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Mac studio v1 fan noise - it's going to be one of the loudest Macs at idle.
- Thread starter AdamSeen
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They do cause I called 4 times on my first unit. I clicked the return button last night and have to box up and get to FedEx. What a shame. Does not make me happy because if were not for the whistling beeping and chirping noises on paper the base max is the best value. I’ve now spent more money to get a MacBook Pro when I’m just not a laptop person. That void gets filled by either my iPad mini 6 or iPad Air 5. So I’ll primarily use the MBP in clamshell mode but most people states the fans are not annoying ant the thermal design, even though the fan speed is higher, is not an unpleasant noise at all. And I actually think the my left fan on the studio was not even on for the first 6-7 days for my second unit and that’s why I was getting the chirping noise after it started working. I truly think the left fans are the culprit here and when apples fans appear toy go bad they make an audible beeping noise.
I'll deal with it through service first. At least they will verify audible/measurable noise and whistling. Better chance of a repair than having a new noisy one again. And that's still 12 months away.
I don't want a MacBook, I use my Mac 99.9% in the office and on a large external monitor. I've destroyed 3 MacBooks in a couple of years, each time the battery has blown. The mini M1 is great, but it's too slow for half my work.
I don't want a MacBook, I use my Mac 99.9% in the office and on a large external monitor. I've destroyed 3 MacBooks in a couple of years, each time the battery has blown. The mini M1 is great, but it's too slow for half my work.
Do you think having plugged into my studio display all the time charged at full with ruin the battery
You need to get something like this - will make a HUGE difference:
RF PRO - sE Electronics
www.seelectronics.com
I've always had my MacBook connected to power. It's only been 1-2 years since the optimized charging feature (at 80%) has been in macOS.
It's cheaper to lock the Mac Studio in a soundproof cabinet. ?You need to get something like this - will make a HUGE difference:
RF PRO - sE Electronics
Except the reflexion filter can be used anywhere and also filters out other room noise. For someone who records a lot, it's sort of a no-brainer investment and far cheaper than a full professional vocal booth. I mean, come on, it's $200 on Amazon. Chump change compared to what people are paying for these Mac Studios!
FWIW, I ran a 2015 MBP in clamshell mode 99% of the time and didn’t experience any significant battery degradation. However, the battery did swell at the 5 year mark.
Just want to say my Studio Ultra is very quiet, I have had it since 3/18 and have not heard any noise, so far the fans have only kicked in at a very low level when I am using Izotope RX to process some large sound files. I have heard no high-pitched sounds and asked my 35 year old daughter if she hears anything and she told me it was quiet even when putting her ear right by the vents on the back. While I don't doubt that some people are having issues with a high-pitched sounds.
I have to wonder whether this is a wide spread issue or not (seems I have seen at least as many comments here that folks that have received their Studio have not heard any noise as people who have. People who are having issues are much more likely comment and/or complain, then people who are not having any issues) so if it were me and I had an order in for a Studio I would not cancel the order, if there is a problem with the Studio you receive you can always return it within 14 days.
I have to wonder whether this is a wide spread issue or not (seems I have seen at least as many comments here that folks that have received their Studio have not heard any noise as people who have. People who are having issues are much more likely comment and/or complain, then people who are not having any issues) so if it were me and I had an order in for a Studio I would not cancel the order, if there is a problem with the Studio you receive you can always return it within 14 days.
The Max seems much more of an issue than the Ultra. But your point regarding adverse selection is well taken.
Growing thread on the subject here:
discussions.apple.com
How noisy is the Mac Studio M1 Max? - Apple Community
This is really disappointing. I've been using an M1 Mini to hold over for something like the Studio to appear. The Mini is very quiet which is really great, but I need more than 16Gb of ram ultimately and more ports would be appreciated as well. I am both very sensitive to noise (unnecessary annoying background noise is very irritating) and do audio recording with high end condenser mics which are very sensitive.
I have saved up enough to purchase the Studio, and was just about to do that, but noisy fans are a deal breaker and 3rd party kludges and bandaid fixes are not appealing and shouldn't be necessary.
Furthermore the noise is likely to worsen over time with more demanding OS and application updates, dust accumulation, etc.
It seems pretty obvious it's a hardware design flaw and not a software flaw so I don't expect any real reasonable fix for this. Nor should we expect Apple to even acknowledge it just like they didn't acknowledge the widely reported Mini bluetooth issues.
I also don't need any lectures on audio recording techniques either thank you!
I have saved up enough to purchase the Studio, and was just about to do that, but noisy fans are a deal breaker and 3rd party kludges and bandaid fixes are not appealing and shouldn't be necessary.
Furthermore the noise is likely to worsen over time with more demanding OS and application updates, dust accumulation, etc.
It seems pretty obvious it's a hardware design flaw and not a software flaw so I don't expect any real reasonable fix for this. Nor should we expect Apple to even acknowledge it just like they didn't acknowledge the widely reported Mini bluetooth issues.
I also don't need any lectures on audio recording techniques either thank you!
The Mac Studio is not loud. It is just louder than other Macs. Coming from actually silent Macs like the current Mac mini, current MacBooks, iMac (Pro)s and even some Mac Pros it is simply louder. But that is normal and was to be expected after looking at Apples acoustic information.
For people who have a slightly higher ambience noise level in their room the noise is almost not noticeable. The normal default noise the Studio emits at idle is at around 35 dB measured 10 cm from the fans. So if you are in a room that's louder than 35 dB you will not hear it even when you put your ear to the vents.
