MacBook Pro 16” strange noise from fans?

[Alex000099]

Hi everyone! I just received my MacBook Pro 16” and have some strange issue. The computer makes strange noise. I expect it could be fans. One can hear the noise if you keep your head above the keyboard. The noise itself and its sounding is pretty similar to old HDD, when they were read/write data. I should add that this noise happen without any music/sound, when the laptop is just turned on. The laptop is well made, and it would be very upset to give it back( The question is whether the owners of same computers have such noise?

 

[Surfer13134]

Hi everyone! I just received my MacBook Pro 16” and have some strange issue. The computer makes strange noise. I expect it could be fans. One can hear the noise if you keep your head above the keyboard. The noise itself and its sounding is pretty similar to old HDD, when they were read/write data. I should add that this noise happen without any music/sound, when the laptop is just turned on. The laptop is well made, and it would be very upset to give it back( The question is whether the owners of same computers have such noise?

Record the sound with your phone then post the video here. More than likely its fine but it could be a bad bearing in the fan which means you should return it.

 

[7even]

There's a bunch of discussion of this in https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/psa-coil-whine-on-mbp-16.2211580/; pretty common as far as I can tell. If it's bothering you you can try exchanging, but I tried 3 different MBPs and they all made this sound (though one was a bit quieter). I ended up keeping one of the "less quiet" ones for unrelated reasons.

 

[andrewj]

Hi everyone! I just received my MacBook Pro 16” and have some strange issue. The computer makes strange noise. I expect it could be fans. One can hear the noise if you keep your head above the keyboard. The noise itself and its sounding is pretty similar to old HDD, when they were read/write data. I should add that this noise happen without any music/sound, when the laptop is just turned on. The laptop is well made, and it would be very upset to give it back( The question is whether the owners of same computers have such noise?

I just noticed the same issue too and how you describe it as sounding like a hard drive is spot on. I'm not sure what's causing it. It's occurring right now when there's little demand on the computer and after I've reset the computer. The sound is lower pitch and deeper and not a whine.

 

[jerryk]

Coil whine.

 

[andrewj]

Coil whine.

I've listened to the coil whine clips, and this noise is actually deeper and less hissy, so I think it's something different than coil whine.

 

[rehmke]

Hi everyone! I just received my MacBook Pro 16” and have some strange issue. The computer makes strange noise. I expect it could be fans. One can hear the noise if you keep your head above the keyboard. The noise itself and its sounding is pretty similar to old HDD, when they were read/write data. I should add that this noise happen without any music/sound, when the laptop is just turned on. The laptop is well made, and it would be very upset to give it back( The question is whether the owners of same computers have such noise?

Recording of the MacBook Pro 16" squeal...

I took my new MBP 16" to the Apple Store yesterday for a support case on this issue. I was tag teamed by two knowledgeable employees, which could easily reproduce this issue/sound.

After troubleshooting, they could not identify cause and recommended that I just send my laptop back for a new one (as I was in a holiday return window).

They did indicate that the sound was not related to the 'popping' issue, nor was it a fan-related sound, both of which apparently present very differently.

As I did not have confidence that a new replacement laptop would solve the issue after reading about many others also experiencing this issue, I am in a holding pattern...

 

[Pixege]

Yesterday I picked up the 16 "MacBook and I was immediately concerned about this sound. Initially, I thought it was caused by the Apple iPad Smart Case, which temporarily served me as a stand for the MacBook. It has a magnet in it that holds the side of the iPad. I thought this the magnet affects the windmills or other components. However, in the evening I heard these sounds again in silence. If it was not the fault of the stand, it was probably something else. I looked in the net and it turned out that the M2 SSD is guilty, which is how it works ...

 

[andrewj]

I just noticed the same issue too and how you describe it as sounding like a hard drive is spot on. I'm not sure what's causing it. It's occurring right now when there's little demand on the computer and after I've reset the computer. The sound is lower pitch and deeper and not a whine.

To follow up on this I ended up taking it to the Apple Store (this was a few days after I posted above), and it was felt to be due to a fan that was not well positioned (this was occurring more on the left side of the computer). Also around the time, I noticed that there were time(s) or maybe one time that it was not completely shutting down when I closed the cover since the computer would feel warm hours later with battery drain, so perhaps there was more going on than just the fan. I returned it and received a replacement which is now quiet.