Are there really Macbooks that do not whine or moo at all?

[tetmin]

Mine moo's all the time. Got it two days ago, and it's been driving me crazy since. The Macbook idles at around 70C, and moos every 3-4 seconds without fail. It's not very loud, but my room is basically silent, and i've been working in the library recently so it's starting to bug me.

It's a bit like water torture really, if the fans were on constantly it wouldn't be so bad, but it's just the fact that it's moo, mooo, mooo, mooo 24/7.

The Macbook doesn't actually feel that hot, so i'm not sure how my idle temps are up at 70C!

I'm gonna send it back if the moo doesn't go in the next week.

 

[CHROMEDOME]

I'm on my couch 15 feet away from my rev A iMac G5 and its 10x louder than my macbook right now because my macbook is dead silent, connected to power, no moo, no whine its perfect.

 

[Mord]

run your macbook full tilt with a terminal command to tax both cpu's (or download F@H) then open core duo temp and let the temperature stabilize, if it's running at below the advertised speed then you have a problem, and need to return it for a replacement, if not it's running as it should.

as for mooing around 65-67 mine does it but i much prefer it to what my old g3 ibook did as it's fan came on full blast and would not go away for about 20 mins or so, the moo is only audible when in a completely silent room and even then it's not that bad i prefer it to a constant fan noise.

 

[ModestPenguin]

my macbook is miraculously quiet, I raly hope that people aren't just b****ing about fan noise that really isnt that bad because they expected perfection.

My old Inspiron is louder than any other machine in the houser, so loud that i am in the living room a good 80 ft from the kitchen and it is in the back of the kitchen and it is still louder than the sound of me typing right now.

It is ridiulous how quiet this thing is. Sure it gets a little warm but man it is so worth the amazingnes of this puppy. Beautiful screen, kickass battery life (inspiron cannot be unplugged or it goes to sleep, battery holds no charge after a year), strong wifi signals.

My only issue is that it seems to scratch like my black nano did. and that bothers me a bit because its freakin less than a week old and it is rather buffed on both sides and no i didnt carry it in a bag anywhere this is from normal around the house use which is unnerving, im off to buy a sleeve soon enough.

 

[Arbiter]

Mine moos and whines depending on what I am doing and it doesnt matter if it is stressing the CPU a lot or not.. it seems almost random...

And it does not moo/whine while it is running on battery.

Still this is the quitest laptop I have ever worked with... not that I have a lot of experience with laptops...

Ohh yah, the book gets warm, but not hot or I have low standards.

I am very pleased with it.

 

[bobbyMACbear]

Okay, for those of you that are not experiencing the noise, those of us who are experiencing it are not being nitpicky. There is definitely a VERY annoying noise coming from the Macbook at around temperatures of 60-67 Celsius. If you claim that your Macbook does not have a moo, so we can find out if this is normal or not, then the only way is to download CoreDuoTemp, and check to see if you can work your computer hard enough to get to these temperatures, and listen for the moo. If anyone can do this without the moo, in a quiet room, then it is obviously an issue that can and should be dealt with. For us who have had the moo, it is not fair if others who spent the same amount of money are getting a better, more quality machine. I took back my Macbook six days after dealing with it, and I'm going to wait it out until this issue is resolved! But, I do miss it. The Macbook is rather sexy...

 

[lexus]

Mine moos for a couple of seconds then doesnt moo for some hours, it is really weird.

 

[nermal0]

First of all thank you for your numerous replies!

It seems that the people without the moo/whine or those who cannot hear the whine because their hearing degraded (which is perfectly normal for every human being getting older) simply can't believe how bad the moo/whine is for some of us. They accuse us of being too picky, crazy about cows or Mac bashers.

The people who suffer from mooing and whining, on the other hand, can't believe that there are Macbooks out there who really do not have these issues, as they all have the same hardware. Reading stories in this forum of people who got their third Macbook replacement and still have these issues doesn't exactly give them hope they could swap it for a good one.

It also depends a lot on how sensitive you are. Some probably don't mind their Macbooks mooing at them constantly, others do. Some get headaches from high frequency noise, other's don't. And some just love their cute Macbook so much they simply can't be mad at it

I'm keeping my opinion that moo and whine are general design flaws and not rare hardware faults ("lemons"), as there are way too many people complaining about it. I'll get a replacement from Apple, and if it should really not whine or moo at all, I'll apologize here and take everything back.

