Hey guys!
I spent quite some time on this forum recently, reading many of your helpful posts and finally bought my first macbook.
rMBP 15" Late 2013
16GB RAM
2.3 Ghz
256 GB
Iris Pro ONLY
Aside from the occasional scrolling lag this machine is brilliant.
No image retention (LG screen).
No brightness inconsistency.
BUT I experienced this creaking/noise coming from the bottom of the case.
The macbook randomly starts to "creak", when it's under load. It sounds much like and old hard disk drive.
When I put some pressure on the case with one finger, I hear "click" sounds.
Also when I lift the macbook I hear "crackle" sounds from the case.
So I took a look inside the macbook and found this:
On the part that acts as a heat-spreader for the cpu, one screw-nut broke loose (see the green arrow). The heat-spreader is very stiff and pulls very hard on this screw.
The loose screw-nut causes the heat-spreader to rub against the bottom aluminium plate of the case (see the white arrow).
But also the other screws of the heat-spreader have contact to the bottom plate (see red arrows). They are not flat enough. You can even see scratches caused by these screws on the inside of the bottom aluminium plate.
So I temporarily put some elastic material on the spots of the case where these parts touched the aluminium bottom plate to check, if this was indeed the source of the creaking. It got better, but there still remained some creaking!
It turned out that apple put some suspension sticks all over the motherboard (see blue circles). Much like a tiny suspension fork of a bicycle.
It somehow seems that these suspensions are not oiled
. You hear some "squeaking" when you push done on one of them. These are in fact the source of the creaking. I will see if I can get them greased somehow and share my results with you.
The suspension sticks also have a limited range of suspension and at some point they stop to suspend and prevent the aluminium bottom plate from touching/damaging the internals of the macbook. The sticks are made from metal and they have direct contact to the aluminium bottom plate. Metal is touching metal here and therefore you will experience some noise if you put too much pressure on the aluminium bottom plate.
I hope this could help you out! Check the pictures from ifixit to get a better understanding of the rMBP internals (http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Late+2013+Teardown/18696)
I spent quite some time on this forum recently, reading many of your helpful posts and finally bought my first macbook.
rMBP 15" Late 2013
16GB RAM
2.3 Ghz
256 GB
Iris Pro ONLY
Aside from the occasional scrolling lag this machine is brilliant.
No image retention (LG screen).
No brightness inconsistency.
BUT I experienced this creaking/noise coming from the bottom of the case.
The macbook randomly starts to "creak", when it's under load. It sounds much like and old hard disk drive.
When I put some pressure on the case with one finger, I hear "click" sounds.
Also when I lift the macbook I hear "crackle" sounds from the case.
So I took a look inside the macbook and found this:
On the part that acts as a heat-spreader for the cpu, one screw-nut broke loose (see the green arrow). The heat-spreader is very stiff and pulls very hard on this screw.
The loose screw-nut causes the heat-spreader to rub against the bottom aluminium plate of the case (see the white arrow).
But also the other screws of the heat-spreader have contact to the bottom plate (see red arrows). They are not flat enough. You can even see scratches caused by these screws on the inside of the bottom aluminium plate.
So I temporarily put some elastic material on the spots of the case where these parts touched the aluminium bottom plate to check, if this was indeed the source of the creaking. It got better, but there still remained some creaking!
It turned out that apple put some suspension sticks all over the motherboard (see blue circles). Much like a tiny suspension fork of a bicycle.
It somehow seems that these suspensions are not oiled
. You hear some "squeaking" when you push done on one of them. These are in fact the source of the creaking. I will see if I can get them greased somehow and share my results with you.The suspension sticks also have a limited range of suspension and at some point they stop to suspend and prevent the aluminium bottom plate from touching/damaging the internals of the macbook. The sticks are made from metal and they have direct contact to the aluminium bottom plate. Metal is touching metal here and therefore you will experience some noise if you put too much pressure on the aluminium bottom plate.
I hope this could help you out! Check the pictures from ifixit to get a better understanding of the rMBP internals (http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Display+Late+2013+Teardown/18696)