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jc0481

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 16, 2005
227
0
I am looking into purchasing the new macbook but just having second thoughts because I heard other people think it is loud. Well just was wondering how loud is it ? I am going to school and if people start looking at me because of the loudness of my laptop then maybe I should wait. Thank you
 

cbetta

macrumors regular
Jul 5, 2006
103
0
the CD macbook doesnt make any noice. Donnow what should have changed there
 

clicq

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2006
52
0
You can barely hear it when you're doing normal things (web browsing, playing iTunes, etc.) The only time noise is a problem is when you do anything processor intensive, like decoding 1080p movies, or ripping CDs. As an example, I took an admittedly crappy recording of the sound my new C2D Macbook makes when I run something CPU intensive (two instances of yes > /dev/null):

http://rapidshare.com/files/4071324/macbooknoise.mp3.html

(Sorry for the rapidshare link, but I don't have any other place to host it :( ). This was taken holding the mic about a foot from the machine, (maybe 20 inches from the rear vent). My voice was about a foot away from the mic as well, to give you a reference point. You can barely hear anything over the static of the mic up to about 20 seconds, which is where it starts to ramp up, and the fans are at nearly 6000 rpm by the end of the recording.

But again, in normal usage it's pretty quiet, so I doubt you'll be bothered by it. I've used my machine for normal stuff for several hours and the temperature hasn't gotten high enough to make the fans audible.
 

scott523

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2006
870
128
Saint Charles, MO
You can barely hear it when you're doing normal things (web browsing, playing iTunes, etc.) The only time noise is a problem is when you do anything processor intensive, like decoding 1080p movies, or ripping CDs. As an example, I took an admittedly crappy recording of the sound my new C2D Macbook makes when I run something CPU intensive (two instances of yes > /dev/null):

http://rapidshare.com/files/4071324/macbooknoise.mp3.html

(Sorry for the rapidshare link, but I don't have any other place to host it :( ). This was taken holding the mic about a foot from the machine, (maybe 20 inches from the rear vent). My voice was about a foot away from the mic as well, to give you a reference point. You can barely hear anything over the static of the mic up to about 20 seconds, which is where it starts to ramp up, and the fans are at nearly 6000 rpm by the end of the recording.
Whoa those fans sound more scarier than mines. Anyways, I would always hear something coming out of the MacBook. At idle, I would hear a nice calming hum of the fans shooting hot air out of the vents. The only thing I'm a little concerned of is the addition of a buzzing sound coming at the top left area of the keyboard (esc key) and only gets louder (higher pitch rather) when the Magsafe adapter is plugged in.
 

GraceMolloy

macrumors regular
Oct 28, 2006
162
4
Kentucky
it will get a little loud if you're really running it hard.

But as has been said, for normal usage you'll never hear a peep out of the thing.

Truly, don't worry about it a bit.
 

clicq

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2006
52
0
Whoa those fans sound more scarier than mines. Anyways, I would always hear something coming out of the MacBook. At idle, I would hear a nice calming hum of the fans shooting hot air out of the vents. The only thing I'm a little concerned of is the addition of a buzzing sound coming at the top left area of the keyboard (esc key) and only gets louder (higher pitch rather) when the Magsafe adapter is plugged in.

What do you mean my fans sound scary? :eek: How do yours sound different (quieter/different kind of whine/something)?

As for the buzzing sound you're talking about, I think I might be able to hear it if I put my ear right next to the computer, but it's so quiet otherwise it doesn't bother me. Interestingly, my desktop PC makes a similar noise, though I can only hear it with the cover off.
 

jc0481

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 16, 2005
227
0
Thank you for the quick reply

I will be purchasing my new macbook with core2duo soon. Thanks again. You put my troubles at ease.
:)
 

Hockeypuck

macrumors regular
Sep 29, 2006
102
0
What do you mean my fans sound scary? :eek: How do yours sound different (quieter/different kind of whine/something)?

As for the buzzing sound you're talking about, I think I might be able to hear it if I put my ear right next to the computer, but it's so quiet otherwise it doesn't bother me. Interestingly, my desktop PC makes a similar noise, though I can only hear it with the cover off.

Does the sound change when you change the brightness on the screen? Sometimes that sound comes from the inverter in the LCD.
 

Letters

macrumors newbie
Mar 17, 2005
19
0
normally,it's quite, the fans can be heard, but it's really low.
but when the fans do kick in high speed, it's pretty noticeable. I hope there's an update that can fix that.
 

clicq

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2006
52
0
Does the sound change when you change the brightness on the screen? Sometimes that sound comes from the inverter in the LCD.

It doesn't change (sound stays the same from backlight off to full brightness) -- but it doesn't really bother me, as it's inaudible unless your ear is right next to the keyboard.
 

clicq

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2006
52
0
So after reading Scott's message, I went to my local campus store to check out the sound of their Macbooks (C1D), and the fan on the one machine I tried was a little bit quieter than mine (my fan has a "whine" that I couldn't hear with the other Macbook). So in all probability, my Macbook is louder than most -- though it doesn't bother me a huge deal, and it's probably "within spec".
 

dturano547

macrumors newbie
Nov 16, 2006
23
0
i posted my noise issue in another thread but this is more appropriote.

It is not that mine is loud, it's the pitch or tone of it. It actually drives me crazy after using it for a while. Nothing will make it more or less.

When I open a ton of apps or listen to music it is no different. Sounds like a buzzing fan. unplugged/plugged different viewing angles, speakers muted/unmuted...no difference?

Is this something I have to get used to? I understand they cram a lot into these little books but that hum/buzz/whine is irritating

Could it be a software bug making this thing hum all the time? i was thinking about doing a clean install...could or would that make a difference?

