MacBook Mooing: What Do You Think

[jacksoncity]

the moo

it's mooing now. i really don't like that...and its almost every three seconds.

otherwise, fairly happy...but it's funny how these little things can jade the experience...i'm a first time mac buyer too. so all the hype has been tarnished in this annoying "glitch". i wonder if apple is so good at caring for customers that they would take these seeemingly exceptional (since all don't do it) MacBooks back?!?! if they were i might not write them off.

 

[WillMak]

it's mooing now. i really don't like that...and its almost every three seconds.

otherwise, fairly happy...but it's funny how these little things can jade the experience...i'm a first time mac buyer too. so all the hype has been tarnished in this annoying "glitch". i wonder if apple is so good at caring for customers that they would take these seeemingly exceptional (since all don't do it) MacBooks back?!?! if they were i might not write them off.

It's "within spec." In teh beginning, apple took them back without question, but now it seems like most people returning them are being told that it's within spec. If you argue your case long enough (took me 1 hour) they'll probably give in and exchange it tho.

 

[daveaudio]

Mine moos when the room I have it in gets too hot. So people without moos may simply live in well AC'd homes

I predict this winter everyone's MB will have mysteriously stopped mooing.

Well I do Music so a well AC'd room is a prerequisite.

 

[SC68Cal]

Could be worse.... the fan on my TiBook makes a racket.

 

[maxi]

the tibook fan makes much more noise than my new macbook.

I was seriously not going to buy the macbook because of all the bad press this mooing/whining gave them... but I had to cause my trusty tibook began to show horrible artifacts (bad video RAM ).

In general, the macbook is much more silent than the tibook. When the moo kicks in, you can tell a fan is working, but it's just that... a fan, the tibook fan was more distracting.

 

[jagolden]

Mine moos when the room I have it in gets too hot. So people without moos may simply live in well AC'd homes

I predict this winter everyone's MB will have mysteriously stopped mooing.

Hmmm. Good point. My Mbook is in my office in a relatively stable 72 degrees F.

 

[iBrow]

Wow! That really does sound bad, Kinda takes the shine of a brilliant product.

 

[maxi]

Wow! That really does sound bad, Kinda takes the shine of a brilliant product.

As I said... not really

I almost didn't buy my MB because I was afraid of these problems. Now I have a MB which supposedly has these problems, they are really not noticeable unless you really look for them.
I had the computer on my bare legs, at 2 in the morning with everything really quiet in the house (not even the TV was on) and it wasn't hotter than my TiBook (it was warm, but not that hot) and I couldn't hear any noise. I only got the moo once when I turned on frontrow (but I didn't care much cause as I was using it for music, the music overwhelmed the moo).

As I said, in a totally silent room, I cant really hear the whine unless I put my ears against the machine. I use the MB mainly at work, where it's pretty noisy, so I don't care for these noises.

Try the MacBook before dismissing it, I thought it was gonna be unusable and instead it's much more quiet than the Titanium Powerbook I was used to.

 

[YS2003]

If my notebook computer makes that mooing sound (as that sound clip in the previous post articulates), that thing will be going back to the manufacturer or retailer for warranty repair or exchange. I understand there would be some sounds such as cooling fan, hard drive, and other normal sound computers make. So far, I have not heard such a mooing sound from my PBs, iBook, Fujitsu (Pentium M-sonoma), nor Dell (Pentium M), even under heavy loads.

Is the current "build week" 25 or 26? Are "mooing" still on-going with recently built MB and MBP?

 

[chinderland]

Hot Core Duo and Bad Fan could be the cause

Obviously, the Intel Core Duo is a different game for Apple to handle. Maybe they really underestimated the heat out of this processor and/or overestimated their cooling techs within a thin plastic case.

After listening to different Moooing noises posted in this thread, I had a feel that the quality of the fan is questionable. Where did Apple outsource this part? Sounds like the electric motor is not well built, just as those in cheap toys.

A perfect product needs perfect parts. Now this part really ruins......

 

[MalcolmJID]

Sorry to drag this from the depths of the forum, but when I again listened to the second recording (chrispl), I realised how much hissing was actually coming from the recording. Which means it can't be that loud if the mic had to be turned up so much.

If chrispl sees this, could you tell me where you held the mic to record this?

I'm not trying to slate the people with mooing MB/MBP;s, its just it seems quite quiet, and while it would be terribly annoying, it doesnt seem as loud as people make it out to be.

 

[chairguru22]

Sorry to drag this from the depths of the forum, but when I again listened to the second recording (chrispl), I realised how much hissing was actually coming from the recording. Which means it can't be that loud if the mic had to be turned up so much.

If chrispl sees this, could you tell me where you held the mic to record this?