 

[plinden]

Okay, for those of you that are not experiencing the noise, those of us who are experiencing it are not being nitpicky. There is definitely a VERY annoying noise coming from the Macbook at around temperatures of 60-67 Celsius. If you claim that your Macbook does not have a moo, so we can find out if this is normal or not, then the only way is to download CoreDuoTemp, and check to see if you can work your computer hard enough to get to these temperatures, and listen for the moo. If anyone can do this without the moo, in a quiet room, then it is obviously an issue that can and should be dealt with. For us who have had the moo, it is not fair if others who spent the same amount of money are getting a better, more quality machine. I took back my Macbook six days after dealing with it, and I'm going to wait it out until this issue is resolved! But, I do miss it. The Macbook is rather sexy...

I've already done this - I've pushed the CPU at 100% for ten minutes while measuring the temperature. It idled at 45-50˚C, the fans came on full blast at 82˚C, the CPU temperature didn't go above 84˚C. There was no moo or whine.

The original suggestion of the OP is ridiculous. His logic is, his MB whines and moos, therefore all MBs whine and moo, therefore those of us whose MBs don't whine or moo have hearing problems.

This is as ridiculous as my saying, my wife's MB doesn't whine or moo, therefore no MB whines or moos, therefore those of you hearing this are being idiots.

If it makes a noise you can't tolerate, it's a problem with YOUR computer. Deal with it however you need to to make it tolerable. It might be common, but that's not the same as ALL OR EVEN MOST MB/MBPs having this issue.

First of all thank you for your numerous replies!

It seems that the people without the moo/whine or those who cannot hear the whine because their hearing degraded (which is perfectly normal for every human being getting older) simply can't believe how bad the moo/whine is for some of us. They accuse us of being too picky, crazy about cows or Mac bashers.

I'm going to call you an idiot.

You are an idiot.

You just don't listen, do you?

Edit: on second thoughts, I've probably been trolled. Your posts here show the signature of a classic troll. Congratulations, I'm not usually hooked that quickly.

 

[nermal0]

I've already done this - I've pushed the CPU at 100% for ten minutes while measuring the temperature. It idled at 45-50?C, the fans came on full blast at 82?C, the CPU temperature didn't go above 84?C. There was no moo or whine.

You just don't listen, do you?

Well, you don't listen either. If you had read this thread you would know that what you did to check for the moo was completely wrong. You seem to have no idea what causes it and when it can happen. Pushing the CPU leads to constant fan noise. If you want to check for the moo, just put it on a table, turn on photobooth and wait until the CPU gets in the 65-68 degree range. If it doesn't moo there, congratulations, you won in the Apple Macbook draw.

I'm repeating myself here: I'm not accusing anyone to have a bad hearing because they don't hear the moo. It's just the whine that can't be heard by everyone.

 

[Yoyodyne]

run your macbook full tilt with a terminal command to tax both cpu's (or download F@H) then open core duo temp and let the temperature stabilize, if it's running at below the advertised speed then you have a problem, and need to return it for a replacement, if not it's running as it should.

as for mooing around 65-67 mine does it but i much prefer it to what my old g3 ibook did as it's fan came on full blast and would not go away for about 20 mins or so, the moo is only audible when in a completely silent room and even then it's not that bad i prefer it to a constant fan noise.

Yeah, I read a thread over at Ars Technica about CoreDuoTemp results. It's an interesting thread, up until the bickering.

 

[Mal]

I've run my MacBook at stable temperatures of anywhere from 60-80º, for several minutes at a time on each temperature, and never once has my machine whined or mooed. I've heard HD noise and the CD drive can be very noisy, but nothing from the fans, and it runs perfectly without any problems, so don't tell me it's defective and just not running fast enough. CoreDuoTemp is a great tool for exposing all the idiots who claim that every MacBook has some sort of serious problem. People, get a life. If a noise your computer is making is a serious enough problem for you to take your computer back and swear off Mac's forever, then I say good riddance. Especially since if you thought about this for a few microseconds, you'd realize that there will be a firmware update in probably 2-3 weeks that will get rid of what could at best be classified as a minor annoyance, and then you'll never hear about it again.

