What’s the best mac to buy now in terms of lowest noise

[Inpresmoj]

I've read on here that the 2017 base model imac was very quiet and i've even looked at refurbished prices, but you don’t save much and I would prefer brand new, and I usually keep my PC's 10 years so the newest spec would be better.

Mac mini benefits are I can put it further away however I noticed a lot more complaints of coil noise on the mini 2018 and I've experienced this in the past from fanless PC's and humming coming from the back of my monitor when the brightness was lowered, imac screens I imagine would be less likely to have this and i've not seen any posts of coil whine either on the imac.

imac pro is out due to way over in cost benefit. I don’t game, video edit hardly ever or render, its just internet general office stuff mainly, so idle noise is most important

So what would I be best looking at in a 2019 imac 8th gen or 9th gen, an i5 or i9, looks like there are 5-6 CPU's to choose from, main thing is quietest, cost is less of an issue

 

[spiderpumpkin]

The 9th gen i5 and i9 have a fan that runs at 1200rpm all the time and then ramps up when needed. I'm not sure if the the 8th gen 2019 iMacs idle at 1200rpm because I don't think anyone has mentioned that detail.

 

[mountain_feeling]

I think all the 27 inch iMacs idle at 1200 rpm, regardless of processor. I've read pretty much every post that talks about idle fan noise. Some people says it's silent; other's say it's annoyingly audible.

 

[Conutz]

An iPad? They’re really quiet

 

[codernova]

The 9th gen i5 and i9 have a fan that runs at 1200rpm all the time and then ramps up when needed. I'm not sure if the the 8th gen 2019 iMacs idle at 1200rpm because I don't think anyone has mentioned that detail.

If there is ANY background noise at all, the 9th gen i9 I have is effectively silent. First time I heard my iMac at 1200 rpm was late in the evening when all traffic, HVAC, external spinning hard drives, refrigerators, and etc. were all silent as well. And even then is wasn't enough to bother me.

 

[Cruz3LT]

Why are so many people really bothered by the fan noise. Apple would rather your Mac die from cooking itself rather than the end user hearing the fan. I personally don't mind and I use a fan control app rather than apples own software for controlling them.

 

[ThugFreak]

Why are so many people really bothered by the fan noise. Apple would rather your Mac die from cooking itself rather than the end user hearing the fan. I personally don't mind and I use a fan control app rather than apples own software for controlling them.

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[Cruz3LT]

I used a docked 12'' MacBook for the last year with a 27'' monitor & speakers.
The 12'' MacBook is fanless and has a SSD.
The setup was 100% silent. Once you experience this, it's hard to go back to a computer with a fan.
Since my cat was tripping on the cords (she's old), I bought a used (mint) 27'' 2013 iMac 5 days ago for $350 on Craigslist. It's awesome having 1 cord again.
I was worried about fan noise since everyone talks about it. Also, this iMac is thinner than the older ones.
I thought it would run hotter and have a loud fan.
It's very quiet. I installed a SSD in it last night and blasted 6 years of dust out of the fan blades.
Now it's more quiet. I can barely hear the fan from 1 foot away.
At 4 feet away, I don't hear it.
And no more HD noise too.

I purchased a 2011 27” iMac for $90 with a bad GPU. I baked the GPU and cleaned it out, it runs surprisingly quiet.

 

[ThugFreak]

I purchased a 2011 27” iMac for $90 with a bad GPU. I baked the GPU and cleaned it out, it runs surprisingly quiet.

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