a special power supply for the SSD.

Thus I still would say there aren’t any components of the SSD that make noise. The noise could come from the systems’s power supply but I highly doubt that a there is a dedicated power supply for the SSD as shown in your video which shows a SSD module.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Thank you guys for your replies! It does seem to me new MBPs have less cool whine problems. I’ll have to wait for mine and see though

Well then why would you not state so in your original post in this thread? I stopped reading at your post I've quoted above as it seems to contradict your original thoughts - did it by chance?

Just so many threads of people knocking on their Apple products vs really enjoying them and 'coil' whine doesn't make sense to me ...

Where is the 'coil' within the MBP? Can't be the fan since it's not a sequence of concentric rings.

 

[matram]

As @iRun26.2 states coils in the form of inductors may exist on the PCB. They can be used in power supplies and for signal conditioning. If these inductors are switched at an audible frequency I do not know.

I can for sure not hear anything but having impaired hearing I am probably not the person to judge.

 

[UBS28]

I don’t have it. So just send it back and get a new unit.

I also had coil whine issues in the past with other macbook pro’s and exchanging it (took a couple of tries) fixed it.

 

[Patcell]

I don't think I've ever experienced this... although I don't really know what I'm listening for...

I have a new 2020 13" Pro and doing day-to-day stuff (i.e. fans are off), I am holding my stethoscope up to the computer and I hear nothing whatsoever. It's difficult to say if there is a sound when under load because the fans ramp up and I can definitely hear that.

I also tested this on my 2017 15" Pro and all I hear with the stethoscope is the fans running (they always run on the 15" ~1200rpm).

 

[antoine92]

Got another machine with same specs today - it appears to be even worse that the previous one: the whining / scratching noise is more intense and audible, even when scrolling this very page. I just can't stand it and won't get used to it. Returning again

 

[KTamas]

Just another anecdatapoint, but my unit no zero coil whine whatsoever, ears on keyboard. nothing. And I'm really sensitive to this stuff.

 

[tagliala]

Hi everyone,

Last month I've bought a customized 13" MacBook Pro 2020 with 10th i7 CPU and the coil whine and other crackling noises are definitely audible.

It is not a defective unit, because I've already got a replacement and both make noise. The first one did a terrible noise, the second one just crackles and buzzes from time to time

Disabling Turbo Boost helps but does not fix the issue: the machine makes noises from at least three spots under the keyboard. You can hear it crackling after Pages open or a web page loads

I've read that there are some i7 owners without coil whine, but I would like to ask to i5 8th/10th gen owners with coil whine because I would consider a downgrade rather than hearing those sounds.

Also, I do not like the idea of changing another machine (and wait 20 days)

 

[Broko Fankone]

i5 10th gen here and no coil whine whatsoever in my experience.

 

[Patcell]

Ditto. Another i5 10th Gen user here. Not a sound from my machine. I’ve gone as far as placing my stethoscope to the chassis in various workloads, and I hear nothing.

 

[jabbr]

I don't think stethoscopes can pick up anything above 2kHz. Coil whine is usually nasty high frequency sound.

 

[tagliala]

Got mine yesterday (i7/32/1TB), it has coil whine, but not that noticeable like in 16". I can hear it within a foot away from the computer only in a completely quiet room at night. I can hear it when moving layers in Photoshop, or scrolling timeline in FCPX.
Other than that the machine is perfect, I'm very happy with it. BUT if the whine bothers me too much, I will return it. I'm aware that this issue is very common in almost every modern laptop, but I just don't want to put up with it

Does it change with time? I mean, it goes better / worse / always the same?

Meanwhile, I've recorded the crackling sound my unit does. Sorry for the quality, I've used the secondary microphone near the iPhone camera.

It happens every time you open an application (Numbers, Pages) or refresh a web page (this web page on Safari). It comes from the right side of the keyboard, around the "L" key.

Edit: After 2.5 years of heavy daily usage, I've put my ear on the keyboard of my MacBook Pro 13"/2017/i7 and it makes the very same noise. It is not audible at normal distance

Edit 2: Same for my MacBook Air 13"/2013/i7. It makes a similar but lower crackling noise, but I didn't notice in 4.5 years of heavy daily usage. Definitely not audible at normal distance

 

[Patcell]

I don't think stethoscopes can pick up anything above 2kHz. Coil whine is usually nasty high frequency sound.

