How loud does iMac get under full load? And other questions...

[heliocentric]

Ok although I'm pretty unsure about the screen quality I'm close to purchasing a iMac...just a few questions

I had a 20" c2d one when that came out and its fans never got louder or ramped up whilst under full load, always kept a constant (very quiet speed).

Is it the same for the new iMacs?

Also how do the 500gb hard drives compare to the 1tb ones for noise?

Thanks

 

[Macman45]

No Noise Here

Ok although I'm pretty unsure about the screen quality I'm close to purchasing a iMac...just a few questions

I had a 20" c2d one when that came out and its fans never got louder or ramped up whilst under full load, always kept a constant (very quiet speed).

Is it the same for the new iMacs?

Also how do the 500gb hard drives compare to the 1tb ones for noise?

Thanks

Even under high workload

 

[S.B.G]

Not very much at all. Just a low hum from the fans. The iMac only has 3 of them. The HDD's are also quiet. I have the 1TB and I can barely hear it.

 

[heliocentric]

So the fans stay the same constant speed? As they did on the c2d model I mentioned...

Also is the high end 21.5 worth the money over the base model?

 

[S.B.G]

So the fans stay the same constant speed?

Also is the high end 21.5 worth the money over the base model?

No. The fan speed is variable. The more CPU intensive work you do the more the fans will spin up to cool it. In general, the fans are not heard unless you're maxing the CPU for a while.

Is the worth the high-end model? I don't know, that's a question only you can answer. What do you intend on using it for? That will help determine which model is better for you.

 

[iSayuSay]

Under heavy load (e.g gaming, encoding, video editing) .. I can hear iMac fan getting louder than usual .. not necessarily "noisy" or annoying, but definitely there is a difference when compared to idle or normal computing.

Well I thankful my fans kick in when it's hot .. so the heat don't bake my internal for good. But for the most part, even being heavy loaded, my iMac still keep the noise level much below average desktop tower.

I had an MBP, which fans kick in faster than on iMac under load, so i think iMac has more tolerance to heat compared to any Macbook. Maybe due to bigger chassis so it dissipates heat better. I don't know.

 

[heliocentric]

Have iMacs always been like that with the fans? Because as I stated I never noticed a noise increase with the fans on the 20" c2d (even whilst doing lengthy handbrake encodes).

Going to be using for adobe audition (music production), handbrake, plex, some games, web, general computing

 

[S.B.G]

Have iMacs always been like that with the fans? Because as I stated I never noticed a noise increase with the fans on the 20" c2d....

Going to be using for adobe audition (music production), handbrake, plex, some games, web, general computing

Rest assured they're nice and quiet.

 

[panzer06]

Ok although I'm pretty unsure about the screen quality I'm close to purchasing a iMac...just a few questions

I had a 20" c2d one when that came out and its fans never got louder or ramped up whilst under full load, always kept a constant (very quiet speed).

Is it the same for the new iMacs?

Also how do the 500gb hard drives compare to the 1tb ones for noise?

Thanks

Playing a high end 3D games in bootcamp can crank the fans to full speed so it does get loud if you tax the GPU. However, it's never as loud as the 6000rpm fans when my mbp cranks all the way up.

Cheers,

 

[dwarnecke11]

Encoding a 1080p movie only spun my CPU fan up to 1700 rpm or so. - even after 30 minutes. i could barely hear it. I can't speak for GPU intensive games though.

 

[heliocentric]

Sounds good! Probably gonna order one tomorrow...

But if the screen is as awful as made out on this forum,it's going right back for one exchange...maximum. Don't wanna get stuck in this whole exchange cycle people seem to be in, especially as I'm ordering over the phone and can't get to an apple store.

Thanks

 

[S.B.G]

Sounds good! Probably gonna order one tomorrow...

But if the screen is as awful as made out on this forum,it's going right back for one exchange...maximum. Don't wanna get stuck in this whole exchange cycle people seem to be in, especially as I'm ordering over the phone and can't get to an apple store.

Thanks

I wouldn't worry too much about the screen. I think the issue has been blown out of proportion just a bit. I have two iMacs and both screens are fine.

 

[Mac Eagle]

i have a new 27" i7 3.4 with 2TB Drive and I can tell you the fans do ramp up with load and you definitly can hear it (unless your workspace is noisy anyway). Yes the iMac is "relatively" quiet (I had a G5 Power Mac that sounded like a jet engine... during takeoff) so noise was something I was very interested in when I bought my iMac. While it is MUCH quieter than my G5, in a quiet room I can still hear the fans making a soft muffled wooshing noise. When I am using handbrake (or a higher end game) and it is pegging out all cores, the fans will ramp up (~3000rpm) and the sound is audible even when there is outher noise in the room; however, it is still about only 20% of the volume the G5 made so I'm still pretty happy.

I just don't buy these people that claim there's are TOTALLY silent. I would like to see/hear the environment they are in. Any machine with a fan and/or spinning drive is going to make some noise so maybe silent means different things to different people.

 

[heliocentric]

It will be in my living room you see and when I'm doing handbrake encodes I don't want to be distracting people with a loud fan.

Would the mac mini be quieter or is it worse ?

 

[S.B.G]

It will be in my living room you see and when I'm doing handbrake encodes I don't want to be distracting people with a loud fan.

Would the mac mini be quieter or is it worse ?

Trust me, you won't be distracting people in the same room with an iMac at full CPU power and fans going.

The Mini will be quieter as it has less fans. The iMac only has 3.

 

[heliocentric]

Trust me, you won't be distracting people in the same room with an iMac at full CPU power and fans going.

