First review about sound... fan noise

[Cape Dave]

As I threw benchmarks, games and encoding jobs at the Mac mini, I was constantly impressed by how much it could tackle without making any discernible fan noise. But Apple can’t escape heat. The Mac mini has a large intake fan along its bottom that sucks in cool air and spreads it out throughout the entire system. However, when I started running Cinebench's multithreaded benchmark, the fan kicked into high gear and the Mac mini sounded like it was getting ready to take off.


It's not an unpleasant sound — it's more like a calming white noise machine than the obnoxiously loud Mac fans of yore — but it's certainly noticeable. If you're typically wearing headphones or blasting music, it may not be an issue, but it could make the Mac mini very annoying in a shared office setting. If you're planning to constantly throw heavy workloads at it in high power mode, you might be better off with the larger Mac Studio, which can better handle heat.

Apple Mac mini review (M4 Pro, 2024): Shockingly small, incredibly powerful

"That's a computer?!" My daughter just couldn't believe her eyes when I pulled the new Mac mini out of its box. It measures just five-inches by five-inches across, and it sits a mere two inches tall. The Mac mini is an adorable box that resembles an oversized Apple TV. But what's more impressive...

www.msn.com

 

[AAPLGeek]

This kinda blows when you can almost never hear the fan on the older design, no matter how hard you push it

 

[Gnattu]

This kinda blows when you can almost never hear the fan on the older design, no matter how hard you push it

This is for M4 Pro and I can tell you the old M2 Pro model is not as quite as the base M2 either. You have to make some compromise to put high performance chips into small form factors like this.

 

[EugW]

Despite the fact the M4 Pro has a copper based cooling system, I suspect the M4 will be quieter under full load even with its all-aluminum cooling system.

Anyhow, music oriented users might prefer a M4 Max Mac Studio over the M4 Pro Mac mini. Too bad the M4 Max Mac Studio doesn’t exist yet.

 

[headlessmike]

I have an M1 mini and heard the fan for the first time last week after owning it for years (I was processing a few 4K videos with full CPU and GPU load). It caught me completely off guard. The case for the M1 and M2 mini was clearly designed for the thermal needs of Intel Macs (my 2012 Quad i7 would constantly push the fan) and was way overkill for those chips. With the M4 I guess Apple finally decided to scale back the thermal mass of the device to match the actual requirements of the M4 series SoCs. It shouldn't impact the reliability or longevity of the chips, but will probably lead to the fan being heard more often, unfortunately.

 

[EugW]

I have an M1 mini and heard the fan for the first time last week after owning it for years (I was processing a few 4K videos with full CPU and GPU load). It caught me completely off guard. The case for the M1 and M2 mini was clearly designed for the thermal needs of Intel Macs (my 2012 Quad i7 would constantly push the fan) and was way overkill for those chips. With the M4 I guess Apple finally decided to scale back the thermal mass of the device to match the actual requirements of the M4 series SoCs. It shouldn't impact the reliability or longevity of the chips, but will probably lead to the fan being heard more often, unfortunately.

The review unit is an M4 Pro and not an M4. You are running an M1. M2 Pro reportedly engages the fan more often than M1 and M2.

 

[dcpmark]

Not what I was expecting when I saw that this was about the new Mini’s “sound”……I would have titled this “noise” rather than “sound.” 😆

 

[headlessmike]

The review unit is an M4 Pro and not an M4. You are running an M1. M2 Pro reportedly engages the fan more often than M1 and M2.

I know, and I suspect an M4 Pro running under full load to be a bit louder than an M2 Pro because of the smaller case (assuming they have a similar TDP). I was just commenting on the general expectations from the last two generations that Apple Silicon Mac minis are always quiet.

 

[zedsdead]

Very surprised to hear this - given there was backlash over the M1 Mac Studios (which they fixed with M2).

I never hear the fans in my M1 Max Macbookj Pro nor in the M2 Max Mac Studio.

 

[Macalway]

Curious. We shall see how this plays out. I got the base model. It most likely is better than similar Windows mini PC's, which can be very annoying.

 

[RecentlyConverted]

Thought this was going to be a review of the internal speaker😄. How does it compare to the old mini?

 

[Macalway]

Thought this was going to be a review of the internal speaker😄. How does it compare to the old mini?

Right, it should be 'noise' not sound. But interesting nevertheless.

 

[EugW]

 

[Phonzoxd]

feeling better about ordering M4

 

[Guenter]

The test on Heise (ct) says for the pro under artificial benchmarks a noise of 5.7 sone wich is very high. For the 1 gig ssd they write speeds of about 6000 mb/s, similar values are reported for the macbook pro with 2 gig ssd.

 

[Cape Dave]

Not what I was expecting when I saw that this was about the new Mini’s “sound”……I would have titled this “noise” rather than “sound.” 😆

You are correct

 

[Cape Dave]

Right, it should be 'noise' not sound. But interesting nevertheless.

You are correct. Noise is more accurate.

 

[Cape Dave]

I am looking for a YouTube review that does noise. Looked at three so far with NO MENTION of noise.

 

[Wolf1701]

It would be great if the fans acted as they do in mbpro... practically always at ZERO rpm, I practically never felt them unless I forced it on purpose (all verified with macs fan control)

 

[ubinko]

I am looking for a YouTube review that does noise. Looked at three so far with NO MENTION of noise.

 

[hise]

This kinda blows when you can almost never hear the fan on the older design, no matter how hard you push it

If by old design you are not considering the 2018 Intel Mini sitting on my desk at this moment and sounding like it is spinning up for launch.

 

[hise]

This is for M4 Pro and I can tell you the old M2 Pro model is not as quite as the base M2 either. You have to make some compromise to put high performance chips into small form factors like this.

That is the problem isn't it? I didn't ask for this chip in a small form factor.

 

[Gnattu]

That is the problem isn't it? I didn't ask for this chip in a small form factor.

I think you have to choice to not buy it🧐

 

[hise]

I think you have to choice to not buy it🧐

Yes, that is why I still have this unopened M2 Max Studio in a box that I can return to Costco if I decide not to go with the M4 Pro. You still don't get my point, there was no need to compromise. I've never heard someone say they wish the Mini was smaller.

 

[EugW]

Yes, that is why I still have this unopened M2 Max Studio in a box that I can return to Costco if I decide not to go with the M4 Pro. You still don't get my point, there was no need to compromise. I've never heard someone say they wish the Mini was smaller.

I wished the mini was a bit smaller, as did some other people in this forum.

I'm looking forward to the arrival of my M4.