How noisy are iMacs and Mac Pros?

[MrBloke]

I'm planning on re-entering the Mac world early next year. I'm either going to go for a high end iMac (24") or a low end Mac Pro. The main decider will be the price and my available cash.

One issue that concerns me is noise. In short, how loud are the various machines? My current PC sits there making a noise like a small turbine and I really want something as near-silent as possible as a replacement.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Santabean2000]

The iMac is quiet, very quiet. Only hum on my desktop comes from an external drive. Can't comment on a MP though, but being much bigger I assume they're are probably a little more of a sound producer.

iMac 2.8GHz

 

[dollystereo]

The MP is very silent, depends on the drives you choose, the seagates are silent, especially entreprise class drives.
The fans turn on when the computer is doing intensive tasks, like rendering. But even in that case the noise is low.
The imac is silent to, not like a MB(P) but silent.

 

[tersono]

Both the iMac and the Mac Pro are very quiet - probably a lot quieter than your existing machine, from what you say. Here at work we've got an external hard drive here that's louder than our Mac Pro (and the drive ain't exactly what you'd call noisy...).

 

[jnc]

iMacs do not produce sound, lol. One time I had to reset the PRAM and on startup some fans kicked in... I was so used to the silence I thought it was about to take off or something!

 

[acearchie]

Well to but it in "blonde" style terms

I just tried to turn up the volume on my iMac to see if the fans were actually on! Im such an idiot! Ha

 

[DesignerOnMac]

My iMac is whisper quiet! My laser printer makes more noise....if the monitor was not on I would swear that the imac was not on!

 

[sup4mn]

my 12'' powerbook is a lawnmower most of the time

tis why i will be upgrading to the imac!
ive realized i dont really need a laptop anymore and need something with a much bigger screen. hopefully going from 12 to 24 will be enough