It is also possible my ears alone can’t pick up the sound... I have never experienced this with any of my Macs. And I’ve had many.
I did have an XPS 13 a couple years back that made some nasty high-pitches sounds.
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[Jochheim]

I also checked my i5 2020 4TB MBP and it did not exhibit those sounds BUT i had to reset it (it will get replaced) and while reinstalling High Sierra i could hear a similar sound like in the YouTube video on the first page. But i could not hear this when using the machine, kind of strange. Maybe it was the SSD and it did exhibit those sounds because MacOS wrote a lot of files on it?

 

[WorldIRC]

I've experienced coil whine in past. Not the case on my i5 10th Gen 2020 MBP.

 

[tagliala]

Update: In agreement with Apple, I've returned the second unit for good.

I will consider a 10th gen i5, thanks for your feedack

 

[Jochheim]

Update: Got my replacement unit and checked again. With my ears right above the left speaker I can barely hear some "noise" like in the video on the first page, but not above the right speaker and only if my surrounding is silent and I am really really close. So I guess maybe all units will exhibit some noise but I have to say that I would have never heard it if I wasn't searching for it. Don't know if you are this sensible but I have pretty good sense of hearing and I can't hear it when I am at normal viewing distance.

 

[tagliala]

Update: Got my replacement unit and checked again. With my ears right above the left speaker I can barely hear some "noise" like in the video on the first page, but not above the right speaker and only if my surrounding is silent and I am really really close. So I guess maybe all units will exhibit some noise but I have to say that I would have never heard it if I wasn't searching for it.

Could you please check if you can hear the crackling noise just after you launch Pages (after having close it with CMD+Q)? It comes from under the "L" key. I've attached the video here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...in.2238536/page-2?post=28719393#post-28719393

Don't know if you are this sensible but I have pretty good sense of hearing and I can't hear it when I am at normal viewing distance.

I'm not young, and I'm surprised that I can still hear those sounds. I can confirm that the 2017 i7 model made a similar noise, but I didn't notice at normal viewing distance in 2.5 years of daily usage, I had to put the ear on the keyboard.

 

[meteoreos]

After using my MacBook Pro 2020 (i5) in a dead silent room, I noticed a strange scratching sound. Checked my Mac, specifically the left hand side, and I can hear a high pitched scratching sound. I assume this is coil whine as I’ve never had this issue previously.

Not sure if it’s worth returning for a replacement? It is annoying if I’m concentrating on it, but is it a precursor for hardware failure?

 

[tagliala]

After using my MacBook Pro 2020 (i5) in a dead silent room, I noticed a strange scratching sound. Checked my Mac, specifically the left hand side, and I can hear a high pitched scratching sound. I assume this is coil whine as I’ve never had this issue previously.

8th gen or 10th gen?

Not sure if it’s worth returning for a replacement? It is annoying if I’m concentrating on it, but is it a precursor for hardware failure?

You can try, but the replacement unit may be worse. If I got this issue correctly, this is an intrinsic issues of all electrical components, so it should not supposed to be a symptom of an hardware failure

 

[Jochheim]

Could you please check if you can hear the crackling noise just after you launch Pages (after having close it with CMD+Q)? It comes from under the "L" key. I've attached the video here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...in.2238536/page-2?post=28719393#post-28719393

Sorry for being late - just checked opening pages but it does not seem to affect the sound at all - and I hear the „Noise“ above the left side of the keyboard and not above the l key. But as you said it does not bother me at all (having other significant problems with the MBP).
jochheim

 

[hatchettjack]

2020 13in i7 32gb ram 1tb storage. no noises and this thing is a beast!

 

[LightAxe]

Hello!

I just came here to say I have a 2020 10th gen i5 13" MBP with 1TB of disk and 32GB of RAM and I'm experiencing coil whine. I thought it was caused by the eGPU, but just removed that and was able to reproduce it by launching Civ6.

It sounds exactly like the SSD YouTube video from several replies above.

It's odd that Civ so reliably produces the coil whine, but Geekbench and other synthetic benchmarks (like Blackmagic Disk Speed Test) don't seem to trigger it.

I guess I reach out to support next... it's enough to drive me a little bit more bonkers than usual when I don't have headphones on.

Rob