M1 MBA weird noise

[Pierre535]

Hold it vertically with the left side facing you and with your right foot bent at the knee and left arm bent at the elbow, shake rattle and roll!

 

[LuisN]

Do you see this red glow in black image on the right hand side in those condition described above and in the link I posted?


Does your or other people's MBA M1 with this panel model have notebook serial starting with C or F?
Just wondering if that is just related to that and the panel is more or less the same?
Mine is C and panel is the one ending with 3C.

Mine is F and model ending with 45. No red or other color glow anywhere in the screen

 

[california_kid]

While vigorously shaking my M1 MBA next to my ear, it slipped out of my hands and smashed through my window and dropped down 3 floors onto a parked Prius. For a moment tho, I think I heard something but can't be sure. That Prius tho, just won't stop beeping!

 

[0906742]

Mine is F and model ending with 45. No red or other color glow anywhere in the screen

You tested it in described conditions and made sure screen brightness was manually set to 100? Autobrightness tend to hide this. Can you take a photo of it?

 

[0906742]

Hello everyone.
About two weeks ago I bought a M1 Macbook Air (16/256). While I was checking it I noticed that it made a strange noise when shaken horizontally, especially from the upside down position. So I brought it to an Apple store and they confirmed me that it was not normal, saying that it was coming from the screen. They suggested me to get a refund and buy a new one, and so I did.
Today I received the new one and, unfortunately, it has the same "issue". Now, either Apple was wrong and this rattle is normal or it is a widespread defect or I got two defective units with the same "problem", which seems rather unlikely to me.

I'd like to hear your thoughts about this and, for those of you who own a M1 MBA, I'd be grateful if you could try to see if yours makes any rattling sound.

Thank you

I think that might be normal. My MBA M1 makes kind of a knocking sound but only when lid is closed and I hold it on the sides (meaning Thunderbolt and headphone connector sides) while keeping machine right side up and I gently shake it by just moving it back and forth. It does not make the sound if I gently shake it left and right, only back and forth. Do not shake it fast but more like just move back and forth pretty fast stopping suddenly at "each end".
I've had my MBA M1 from December and it is working fine.

For some reason it did not make that sound when I tried again after typing above. First time it did was when I tried that right after I powered it off (not sleeping but actually powered off). I suspect it might be related to some part that stays powered for a certain period of time after power off and having some moving part during that. My bet would be trackpad.

 

[Pi272]

I think that might be normal. My MBA M1 makes kind of a knocking sound but only when lid is closed and I hold it on the sides (meaning Thunderbolt and headphone connector sides) while keeping machine right side up and I gently shake it by just moving it back and forth. It does not make the sound if I gently shake it left and right, only back and forth. Do not shake it fast but more like just move back and forth pretty fast stopping suddenly at "each end".
I've had my MBA M1 from December and it is working fine.

For some reason it did not make that sound when I tried again after typing above. First time it did was when I tried that right after I powered it off (not sleeping but actually powered off). I suspect it might be related to some part that stays powered for a certain period of time after power off and having some moving part during that. My bet would be trackpad.

Hi,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Mine makes a kind of knocking sound as well, but it comes clearly from the screen. It seems to be a loose part inside of it which makes this noise when you gently shake it, and even when you tilt it back and forth.
I thought at first that it was not a common issue but I was wrong, they've been experiencing it for years:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7193866

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-loose-inside-tilting-left-and-right.2018255/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/something-rattles-inside-when-i-tilt-the-macbook.2052987/

Apparently it is related with the light guide plate, which is held down by a small strip of mild adhesive as explained here, which would be something ridiculous for a computer of this price if it still were like this.

Mine is working fine too so far as well. My concerns are more about what this issue could lead to, especially since I will carry it around with me very often.

 

[0906742]

Mine made that sound only by moving direction I mentioned in my post. Tilting is silent here.
I'm pretty sure sound comes from the trackpad but what ever, I would not loose sleep over this.
Like I said mine stopped making that sound few minutes after power off.

Maybe if it comes from the display I guess there are parts that are no glued at all due to heat expanding, you cannot lock all the parts due to need to compensate that. Again I would not loose sleep over this unless you see some issue with the picture related to this.

 

[Pi272]

Mine made that sound only by moving direction I mentioned in my post. Tilting is silent here.
I'm pretty sure sound comes from the trackpad but what ever, I would not loose sleep over this.
Like I said mine stopped making that sound few minutes after power off.

Maybe if it comes from the display I guess there are parts that are no glued at all due to heat expanding, you cannot lock all the parts due to need to compensate that. Again I would not loose sleep over this unless you see some issue with the picture related to this.

It's possible. The only thing I don't understand at this point is why there are devices that have the "issue" and other devices that don't. If there're parts no glued on purpose it should be the same on each machine but, apparently, it doesn't.
Anyways, as you said nothing that one should lose sleep over, as long as it doesn't affect the machine whatsoever.

 

[0906742]

It's possible. The only thing I don't understand at this point is why there are devices that have the "issue" and other devices that don't. If there're parts no glued on purpose it should be the same on each machine but, apparently, it doesn't.
Anyways, as you said nothing that one should lose sleep over, as long as it doesn't affect the machine whatsoever.

I think this is just the way people try to shake their machines. Probably if you or I tried other machines exactly the same way as ours we would hear the sound...
And like I said mine made that sound only right after power off and then stopped few minutes later, so if there is even some "window" when this can be heard. Anyway just forget about it.

 

[mi7chy]

Why would you deliberately shake your new MBA and hold it upside-down? It's not meant to be shaken and rattled around. These machines are not toys!

You probably aren't aware that new products go through 'vibration testing' to catch issues like this.

 

[Clix Pix]

Right -- new products should be tested at the factory as part of the overall Quality Control process, and then the consumer doesn't need to submit his nice new machine to being shaken and treated roughly as "a test."

 

[Yoda5747654]

It's possible. The only thing I don't understand at this point is why there are devices that have the "issue" and other devices that don't. If there're parts no glued on purpose it should be the same on each machine but, apparently, it doesn't.
Anyways, as you said nothing that one should lose sleep over, as long as it doesn't affect the machine whatsoever.

Is there any updates about the noise? I bought my m1 MacBook pro last week and realized today the exact sound what you are telling now. When I tilt it right left there is a sound coming from it. Started to think if the batteries adhesives are not too strong?!?