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v0lume4

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 28, 2012
2,548
5,286
Hello. Most laptops on the market that I've seen have a distinct, high-pitched jet engine noise to their fans. Clearly, this noise doesn’t bother most people, and I’m sure many of you reading this are thinking, “What are you even talking about?” But those of you sensitive to this noise know exactly what I’m talking about.

The fan on my MacBook Pro from 2010 sounded like smooth white noise. I think it’s when laptops started getting thinner that this issue cropped up. To my knowledge, all of the MBP’s laptops throughout the late 2010’s exhibited the high-pitched fan noise. One of those chassis, still on sale with the 13in MacBook Pro has a jet-engine whirr to it.

My question today is: does the 14in MacBook Pro (M1/M2/Pro/Max) exhibit this high-pitched fan noise? On that same note, has anyone used the 16in MacBook Pro? Does it exhibit that type of fan noise? I understand that the fans on these machines do not run often, but I am looking for experiences with the fans when they DO run.

Thank you for answering.

Edit - For those of you wondering what I mean by high-pitched fans, this video shows a great example of it. Starts at 3:38. Even worse starting at 3:53:
 
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MayaUser

macrumors 68040
Nov 22, 2021
3,178
7,203
i dont think you can compare the intel 2010 Mbp fan noise with these...for first, most of the time the fan will be on idle or on medium speed
Second, when my fans are on full , it sound more on a "full low Mi" octane but mine is the 16" M2 Max, but i dont think they are too different on fans between M1 family and the M2
Bottom line is if you handle your 2010 Mbp...this one will be far more easier to bother with, dont worry about it
 

dmccloud

macrumors 68040
Sep 7, 2009
3,143
1,900
Anchorage, AK
On the rare occasion I hear any sound coming from the fan area, it's not mechanical at all. What I do occasionally hear is the whoosh of the air leaving the chassis of the MBP rather than the fans themselves.
 
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