Not saying your wrong but...
This was not my experience in owning an 2012 i7 2.6 with apple SSD. Period. Above 35% load - full speed fan and clearly audible from upstairs... That fan at 6000 rpm is brutal -- again - IMO...
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Are you talking about the 2012 i5??? As far as the 2012 i7 goes - this is 100% NOT my experience. Owned it for a year...
I tend to agree. I have two 2011 minis and a 2.6Ghz 2012. Yes the 2012's fan is more efficient (in exhaust capacity) and quieter than the 2011 fan, but only slightly. I have heard someone refer to the 2012 2.6 quad's fan like it is a jumbo jet which I think is a little exagerated, but definately it is not quiet or inaudible. The 2012's fan base level rpm is at 1800 so it is quieter on idle (yeas, inaudible I would say), but when the CPU ramps up to 100 percent and the temps hit 100'C the fan is wooshing along. The sound is fairly similar to a PC tower.