I'm sick of people saying stupid things about computers that obviously have no idea whatsoever about the subject they're speaking on.

jW

 

[conditionals]

Damnit, OP, it's no wonder he accused you of trolling: it's not about hearing being degraded, it's the FACT that some people can't hear those frequencies. It has nothing to do with how old you are, or how well you can hear. Indeed, my hearing ability is generally pretty crap, but I still get ruined by CRT tv frequencies from next door.

I fully stand behind the 'whine in every MB(P)' argument. Indeed, knowing its on all of them makes me less wary of buying one.

 

[conditionals]

Oh yeah? Well if it's a "FACT", then show me the wikipedia article on it.

You're totally just trying to use this argument to convince yourself to buy a MBP, obviously.

 

[macgeek2005]

My Macbook whines and moos, and I wonder what's the best thing to do now. After reading many posts here and observing it myself, this is how I understand it:

The moo: actually consists of two noises, a "...mmmmMMMMOOOOO" when the fan spins up and a "OOOOOooooo...." when it spins down. As fan speed is linear to CPU temperature on the Macbook, it spins up at around 65 degrees. When it reaches more than 80 degrees, it sounds like the Macbook is preparing for takeoff and the CPU clock is cycled down to protect the CPU from overheating. But the moo just happens in the threshold between 65 and 69 degrees. The CPU heats up by a few degrees, the fan spins up, cools down the CPU in about two seconds, and the fan turns off. That's the moo, and I believe Apple could fix it by setting two instead of one thresholds in the SMC: one threshold (e.g. 65° C) for fan spinup and one threshold for spindown (e.g. at 55° C). This would split the moo in half and make it appear a lot less often. The annoying thing about the moo is not the sound itself, but the fact that it happens every few senconds. So I believe this could be fixed in software.

The whine: as I understand it, it happens when the Core Duo idles. The sound comes from the left side of the Macbook and the power adapter. All the "fixes" people have found cause a little CPU load to prevent the CPU from idling, and that is not a useful workaround as it drains the battery and heats up the CPU to a level where the Macbook starts mooing. I'm not sure whether this can be fixed in software.

As we all have the same CPUs, fans and fan controllers in our Macbooks, I wonder how some people claim they do not have these issues. In my opinion, these issues are not related to faulty hardware, but they are design flaws. In this case it would be pointless to ask Apple for an exchange. It's probably a better idea to return it and wait until these issues are fixed (if ever), and then buy a new one.

I'm not saying everyone who claims to own a quiet Macbook is a liar or a Mac lover unwilling to admit it, but can you people please check again? You must be in a very quiet place and you must have good hearing. I guess many people whithout the whine simply don't hear it as the ear's ability to hear high frequencies degrades with age.

Make sure you check for the whine when on battery, when charging and when fully charged and connected to AC. If you are lucky your hearing is bad enough that you only hear it when you put your ear on the keyboard or the AC adaptor ;-)

To check for the moo: open photobooth and wait until your CPU temp reaches about 65 degrees. Does your fan start spinning up and down? If not what else happens?

After all I really like this machine and it's a shame that these two issues make it almost unusable...

Thanks for your participation!

Christoph

HEY, Is that the sound that i'm hearing from my G4 tower? It goes like moooooooo ehhhhhhh. Like it goes up and down. The pitch rises high and then falls low, and goes up and down like a roller coster, when I turn it on or wake it out of sleep. It does it for at least a minute.

 

[mulletman13]

Hrmm... my friends BlacBook doesn't make any noises at all -- and last week when I went into the Apple store somebody brought their MacBook in because it whined. It was VERY distinctive and gave me a headache.

So I can stand behind the fact that these do not affect every MacBook... the MacBooks on displays did not display the whining (Apple wouldn't have defective merchandside being displayed in their store), so it is definately not a problem with all of them.

 

[Nar1117]

I suggest that we all congregate in a very large, quiet warehouse with our Macbooks and Macbook Pros and spend the afternoon strolling amongst the other laptops, listening for any 'mooing' or 'whining' coming from our companions' computers. Seriously.

**** happens people.

 

[karmakoma]

Well, it's a shame that this thread has degraded somewhat - I guess some people just can't help themselves. Anyway, I find myself in similar predicament to the OP in that I HAD a MacBook and returned it because I was using the QuietMBP to workaround the whine which brought up the CPU temp to the dreaded 68/69°C whereby the machine started to moo.

