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Enigmatik · May 20, 2006, 12:34 PM

Ok, the Mic on the Macbook Pro seems to be built into the left hand speaker on the computer. Which is really the stupidest idea. When im using Skype, everything that comes out the speaker feeds straight back into the mic that is next to the speaker causing a major loop of sound and making it impossible to hear anything.

The only way to actually use it is using headphones or external speakers!

Anyone else find this problem?

onlykaria · 12:52 PM

thats not where the mic is...edit: i think

edit: again, you are right, i am still thinking about my ibook where the mic was over where the isight is now. for some reason i thought they had kept it there.

shabbasuraj · May 20, 2006, 01:02 PM

can anyone confirm the speaker/mic placement?

icruise · May 20, 2006, 01:21 PM

He's right. Check out Apple's tech specs page. I don't think it's literally built into the speaker, but it's close to it.

Bryanmc · May 20, 2006, 01:46 PM

My old iBook had the speaker in the bezel of the monitor, at the top right.

It sounded great. The PowerBook and MacBook placement sounds horrible in comparison.

Enigmatik · May 20, 2006, 01:57 PM

So basically anything that goes out of your speakers is picked up by the mic . Meaning that using apps like Skype are next to impossible without headfones, unless you love having someones voice looped through your speaker>mic. :/

Simon · May 20, 2006, 02:04 PM

Yeah, use headphones. Big deal.

Yakov · May 20, 2006, 03:48 PM

so it's impossible to videoconference in the way that it shows people doing in the widely circulated product image

that's insane

anyone know if the macbook 13 suffers from this same crappy design?

sibellc · May 20, 2006, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by Yakov

so it's impossible to videoconference in the way that it shows people doing in the widely circulated product image

that's insane

anyone know if the macbook 13 suffers from this same crappy design?

No, iChat automatically turns off the left speaker.

Enigmatik · May 20, 2006, 04:33 PM

thats something i never thought off - could fade the speakers all to the right. but its still a bad design.

Yakov · May 20, 2006, 09:02 PM

yes.

lars-man · May 21, 2006, 03:40 AM

Not just the MacBook Pro suffers from this design mistake, even the PowerBooks do have the same problem. The best way to avoid this problem is to use headphones or you could try to turn of the left speaker: Go to System Preferences > Sound > Output and turn the balance to the right speaker.

Kind regards, Lars

amazing · May 21, 2006, 07:27 AM

Best thing is to use a bluetooth headset, same one you use with your phone, except paired to the laptop. Cardo Scala 500 had a $40 rebate recently, plus it has wind noise filtering. Does great with Skype and with the cellphone...

Sound quality is much, much better when you use a noise-cancelling headset with Skype, in any case.

Maggies Mama · May 21, 2006, 02:29 PM

Hmm, I've had a couple of Skype calls on my MBP 15, and all was loud and clear. No problems at all.
So, I guess YMMV.
I believe the mic is under the speaker bezel, but I don't know how close the mic is to the speaker. Personally, I would think that the engineering challenges from such co-location would be no greater than have already been solved with innumerable speakerphone configurations.

milhaus · May 21, 2006, 06:59 PM

Skype has been perfect for me as well, with any external headphone/mic combo. I haven't been able to properly connect any Bluetooth headset with my MBP though, which is a bugger . . . (pairs perfectly, doesn't want to push sound to it). So, I'll just save myself a few bucks and go with the builtin stuff.

analogika · May 22, 2006, 03:50 AM

The 13" MacBook has the microphone in the upper screen bezel, right next to the iSight.

Generally, chat software should mute the speaker when the mic picks up noise above a certain threshold.

At least, iChat does.

WOPR · May 22, 2006, 05:54 AM

Originally Posted by stuppy

Ok, the Mic on the Macbook Pro seems to be built into the left hand speaker on the computer. Which is really the stupidest idea. When im using Skype, everything that comes out the speaker feeds straight back into the mic that is next to the speaker causing a major loop of sound and making it impossible to hear anything.

The only way to actually use it is using headphones or external speakers!

Anyone else find this problem?

The manual clearly shows the microphone being next to the camera. Your thread now looks a bit daft.

icruise · 06:47 AM

Internal omnidirectional microphone (located under left speaker grille)

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html

I think you can see it in this photo (click for bigger version):

icruise · 07:03 AM

Plus if you actually look at the manual, you'll see that it says clearly that the microphone is under the left speaker grille.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Mac...sers_Guide.pdf

Enigmatik · May 22, 2006, 06:56 AM

And you people thought I would post a message without fully researching it first! What do I look like? A piece of pooh?!

WOPR · May 22, 2006, 08:42 AM

Doh! I thought you were talking about the Pro not the MacBook. Damn this crap new naming system!!

icruise · May 22, 2006, 08:47 AM

Originally Posted by WOPR

Doh! I thought you were talking about the Pro not the MacBook. Damn this crap new naming system!!

Uh, we are talking about the Pro... I take it you mean the reverse.

Enigmatik · May 22, 2006, 09:23 AM

WOPR you are making youself look like a right silly old hector!