[Zodiac]

I don't understand, there's an increasing number of apple-junkies posting around the whole Apple community asking questions like. "How loud is da Mac Mini?" "I can actualy HEAR my iMac, should I get it replaced?" or "Oh fuck, my Mac Pro is a SCREAMER! Its hard drive exceeds 5 DECIBALS WTF-DO-I-DO?!"

Why is everyone so picky about having any noise? Are all of your ears hyper-sensitive or are you just looking for a reason, any reason at all to bitch about Apple's products?

It's not like any mac shipped now (excluding the lemons) are gonna be any louder then any backround noise in your work area. Or your speakers for that matter if you like to chill with some tunes... at least you're not hearing what Most PC's dish out into our airwaves.

Matter of fact, new dicussion. People over-anticipate on everything and flat out expect way too much.

[Fahrenheit]

Originally Posted by Zodiac I don't understand, there's an increasing number of apple-junkies posting around the whole Apple community asking questions like. "How loud is da Mac Mini?" "I can actualy HEAR my iMac, should I get it replaced?" or "Oh fuck, my Mac Pro is a SCREAMER! Its hard drive exceeds 5 DECIBALS WTF-DO-I-DO?!" Why is everyone so picky about having any noise? Are all of your ears hyper-sensitive or are you just looking for a reason, any reason at all to bitch? It's not like any mac shipped now (excluding the lemons) are gonna be any louder then any backround noise in your work area. Or your speakers for that matter if you like to chill with some tunes. Matter of fact, new dicussion. People over-anticipate on everything and flat out expect way too much.

A bitch for no reason?

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Zodiac Why is everyone so picky about having any noise? Are all of your ears hyper-sensitive or are you just looking for a reason, any reason at all to bitch?

As a matter of fact, my ears are indeed rather sensitive, but that's completely besides the point. Noise is one of the top causes of stress, and too much exposure to noise can cause serious health issues. Therefore, not asking computer manufacturers to keep noises as low as possible is ludicrous and dumb.

It's not like any mac shipped now (excluding the lemons) are gonna be any louder then any backround noise in your work area.

Not everyone works in a factory, you know.

[Zodiac]

What I'm saying is that Apple's products are pretty damn quiet, yet people still whine about noise.

Originally Posted by chucker Not everyone works in a factory, you know.

I was implying in your home. But if you wanna talk about work, even a little office has background noise.

A factory, what a joke.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Zodiac But if you wanna talk about work, even a little office has background noise.

That'd be a problem to fix, then.

[Luca]

One advantage to having a quiet computer is that you can leave it on overnight without having it interfere with your sleeping, even if you sleep in the same room that your computer is in. A lot of students (myself included) are short on space and have this arrangement.

Most Macs are definitely quieter than your average PC, but it's tough to compare because most PCs I've used have constant speed fans. Regardless of how much load is on the processor, the fans always run at the same speed. You can of course get quieter fans, but either way the constant fan noise is almost a good thing. It turns the fan noise into background noise. With my Mac, I always notice when the fan spins up. Still, I know that my Mac isn't making any more noise than it needs to in order to stay cool. It spends about half its time totally quiet and the other half with the fan at half speed, and only occasionally does the fan spin up to full.

I'd take a loud fan over a slow processor any day. Depends on how loud and how slow, of course, but as processors get fast they invariably get hotter and more difficult to cool. It seems like processor technology is advancing much faster than cooling technology these days, so loud fan systems are an inevitability.

Oh and chucker, even quiet offices do have significantly more background noise than a room at home. In an office, you've usually got at least one fax machine or printer going in the background, a million little keystrokes going every second, two or three people talking on the phone (albeit in a subdued voice), the coffee machine running, and all those computer fans running. None of it is very loud, but it adds up. My computer's fan at half speed would probably blend right in. At full speed, I would notice it.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Luca Oh and chucker, even quiet offices do have significantly more background noise than a room at home. In an office, you've usually got at least one fax machine or printer going in the background, a million little keystrokes going every second, two or three people talking on the phone (albeit in a subdued voice), the coffee machine running, and all those computer fans running. None of it is very loud, but it adds up. My computer's fan at half speed would probably blend right in. At full speed, I would notice it.

