For the past few days, I have been researching the iMac 24" M1. And, was rather close to ordering. Considering I have the Mac Mini M1, and the thought of this whining noise, I think I will leave everything status quo...
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M1 iMac buzzing whining noise with low display brightness
- Thread starter cookiemonster89
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I'm sure 95% of the users will never notice. Especially if you have kids or don't use it at night, or if you're not very young, as it's an high frequency pitch which older ears will not hear. But if you're young, a night owl or living alone.. yeah it can be bothersome.
This reminds me of people worried about the 24" iMac being tilted and that was way overblown. Mine has been super quiet since June, and I use it daily. There is no pitch/resonance/whine ramping up/down to each fan to max RPM using Mac Fan Control 1.5.11. But some people hearing in dead quiet rooms might barely hear them, I can't even if they normally run between 2439 - 2688 RPM (always on).
I don't know why you keep referring to fan noise. The fan noise in the iMac is very faint and not a problem. The whine does not come from the fans but from coils and capacitors in the area near the usb-c ports. Can you please put your ear there, close to the aluminum, in a dead quiet room with 50% brightness? If your iMac doesn't whine in that area it's probably the only one whine free and please send it to Apple engineers for inspection! XD
Mine is now returned due to this scree brightness related buzzing. I don’t mind noise from a hard drive or fan but there w something particularly grating about this buzzing.
Im back to using my 2012 iMac and I will let the dust settle on my refund before considering next moves after Christmas.
Im back to using my 2012 iMac and I will let the dust settle on my refund before considering next moves after Christmas.
Well after waiting for the black Friday to happen, but the M1 iMac isn’t in it, I now have to decide wether to order. I was ready to before knew about this issue and I’m now having second thoughts.
Not sure to wait for an M2 or whatever version, to see if it’s fixed. Not all older iMac’s surely had this to?
Not sure to wait for an M2 or whatever version, to see if it’s fixed. Not all older iMac’s surely had this to?
It happens that other Macs have this buzzing noise, but as far I as remember it never was this widespread. Meaning that you could swap your Mini or Air and be buzz free. But all iMacs 24" have it to some degree.
But I repeat, you can hardly hear it, it will not be a problem during daytime. Even at night, my IKEA Trådfri color lightbulb buzzes more than my iMac
But I repeat, you can hardly hear it, it will not be a problem during daytime. Even at night, my IKEA Trådfri color lightbulb buzzes more than my iMac
Appreciate that, but it may be the specific person as well. I know one on here couldn’t get away with it and has sent it back and going to wait to see what happens later.
Suppose Apple have a good return policy so could try it and see, as you say some may hear, others not.
Mine will be used at night, in a quiet place on a desk so could test suppose.
Their return policy is excellent and also very easy to use. You’ll probably be fine. It’s a very quiet noise and my wife cant even hear it. I work with sound though and also have very sensitive hearing so for me personally it’s a problem. If it wasn’t for the noise I would have kept the computer no problem and just bought separate keyboard and speakers.
I returned an iMac today within the 14-day window because of this noise. Extremely irritating when using it in a quiet room at night.
Disappointing that a costly product has this issue.
Disappointing that a costly product has this issue.
That’s disappointing to hear, when was your iMac delivered? Do you know the manufacturing date?
It is, and although some people are saying it doesn’t matter, I can’t remember all Macs, PC’s having it otherwise would be a much bigger issue so I’m wondering why these iMac’s have it.
What is your plan now? Get another to see if ok?
I didn’t check the manufacturing date, but the iMac (8/8/16ram/1TB SSD) was delivered on November 22nd.
Based on this thread, I assumed this was a problem with all of the new 24” iMacs so I’m back to using a 2013 iMac (upgraded to SSD) and M1 MacBook Air until this issue is resolved or a Pro model is released.
For what it’s worth, when returning the iMac, the staff member at the Apple store said he was not aware of this being a common issue.
So pretty recent I expect as lead time is a long time at moment so can’t imagine many left on the shelf.
Was it that bad through the day in normally running or only in a quiet night? I didn’t know about this issue before, and you’re the second I’ve read that has said it’s so bad and returned it, whereas as others have just said it’s there but not bad.
Apple staff I think are always trained to say this, as numerous past problems with Apple stuff never seems known by Apple staff, which I can’t believe if I’m honest. You can’t say they don’t read news/forums etc and ignore.
I mostly noticed it at night because that is when the screen brightness is turned down 3 notches or more. I was able to hear it during the day when I tested it, but it wasn’t as obvious.
It wasn’t a deal breaker for my wife as she couldn’t hear it as easily (night or day)..
This is exactly like mine. I think I heard only of one loud one, which was tested at 60dB, which is A LOT.
I have a 4K Philips monitor on the desk next to me which whines more than my iMac
So you don’t mind it? Was it yours at 60dB? Can you hear it at night in a quiet room also?
I need it for work. It’s a fantastic computer. Mine is very faint. I can only hear it at night, or during daytime if in complete silence with no traffic noise from the window and silent neighbors. During the day brightness is higher so it rarely buzzes. If Apple will ever recognize the problem I’ll have it exchanged. But as with all Apple products I learnt to live with the imperfection. Each unit is flawed to some extent. Verified this many, many times. But again, it’s a very faint noise, not a big deal to me. At 50cm distance is almost inaudible ad night. From 1m and more it’s inaudible.
Thanks wonder if just some people more sensitive.
Have you reported it to Apple support through, even if keeping it, still worth reporting as then if more abs more do Apple recognise it as a problem.
I have tinnitus since young, just over 40 with perfect hearing. My GF would never have noticed.
I didn’t report it to Apple yet, might do yeah
I also hear some coil whine at lower brightness. When I turn the brightness all the way up to max (or 3 bars to max). The whine is completely gone. When the screen is off the whine is there as well. Wonder if I should exchange it. Mine is the high end model with 256gb SSD and 16GB ram.
My hearing must be really sensitive. I can hear it at 1m at night in a very quiet room. My M1 mini is silent, only extremely faint fan noise when I put my ear next to it.
Not good if it is distracting to you. Have you reported it to Apple support anyway. Lots don’t report issues and live with them, but Apple should know, it may get worse over the years and it will show that you reported it at the start, and also make Appel aware there is a problem with more and more reporting it.
What is their spec then, where does it say that’s it’s ok to have this? Why don’t other iMac have this problem and what spec do they have?
It’s still worth reporting as a fault to Apple support and getting it logged on your account and so it becomes more apparent that more and more people are complaining. May make widespread news then and get exposure and then Apple might look more into it