The Mini will be quieter as it has less fans. The iMac only has 3.

I am tempted by a i7 mini but you seem to get a lot more for your money with a iMac

 

[Paulywauly]

Trust me, you won't be distracting people in the same room with an iMac at full CPU power and fans going.

The Mini will be quieter as it has less fans. The iMac only has 3.

SandboxGeneral is right, the newer iMacs are barely audible even under full load theres no way people will find it distracting. I tend to find my external drives make more noise than the iMac

also, don't let what people on these forums say about the screen put you off. People are always more vocal on the net when they have something to complain about, the majority of iMac customers are more than happy with their purchases.

 

[S.B.G]

I am tempted by a i7 mini but you seem to get a lot more for your money with a iMac

Unless you already have a monitor, keyboard and mouse to go with a Mini, you really do get a lot with the iMac. It's a great machine and I own two of them. A 24" C2D 3.06GHZ, 6GB RAM and a mid-2010 27" i7 2.93GHZ, 16GB RAM and I love both of them.

also, don't let what people on these forums say about the screen put you off. People are always more vocal on the net when they have something to complain about, the majority of iMac customers are more than happy with their purchases.

This is exactly right.

Don't worry so much about it. If you've committed to buying one, do it and enjoy it. IF, and I mean IF there are any problems with it, Apple will take care of you. I haven't had any issues with my screens or anything on my two iMacs.

 

[Paulywauly]

This is exactly right.

Don't worry so much about it. If you've committed to buying one, do it and enjoy it. IF, and I mean IF there are any problems with it, Apple will take care of you. I haven't had any issues with my screens or anything on my two iMacs.

He's right again, plus if you don't trust Apple to fix it etc. you can always get a refund within 14 days.

i can't stress enough the importance of not looking too much into people complaining on the internet about products. The "antennagate" iPhone 4 fiasco last year was the best example ever, it was blown so far out of proportion it was front page news on most of the big news sites, then we found out the returns/applecare support requests for it were less than the 3GS (about 2-3%)

Trust me, if you Google all your future purchases looking for issues you'll find plenty of them and won't dare spend anything. You'll get plenty of people complaining of bad iMac screens, dead hard drives etc. Just go out and have fun spending money on a shiny new iMac and remember theres support in the unlikely event you'll have issues

 

[heliocentric]

Thanks

I will order a iMac tomorrow.

Still trying to decide if I should go for base or high end. It's another £210 which I'm not sure I can justify...

I already have a 1tb 2.5" 12.5mm hard drive I could use with it if I put it in a enclosure right?

 

[S.B.G]

Thanks

I already have a 1tb 2.5" 12.5mm hard drive I could use with it if I put it in a enclosure right?

Yep.

 

[turbobass]

Sounds good! Probably gonna order one tomorrow...

I was hoping you'd come around

The fan noise I think is going to be fine, as well as the screen. (Speaking as someone who owned an older model iMac with a crummy screen the 2011 is much, much better).

You need to post back and say how it's finally doing for you, you seem to have very high requirements and I'm betting they will be met!

 

[heliocentric]

I was hoping you'd come around

The fan noise I think is going to be fine, as well as the screen. (Speaking as someone who owned an older model iMac with a crummy screen the 2011 is much, much better).

You need to post back and say how it's finally doing for you, you seem to have very high requirements and I'm betting they will be met!

Yup, I still haven't ordered

Still wary of buying a all in one...for example What if hard drive fails when out of warranty? You are screwed...

The many many threads on yellow tinge, dust behind the screen, really loud hdds on here and apples own forums dont help either....definitely leaning towards a mini ( even though you get less for your money).

 

[qap]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (iPhone; Opera Mini/6.1.15738/25.823; U; en) Presto/2.5.25 Version/10.54)

I bought my new iMac with SSD only to have less noise possible, the imac in a 100% silent room is audible from 50cm if you don't do anything else

It makes a little ffrrrrr from the right because on the new 2011 imac the optical drive fan spins 150rpm more than the 2009-2010 models 1150 vs 1000) and also the psu make a soft "mmhhhhh" but from 1 meter distance or if you breathe or write on the keyboard it's impossible to hear the iMac. I've got an external 2,5" 5400rpm (less noisy as possible for a HD) HD and conpared to the iMac it's very noisy, infact now i will buy some external 64gb usb drives.

And yes i've thought about the mac mini plus the ALD, normally the iMac makes more noisy but on the iMac I've never heard the fans ramps up or the CPU temps above 45 degree (infact I boght the 27" 2.7ghz because is a low consume CPU so it makes less heat and also the SSD never went above 33 degree) the mac mini dissipates bad the heat so the fan ramps up more often and could be more nosy than the iMac fans at idle rpms

Hi and sorry for my english

 

[Paulywauly]

Yup, I still haven't ordered

Still wary of buying a all in one...for example What if hard drive fails when out of warranty? You are screwed...

The many many threads on yellow tinge, dust behind the screen, really loud hdds on here and apples own forums dont help either....definitely leaning towards a mini ( even though you get less for your money).

The hard drive isn't all that hard to replace there are plenty of instructions on the internet.

Its such a shame people actually look to the Apple Forums for advice, they seem to be just one-way rant-boards with no discussion.

Without meaning to sound really rude it sounds like you are pretty set on not buying an iMac, every commenter on this thread has tried to reassure and i'd imagine most (if not all) of us actually own one of the things. I'm not sure what you expected us to say to change your mind? If it bothers you that much just go for the Mini they're still great little machines, if not quite as good value for money