Loud fan on brand new macbook?

I honestly have barely ever heard the fan going at all, I would almost say they didn't put a fan in it (it's that quiet). I would think that there is something wrong. The only time I have ever heard the fan go is when I play graphic intensive video games the odd time and working with video for a long period of time.

I've also been wondering about this.

I had a black MacBook Core 2 Duo previous to my current unibody and the unibody is noticeably "louder" by Apple standards when idling. Again, iStat shows 2000rpm for CPU fan.

I'm inclined to agree it's the hard drive because I can also dampen the noise by placing my hand over the right side of the unibody's trackpad.

I have replaced the stock drive with a 300GB 5400rpm drive, but note that it was not audible when the exact same drive was previously used in the plastic MacBook.

It seems like a lot of people are having this problem. But then there are others that say their macbook is dead quiet. I wonder what the solution is (if there is any). I'm a little frustrated that a 1600 dollar machine can't stay quiet.

To notice the sound the room as to be pretty quite and thus my guess is not everyone is complaining about it. I definitely think it's the hard drive. The sound comes from the bottom right whereas the fan is located at the top center. I also think it's the construction of the unibody that is creating some sort of acoustic that is making it louder than the old MB and the fact that HD is now easily accessible isn't helping.

My question if the sound can be significantly reduced with a little pressure of my finger to the right of the trackpad, couldn't Apple have come up with a better design to dampen the sound little better?

Just finished installing all my software on my brandnew MacBook 2.0. Finally time to relax, it's really quiet in here and so I also heard the sound as if a fan was spinning. Until I indeed pushed the right corner a bit. GLAD it's just the HDD! I replaced the standard 160gb drive with a Fujitsu 320gb drive. Works fine, sounds the same as the original one. Maybe the sound will become less in a few months. When the edges fill up with dirt or so 😉

Yup, same here. I have the new unibody macbook 2.4. Just noticed today that it make a very quiet, but noticeable humming noise. At first I thought it was the fan, but after reading all the postings and really listened carefully, the noise is indeed on the right bottom hand corner (right of the touch pad). hm. Applying a little pressure in that area definitely dampened the humming a bit, so I suppose it's the HDD huh?! I'm not a computer whiz...so does this mean all is well and I there's no need to contact technical support? Thought it was esp. interesting when someone pointed out the Al unibody itself could be the source of humming amplification...hope that's it???

random thought..does it mean if an SSD is used instead...there would be no humming?!

pizzatart, that's a good point. if our theories are correct it shouldn't make the sound with an SSD. I guess the $600 quesiton is are you willing to forkover $600 to trade in our hums?

SDD don't have a read write pin, Of course there will be no sound or huming at all. =)

I'm experiencing the same issue. There is a humming sound coming from the lower right hand part of the uni body and when i apply pressure on that part the sound dampers.

What do you all think, it is probably the design of the MacBook.

So I got in contact with an Apple expert this morning and went through a chain of questions and re-setting something with the hard drive. Afterwards the sound was still there. Although..now thinking of it..I definitely had to strain more in the morning to hear it. The expert was going to go through something with the mac os x installation CD before I told her I had run the techtool deluxe diagnostic last night and everything was fine. After hearing that, she simply suggested that I head to an apple store to get it checked if it's really a hard drive problem.
I might make the trip some time, but just really don't want to.
I'm really hoping it's just a design thing and all is well. hahaha..I sound like someone in complete denial of a possibly disastrous problem. On a serious note...my notebook's only exactly a month old. It would be pretty darn ridiculous is something is wrong with the drive already. As a recent PC to mac user, I've been very impressed with Apple product quality thus far and am not ready to be disappointed.

pizzatart,

I can relate to how you are feeling about heading to the apple store, haha. It is most probably a design issue.

When you first opened your MacBook did you notice the sound that you are experiencing now?

NoahD,

I don't think so. My first impression of the new macbook was how silent it was while operating. Having worked at my desk late into the night with my macbook several times over the last few weeks, I think I really only started noticing the noise yesterday. I'm also a little uncertain, since I wear headphones often while working. That being said, the fact that it was loud enough to catch my attention last night (without headphones that is) is something I'm not easily letting go. sigh.

A little update...
I just called Apple tech support again a while ago just for kicks and asked if it's normal for there to be any humming going on with the drive at all. The expert basically mentioned the following:
- if you have your ear close to the laptop surface, you should be able to notice some sound.
- if you are sitting at your desk and the macbook is in front, you shouldn't be able to hear anything. (He also mentioned how it should be like this for a new macbook).

man...looks like I'll be dragging myself to the campus store tomorrow.

The severity of your issue is greater than mine if you can hear the MacBook operating while you have earphones on. I would defiantly recommend bringing it to an Apple retail store and ask genius to take a look at it.

Although when i am in front of my desk with my laptop on in a silent room, i hear a fan like sound, not sure if it is the fan or the hard drive.

oh no, I can't hear it with headphones on. My wording was bad and confusing, sorry about that.

Mine is pretty much like yours actually..a faint fan-like sound that's coming mostly from the bottom right corner. Which according to the postings above...is where the hard drive is located.