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

[Killerbob]

The MM is NOT quieter than the MS under pressure. I had the M2 MM and M1 MS sitting next to each other, and I opened the identical apps, and the same pages, and the MM was noticeable louder than the MS. It was here in Saskatoon, it was not warm, and there seemed to be nothing wrong.

Go to an Apple store and do the same thing; open 25 Safari pages, YouTube preferably, then open all normal apps; GarageBand, iMovie, Numbers, Keynote, Pages, and if that doesn’t get the CPUs going, then go to cpux.net/cpu-stress-test-online - increase the parameters until you start seeing significant CPU usage, and the temps go up accordingly. Here it is VERY obvious that the Mac Mini is not made for serious work…

 

[Luis Glez]

Sure, that's what I've experienced too.

I think most people think that the Mac Mini is quieter because it really is dead silent at idle, or under low/medium load. But just throw a bunch of really high-demanding tasks both at the Studio and a Mini, and see which one starts sounding like a rocket. That's the reason why I returned the Mini and replaced it with a Studio.

I mean, you just need to have a look at the different cooling systems in both machines. Their designs speak for themselves.

 

[pshufd]

The MM is NOT quieter than the MS under pressure. I had the M2 MM and M1 MS sitting next to each other, and I opened the identical apps, and the same pages, and the MM was noticeable louder than the MS. It was here in Saskatoon, it was not warm, and there seemed to be nothing wrong.

Go to an Apple store and do the same thing; open 25 Safari pages, YouTube preferably, then open all normal apps; GarageBand, iMovie, Numbers, Keynote, Pages, and if that doesn’t get the CPUs going, then go to cpux.net/cpu-stress-test-online - increase the parameters until you start seeing significant CPU usage, and the temps go up accordingly. Here it is VERY obvious that the Mac Mini is not made for serious work…

I make it a point to size my systems so that the most that they use the vast majority of the time is under 20% CPU. Sometimes the CPU usage is a lot higher. So I run lighter workloads on the M1 mini than I do on the Studio or my MacBook Pro. The M1 mini is far quieter than my Studio under these conditions. The Studio is audible from close by at my normal workloads while my MacBook Pro and mini are silent.

 

[leemkule]

I got a Mac Studio Ultra about a week ago, the fans were way louder than I expected at idle coming from a 14 inch MacBook M1 Pro. I could have accepted fan noise, but there's a high pitched whining sound that came from the enclosure and it's unbearable, so I've reluctantly filed a return. Not prepared to accept such an obnoxious noise that is there 100% of the time for such a high price tag.

Really is a shame, the Mac Studio seemed like a such a good product and really suited my needs, I'm so disappointed by it.

 

[Ryand123]

I got a Mac Studio Ultra about a week ago, the fans were way louder than I expected at idle coming from a 14 inch MacBook M1 Pro. I could have accepted fan noise, but there's a high pitched whining sound that came from the enclosure and it's unbearable, so I've reluctantly filed a return. Not prepared to accept such an obnoxious noise that is there 100% of the time for such a high price tag.

Really is a shame, the Mac Studio seemed like a such a good product and really suited my needs, I'm so disappointed by it.

You must have gotten a bad model. There is nothing like that with my Studio. Granted I only have the lowest spec base model running the Max but I'd be surprised if even the Ultra is supposed to be doing that.

 

[Cape Dave]

Sometimes the stores are pretty warm too.

My M1 mini is quieter than my Studio. The mini is silent to me from close distances. I can hear the fan on the studio when I'm close to it.

My M1 mini is the quietest computer I have never heard. So wonderful. I tried to make it get louder and was not able. but then again, I really do not do much. 30 tabs open is about my max usage Along with a video playing.

 

[Think77]

My M1 mini is the quietest computer I have never heard. So wonderful. I tried to make it get louder and was not able. but then again, I really do not do much. 30 tabs open is about my max usage Along with a video playing.

I have the M1 Mac mini as well and push it to the max daily - and I have never heard a sound from it either!

 

[bobcomer]

I have the M1 Mac mini as well and push it to the max daily - and I have never heard a sound from it either!

My intel Mac Mini is also quiter than my Studio Max. I've seen a lot of complaints about the old Intel Mini, but mine was very quite. It had a lot of RAM, so maybe it never gets to the ssd thrashing point, but I seriously never heard any noise out of it.

 

[Sharky II]

Can we just pin this to the top of the Mac Studio forum

 

[Ethosik]

Can we just pin this to the top of the Mac Studio forum

Well one the person said they had the Max not the Ultra. Two, I don’t think it’s as easy as a “bad model”. I exchanged mine 5 times until I gave up. Sometimes people just don’t hear it. None of my family or friends did. So could be those reporting no issue wouldn’t be able to hear it. It’s very very VERY subtle. My head needs to be in the right position to hear it.

