Mac studio v1 fan noise - it's going to be one of the loudest Macs at idle.

[AlphaCentauri]

But what’s the problem with the studio exactly? the fans are on all the time on mine, but are so quiet they dont bother me at all.
there just seems to be some faulty fans around. Nothing wrong with the fan curves etc, in fact I really appreciate the fan curves and have fully maxed out the machine with little audible difference from doing nothing to 100%.

That's exactly my point, thank you for expressing it better/different .

People claiming that the Studio is "loud" have either unrealistic expectations as to the noise levels from workstation computer or faulty units, which need to be replaced by Apple.

@funkahdafi

I do not tell people that they are right or wrong. We are presenting our personal opinions and mine apparently irritated you. I am fine with that, I'm a big boy and I have thick skin. You are the same in this regard - you keep telling people that the fan curve is Apple's "mistake". That's your opinion, I'm not calling you names because of this.

Please kindly grow up and accept that people can have different opinions and discuss them in civilised way. It would do you good to learn that. 😉

 

[AlphaCentauri]

You are wrong again, very wrong. Let's get this straight - the fan curve of Mac Pro 2013 is for silent operation at idle - it runs at 680RPM. It is rated at 14dB - I cannot hear it, and my 14yo cannot hear it. So basing your opinion on this is nonsense. Unless you have both machines Studio and MP6,1 right now and compare them side by side, you cannot insist you are right, because you are not.

Edit: OK, you are right about one thing - yes, the fan is on all the time, on Mac Pro 2013, but the fan is SILENT at 680RPM - get it? No-one is questioning that the fan is not on, it is just that when idle it is at minimum speed and maximum silence!

Thanks for your correction. Now I will correct you - no fan is silent, unless at 0 RPM. Mac Pro 2013 is quieter at idle than the Studio and you cannot hear it, that's what you should have said instead 😉

I still don't understand why it is important that workstation computer should be quiet at idle? Do people intend to do anything serious with their Studios, or just check emails, browse internet or change desktop backgrounds... 😂

If I am spending 6000 GBP on a computer, it better be earning this money back from day one by actually doing something, not sitting idle 😁

 

[jmho]

Are you maxing out all 20 CPU / 64 GPU cores posting on Macrumors?

 

[AlphaCentauri]

Are you maxing out all 20 CPU / 64 GPU cores posting on Macrumors?

😂 Good one.

No, of course not. But I browse internet mostly on iPad Pro, which is silent. My studio computer is for work, I can use it for internet/emails on occasions but that's rare for me.

 

[PianoPro]

I don't think anyone would notice a difference. I don't think they are different. It's all about perception. What is loud to one person is silent to another.
...
Whether that's loud or silent is completely and utterly subjective.
...
What is absolutely pointless, though, is discussing whether the fan noise is loud or silent. It's not just pointless, it's idiotic and childish.

So I'm idiotic and childish for wanting someone to sit a "loud" and a "quiet" Studio next to other to prove if they are different or not? I should just take your word that there is no difference because you've heard every Studio that some people are complaining about and none of them have any defective fans? Who's being idiotic?

 

[alias.archi]

hello, I just sent a letter to Apple France to replace my Mac Studio which is 1 month old for misleading advertising. The Apple site indicates on the Mac Studio page that it works in the greatest silence. It's wrong.
I asked for a recovery of the machine and the order of an MBP16. Of course I agree to pay the difference. But I insisted on the video of the Keynote and the page of the site where silence is highlighted.
Why didn't I return the Mac within 14 days? Because my iMac 5k was broken and I need to work!
To be continued ...

 

[AlphaCentauri]

The've always said that it was QUIET ("whisper quiet", to quote exactly), not SILENT. By all means, return it or replace if you don't like the fan noise, just don't complain it's false advertising when it is not 🤣

 

[jmho]

The've always said that it was QUIET ("whisper quiet", to quote exactly), not SILENT. By all means, return it or replace if you don't like the fan noise, just don't complain it's false advertising when it is not 🤣

He says he's from France, and the French site literally says "Dans le plus grand silence" or "In the greatest silence." at the place where the English version says whisper quiet.

Sounds like Apple needs to have a word with their French translators.