So to answer the 'Apple is perfect' brigade - take a look at what these 'nitpicky' users are doing. I was using a battery draining workaround so that my machine was as quiet as my old g3 ibook. Not silent. Not cold - As quiet. This workaround exposed another hardware flaw - the moo. Now I could stand a little more CONSTANT fan noise, but I fail to see the usefulness of a fan that cycles every 1-2 seconds. So I was prepared to accept one flaw (grudgingly) but not two. It seems some people are prepared to accept these flaws, fine go with it, but just because you don't mind paying out for flawed, poorly designed hardware (if indeed it is) - don't think everybody else is.

I'm still interested to know the answer to the OP's original question which would answer whether or not this is a design limitation (flaw?) or if not, just really, really bad QC. I'm trying to decide whether or not to order a second MacBook or not.

 

[superwoman]

Mine moos occasionally, but no whining at idle, although at heavy load the fans do come on a bit too loudly and high pitched for my liking.

 

[chrispl]

"all macbooks moo" says the genius...

so i called apple care a 2nd time after i was told to go into the store the first time about the moo/whine, and they still said i have to go into the store to prove anything was wrong. i only called again after reading some encouraging posts about how apple care said there was a defective batch that mooed and how the macbooks werent supposed to do that.

anyways, brought it into a store and the genius told me they all moo and that its definitely not defective. he said that the macbook was designed to turn on the fan that way, but if it turns out to be more of a hinderance, then theyll fix it. he also said said "im sure apple is working on a fix for it". so if your macbook just moos, then i dont think you can return it or anything. but my powerbrick and magsafe connection also hissed/whined. he took it into the back to hear it more clearly, came back and said "i hear a liiiittle bit of sound...." but still offered me a 10% restocking fee FREE return.

i wonder if hes just saying the moo is on all of the macbooks just to keep people quiet. i mean... would a teeny tiny sound that he supposedly heard (its actually really loud and annoying) really warrant a waiver of the 10% restocking fee?

chris

PS. and for those who havent heard the moo before here is my garage band recording.. http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~chrispl/Moo.m4a

 

[karmakoma]

When I took the Macbook back to the reseller, they immediately accepted that the moo wasn't normal and returned it to Apple as faulty.

For the record, mine idled at around 55°C (with the whine) but with the higher CPU utilisation whilst using QuietMBP it warmed up to the 68°C temp where it started mooing. So for general web-surfing/email in a quiet environment ie the environment at home when I most need it not to whine/moo, whilst usable, it quickly became annoying. It's a shame, as otherwise these are fine machines.

 

[mashinhead]

mine was fine for a couple days, but i'm hearing it now. it sounds like something it trying to start (fan or something) and can't get going, its coming from the top left quadrent.

 

[retrospek]

My MacBook didn't Moo at all during the first 9 days. However, last night I was using it and heard the Moo for the first time. If my MacBook made this noise all the time then it would drive me nuts ! But luckily it has only done it once so far...

I just hope this is something that can be fixed by Apple with a software/firmware update. As I really wouldn't be able to use this MacBook if it started to Moo constantly.

I just hope this is fixable via a Software Update !

Mark.

 

[c1gar]

moooing

I dont mind the fan, spinning when it needs to, which my MB does,

But i can not stand the high pitch noise, which my MB also does, im taking this one back, and apple store London UK, said they would allow me to open up a couple of mac's and compare, or get a refund

 

[nermal0]

I'm new to Mac and new to the Mac community (switched from Linux on a dead silent Thinkpad), and I knew there are Mac users who believe that, as someone else put it, "Macs were given from God to Steve Jobs hands"

But I had no idea how much hatred I'd receive if I post in a Mac forum that I'm a bit unhappy with my Mac. Many forum "newbies" here share my opinion, while some "veterans" here lose it and call me an idiot. Maybe they don't like newbies in their exclusive Mac club? Doubts and questions are not encouraged?

Someone asked about whether it's a fact that high frequency ("whine") hearing degrades with age. Check this article on Yahoo Health:

http://health.yahoo.com/topic/hearing/overview/article/ehealthmd/Hearing_Loss_yms_HL_whatis

and read the box "Facts about hearing loss" on the bottom. I quote: "Minor decreases in hearing, especially of higher frequencies, are normal after age 20."