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Mbp 13" humm.

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Polofiesta

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2011
51
0
I have a MBP 13" i5 with a 320GB HDD which come standard with the baseline 13". I recently noticed that on the bottom right area or to the right of the trackpad that I can hear and feel a humming noise and vibration. I'm not sure but i swear when I first got it like a week ago I did not hear this. Is this normal? I know that the disk is spinning but when I went to the apple store and felt the same model with the same HDD I didn't feel ****. :$
 
the humming is most likely your fan. i can hear mine (just barely, granted) all the time. To check what speeds your fan is running at, install iStatPro. Usual base speed for a MBP is about 2000k.
 
GuitarG20 said:
the humming is most likely your fan. i can hear mine (just barely, granted) all the time. To check what speeds your fan is running at, install iStatPro. Usual base speed for a MBP is about 2000k.
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Bottom right of the trackpad?

It's probably the hard drive and is in sound, excuse the pun, operation.
 
the noise from my (right, i guess) fan sounds like it's coming from the right of the trackpad if i put my ear there... of course, it also sounds all around the computer. the vibration part I dunno about. upon second thought, ya probably the hard drive.
 
Fans don't "humm".

Humm implies a deeper, vibrating sound, as indicated by the OP. Just to clarify.

Is the hard drive there? Aside from the fans, the HD is the only moving part in the laptop.
 
Yea I don't know if this was happening before. But is it alright to have speakers beside that laptop and a subwoofer behind me? Cause i play pretty loud music? Does that affect the laptop or hard drive in any way? I just wanna make sure i have no defective product and this is normal for the hard drive to be humming all the time or the fan or whatever it is.

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Yes it is a hum. i can feel a slight vibration on all of my laptop but mostly my right side beside the trackpad. On the left of my trackpad is more silent and deeper and on the right its a bit louder and has more of a whoosh/hum sound.
 
I know it's not the optical drive. I am not that oblivious. It is either the HDD but it hums always when it is on. Or the fan which is more likely. But I want to know if this is the same and normal for a MBP.
 
ct2k7 said:
Optical drive?
Click to expand...

Seeing as there was no statement of a CD being in there, it's safe to assume it isn't the CD. Unless the OP is a complete novice to this computer thing.

That's kind of dependent on somebody putting something in there; the "point" i was making was that nothing SPINS that doesn't hav to spin, to keep the computer operational.

Optical drive is optional in terms of operation.
 
That still doesn't answer my question :p... Is it normal to hear that kind of humming. Or is it supposed to be dead silent just hear the fan a little. I'm calling applecare soon... -.-
 
Polofiesta said:
I have a MBP 13" i5 with a 320GB HDD which come standard with the baseline 13". I recently noticed that on the bottom right area or to the right of the trackpad that I can hear and feel a humming noise and vibration. I'm not sure but i swear when I first got it like a week ago I did not hear this. Is this normal? I know that the disk is spinning but when I went to the apple store and felt the same model with the same HDD I didn't feel ****. :$
Click to expand...

There can be a lot of variation within a product line when it comes to hard drive noise, and there's no guarantee the MBP in the store has the same manufacturer's hard drive as yours does.
 
Yea I know I thought there was an ssd in there. But where it says model as shown I have the exact same one at home. I even checked the system information and all that stuff to see what hard drive it was. And it was the same one as mine at home.
 
Polofiesta said:
Yea I know I thought there was an ssd in there. But where it says model as shown I have the exact same one at home. I even checked the system information and all that stuff to see what hard drive it was. And it was the same one as mine at home.
Click to expand...

Well I think something is up then. I can't hear mine at all, minus the fan, whenever I'm doing anything.

Sometimes there is fast ticking when a lot of information is being read/written, but that happens all of the time. Humming shouldn't happen.
 
It is a 5200rpm or whatever the default setting is. The 320gb one. I just want to make sure that this is not defective because I definitely can feel it on both of my palms on either side of the trackpad and also if it is low volume in the room I am using it in then I can hear it. It is subtle I wouldn't say disruptive but if the models at the store didn't have any vibration what so ever with the same hard drive then why should mine? I tested if it was the fan with smc fan control but the fan is not the problem. I cranked it up but the vibration stayed the same. So it must be the HDD and i hear people having no sort of vibration on there palms and beside the trackpad... so I guess I'm taking it in to apple care. Anyone have this same issue or have this subtle vibration? and if you do not please tell me.
 
Go get it looked at tomorrow; there's no reason it should be doing that. I have never seen nor used a computer that made any vibrating sounds.

The fan is the only thing you should hear; well that and the optical disk drive.
 
Well you have a 17" but i have a 13" so it might be different. Like right now i can nearly feel it but sometimes it much more. When I put my ear close to it, it sounds like hmmmmmmmmmm and a whoosh sound which is probably coming from the fan. All i could say is that there is a subtle vibration or humm that I can hear in a quiet room but mainly that i can feel it with the palm of my hands. It's nothing where i hear cracking or beeping or clicking. Just wondering as i said before the apple store one had no vibration in that area. it was virtually undetectable.
 
i would still take it to get it checked out... that seems like something unusual and bad. back your computer up before you take it in, too.
 
This is probably the stupidest and dumbest thing ever. So I didn't feel this before right? Well however right when i got my case from speck the see thru satin it started. I just took off my case and that vibration is completely gone. I guess the rubber or whatever amplified it but still THANK YOU JESUS :) I can hear it but that hmm and vibration is completely gone.. :)
 
Polofiesta said:
This is probably the stupidest and dumbest thing ever. So I didn't feel this before right? Well however right when i got my case from speck the see thru satin it started. I just took off my case and that vibration is completely gone. I guess the rubber or whatever amplified it but still THANK YOU JESUS :) I can hear it but that hmm and vibration is completely gone.. :)
Click to expand...

Good to see that it's sorted - but I haven't seen a rubber case amplify this before :eek:
 
Polofiesta said:
This is probably the stupidest and dumbest thing ever. So I didn't feel this before right? Well however right when i got my case from speck the see thru satin it started. I just took off my case and that vibration is completely gone. I guess the rubber or whatever amplified it but still THANK YOU JESUS :) I can hear it but that hmm and vibration is completely gone.. :)
Click to expand...

good to hear that you figured out the problem, although my speck never did that. xD
 
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