Which Macs are quiet under workload?

[Rockadile]

I have the 2011 15' MBP and the fan noise is finally starting to annoy me

2000-4500rpm is alright but 5500+ sounds like I'm on a plane flight. I have it hooked up next to an external monitor so it's like 2ft away.
I'm thinking of rMBP or iMac since Mac Pro is too expensive for me. Has noise & heat management been approved for the newer models?

 

[960design]

Pretty much all of new ones are quiet. I had a 2011 MBP and it would only occasionally get loud. I never hooked it up to an external monitor.

I currently have the latest 15" MPBr maxed out and I've never heard it make a sound. The mac server running behind me is the quietest server I've ever heard.

We have a windows box that we use for IE and Win7 / 8 / 9 testing. I actually fear cranking that thing up. Not that it has anything to do with the Windows software, it's just a beast that sounds like a vacuum cleaner running.

 

[firedept]

I have 3 MBP's and 2 iMac's and all five machines are very quiet. My main iMac is in an office in the basement of my home where it is extremely quiet and I barely notice it when I am working it hard.

The new Mac's are all pretty quiet.

 

[kohlson]

I have a 15-inch 2011 MBP for work, and a 2014 15-in 2014 MBP at home. An easy way to make the system "work" is video rendering. The 2011 does indeed remind me of an in-flight experience. It seems to be both fan noise (bearings, fan blades) as well as the air rushing out of the mac. The 2014 seems to have a quiet fan, but there is still air rushing out of the MBP. It is not silent by any stretch, but in my opinion, much better.

 

[Rockadile]

I have 3 MBP's and 2 iMac's and all five machines are very quiet. My main iMac is in an office in the basement of my home where it is extremely quiet and I barely notice it when I am working it hard.

The new Mac's are all pretty quiet.

I'm going to assume the iMac is more quiet at full RPM.

I have a 15-inch 2011 MBP for work, and a 2014 15-in 2014 MBP at home. An easy way to make the system "work" is video rendering. The 2011 does indeed remind me of an in-flight experience. It seems to be both fan noise (bearings, fan blades) as well as the air rushing out of the mac. The 2014 seems to have a quiet fan, but there is still air rushing out of the MBP. It is not silent by any stretch, but in my opinion, much better.

How would you rate the maximum fan noise of your rMBP to the old one?
Like does 6200rpm rMBP sound like 5000rpm of older MBP.

 

[firedept]

I'm going to assume the iMac is more quiet at full RPM.

You assume correctly. Even when the fan is going during renders it is relatively quiet.

 

[skveezer]

I have the 2011 15' MBP and the fan noise is finally starting to annoy me

2000-4500rpm is alright but 5500+ sounds like I'm on a plane flight. I have it hooked up next to an external monitor so it's like 2ft away.
I'm thinking of rMBP or iMac since Mac Pro is too expensive for me. Has noise & heat management been approved for the newer models?

Seems to me there was a problem with an apple upgrade a few years ago which caused fan speeds to maximize - can't remember all that at this time.

Another thought is perhaps it's time to shoot a little air into the case - might find a few clumps of cat hairs or other gremlins

 

[s15119]

I never hear my 2013 Air.

 

[MacLC]

I'm going to assume the iMac is more quiet at full RPM.

I think that's about right. I almost never notice my iMac's fan. Just for kicks I manually maxed the fans in software and they get loud but that has never happened in years of use.

My friend's '13 Haswell MBA is much quieter but just as hot as his '11 Sandy Bridge MBA. Both get noisier and hotter than my iMac.

Most likely at any price point, an iMac will outperform a MacBook Air or Pro while being quieter, just out of virtue of having more airflow and generally less expensivecomponents.