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Apple Faces Up to the MacBook Whining
Whiney Mac Fanboy writes "The Register is reporting that Apple has finally admitted to the 'high pitched whining' problems with it's MacBook line — but only to tell customers to contact AppleCare. From the article: 'MacBook Pro users have complained about numerous noises emanating from their machines since the Intel-based notebooks began shipping in February this year. Audible irritations reported by machine owners include whining sounds coming from the screen, from the body of the notebook, and from the area below the screen hinge when the laptop's running on batteries and both cores of the Core Duo CPU are enabled.'"
I called Apple, they did a few hocus-pocus troubleshooting moves (like unplugging the power cord, taking the battery out then pressing the power button) on the phone, forwarded me to a senior technical specialist who said it's a candidate, and then sent me a box to ship it back today. They claim I'll have it back early next week with a new mobo in it. Easy peasy.
Incidentally, the specialist said that the new mobo is going to be not completely quiet, but a lot better.
Now, I'm wondering if they'll put a 1.83 GHz chip in it like I had before or whether they start at 2.0 GHz like the new models do... here's hoping.
From what I've seen the problem is very widespread - however it isn't always noticed.
I'm on my third MacBook Pro (for other problems, not the noise!), and all the ones I've had have made this noise, as has every other one I've seen. However probably more than 50% of people who've listened to my machine couldn't hear the noise.
The whine is very high pitched and it seems that lots of people just don't hear that frequency. However I can tell you that if you do hear it it's like fingernails down a blackboard. It nearly drove me mad until I found QuietMBP which immediately shut it up.
Everyone ought to know to not buy first-gen Apple hardware by now - the large majority of first gen hardware have issues that get resolved in the second revision.
Of course, this whine sounds more like a power supply issue than anything else - modern electronics use switching supplies to generate the various voltages needed, and they tend to operate anywhere from 10kHz and up, but are well known to drop lower in frequency, or induce noise in other bits of the system. The fact that the noise can appear and disappear as the system is loaded is key to the problem as switching supplies rely on feedback loops to ensure regulation. Increase the load and the power supply works harder and likely generating more switching noise which induces itself in analog lines to speakers and such. And if the switching transistors have to remain on longer, it could reduce the switching frequency to something people start to notice. Most recommendations for eliminating noise comes from reducing system load, turning down the backlight (double effect, since the backlight inverter is yes, another switching supply).
It's the sound of a high-voltage capacitor bleeding current. As prior post said, very high pitched -- toward the upper end of human hearing. If you're over 40 years old or attend rock concerts/listen to loud music you probably won't be able to hear it, but children can pick it out quite easily since their hearing is typically more sensitive. Must be annoying as hell for dogs.
Electrolytic caps tend to reform incomplete insulators with use, and occasionally correct themselves. I suspect this is a polyester or metal film polarized cap so the odds of self-correcting are, well, very low to nil. That being said, the charger on my Macbook (low-end 1.83 core duo, not a MBP) makes this sound. I plan to give it a month to see if it sorts out or gets worse. Not too concerned so long as it continues to charge.