 

[jmho]

The norwegian site (where I bought mine from) also says "helt stillegående" which even google translate gives as "completely silent"

 

[funkahdafi]

you keep telling people that the fan curve is Apple's "mistake". That's your opinion

See, this is where you still don't get it. I am NOT telling people it's Apple's mistake. I say that's a possibility. Just like it being a deliberate design choice by Apple is a possibility.

What separates us is you insisting that it's the latter and that you somehow know that for a fact. But you don't, Dunning Kruger.

And by insisting that it's a deliberate design choice by Apple, you are implicitly telling everybody they are wrong.

 

[alias.archi]

The've always said that it was QUIET ("whisper quiet", to quote exactly), not SILENT. By all means, return it or replace if you don't like the fan noise, just don't complain it's false advertising when it is not 🤣

no you are wrong.
it is written: in the greatest silence.

 

[appletvbob]

So no weird noises even when you put your ear to the back of the Mac? How long have you had the Mac at home?

Why would I want to put my ear to the back of my Mac? Maybe to blow cool air across my lobes to dry them after a shower?

My Max Studio sits quietly on my desk doing all the jobs I throw at it with nary a peep or a spinning beachball.

 

[AlphaCentauri]

no you are wrong.
it is written: in the greatest silence.
View attachment 1995817

Yes, the French version is different and incorrect. I’m sorry - in this case it is indeed false advertising.

 

[AlphaCentauri]

See, this is where you still don't get it. I am NOT telling people it's Apple's mistake. I say that's a possibility. Just like it being a deliberate design choice by Apple is a possibility.

What separates us is you insisting that it's the latter and that you somehow know that for a fact. But you don't, Dunning Kruger.

And by insisting that it's a deliberate design choice by Apple, you are implicitly telling everybody they are wrong. It's arrogant, annoying, and doesn't add anything - at all - to the discussion. A discussion that doesn't even concern you, because you are fine with the noise. One could almost believe you're a troll.

It is really tiresome to talk to you, but I will try as you obviously “don’t get it” either. Would be also good to change your tone and stop being plain rude. Unless you have no manners, to begin with.

You are talking about one possible explanation, I’m talking about another possible explanation. Both are plausible.

I have presented my opinion and reasoning behind it, where is your reasoning, besides the fact that the fan curve is “weird” in your opinion? I’m not the only one who does not agree with you in this thread, just see the post below mine. Probably another troll

OK, special disclaimer especially for you: my opinions are not facts, but merely educated guesses, as are yours.

Should be obvious to anyone, but well…

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Jeez there's no pleasing some people. Apple virtually disables the fans on past Macs' and people say "I'd take fan noise over heat!"; give them a fan that actually spins a little and they complain it's not silent. Does anyone here seriously work with their ear right over the unit? Or is a tiny amount of soft fan noise unacceptable from an electronic device with moving parts that generates heat - and which Apple for once in its lifetime actually wants to keep cool? I don't get it.

 

[jdb8167]

Jeez there's no pleasing some people. Apple virtually disables the fans on past Macs' and people say "I'd take fan noise over heat!"; give them a fan that actually spins a little and they complain it's not silent. Does anyone here seriously work with their ear right over the unit? Or is a tiny amount of soft fan noise unacceptable from an electronic device with moving parts that generates heat - and which Apple for once in its lifetime actually wants to keep cool? I don't get it.

I think you are discovering that no matter what Apple does some are going to complain about it. For example, I don’t have any love for the new thick and heavy 14” MacBook Pro. Others love it for being thick and heavy with obsolete ports.

 

[jmho]

Jeez there's no pleasing some people. Apple virtually disables the fans on past Macs' and people say "I'd take fan noise over heat!"; give them a fan that actually spins a little and they complain it's not silent. Does anyone here seriously work with their ear right over the unit? Or is a tiny amount of soft fan noise unacceptable from an electronic device with moving parts that generates heat - and which Apple for once in its lifetime actually wants to keep cool? I don't get it.

Well a user adjustable fan curve would be the solution here (with a lower floor than 1100 rpm)

On my M1 Max MacBook Pro I can select high power mode which literally says "Optimise performance [...]. This may result in louder fan noise" or low power which says "You Mac will reduce energy usage and operate more quietly"

I can hear the fans on my M1 Ultra and I find it annoying. I can't hear them at all on my M1 Max MacBook Pro (even with it set to high power mode) and I love it.

I'm not sure why this simple statement makes so many people so angry.

