13" M1 Macbook Pro makes high pitched whistling sound when connected to OWC dock

[feiticeira]

Hi brains trust,

I recently bought an OWC Thunderbolt 14 port dock for my newly purchased M1 13" Macbook Pro and external monitor setup, and there is a high pitched buzz/whistle kind of noise when I plug it in to the laptop, and I was wondering if there is previous instances of this happening? The setup seems to work fine, though I’m reluctant to use it in case of damage . I read somewhere it might be "coil hum"..?

There isn’t much load on the dock, it only powers the following items:

MacBook Pro M1 via USB-C/ThunderboltHD Monitor via Displayport connectionWebcam, mic and mouse through USB-A connection and intermittently multiple external hard drives.

I have tried switching the supplied Thunderbolt cable for the Apple supplied one and that didn't help. I tried the dock on my wife's laptop, 13" Intel MBP and there isn't any issue or noise.

If I unplug the MacBook from the dock, the buzzing sound drops to a low hum when the dock is just plugged into mains power.

The other thought I had was that we are in an old house, and it is plugged into mains power via a standup desk. I wouldn't imagine that's the problem as the desk powers my other items just fine before the dock arrived.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Eithanius]

Is it an intermittent sound...?

I have a faint high pitched buzzing/whistling sound coming out from my OWC Travel Dock when connected to my M1 MBA...

 

[jdb8167]

Hi brains trust,

I recently bought an OWC Thunderbolt 14 port dock for my newly purchased M1 13" Macbook Pro and external monitor setup, and there is a high pitched buzz/whistle kind of noise when I plug it in to the laptop, and I was wondering if there is previous instances of this happening? The setup seems to work fine, though I’m reluctant to use it in case of damage . I read somewhere it might be "coil hum"..?

There isn’t much load on the dock, it only powers the following items:

MacBook Pro M1 via USB-C/ThunderboltHD Monitor via Displayport connectionWebcam, mic and mouse through USB-A connection and intermittently multiple external hard drives.

I have tried switching the supplied Thunderbolt cable for the Apple supplied one and that didn't help. I tried the dock on my wife's laptop, 13" Intel MBP and there isn't any issue or noise.

If I unplug the MacBook from the dock, the buzzing sound drops to a low hum when the dock is just plugged into mains power.

The other thought I had was that we are in an old house, and it is plugged into mains power via a standup desk. I wouldn't imagine that's the problem as the desk powers my other items just fine before the dock arrived.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks in advance!

Is it the MBP that has the coil whine or the dock? If it’s the dock then just have OWC replace it. I hate coil whine and can’t work when it is present.

 

[feiticeira]

Is it an intermittent sound...?

I have a faint high pitched buzzing/whistling sound coming out from my OWC Travel Dock when connected to my M1 MBA...

No, its constant, though it does whirr/whisltle louder when I do a processor intensive task. For example I loaded a ProRes video and 'swished' it around the screen quite quickly which made the sound peak.

Is it the MBP that has the coil whine or the dock? If it’s the dock then just have OWC replace it. I hate coil whine and can’t work when it is present.

Sorry I wasn't clear, so the dock has a low hum when unplugged from the MBP. When plugged, the MBP is the one buzzing louder than the dock.

I tested the dock with my wife's Intel MBP and her MBP doesnt make a noise. So I'll start by getting the dock replaced. Hopefully the new one doesn't make the mac buzz either. I'll update in a couple of weeks for posterity. Thanks!