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Anyone have a 24" iMac that doesn't hum?

I'm not saying that Apple computers don't have problems. And, I'm not saying that there isn't a real need to have a forum like this to identify issues and commonalities accross the product lineup. It's incredibly valuable to have this huge group of users communicating in this forum.

I honestly think there was just something is Queshy's posts that bugged me a bit...came accross too whiney and a little too sarcastic for my liking...even the title to this thread -- "Anyone have a 24" iMac that doesn't hum?"

I don't know...maybe I was a bit too harsh. Oh well...can't go back on my words now.

:D

darren
 
I said it before here, but mine is dead silent. Its a 2.16, 2gb ram, the 7600gt gfx, and 250gb drive. Now if i change the brightness levels or anything I still dont get a peep out of it. Even after hours of editing photos in photoshop and Aperture not a peep out of it. Dead silent. :)
 
bmcgrath said:
I said it before here, but mine is dead silent. Its a 2.16, 2gb ram, the 7600gt gfx, and 250gb drive. Now if i change the brightness levels or anything I still dont get a peep out of it. Even after hours of editing photos in photoshop and Aperture not a peep out of it. Dead silent. :)
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear yours is nice and quiet at all brightness levels. If I couldn't tolerate the high brightness setting and required a lower brightness, like some users do, this machine would be back at apple in a heart beat...you are quite lucky then to have such a perfect machine (was this the original one you bought, or did you have it returned?).

Out of the five machines I had, I am only happy with the one I have now. All of the others were extremely flawed in one way or another. The machine I have now, when on the highest brightness setting, is pretty close to silent. I can hear my annoying TV power brick's whine over it, and I can hear hte vents in my room over it.

I really do believe that when buying such a highly ticketed item, the customer should be 100% satisfied with it.

To KIXSAND, I'm not trying to whine in any way...I just want a computer that works. I expect one from the company that makes the best mp3 player in the world and that has pioneered such an incredible OS.

And as for the title of the thread, it was an honest question. I asked it because I wanted to know if it was worth returning. If every single user on the forum said "Yep, I have the hum also" , then I wouldn't go out and waste my time returning the machine to apple. It is because of people like MBCGRATH, who claim to have silent machines, that makes me want to return it. He (or she) got a perfect machine, therefore, I concluded that there must be something wrong with mine, because the problems I had before were pretty obvious.
 
queshy,

Ya original machine. And im sorry to hear your on a 5th machine btw. I can only IMAGINE how frustrating it is for you. I have yet to get a bad Apple. But touch wood that i'l never :)
 
yeah it's frustrating - im just happy that i have a machine that works properly now. I will still buy another mac in hte future - i believe it is due to bad luck and not apple. I'm waiting for an ultraportable macbook/pro!
 
queshy said:
yeah it's frustrating - im just happy that i have a machine that works properly now. I will still buy another mac in hte future - i believe it is due to bad luck and not apple. I'm waiting for an ultraportable macbook/pro!
Click to expand...

mine only hums when the screen brightness is not on full.

otherwise its as silent as smothing that is very very silent
 
MetalFace said:
mine only hums when the screen brightness is not on full.

otherwise its as silent as smothing that is very very silent
Click to expand...

Yup, same for me. The only thing I can hear is some normal HD read/write noises every now and then, and some low volume fans - as I said before, the vent in my room is louder! My dell 700m laptop is way louder also. This is hte mose quiet iMac I have had. The last one I had (#4), sounded very loud, and had a whine that wouldn't stop. Really annoying. I recommend that whoever buys a new computer should test it thoroughly for problems before hte return period expires. Otherwise , you will be stuck with an expensive machine that you are not happy with. Overall, I'm happy with this machine. lol...they better not update the iMac line now.


Unrelated, but I wish I would learn all of the short cut keys. I just discovered the CMD+# to go to a bookmark in safari and am finding it very useful!
 
Those who say that their iMac 24" doesn't hum are either lying or haven't listened carefully enough.

Recently a friend of mine bought an iMac 24". I asked him several times if he could hear the humming sound. He said that he couldn't. So I finally paid him a visit and when i listened carefully I could clearly hear the humming sound.

The easiest way to detect the humming sound is like this:

1. Go to "System Preferences --> "Energy Saver" --> Set the "Put the display to sleep when the computer is inactive for:" option to 1 min.