 

[DirkSchreib]

I got a Mac Studio Ultra about a week ago, the fans were way louder than I expected at idle coming from a 14 inch MacBook M1 Pro. I could have accepted fan noise, but there's a high pitched whining sound that came from the enclosure and it's unbearable, so I've reluctantly filed a return. Not prepared to accept such an obnoxious noise that is there 100% of the time for such a high price tag.

Really is a shame, the Mac Studio seemed like a such a good product and really suited my needs, I'm so disappointed by it.

I don‘t want to sound like a broken record, but you can switch off the fans. My small open source Swift script at https://github.com/dirkschreib/SilentStudio can switch on/off the fans based on the temperature of your Mac Studio.
I usually switch off the fans below 45°C and switch them on above 65°C, but it is possible to customize this to multiple different fan speeds at different temperatures.
Disclaimer: Use at your own risk

 

[leemkule]

I don‘t want to sound like a broken record, but you can switch off the fans. My small open source Swift script at https://github.com/dirkschreib/SilentStudio can switch on/off the fans based on the temperature of your Mac Studio.
I usually switch off the fans below 45°C and switch them on above 65°C, but it is possible to customize this to multiple different fan speeds at different temperatures.
Disclaimer: Use at your own risk

Yeah thanks for the suggestion, I saw that suggestion somewhere else online and tried it, definitely improved the fan noise but the buzzing was still there; I had kind of mistakenly believed that Apple might have resolved the issues and that the buzzing was only on earlier models. For the price of the Ultra I'm not prepared to tinker with fan curves; likely at my own risk, especially when a MacBook Pro M2 Max has similar performance with the things I do and is silent when doing light tasks; so I've packed up the Studio to return and will replace it with a docked MBP.

 

[pshufd]

Yeah thanks for the suggestion, I saw that suggestion somewhere else online and tried it, definitely improved the fan noise but the buzzing was still there; I had kind of mistakenly believed that Apple might have resolved the issues and that the buzzing was only on earlier models. For the price of the Ultra I'm not prepared to tinker with fan curves; likely at my own risk, especially when a MacBook Pro M2 Max has similar performance with the things I do and is silent when doing light tasks; so I've packed up the Studio to return and will replace it with a docked MBP.

If I ever sell the Studio, I'll be sure to include that it doesn't have the whine, buzz or other unpleasant sounds.

I really love my Studio though I would have preferred an M1 Max 27 inch iMac. I have an M1 Pro MacBook Pro but buying an M1 Max MacBook Pro to use it in clamshell all the time seems like paying an extra $1K (or more) that I wouldn't use. Of course, if that's what your workflow demands, you just do it.

Interestingly enough, the inventory of Apple Refurbished Studios seems to be really low.

 

[leemkule]

If I ever sell the Studio, I'll be sure to include that it doesn't have the whine, buzz or other unpleasant sounds.

I really love my Studio though I would have preferred an M1 Max 27 inch iMac. I have an M1 Pro MacBook Pro but buying an M1 Max MacBook Pro to use it in clamshell all the time seems like paying an extra $1K (or more) that I wouldn't use. Of course, if that's what your workflow demands, you just do it.

Interestingly enough, the inventory of Apple Refurbished Studios seems to be really low.

Yeah probably a good idea, I'm convinced a lot of people just have enough ambient noise or they don't really care but it'd be good to mention if you sell it.

I have the Prodisplay XDR so I prefer a separate computer instead of an iMac; M2 Mini isn't powerful enough for my workflow. Been using a 14 Inch M1 Pro that for no reason will no longer connect to the display and Apple can't fix it; all other Apple products work. Sank a lot of money into the Ultra so that I could get on with work but it doesn't help. Sucks to have to buy another laptop because of such an issue.

 

[Killerbob]

Yeah probably a good idea, I'm convinced a lot of people just have enough ambient noise or they don't really care but it'd be good to mention if you sell it.

Sucks to have to buy another laptop because of such an issue.

First of all, not all Mac Studios have the whining issue. A large number of us in here have said so repeatedly, and unfortunately, it seems to be the luck of the draw if you get a good one, or a bad one.

You could try taking it back - Apple certainly gives you that option - and get a replacement.

 

[pshufd]

First of all, not all Mac Studios have the whining issue. A large number of us in here have said so repeatedly, and unfortunately, it seems to be the luck of the draw if you get a good one, or a bad one.

You could try taking it back - Apple certainly gives you that option - and get a replacement.

What I would do if Apple allows it is bring it back and ask them to open a new one up in the store so that you could listen to it.