C2D Blackbook stock...

any help or advice is grealty appreciated. I love this thing and want to use it.

i understand all notbooks are not silent but this noise is out of control.

thank you
 

clicq

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2006
52
0
If you can't hear it in other Macbooks (either a friend's or at a store), then I'd call up Apple about it. I doubt it's software, since otherwise most notebooks would do it.

However, I can't think of anything else that would make it have noise - you've already tried things that address CPU whine, magsafe whine, and fan noise. The only other thing it could be is the hard drive, though I'd expect that to stop after the drive goes to sleep (not sure how you could force that, but maybe if you unplug the Macbook, set it so that it doesn't go to sleep, and don't have anything running, the drive should sleep eventually).
 

dturano547

macrumors newbie
Nov 16, 2006
23
0
I tried a ton of things and it is def the fan. It seems it runs at one constant speed all the time. No matter how much or how little I have running the noise is the same.

Any programs I could download to see how fast the fan is running or even control the speed?

Thanks
 

clicq

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2006
52
0
There's smcFancontrol http://www.conscius.de/~eidac/index.html. The fan IS running all the time, though NOT at a constant speed, though it's definitely strange if you can hear it over everything else. I can hear my fan running too (mine is definitely a motor-type sound, sort of like a quiet, buzz/hum sound, but it varies with fan speed), and I definitely did not hear it in a CD demo macbook in my college's store. It bothered me at first as well but I've just gotten used to it... or maybe I should see about getting mine repaired/replaced too O_O. (The problem is, I don't think you could hear it over the phone...)
 

ichigo11

macrumors newbie
Nov 21, 2006
12
0
My new C2D blackbook has the buzzing sound as well, it's really annoying. I have an powerbook G4 and the Macbook Pro C2D both slient, don't know why the Macbook has this buzzing sound.

Can more people with the new C2D macbook report if their computer have that buzzing sound so I can decide is I should take this to the apple store and get it fixed.

Thanks
 

Digidesign

macrumors 6502
Jan 7, 2002
448
52
Hmm, I have the C2D black macbook, and so far it's been very quiet. No buzzing noises or strange pitches of any kind. Only thing is, like people have said, that when under load, the fans WILL come on strong. And at idle you can hear them pushing air out.

When playing WoW in XP (I have all the settings turned to high) the fans come on quickly and are pretty strong throughout. But no buzzing noises. Only a whooshing sound, is as best as I can describe. It doesn't distract me.

At idle, the fans can be heard, but are a quiet whoosh, definitely not loud enough to be a bother.

My powerbook G4 (1.5Ghz) had louder fans and ran even hotter than this C2D blackbook (could not touch the top strip above keyboard on my powerbook while playing WoW - it would burn my fingers)
 

dturano547

macrumors newbie
Nov 16, 2006
23
0
i think i will head over to the apple store on the way home from work and see what they think.

The fan is alwasy at one constant speed, never gets louder. But never gets lower, could be defective?
 

clicq

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2006
52
0
i think i will head over to the apple store on the way home from work and see what they think.

The fan is alwasy at one constant speed, never gets louder. But never gets lower, could be defective?

Let us know what the Apple store thinks. I'll be near an Apple store over Thanksgiving, so I may ask them about my Macbook as well (though I'm afraid they won't be able to hear anything over the bustle in the store...).

(The fan, at least on my Macbook, stays at 1800 rpm until the CPU temp reaches around mid 50C, so unless you're pushing your laptop hard enough to reach that point, the fan speed won't change. If your CPU is hitting, say, 80C and the fan speed doesn't change, then it's definitely defective. If you don't have a temperature monitoring app already, I'd suggest Temperature monitor.)

Digidesign: Can I assume that you don't hear the whine of the fan motor over the "whooshing" sound of the air?
 

nermal0

macrumors regular
May 31, 2006
140
36
Germany
Most people here say it's silent unless you do some CPU-heavy tasks. That is also true for my MB CD. What really annoys me though is flash animations, they put 20-50% load on my CPU, causing the fans to rev up and run constantly. When I'm watching videos on youtube or dailymotion, I have to set the speaker volume to maximum to drown the loud fan noise.:(
 

clicq

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2006
52
0
Not sure if anybody really cares, but as some people might be experiencing a similar problem, I thought I'd post my follow up. So my fan makes a buzz/whining noise that I thought was louder than most Macbooks, so I took it to a local Apple store today. Genius gave me a spiel about how they're supposed to make noise, so it's probably typical, but he'd bring it into the back room to test it anyway. He came back, told me the fan did sound abnormal, but as I was outside of the 14 day exchange period, he couldn't do an exchange and suggested I call AppleCare. AppleCare tech spoke to the Genius and actually asked the Genius if he checked the usual stuff (which surprised me, as I would assume they would take the word of the Genius); the Genius did say that the fan sounded similar to an issue they had with the Quicksilver G4s.

In any case, my Macbook needs either a fan or logic board replacement and I'll have to send it in :(.

(My sound is definitely fan noise, and it has nothing to do with the Magsafe buzzing or CPU whine, which my Macbook also exhibit but are quiet enough not to bother me.)

As an aside, the Genius I spoke to seemed rather annoyed that a lot of people with normal sounding Macbooks were complaining about the fan noise, so I would suggest verifying the sound with another Macbook.
 

Sicarius

macrumors member
Oct 2, 2006
80
0
Tennessee.
Got my Black Macbook last night, been running it all day. Fans kicked on when I was importing into iTunes, listenin' to iTunes, running Safari, and Garageband, and the fans kicked on at a good loud pace. I was hitting near 180F* though.
 
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