2. Wait until the display sleeps.

3. Put your head against the upper left part of the screen.

4. Touch a button on the keyboard or the mouse to awake the screen.

5. When the display awakes you should be able to hear the difference in sound. It will be an electronic humming sound. The sound will increase in volume if you turn the screen brightness down.
 
conlov said:
Those who say that their iMac 24" doesn't hum are either lying or haven't listened carefully enough.

Recently a friend of mine bought an iMac 24". I asked him several times if he could hear the humming sound. He said that he couldn't. So I finally paid him a visit and when i listened carefully I could clearly hear the humming sound.

The easiest way to detect the humming sound is like this:

1. Go to "System Preferences --> "Energy Saver" --> Set the "Put the display to sleep when the computer is inactive for:" option to 1 min.

2. Wait until the display sleeps.

3. Put your head against the upper left part of the screen.

4. Touch a button on the keyboard or the mouse to awake the screen.

5. When the display awakes you should be able to hear the difference in sound. It will be an electronic humming sound. The sound will increase in volume if you turn the screen brightness down.
Click to expand...

Yup, you got that right!

My last iMac, I did JUST that. You don' even need to put your head right up to the case!

Luckily my new iMac only has the humming sound on lower brightness levels, not on high brightness where I keep it. I can tell that the fans are always on, but I guess I'll jsut accept the whiiir sound it makes. I really don't feel like giving it back again just to get a mchine with a dead pixel, a worse humming problem, or some other annoyance.
 
I'm not being funny guys, but I don't use my mac whilst its right next to my head.

ITS A TWENTY-FOUR INCH SCREEN. I don't need to sit that close to it.
 
sparkyms said:
I'm not being funny guys, but I don't use my mac whilst its right next to my head.

ITS A TWENTY-FOUR INCH SCREEN. I don't need to sit that close to it.
Click to expand...

That's because you are as deaf as a post in your left ear Sparky :D
 
Is the noice related to age?

It would be interesting to see the ages of the various posters on this topic.

When I was a teenager, I could not abide to be in several department stores near my home because of the screech of a machine that the stores had to discourage rats.

Recently there was were several articles to the effect that some stores have increased the volume of these screech machines to keep 15 to 20 year old males out of the stores. Apparently after you reach about 20 years of age, your ears deteriorate to the extent that you cannot hear these high pitched sounds.

It makes me wonder whether the hum some folks hear on these iMacs is always there, but that old coots like me (nearly 53 years old) can no longer hear.
 
Manfred said:
It would be interesting to see the ages of the various posters on this topic.

When I was a teenager, I could not abide to be in several department stores near my home because of the screech of a machine that the stores had to discourage rats.

Recently there was were several articles to the effect that some stores have increased the volume of these screech machines to keep 15 to 20 year old males out of the stores. Apparently after you reach about 20 years of age, your ears deteriorate to the extent that you cannot hear these high pitched sounds.

It makes me wonder whether the hum some folks hear on these iMacs is always there, but that old coots like me (nearly 53 years old) can no longer hear.
Click to expand...

It's possible. I'm quite young (20s).
 
My 24" iMac has no hum at all - it's barely audible in fact - I love it! I have one dead pixel, but I think I can live with that.

Other than that, no problems at all. I'm absolutely loving it.
 
Argg ! It bothers me to know that there are perfect machines out there! Should I return it?

Can you tell that the iMac is on when it's on, or is it completely silent?
 
queshy said:
Argg ! It bothers me to know that there are perfect machines out there! Should I return it?

Can you tell that the iMac is on when it's on, or is it completely silent?
Click to expand...

Mine is really close to silent. I can sometimes hear the harddisk if I listen closely and everything is quiet in our appartment. Other then that... silent.

On another note: A very close friend of me just bought a premium Alienware ALX System, watercooled. That PC is way louder, with the radiator giving a permanent loud hum.

Really appreciate the iMac ;)
 
Mine definitely isn't silent . It's quiet, but I can tell when it's on, and I can hear hard disk sounds when I open programs for the first time (& when the computer boots). It's such a pain to give this thing back...go all the way to t he apple store, back up my data , etc. I still don't know if I should - I might end up with a worse one ! The return limit is tomorrow for me.
 
Hmm..today is the last day I am eligible to return the machine. Still don't know if I should just live with the hum...I can just see myself going to get a replacement and having the replacement hum worse, or have some other weird problem. any thoughts?
 
What the ?

Cybergypsy said:
My 24" was a POS, sold it and went back to Vista for a while :)
Click to expand...

POS meaning Point-of-sale ? What was wrong with it?

And why go to Vista? Where there specific PC apps you needed?

And why go to Vista for a while?

None of this makes sense at this point.
 
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