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fotofono · Nov 19, 2003, 09:19 AM

Hi,
I just want to ask anyone with a new ibook G4 ,
(I'm interested in the 12''inch but i suppose there won't be big difference)
if they concider the ibook to be noisy.
Does the fan come up often?
is it noisy?
what about the Hd?
I'm interested on doing audio with this machine and it is a real pain to constantly hear a zzzzsssshhsshh sound.
thanks in advance for any feedback.

pessoa · Nov 19, 2003, 09:40 AM

I've only had my 14" iBook for a couple of days, but the noise is bugging me. I haven't noticed the fan much, but I hear a pretty loud clicking sound when I hit the button (below trackpad). Also, the first time I put a disc in the drive it made such a crunching sound that I thought something was damaged. I'm coming from an original clamshell iBook, which didn't seem nearly as loud.

pks1850 · Nov 19, 2003, 11:09 AM

Originally posted by fotofono:
Hi,
I just want to ask anyone with a new ibook G4 ,
(I'm interested in the 12''inch but i suppose there won't be big difference)
if they concider the ibook to be noisy.
Does the fan come up often?
is it noisy?
what about the Hd?
I'm interested on doing audio with this machine and it is a real pain to constantly hear a zzzzsssshhsshh sound.
thanks in advance for any feedback.

I'll tell you that playing audio CDs is very noisy on my 12" iBook. The slot load combo drive is very loud when you load the disc, and you can both hear and feel the disc spinning. It's my one big gripe on the design of the iBook.

Note, this only happens with audio CDs. Playing DVDs is nice and quiet... and it's the only time I've ever heard my fan kick in (after about an hour or so).

Haven't heard anything from the hard drive, so it's pretty much silent on that front. Overall, I'd say the iBook is nice and quite except for the CD issue -- which in your case, might be a deal breaker.

fotofono · Nov 19, 2003, 11:48 AM

so except from the noisy audio cd issue,
(seems very strange to me really),
one can say that the ibook is pretty quiet eh?
when the fan does start,
is it ok or is it too loud?
I heard some powerbooks that are really loud when their fans start,
and i would expect the same from the ibook.
If anyone wants to comment on this,
please go ahead.
thanks

pks1850 · Nov 19, 2003, 01:21 PM

Originally posted by fotofono:
so except from the noisy audio cd issue,
(seems very strange to me really),
one can say that the ibook is pretty quiet eh?
when the fan does start,
is it ok or is it too loud?
I heard some powerbooks that are really loud when their fans start,
and i would expect the same from the ibook.
If anyone wants to comment on this,
please go ahead.
thanks

The fan on my iBook is almost whisper quiet -- at least to my ears. Maybe I haven't been pushing my iBook hard enough. Once I get my hands on Photoshop and the like I'll know for sure. The batch processing of 8MB TIFFS should give the iBook a good workout.

webcookie · Nov 19, 2003, 01:25 PM

I have the 12" G4 iBook and it's very quiet most of the time. The fan has not come on once in the time I've had it (a little over two weeks). The CD drive is very loud, so you'll have to turn the volume way up to hear the music over the spinning of the CD. My hard drive very rarely makes any noise. Also, the iBook doesn't get very hot (as opposed to my Dell laptop which is like a furnace).

The only thing that I worry about is that the G4 iBook is going to have the same logicboard issues that the G3 seemed to have.

Mr Scruff · Nov 21, 2003, 02:14 PM

Originally posted by webcookie:
I have the 12" G4 iBook and it's very quiet most of the time. The fan has not come on once in the time I've had it (a little over two weeks). The CD drive is very loud, so you'll have to turn the volume way up to hear the music over the spinning of the CD. My hard drive very rarely makes any noise. Also, the iBook doesn't get very hot (as opposed to my Dell laptop which is like a furnace).

The only thing that I worry about is that the G4 iBook is going to have the same logicboard issues that the G3 seemed to have.

Just got my iBook G4 after a long, long wait and I have to say I'm unhappy with the combo drive. When it hits top speed it makes an almighty racket, a really loud whirring.

Is anyone else seeing this?

It also seems that sometimes when I put a CD in it will be louder than others.

I'm tempted to send it back to Apple to get it looked at, even though it's taken me over a month to get this far...

pks1850 · Nov 21, 2003, 03:43 PM

Originally posted by Mr Scruff:
Just got my iBook G4 after a long, long wait and I have to say I'm unhappy with the combo drive. When it hits top speed it makes an almighty racket, a really loud whirring.

Is anyone else seeing this?

It also seems that sometimes when I put a CD in it will be louder than others.

I'm tempted to send it back to Apple to get it looked at, even though it's taken me over a month to get this far...

Yes, the loud whirring seems normal when playing audio CDs. I've got the same issue, as do others. However, playing DVDs is nice and quiet. I'm guessing the discs spin at different speeds, which causes the loud whirring and vibrations.

I can live with the audio CD problem, since I don't listen to music via disc much anymore (thank you, iTunes!). However, YMMV depending on your listening habits.

webcookie · Nov 21, 2003, 06:31 PM

I should add that my iBook is quiet when playing DVD's. Luckily I don't listen to CD's very often on my iBook because most of my music collection has already been ripped to Mp3 and I play it on iTunes, or else it's on record or cassette and I play it on my regular stereo.

I'm kind of disappointed that it's so loud when playing CD's though.

CeRtiFiedSkitZo · Nov 21, 2003, 10:27 PM

I've been reading some of the post in here, and I've been trying to perform some of the same task you guys are doing and I don't hear anything coming from the CDROM when using a music or DVD.

I do agree that they need to do something w/ this loud mouse button.