Some have bought multiple Studios and returned them and I suspect that my limit would be three. I got a good one though. I had considered ordering from the refurbished store but I thought that my odds would be better just buying one from the local store. I really didn't want to wait either.

I have to think that the percentages of machines with the whine are small as otherwise Apple would be inundated with returns.

 

[bobcomer]

I have to think that the percentages of machines with the whine are small as otherwise Apple would be inundated with returns.

We'd never know how many returns there are, apple doesn't publish that. But there were refurbished Studios pretty early in the Studio life-cycle.

 

[pshufd]

We'd never know how many returns there are, apple doesn't publish that. But there were refurbished Studios pretty early in the Studio life-cycle.

There have been a lot of Studios in the refurb store since launch though there aren't many now. I saw all kinds of configurations.

It is possible that there were a lot of them there as customers didn't exactly know what they were getting if this was their introduction to Apple Silicon. I imagine that there were iMac customers that tried them out and maybe they really did prefer an all-in-one. There have been relatively few articles about this problem too. It is one of the weirdest problems that I recall as many of the MacBook Pro from 2016-2019 were discovered fairly early, and they made it into the press and Apple had to do something about the problems.

I haven't observed this with the Studio.

 

[SmallDane]

There have been a lot of Studios in the refurb store since launch though there aren't many now. I saw all kinds of configurations.

It is possible that there were a lot of them there as customers didn't exactly know what they were getting if this was their introduction to Apple Silicon. I imagine that there were iMac customers that tried them out and maybe they really did prefer an all-in-one. There have been relatively few articles about this problem too. It is one of the weirdest problems that I recall as many of the MacBook Pro from 2016-2019 were discovered fairly early, and they made it into the press and Apple had to do something about the problems.

I haven't observed this with the Studio.

Apple sells a lot more MacBooks than Studios. That's one reason I guess.

 

[PianoPro]

I got a Mac Studio Ultra about a week ago, the fans were way louder than I expected at idle coming from a 14 inch MacBook M1 Pro. I could have accepted fan noise, but there's a high pitched whining sound that came from the enclosure and it's unbearable, so I've reluctantly filed a return. Not prepared to accept such an obnoxious noise that is there 100% of the time for such a high price tag.

Really is a shame, the Mac Studio seemed like a such a good product and really suited my needs, I'm so disappointed by it.

I take a look at this thread every couple of months to see if Apple may have fixed the whine problem.

I looked back over comments since Jan 1 (4 months), and I see only one other report (from Jan) of whine in a Studio purchased since Jan 1.

Whether the whine was a power supply problem (which I've suspected - probably a batch of coils or caps) or a fan problem, (the holes are clearly not the cause the problem unless you believe the holes change over time, sometimes causing the problem on brand new units but other times only after months of use) it would seem that Apple probably took care of the bad components. It's amazing this thread just keeps going with so few reports of the problem in new units in the last 4 months.

 

[Killerbob]

I reported earlier on that a friend of mine who works in an Apple store gave me some “inside” numbers, and that about 1-in-15 Mac Studio returns were because of noise complaints.

 

[pshufd]

I reported earlier on that a friend of mine who works in an Apple store gave me some “inside” numbers, and that about 1-in-15 Mac Studio returns were because of noise complaints.

That has me feeling better that the numbers are small but what are the other 14 returns for? Grossly misizing?

 

[Killerbob]

That has me feeling better that the numbers are small but what are the other 14 returns for? Grossly misizing?

lol - I asked her the same question…

Most are because they want bigger, and thought they would be happy with 32GB RAM and actually want 64GB, or they got the Max but really wanted the Ultra. Some are underwhelmed by the performance and simply take it back, and finally there is the occasional ports issue. She said in the beginning there were some that just wanted the Mac Studio and whilst they were waiting for a “custom” spec, they just went and bought the base Mac Studio, deliberately to take it back when their ordered Mac Studio finally arrived.

 

[bobcomer]

I imagine that there were iMac customers that tried them out and maybe they really did prefer an all-in-one.

That's me. I bought my 2020 iMac after I bought my Studio Max, and I'm really loving it. I didn't trade in my Studio though, it's still here waiting for me to find a good job for it.

I haven't observed this with the Studio.

The only problems I've seen are the whine (mine has it and it's *annoying*), some weird ethernet connection problems, and that's about it. If a problem caused the return of a lot of Studio's it's the whine.

 

[bobcomer]

(the holes are clearly not the cause the problem unless you believe the holes change over time,

No, but humidity and dust does change... It's more like it's the holes to me than coil whine, I know what that sounds like.

As for the fans, you can't really separate the fans from the ventilation, they're all part of the same system.