In my case my room is at around 25 dB during the night. And my two Studios (one Ultra, one Max) I can hear from everywhere in the room, even three or four meters away. It does not sit in front of a wall, the vents face into the open. I believe that every normal functioning Mac Studio does have this kind of sound level. It is simply normal and as Apple designed it.
The whining noise some people here describe is something different. There seem to be some models which have defective fans which emit these whistle noises at a specific frequency. I don't have this, if I would, I would return my Studios and get them replaced. This is clearly a malfunction.
If the normal vent noise is too loud for you there are ways to minimize it. First you can manually turn the fan speed down from 1300 rpm to 1100 rpm with tools like Macs Fan Control or TG Pro. You can even select at which temperatures for specific sensors the fans should spin higher. So you don't have to fear that the Mac Studio grills itself when you play StarCraft II for half an hour.
Sound you can put something in front of the vents. I put a kitchen paper towel at the back but I only fixed it at the top. So when the fans spin higher the towel get blown farther away and the air can still flow. But while spinning at 1100 rpm or even 1300 rpm the towel reduces the noise considerably.
I understand that it feels a little bit crazy to have to tune an expensive computer from a prestigious brand to get it silent after you already paid >=$2000 for it. But if you like the general concept of the studio I think it's the best option you have. Also the things you can do are very effective and don't cost anything but half an hour of your time tops.
The Mac Studio has a crazy amount of headroom concerning heat. It can get two times as hot (32°C during idle, 65°C after exporting video für 45 mins) and the fans don't spin up. So I think it will spin at 1300 rpm for a long long time even with some dust and more performance hungry apps.
Yes and no. Heat-wise the Studio is extremely capable the only flaw here is the extreme conservative fan design by Apple. Maybe the Fans are not designed to run slower than 1100 rpm and it would harm them if they would run at lower speeds for longer periods of time. But in theory at least for the Max Apple could probably turn off the fans completely like they do in the MacBook Pro and only turn them on when the SoC get's hotter than for example 70°C. And that Apple could do via Software. But I don't think they will. The only thing I can think of is that the might reduce the default fan speed to 1100 rpm at some point in the future.
And maybe the next Studio will have different fans which can run at slower speeds. ?
FYI: The 12.4 beta is now in public beta so someone could try if the mentioned Firmware update changes anything about the Mac Studio fans.
Why does the cooling assembly need two fans? If Apple went with a larger one fan assembly, then it would have been quieter. The Mac Studio is square and wide enough to fit a bigger turbine shaped fan.
Did you check your battery health with an app like CoconutBattery? I don’t believe it’s OK to have your Macbook connected to the charger all the time and keep the battery fully charged at 100%. Apple should have a clamshell mode, in which the battery is only charged to 80%.
They do. It is called Optimized battery charging. It kicks in after a few weeks of being connected to the charger. Holds at about 80%.
If they put a big fan in the Mac Studio that is as big as the whole surface of the studio, then the air would either have to escape upwards, or the fan would have to sit above the cooler. And somehow the air would have to be sucked through the cooler. I'm not a cooling specialist, but the design would definitely have had to be very different.
I just think Apple optimised for "steady fan noise as long as possible" instead of "completely silent as long as possible". And if you look at the target group of the machine it makes completely sense. In almost any kind of studio there are working multiple people, not only one person sitting alone in a extremely quiet room. Apple optimised for (most of) the professionals, not for the ambitious privateer.
It is still a very conservative cooling design, we can hope the M2-family Mac Studio will be cooler, but don't expect on it.
My Studio Max's fan noise was much louder than I anticipated, since some claimed theirs was "completely silent". I'm convinced those people have offices with a high noise floor, my room is very quiet. The "whoosh" fan noise also includes a slight buzz or whine, so it's not as pleasant as some of Apple's other fans. I was tempted to return mine and get a fan-less MacBook Air instead.
But, since I don't require access to the ports very often, I placed mine on a shelf under my desk, and covered it with an old honeycomb shade, which reduces the sound to where I can barely hear it, about the level of a light wind outside my office window, or a very quiet HVAC. Not as convenient, and it also cost me, as I had to get a longer $$ Thunderbolt cable for the Studio Display.
Maybe Apple will correct the problem with a software update. The air is coming out cool no matter what I do, so I'm hoping it's not really necessary to run them that fast.
But, since I don't require access to the ports very often, I placed mine on a shelf under my desk, and covered it with an old honeycomb shade, which reduces the sound to where I can barely hear it, about the level of a light wind outside my office window, or a very quiet HVAC. Not as convenient, and it also cost me, as I had to get a longer $$ Thunderbolt cable for the Studio Display.
Maybe Apple will correct the problem with a software update. The air is coming out cool no matter what I do, so I'm hoping it's not really necessary to run them that fast.
I have a 2012 PowerMac which can be very loud when it is driven hard, my 2017 MacBook Pro can also be pretty loud when the fans kick in, my M1 mac mini that is connected to by TV is very quiet never heard anything and my M1 MacBook Pro has also been pretty quiet. My Studio is very quiet in my office at night, I can't hear a thing, now being that I am 65 year old, my hearing when last tested a year ago tops out at about 13K anything above that my hearing drops off until about 14.5k where I can't hear a damn thing. My daughter has great hearing which is why I asked her if she could hear anything, even putting her ear about 1/2" from the vent holes on the back she could not hear anything but very faint fan noise that she could not hear the further away she moved her head. My MacStudio is on my desk with the vents facing a wall, the wall is about 18" behind the computer.
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