Apple's own spec sheets put the M1 MacBook Pro at 3db at idle, while the Mac Studio is 15db at idle - both measured from the "operator position". I've yet to hear a good reason why the studio is 5 times louder.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Apple's own spec sheets put the M1 MacBook Pro at 3db at idle, while the Mac Studio is 15db at idle - both measured from the "operator position". I've yet to hear a good reason why the studio is 5 times louder.

Very different hardware. The Studio has a much larger internal power supply that, in terms of thermal capacity, needs accounting for other peripherals that are drawing power. You could effectively not be pushing the C/GPU to hard, but still generate consistent heat from anything that’s plugged in. The Studio’s fans are also much larger.

 

[Martyimac]

Apple's own spec sheets put the M1 MacBook Pro at 3db at idle, while the Mac Studio is 15db at idle - both measured from the "operator position". I've yet to hear a good reason why the studio is 5 times louder.

Not all of them are 15db. Mine is 1.5db higher at the operator position.

 

[dunanos]

We don't have an Apple Store, service doesn't get a replacement fan. So a new Mac Studio at the end of the "summer". 🤯

 

[MajorFubar]

My thoughts about the Studio fans (which I'll also post to my blog thread for anyone who doesn't read it here).

I can't hear my Studio Max's fans running unless I put my best ear within 6" of the casing. So it's pretty accurate to say the sound is not a distraction for me. My 20 y/o sons, whom, as you would expect, have much better hearing than me, say they can faintly hear the fans when sat 18" from the computer at the regular seating position in my room, but that the sound is not a distraction.

What does worry me however is the fact the fans are constantly running. With my iMac, I didn't generally ever turn it off: not even at night. Only if I was going to be away from it for several days. I enabled all the power-saving options to put the HDD and screen to sleep after a certain time of inactivity, then I just left it.

But after day 1 of owning the Studio, I have started shutting it down at the end of every night and only powering it on when I come back from work the day after. My reasoning is there's a finite number of times those fans are going to rotate, and I don't see the point in unnecessarily shortening the time it takes for that limit to be reached, during hours when I'm not using the machine. Having the fans running constantly, needlessly recirculating cold air, seems totally at odds with Apple's power-efficiency sales-pitches. For the first time in 11 years of Mac ownership it seems likely I'll download some kind of fan-control and override the automatic settings completely.

 

[SmallDane]

What does worry me however is the fact the fans are constantly running. With my iMac, I didn't generally ever turn it off: not even at night. Only if I was going to be away from it for several days. I enabled all the power-saving options to put the HDD and screen to sleep after a certain time of inactivity, then I just left it.

The iMac fans also run constantly even though they may be more quiet. So there really is no major difference there. Except that maybe the Mac Studio fans run at a bit higher RPM. But if you didn't worry about keeping your iMac running, I don't think you need to worry about your Mac Studio.

 

[gshocked]

It’s not that bad!
I’m sure we’ll all some someone who can blast air from their behind that’s louder 😃.

No really, it’s ok.
My work area is in the kitchen and there are other noises that are louder.

As mentioned a few times, what’s more impressive is how quiet the Mac Studio is under load. When I’m exporting from Premier Pro, the fan speed doesn’t get louder. Comparing my Mac Studio (M1 Max 10 Core CPU and 32 GPU) to the 2019 MacBook Pro 16”, it’s day and night.

However, we’re in Autumn in Australia.
So I’m curious how they will go in the peak of summer. Can someone in the share their experience from a warmer location?

Thanks!

 

[MajorFubar]

The iMac fans also run constantly even though they may be more quiet. So there really is no major difference there. Except that maybe the Mac Studio fans run at a bit higher RPM. But if you didn't worry about keeping your iMac running, I don't think you need to worry about your Mac Studio.

Maybe my iMac was faulty from new but I never heard, nor felt, its fans when the machine was basically idling. Maybe they were running so slow they did not create any noticeable movement of air out of the exits. Put your hand within two inches of the Studio's exit grills and you constantly feel the flow of air.

 

[MajorFubar]

However, we’re in Autumn in Australia.
So I’m curious how they will go in the peak of summer. Can someone in the share their experience from a warmer location?

Thanks!

My summers are about as cold as your winters except for a few odd days where everyone goes crazy trying to make the most of a 'heatwave' that last about three days, so I probably can't contribute to this lol.