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Shmanky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2005
245
7
Toronto
According to the system profile I ran in the Apple store, and as seen on this Web page, the hard disk in the 15" MacBook Pro (June 5, 2007), is the Fujitsu MHW2120BH. According to the PDF specification, linked from the Fujitsu Web site, this disk has a noise rating of 24 decibels (idle).

Of course, a hard disk emits two sounds: an "idle" noise from the spinning of the platters which sounds like a high-pitched whine or hum, and a "seek" noise from the movement of the head reading and writing which sounds like clicking. I don't mind seek noise so long as it's soft, but I really don't like hearing idle noise at all. 24 decibels for idle noise is somewhat concerning, because this seems high even for a desktop drive, but I would expect a notebook drive to be closer to 20 decibels.

My simple question is, Can you hear the idle noise coming from your Fujitsu 120 GB 5400 rpm hard disk in your June 5, 2007 Santa Rosa MacBook Pro 15"?

Thank you.

Oh ya, the title of my post is, Is the MacBook Pro hard disk inaudible? It may still be quiet, but I just want to know if you can hear it at all. And of course there are also fans that may make some sound as well. How are those as well? I went to an Apple store and pressed my ear against where I think the hard disk is placed (lower left), and I couldn't hear anything, but of course the store was noisy.
 

kinetik

macrumors newbie
Jun 8, 2007
20
0
totally non-scientific, but my new SR MBP seems dead silent until the fans kick on while playing CPU/GPU-intensive 3D games. this is in my relatively-quiet home office where i used to have a clunker dell desktop running 24/7 (noisy, hot). when i transferred my files and shut down the desktop, it was like, "ahhh, silence." if i strain my ears towards the MBP i can hear the HDD reading/writing (but it's really not noticeable unless i'm paying attention) and i don't recall hearing anything at idle.

so really, i think if you hear anything at all from your MBP, it will be the fan noise over the HDD, and that would likely only kick on if you're doing process intensive stuff.
 

JFreak

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2003
3,151
9
Tampere, Finland
I'd like to say none of your living rooms have noise floor as low as 20 or 24 decibels. 40dB is normally considered dead silent, so if MBP is not as "loud" its noise will be masked.
 

Wolfpup

macrumors 68030
Sep 7, 2006
2,925
105
24db sounds really low for a hard drive to me. I think 40db+ is common in quiet drives, though that might be while seeking.
 
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