I'm very well aware of that. My point is that it's something to limit as much as possible.

And yes, some computers have components that are, sadly, quite audible over a fax machine, or over phone chatter.

[Fahrenheit]

I find that I can leave my iMac on over night, right by my bed, and download say a torrent of a legal file, perfectly comfortably, which was one of the reasons why I changed over from my eMac- that was loud, and it was unacceptable.

Zodiac, what you may not find an important factor may be important for others. It means a lot to some people that a computer be quiet, but maybe in the environment you use yours it is not, and hence you don't understand the fuss.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Luca In an office, you've usually got at least one fax machine or printer going in the background, a million little keystrokes going every second, two or three people talking on the phone (albeit in a subdued voice), the coffee machine running, and all those computer fans running.

Heck, our office actually has an expensive white noise generator installed to try to drown out the voices and tip-tap of keyboards!

[PKIDelirium]

Even when my iBook's fan is running when I'm playing a game or encoding a video, it's still nowhere near as bad as my old IBM Thinkpad was.

[turbulentfurball]

The fan on my old Windows PC was so loud, that turning it on in the middle of the night would wake up my dad. The PC was on a different floor from his bedroom!

My Mac Mini, by contrast, is almost completely silent and that was one a big selling point for me. I wouldn't go the extent given by Zodiac however

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Brad Heck, our office actually has an expensive white noise generator installed to try to drown out the voices and tip-tap of keyboards!

Can't you just set the radio to an unused frequency and turn the volume up?

Oh and doesn't that make being in the office sound kind of like being in an airplane?

[drewprops]

I'd have to hear their machines before making a definitive comment, but the first one I have in the torpedo tube is: Pussies!!!
is that too loud?



.

[Is it 1981?]

torpedo lube in pussies?

[Windowsrookie]

What!? I can't hear over my iMac!

[PKIDelirium]

No no, thats the ass vibrator making that noise!

[chucker]

[Fahrenheit]

Originally Posted by Brad Heck, our office actually has an expensive white noise generator installed to try to drown out the voices and tip-tap of keyboards!

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/output...tor1047757.jpg

[drewprops]

I *have* that organizer that gentleman is clutching in his paw.
Stupid screen doesn't work anymore, is there a way to lubricate an LCD to make it work better?

[joveblue]

I sleep in the same room as my Sony Vaio notebook. It's turned off, but it still manages to make enough noise to annoy me some times. Turned off. It's incredible.

[BlueRabbit]

My roommate's computer is both bigger and louder than the Mac Pro - our room almost sounds like the inside of an airplane. Which is disappointing, since my PowerBook setup is essentially silent.

[autodata]

Loud computers can be a real pain, particularly with laptops. My last powerbook was so loud I completely stopped taking it anywhere.

More recently, my 4-5 month old macbook pro has been pretty nice to me and I've rarely noticed the whine. However, I plugged it in to watch a movie the other night and a horrible buzz was coming through the speakers. Fired up photobooth to see what effect it would have and, sure enough, that horrible buzz was the whine coming through the analog audio out.

[dfiler]

Humans, and most creatures for that matter, are evolved to pay particular attention to the sounds around them. It is critical to survival and is hardwired into our brains.

Constant white noise is well known to psychological affect humans. For starters, stress hormone levels are higher with certain types of ambient noise. While you may consciously dismiss white noise as a part of your everyday environment, rest assured that it is having an affect.

[arnoct]

I'm the kind of person who can only sleep when there's some sort of noise... It's strange. I always have my PC and a fan on when I'm trying to sleep; if I don't I go crazy :P As a matter of fact, I used to sleep with the radio on.

So if anyone has a loud iMac they wish to part with...