So how silent is the M2 Pro Mac Mini?

[reneoh]

That's the last version of macOS (AKA OS X) that I really liked and felt comfortable with. With Ventura, it's a new issue every day.

I know what you mean… I had a job on a movie set with playback of music, many expensive men on set so needed a very stable computer. Went back to a 2009 Mac Pro with snow leopard. Rick solid!
But back on topic: I get my m2pro tomorrow. I”ll report back about the ‘noise’… and probably some complaints about Ventura…

 

[George Dawes]

I’m sure you’ll be happy with the hardware

The os on the other hand …. 🤦‍♀️

 

[fisherking]

I’m sure you’ll be happy with the hardware

The os on the other hand …. 🤦‍♀️

or
you'll be happy with the hardware
and the OS as well... 👍

(on my macs, on the current beta, the OS is running beautifully)

 

[l3xh2k]

Happening again -- uptime of 6 days (after upgrade to 13.3.1 last weekend).
As you can see, the temps do not warrant the fan speed.

 

[Swissfashion]

Happening again -- uptime of 6 days (after upgrade to 13.3.1 last weekend).
As you can see, the temps do not warrant the fan speed.

View attachment 2194894

Looks to be a not uncommon issue. Have you submitted a bug report to Apple?

 

[Truben]

I haven't heard anything for two months already, which is really weird because I have hyperesthesia. I'm so happy I didn't order a Mac Studio instead! Working with three 4K Benq 27" monitors was my first choice, but reading this forum was helpful. However, I prefer to shut down the machine when I finish my workday to avoid any memory swapping. I guess I have a computer for the long run.

 

[PR.]

I've been having the fan ramping up issue for about a month or two, it certainly didn't do it when I first got the Mac mini M2 Pro. Never seems to be tied to any activity, just simple web browsing and it'll kick in. Putting the machine to sleep and re-waking it solves the problem, sometimes it just returned to normal itself after a few minutes.

 

[passatgt]

I've been having the fan ramping up issue for about a month or two, it certainly didn't do it when I first got the Mac mini M2 Pro. Never seems to be tied to any activity, just simple web browsing and it'll kick in. Putting the machine to sleep and re-waking it solves the problem, sometimes it just returned to normal itself after a few minutes.

View attachment 2204845

I have the same issue

 

[fisherking]

or
you'll be happy with the hardware
and the OS as well... 👍

(on my macs, on the current beta, the OS is running beautifully)

a month later, and things here are (mostly) working beautifully. many bugs have been squashed, but there are some issues here (ie in logic pro); still, nothing that keeps me from working. and the OS in general seems pretty stable, healthy.

OS development is a journey, not a destination (ha! my cliche of the day); just like life.

 

[Monotremata]

Only had it since Sunday but haven't heard the fan once in my new M2 Pro running my current Cubase projects (a couple of them would have the fan running on the Intel model within a couple minutes). If anything, the CPU meter in these dropped to almost nothing heh.

I was kinda bummed out I now have a 'useless' $350 eGPU with an almost $400 Radeon in it, but just last night I noticed my studio room is now practically silent since the eGPU is off. I have an OWC 4 bay USB-C drive enclosure but that thing is almost inaudible too unless its using the two HDD's in it (other two are SSDs).

 

[dgdosen]

Got mine today, incidentally, and it's safe to say that it's quiet.

Three months in - what's your assessment of the memory decision?

 

[tubular]

Three months in - what's your assessment of the memory decision?

So far I’m not feeling a pinch. I still would have gone for 24GB if that were an option, but I don’t feel like the extra $400 for 32GB would have paid off had I gone that route.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

So what’s the conclusion guys? Some models make noise and some others don’t?

If that’s the case I guess the best thing is to test the Mini under load right away when you receive it.

What is the best way to do that when you haven’t installed anything yet?

 

[Cham2000]

So what’s the conclusion guys? Some models make noise and some others don’t?

If that’s the case I guess the best thing is to test the Mini under load right away when you receive it.

What is the best way to do that when you haven’t installed anything yet?

I'm extensively using my M2 Pro mini since three months now, and I heard the fan only once, for about 3 minutes (I don't know what triggered this event. The temperature was normal). Appart from that single event, the mini is *totally dead silent*.

 

[bobcomer]

I just got my new Mini Pro in 2 days ago, I haven't heard anything from it yet.

 

[Monotremata]

I don't even recall the fan coming on while I was running the Geekbench 6 tests.

Cubase still hasn't triggered it once, and I have a couple projects that would make it kick in pretty quick on my Intel.

