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New iMac Replacement silent

K

khakilad

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 25, 2009
52
0
Well after much debate with my new 27 i7 and the noise of the HDD I decided to return for new one from Apple.


I don't know what they've done in the space of 3 weeks but the new machine is silent. The last one you could hear the fans etc, but this new one is dead silent even when reading from the HDD.


The fan speeds are exactly the same.


Anyone else seen this on a RMA'ed iMac?
 
How silent is silent to you?

I guess you could say that my iMac is silent compared to another computer. However, I do hear the fans move as they probably should as while they're idling. And I do hear the hard drive move when it's supposed to. Or is that no silent enough?
 
iMikeT said:
How silent is silent to you?

I guess you could say that my iMac is silent compared to another computer. However, I do hear the fans move as they probably should as while they're idling. And I do hear the hard drive move when it's supposed to. Or is that no silent enough?
Click to expand...



your room could be very quiet.
your hearing could be very good.

or your machine may be louder.
you need a sound meter and a good one to get an accurate idea of how loud your machine is.
 
khakilad said:
Well after much debate with my new 27 i7 and the noise of the HDD I decided to return for new one from Apple.


I don't know what they've done in the space of 3 weeks but the new machine is silent. The last one you could hear the fans etc, but this new one is dead silent even when reading from the HDD.


The fan speeds are exactly the same.


Anyone else seen this on a RMA'ed iMac?
Click to expand...

which hdd is installed in the new imac? 1tb or 2tb? mine is noisy too ... even after replacement!! :-o
I have a 2tb hitachi.

thanks
 
I'd classify 10 decibels as dead silent because you can't hear it over your breathing, 20 decibels is still very quiet, and 30 I suppose is still quiet. remember that you are supposed to sit like 1.5x the monitor size so for a 27" screen you should sit a little further than a metre or for us Americans about 40"
 
Hitachi HDD are known for lage capacity and being noisy. Unfortunate that Hitachi doesn't seem to care about QC because if they did they would NOT be shipping these to Apple which is one of their bigger customers.
 
CaoCao said:
I'd classify 10 decibels as dead silent because you can't hear it over your breathing, 20 decibels is still very quiet, and 30 I suppose is still quiet. remember that you are supposed to sit like 1.5x the monitor size so for a 27" screen you should sit a little further than a metre or for us Americans about 40"
Click to expand...

I can hear it on the other side of my room. :confused:

from the apple site:
Typical acoustical performance
Sound pressure level (operator position): 18 dBA at idle

so that's why I think my new imac is louder than it should be.
 
I bought a 2009-model i7 27" iMac from the Apple Store a couple years ago, brought it home, and it turned out it had this ear-piercing "dog whistle" noise that was like a very high pitched electronic squeal. My ears were very sensitive to this noise (It was giving me a headache), so I returned it the next day, and got an Apple Gift Card and purchased a Mac Pro instead.
 
Surprising information

bushman4 said:
Hitachi HDD are known for lage capacity and being noisy. Unfortunate that Hitachi doesn't seem to care about QC because if they did they would NOT be shipping these to Apple which is one of their bigger customers.
Click to expand...

Are you able to provide a foundation for these claims, the first one(s) in particular?
 
Last edited:
I just got my iMac and it is just as quiet as my MacBook Pro. I also have 2 external 2TB drives, and a room fan on most the time.=, so a bit of noise is expected. However later today after I get all my files over I will turn off the fan and the external drives to see how loud the iMac is. but I don't expect to really hear anything.


It has the 1TB Western Digital HDD.
 
I'm amazed how silent my iMac is. I've been using noisy PC's for years and cant' tell you how much of an important feature of the Mac its silence is, I find it hard to tell if it is on when the screen goes blank. Having a SSD helps in this respect I think though.
 
Yeah if you can hear it across the room, I'd go in and see if you can replace it. I have my hear to mine and I hear a SLIGHT humming. But even sitting a reasonable distance away in a silent room, no sound coming out of this baby.
 
Same here, my 2010 iMac is dead silent, whatever you do with it you just can't hear the damn thing :D
 
mollgasse said:
which hdd is installed in the new imac? 1tb or 2tb? mine is noisy too ... even after replacement!! :-o
I have a 2tb hitachi.
Click to expand...

I have a Hitachi as well - I can hear it rumbling from to time. Not as bad as my old PC but still noticeable.

However my iMac has a noticeable fan noise - or maybe hard drive? Can't tell - constant drone.
 
These threads and threads like this on the Apple support forum vex me. I can hear the fans in my mid-2010 27 inch i5, and I keep debating whether to take it in or not. The noise isn't excessive, but this thing certainly isn't silent the way my C2D 24 inch was.

I've reset the PRAM and the SMU, and I still hear the buggers.

It vexes me because they aren't that loud, but I don't want to hear them at all, and then I feel so picky. Bleh.

It would be a good work out to lug it in, though. I can count it as my exercise for the day.
 
WardC said:
Anybody else encountered the high pitched, high frequency "dog whistle" noise issue? Again, I had this on a 27" iMac.
Click to expand...

Had it on 4 2010 iMacs, so waited and bought the 2011.
But after a while I noticed it was on this 2011 iMac as well, not as bad, but still.
And it vary, sometime more and sometimes less.
But 14 days have passed, so can't be bothered, cause they "can't" fix it.
 
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