Greetings! (MBP noise and battery issues)

[edifyingGerbil]

Hey guys, long time reader of macrumors but I didn't feel it appropriate to become a member as I was yet to indoctrinate myself into the cult of Mac.

Well, after yet another malfunction of a PC something finally snapped within me and the next morning I went to the Apple store and purchased a MacBook Pro 15" which I have to say is a pure joy to use. I can finally listen to music at high volume without the hard drive going crazy and the music skipping, or watch a DVD with no pixellation or, again, the sound skipping.

I just have two teensy weensy little qualms about it (as you can imagine after spending ~£1300 for it).

First, My MBP seems afflicted with the peculiar phantom noise which occurs when the MBP is warmed up and pressure is applied on the bottom left of the MBP, next to the trackpad. It's not fiendishly annoying but it is rather galling that after stumping up a hefty wad of cash it should do such a thing but never mind. The next issue is that the battery seems to have gone through three cycles yet I've only just gotten it, and the first thing I did was, in order to calibrate it, let the MBP run out of battery completely and then wait a few hours whilst it was in sleep mode before charging it. It shows 99% yet says it's fully charged.

Now, I'm in a bit of a quandary because as I understand it a refresh is imminent so what should I do: should I return this MBP because of the squeaking/battery issues and then wait for the refresh before purchasing a 2011 one or should I just exchange this MBP for one which doesn't squeak and just be happy with this one?

As I said earlier I really like it, it's a fine machine and very well made. I like the dimensions, the feel of it, the divine weight, the multitouch trackpad, etc. But at the same time, as a poor student, I feel that I shouldn't have to put up with the peculiar noises/battery issues and that furthermore if an update is due soon anyway maybe I ought to wait for that?

What do you guys think?

 

[Fynd]

Unfortunately that sound you're talking about is quite normal from my experience. If it's like a very subtle 'crackling aluminum' kind of noise, anyway.

With the battery, that sounds fine. I would just keep an eye on it with Coconut Battery for a week or 2 and see how that turns out.

 

[Ride9650]

Hey guys, long time reader of macrumors but I didn't feel it appropriate to become a member as I was yet to indoctrinate myself into the cult of Mac.

Well, after yet another malfunction of a PC something finally snapped within me and the next morning I went to the Apple store and purchased a MacBook Pro 15" which I have to say is a pure joy to use. I can finally listen to music at high volume without the hard drive going crazy and the music skipping, or watch a DVD with no pixellation or, again, the sound skipping.

I just have two teensy weensy little qualms about it (as you can imagine after spending ~£1300 for it).

First, My MBP seems afflicted with the peculiar phantom noise which occurs when the MBP is warmed up and pressure is applied on the bottom left of the MBP, next to the trackpad. It's not fiendishly annoying but it is rather galling that after stumping up a hefty wad of cash it should do such a thing but never mind. The next issue is that the battery seems to have gone through three cycles yet I've only just gotten it, and the first thing I did was, in order to calibrate it, let the MBP run out of battery completely and then wait a few hours whilst it was in sleep mode before charging it. It shows 99% yet says it's fully charged.

Now, I'm in a bit of a quandary because as I understand it a refresh is imminent so what should I do: should I return this MBP because of the squeaking/battery issues and then wait for the refresh before purchasing a 2011 one or should I just exchange this MBP for one which doesn't squeak and just be happy with this one?

As I said earlier I really like it, it's a fine machine and very well made. I like the dimensions, the feel of it, the divine weight, the multitouch trackpad, etc. But at the same time, as a poor student, I feel that I shouldn't have to put up with the peculiar noises/battery issues and that furthermore if an update is due soon anyway maybe I ought to wait for that?

What do you guys think?

Assuming you're talking about the kind of noise Fynd is talking about, I've found that re-seating the back cover gets rid of the noise. If you aren't comfortable doing it yourself, just take it back and ask a genius to do it.

Your battery should be fine. As to 3 cycles already being there, I'd chalk that up to factory testing. As to the percentage issue, thats not really a problem and has been normal in my experience.

 

[GGJstudios]

The next issue is that the battery seems to have gone through three cycles yet I've only just gotten it, and the first thing I did was, in order to calibrate it, let the MBP run out of battery completely and then wait a few hours whilst it was in sleep mode before charging it. It shows 99% yet says it's fully charged.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[edifyingGerbil]

I've done the calibration yet again this morning, and I'll do it tonight before I go to bed but the battery is yet again showing 99% here on OSx (it does it on my Windows 7 partition as well) (EDIT: Ah, I see 99% is normal, whoops!)

With regards to the sound, it was this noise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uuhLyxKjRo although nowhere near as bad as this guy's, but when it heats up it does spaz out a little (in terms of the sound)

I'm still torn on whether or not I should return it and wait for the 2011 macbook pros. I'll be quite annoyed if for the same price I could have gotten a better specification but there's no guarantee that it'll be coming out in March and I do need a laptop now.

Since I got it with a student discount, I suppose I could always sell it for what I paid for it, including the discounted Apple Care?

Do you guys think I'm being crazy?