Im like @tubular - I was kinda concerned with the memory, I paid to bump up my Intel i7 to 16GB and wondered whether I should go with 32, but after a couple weeks of watching the memory/activity meter on the Intel model, I decided the base model would be fine. I don't really see my music projects scaling up to Zimmer level or anything so the MacOS will probably need a newer Mac long before I will.

Was nice being able to walk into the Apple Store this time and take it home right away. Ordered the base Pro for me and the 'regular' one for her about 5 minutes before the store over here opened at 11. By 11:15 I got my email saying both Mac's were ready for pickup, and by 12:30 I was checking projects in Cubase and the misses was a full-fledged MacOS convert hah.

 

[jasnw]

I am very happy with my M2Pro Mini (except for Ventura). I'm now trying to decide whether to shift it over to replace my aging Intel Mini that I use for various server-like functions and buy a lower-end Studio (now that it appears that Apple has cleaned up the noise issues) to replace it or save some money and just buy another Mini. I think Apple is finally getting some things right, at least on the hardware side.

 

[jim0266]

After running my base M2 Mac Mini Pro for about 6 hours with my normal workflow of Firefox, Excel, VLC, Mailmate, Messages, 1Password I'm seeing 1700 fan speed and 45C CPU temps. I also fashioned an air filter out of the box in which the Mini was shipped. Up under there is a MERV8 air filter. Inspiration from this post. Haven't even needed to hit Swap memory yet. Showing ~ 12GB of memory used. When I've added in LR or FCP I can drive the memory pressure into the Yellow with all my other apps running.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

So I got the 2023 Mac mini M2 Pro and wanted to report.

It's the 12-Core model, 32 GB and 4TB SSD.

First thing is: I can definitely hear it. But I am very sensitive to it, and it is very, very quiet. Basically it's as if you didn't hear it. Also, it's not an uncomfortable noise. I feel like it's a typical computer noise. I can't even describe the type of sound it is. It's not a whistling, not even a buzzing, but also not a pure noise sound. Maybe it's something in between, but it's really hard to tell. It's certainly not uncomfortable. But it's there also.

I then ran Geekbench 6 (CPU test as well as both GPU tests) and I couldn't hear any difference it the noise. I don't know how intensive Geekbench 6 is, but there was no change in noise.

I thought something loud or annoying would expect me – I was wrong. It's perfectly fine for me.

 

[Rankrotten]

3 months in with Mac mini M2 pro 12c /19gpu/ 10Gbe and totally silent.

The top case does get warm to the touch but have never heard the fans ramping up.

Just finished a game of War Thunder which maxes out all parts of the system and iStat reports peak temps of 92C on CPU, 99C on GPU, fan speeds reaching 2502 peak and 2200 average with max power draw of 62W

 

[robertosh]

3 months in with Mac mini M2 pro 12c /19gpu/ 10Gbe and totally silent.

The top case does get warm to the touch but have never heard the fans ramping up.

Just finished a game of War Thunder which maxes out all parts of the system and iStat reports peak temps of 92C on CPU, 99C on GPU, fan speeds reaching 2502 peak and 2200 average with max power draw of 62W

Exactly same config as you, also pretty happy with it. I've just heard the fan once while playing.

 

[Monotremata]

I finally heard mine come on this weekend. Seems a little bit louder than the fan in my 2018 Mini but maybe the sound is just 'brighter' who knows. No clue why it even came on either, was working in Affinity Photo doing some stuff for my website, opened up Dreamweaver CS to start working on the pages themselves, and as soon as DW opened up the fan came on but shut down a minute later. No clue what Dreamweaver was doing but it certainly didnt seem like the Mac was doing anything remotely close to needing the fan to kick in..

Funnily enough, I can work in Cubase all day long running all kinds of tracks/virtual instruments/etc, hasn't made the fan come on once.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

I guess it's better the fan goes on than it doesn't.

 

[skillzmcgavern]

Had the same type of fan noise today without high temps as in posts 454, 457, 458 on my MacBook Pro M2 Pro 12/19. 3 browser tabs and a YouTube video set it off. Calmed down within 15 seconds, haven't been able to replicate.

 

[skottichan]

Had the same type of fan noise today without high temps as in posts 454, 457, 458 on my MacBook Pro M2 Pro 12/19. 3 browser tabs and a YouTube video set it off. Calmed down within 15 seconds, haven't been able to replicate.

I'm starting to wonder if it's a background maintanence process to blow out the fan?