How noisy is the Mac Studio M1 Max?

Mac Studio Max:

In a silent home office it sounds loud to me.

It's similar to the when the iMac increases fan speed under load, except it is more annoying because it is now only coming from one side of the screen.

In a work environment with background noise I don't think it would be noticeable.

If you're sensitive to noise, like me, there's also noticeable coil whine/ beeping. It sounds like occasional high-pitch morse code mixed in with the fan noise.

With such a small monitor cable it's not easily moved to a shelf or cupboard either.

A little disappointing in my opinion.

I ordered an M1 Max Studio and immediately returned it. The fan noise was unbearable to me. By default, the fans are running around 1300 rpm, but even at 1100 rpm with the mac fan control app the noise was way too much. This device is support to be on your desk and therefore fan noise is a no-go. I switched to the Mac Mini M1, which is 100% quiet, so I am totally happy now. No Mac Studio for me.

I'm returning the M1 Max Studio because I'm finding the constant whir of the fans incredibly annoying. There is also a higher pitched whine above the rushing sound of air through the vents.

I won't say that the noise is actually "loud". But I spend a lot of time in a silent office and pretty quickly the constant noise is difficult to ignore. I am coming from a Mac mini which is basically silent and the Mac Studio is very loud by comparison.

My Studio Max's fan noise was much louder than I anticipated, since some claimed theirs was "completely silent". I'm convinced those people have offices with a high noise floor, my room is very quiet. The "whoosh" fan noise also includes a slight buzz or whine, so it's not as pleasant as some of Apple's other fans. I was tempted to return mine and get a fan-less MacBook Air instead.

But, since I don't require access to the ports very often, I placed mine on a shelf under my desk, and covered it with an old honeycomb shade, which reduces the sound to where I can barely hear it, about the level of a light wind outside my office window, or a very quiet HVAC. Not as convenient, and it also cost me, as I had to get a longer $$ Thunderbolt cable for the Studio Display.

Maybe Apple will correct the problem with a software update. The air is coming out cool no matter what I do, so I'm hoping it's not really necessary to run them that fast.

A number of people have recorded the sound and uploaded it on the macrumors forum here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-studio-fan-noise-its-going-to-be-one-of-the-loudest-macs-at-idle.2337251/page-22

There is a constant whoosh sound of air blowing through the vents, but there is also a higher pitched whining noise kind of like a turbine or whistle, depending on who you ask.

But if you spend a little time on that macrumors thread, you will see a number of people have recorded the sound so you can check it out.

Personally I returned my Studio M1 Max because the noise became quickly unbearable in a quiet office. I can't say it was actually "loud", sure I can hear my voice over the noise if I'm talking. But when you're sitting there concentrating on work in a quiet room, the noise quickly becomes very onerous.

I made another test: CPU load put to 100% (using the Endurance app) then for 30 min I used the automatic mode )Apple setting) which led to a fan speed at around 1330 rpm and a CPU "Core average temp" of 59°C the same thing with the fan speed set manually to 1100 led to a Core average temp" of 60°C. So in terms of cooling effect there seems to be no big difference between 1100 and 1300 but in terms of noise its the sweet spot with 1100 o.k. for me (I don't hear it) and 1300 annoying (because I hear it).

I am based in the US, and for something marketed as a desktop computer it is surprisingly very noisy. It is not coil noise, it is fan. It is like having a little fan constantly blowing on my desk, I've tried different positions, etc, I can still hear it under my desk, 10 feet away, it is still obvious. Again, very disappointed, I will return this computer. This will be the first Apple Computer I have returned due to unsatisfactory in over 25 years. I can't tolerate it for this kind of money.

It's concerning that they took form over function, I'd take a bigger "silent" computer, or even an external power supply over this constant noise. Why not do what they did with the iMac, make the power external and put the ethernet in the supply? I could tolerate it if it only ramps up doing heavy tasks, but it's 100 percent all the time, only ramps down when asleep. Computer is not warm at all.

If you are recording anything, mics would pick it up. I've looked all over online, and it seems pretty common, I don't understand how some people say it's silent, unless I just got a bad one, I can only heard the fans on my other computers, if I put them through stress or put my ear up to them, not this one.

I had to return my Studio due to the high pitch noise of it... I do not want to post any links on here, but on YouTube I did manage to find someone who has the exact same issue I had. The title is "Mac Studio High Pitch Noise" and the user goes under the name of windz2022.

At times it sounded almost like an old mechanical hard drive platter chattering away... and I did actually check around my desk area thinking I had left a backup drive on! :)

Very weird that in 2022 we are still having to deal with noisy fans... more so on a computer of this spec and at this sort of price!

Roll on revision II that may hopefully be quieter!

My Mac Studio max is not noisy at all, in fact I can’t even hear it unless I put my ear within a few inches from the exhaust area, and only then I can hear some mild airflow. Perhaps some people have sensitive ears or perhaps they have a malfunctioning system but mine is fine and very happy with it.

What is the voltage of your electrical outlet?

jzn123 wrote:

I ordered an M1 Max Studio and immediately returned it. The fan noise was unbearable to me. By default, the fans are running around 1300 rpm, but even at 1100 rpm with the mac fan control app the noise was way too much. This device is support to be on your desk and therefore fan noise is a no-go. I switched to the Mac Mini M1, which is 100% quiet, so I am totally happy now. No Mac Studio for me.

Completely agree with Daniel's assessment. I have the Max and coming from the 5k iMac the fan noise is really noticeable. Using a tool like TG Pro to turn down the fans to 1100rpm removes a lot of the annoying fan noise.

MacWorld did review the M1 Max: https://www.macworld.com/article/622515/mac-studio-m1-max-review.html

in this configuration: 10-core M1 Max processor with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 64GB of unified memory, 400GBps memory bandwidth, and a 2TB SSD and concluded regarding noise:

“While Apple acknowledges that the Mac Studio will make fan noise when pushed, the company makes reassurances that it’s still a very quiet computer. That claim held up throughout my testing; most of the time, I didn’t hear a thing, and I had to stop myself and listen when there was fan noise. It was barely noticeable.”

I returned M1 Max Mac Studio because the fans are always on, and ALWAYS collecting dust that can not be easily cleaned out. It is just going to get louder over time.

I had a 16" MBP M1 Max with the same specs and it was silent. I returned the 16" and bought a 14" M1 Pro MBP because I was getting the Mac Studio. Now I wish I just had the original 16" I bought.

I bought a M1 MAX 64gb 4tb machine ($3800) that I expected to last me years but the fan noise was so annoying I sent it back 2 days later. I need a desk machine so I got the $2k base configuration and I'm using that with a 2tb TB3 drive. It gets the work done and I'm not as frustrated with the noise after spending half of what I planned, but this is just a stop gap and I'll sell it as soon as I have a better solution. Hopefully a Mac Pro that isn't $15k or more.