I'm not trying to slate the people with mooing MB/MBP;s, its just it seems quite quiet, and while it would be terribly annoying, it doesnt seem as loud as people make it out to be.

dragged my topic out from the depths

my Dell Desktop fans are pretty loud but constant so ends up being background noise and it drowns out any and all sounds from my macbook if/when/were there to be any.

apple should make the fan stay on longer. my parent's Dell notebook fan is on constantly and there was never an issue or complaint. I dont even notice it.

 

[calculus]

Can anyone tell me how I can get my iMac to 'moo'? Are any other animal sounds available?

 

[JAT]

My wife generally uses her MB in our bedroom, in which there is a fairly quiet air cleaner constantly on. While I've discovered that the MB does have the processor whine (which is different from some posts I made weeks ago), and my subsequent testing with programs to quiet that noise created some "mooing" with the increased processor usage, I can't hear any of this in the bedroom. So it is a non-issue for us. The house is also kept around 71 deg, so it seldom gets hot enough to moo.

BTW,
The moo is not very cowlike on our machine, just sounds like quiet fans. I'm only calling it a moo for clarity in this thread.

 

[MalcolmJID]

The moo that sounds like quiet fans sounds pretty good to me. I'm thinkin of buying a MacBook, but it will be October at least before I've saved the £750.27 I need (CTO, but with an NUS discount ).

Maybe the rev.B models will be out then.

 

[chrispl]

Sorry to drag this from the depths of the forum, but when I again listened to the second recording (chrispl), I realised how much hissing was actually coming from the recording. Which means it can't be that loud if the mic had to be turned up so much.

If chrispl sees this, could you tell me where you held the mic to record this?

I'm not trying to slate the people with mooing MB/MBP;s, its just it seems quite quiet, and while it would be terribly annoying, it doesnt seem as loud as people make it out to be.

o wow i didnt think people were still using my link! i actually didnt turn the mic up or anything, i wouldnt even know where to start if i wanted to do that. i basically just turned on garage band, and then used the built-in mic to record the moo. but i have to say that the moo is loud though. i returned the thing for the mooing and power adapter whine/sizzle which were both very loud and disruptive in a quiet environment like a university library. i called applecare twice and went to 3 different applestores to talk to 3 different geniuses, all of which gave me answers like "the moo is just the fans going off," "all macbooks moo," "the sounds are within spec," and "the power adapters are supposed to make sounds."

chris

 

[YS2003]

i called applecare twice and went to 3 different applestores to talk to 3 different geniuses, all of which gave me answers like "the moo is just the fans going off," "all macbooks moo," "the sounds are within spec," and "the power adapters are supposed to make sounds."

It seems Apple is deflecting the customer complains by giving out a canned excuse. I always check various forums before I buy computers as I cannot trust the reviews on the run-of-the-mill magazine articles; by reading various noise and heat complains, I am definitely going to stay away from the current MBP/MB until those issues are fixed.

When I did my previous computer purchases, I checked user reviews on various web forums to feel out the reputation of that model by the actual users; so far, that approach has helped me pick the trouble-free computer.

 

[chrispl]

It seems Apple is deflecting the customer complains by giving out a canned excuse. I always check various forums before I buy computers as I cannot trust the reviews on the run-of-the-mill magazine articles; by reading various noise and heat complains, I am definitely going to stay away from the current MBP/MB until those issues are fixed.

yea... i never really did that with my other laptops (dells, sonys, gateways, sharps, etc and they turned out fine) but because of the hype of the macbook pro/macbook, i was checking the forums daily... no... hourly... i just figured that the problems couldnt really be that widespread, and thought id be one of the lucky buyers who wouldnt have the problems. oh well. i need a laptop soon though... so im hoping apple will fix the problems pronto! (there have been a few threads about how week 26 macbooks are supposedly a revision b with fixed moo/heat/whine problems.... but still waiting on more feedback).

chris

 

[pianodude123]

Can anyone tell me how I can get my iMac to 'moo'? Are any other animal sounds available?

You're kidding, right?

 

[bbrosemer]

Put it out to graze.

 

[wngraham]

I'm now on week 3 of my new MacBook, and haven't experienced the first "moo" or discoloration...

Guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

 

[MalcolmJID]

My dad's Acer laptop gets to a certain temp (ferk knows what), and the fans come on very slow, then when it reaches another temp (higher) it kicks the fans on full speed. Then it "steps" down to lower speeds after about 8 or 9 seconds on each "step".

MB/MBP fans should do this.

 

[Paranoidmarvin]

I think I might get rid of my Powerbook for a Macbook, just so I can hear the moo!

 

[sahree]

Mine moos loudest after I wake it up from sleep.

But then moos softer when im doing anything...its making the damn noise right now!

is anyones really perfectly quiet? if so, im exchanging this.

 

[williamsonrg]

I have a brand new Macbook (week 29), and I just noticed the mooing. It's really quiet, so I'm not gonna worry about it, but it's still annoying. Big improvement over my Gateway that sounded like a banshee from the depths of Hell.