I got a new MacBook! Hooray!! But it makes this noise. Sort of a high-pitched hissy whiny noise. Not very loud, but loud enough that it’s annoying in a quiet room. So I google “macbook noise” and find a blog post at Red Sweater Blog which lists the 500 most recent google searches that led to that blog. A depressing number of them are searches for macbook noise.

Apart from that, I love it. WoW is smooth as silk, it transferred all my data seamlessly, and I can take silly photos with the built in camera. Yay!

18 thoughts on “macbook noise

  1. Liz Lawley

    I just ordered my 17″ MacBook, and can hardly wait!

  2. Jeremy Boggs

    Some of us at CHNM have new MacBook Pros, and I don’t think anyone is disappointed. It’s nice to have a laptop that can run Photoshop, Flash, Final Cut Pro, and a host of other programs without so much as a hiccup. I had to get a colleague of mine to install PHP5, MySQL 5 and Apache 2 on my MacBook because I ran into some problems doing it myself (current Mac installers for this don’t play well with the MacBooks), but my local development server works like a charm too.

    If you haven’t already downloaded it, VirtueDesktops is an awesome (and free!) Mac application that allows for quick switching between “desktops.” (http://virtuedesktops.info/). This is pretty handy if you happen to install Windows XP on your MacBook; you can have a desktop solely for working in Windows XP.

  3. Ole

    Here is probably the solution to “the hissy whiny macbook pro noise”:

  4. Marjorie

    I just purchased a MacBook and the fan runs all the time. Also a rather high-pitched hum in the back ground? I see blogs on MacBook Pros and the “noise” problem. Anyone heard anything–other than this hum–about MacBooks?

  5. Tayfun

    Hi there i have also a noise problem with my new macbook.Its a noise like cd is reading but there is no cd in it???I think its coming from Harddisk and also im using XP Bootcamp mostly the noise is coming in XP…

    I wanna return it but i think they gonna charge me like %10 for opened box right???u guys know anything about it???

  6. redred

    I got the new Macbook last week. When I use it for about 2-3 hours, I hear a noise like a small motor starting for a second and abruptly stops — not like a continuous fan noise. This repeats every 30 seconds or so and can be annoying in a quiet room. Anyone else experiencing this?

  7. jill/txt » top hit

    […] Oy. Now *I’m* top hit on google for “macbook noise”. See, I blogged having googled that when I first got my (somewhat noisy) macbook and finding a blogpost about how many people had got to that blog through searching for “macbook noise”. Sigh. […]

  8. Jill

    Guys, probably you should ring AppleCare or leave a message on the Apple Support Forums. The former is more likely to get registered and actually acted on, the forums get lots and lots of messages from other users but never anything from the Apple guys itself.

  9. George

    I have the same problem with my Macbook i had left a message in apple forum but
    they told me that in about 3-4 months a firmware will release for the fan which would
    work everytime!!!

  10. George

    About the solution ith a file which sending to the trash and some other thing are not goin to help anybody.
    Because this thing happened:You’ve deleted a kernel extension, the library driver where the superclasses (communication infrastructure for thermal software) are built.
    Well, in that case, to get rid of the whine, I suggest to turn off your computer and trash it for good!!!It’s not a good idea!!

  11. mike dutch

    The MacBook Pro noise is a problem which annoys many people, judging by the number of posts. There is, however, no known solution to the problem (other than getting a replacement macbook) only workarounds. One work around is occupying the CPU, as the noise appears when the CPU is idle. Some suggested turning on the Mirror widget, then turning it off, putting the MacBook to sleep and waking it again (the noise will be gone until the next sleep). How about doing something useful with the CPU instead? Today I downloaded a client to the Folding@home distributed computing service, which does molecular research into cancer and other diseases. It works great, occupies enough CPU for the noise to disappear, but at the same time does not interfere with other tasks (it only occupies the idle time, and in case you want to do some rendering, you can always switch it off).

    Apple must know by now about the problem, so let us wait for a solution to the MacBook whining, and instead of whining ourselves, let us turn the situation into something useful, by supporting, for example, molecular caner research.

  12. GEO

    Where can i download that client?

  13. Martin

    I have blogged an article about both the fan issue as well as the high pitched hum for the Black Macbook 13″. At the time of writing, Apple are replacing my Macbook, and I go on to state what Apple’s current position on the matter is. Please leave a comment.
    http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/martingibson/entry/macbook_black_13/

  14. forumgids

    my mac book experience : figured out that the harddrive was causing a noise but it wasn’t continuous,
    but nothing compared to computer cpu fan sound hehe

  15. pol arbi- games directory guy

    Some suggested turning on the Mirror widget, then turning it off, putting the MacBook to sleep and waking it again (the noise will be gone until the next sleep). How about doing something useful with the CPU instead?
    so I was wondering if you had any development on this?

    Pol

  16. elena

    same here. new macbook that makes this horribly annoying fan noise every now and then. any updates on this issue? is apple replacing these notebooks? thanks!

  17. brianne

    my mac book is making a hiccup sound, or some mechanical wierd noise maybe a click, i dunno but it only makes the sound here n there not always n i cant figure out what it is, i even did i virus scan n stil it wont stop and it has no virus?
    let me know if this is normal!?

  18. adam3313

    i have just purchased a new macbook and it also makes that anoying noise. I have contacted the apple store where i bought it and they said that they will give me a new one. So i am going there today, hoping that i will have a new MB tonight and that i wont make the same noise

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