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sladnas · Mar 21, 2006, 10:31 AM

Hey guys,

I started a MacBook Pro Whine Poll over on the Apple forums, but apparently the moderators didn't like it too much

We're beginning to a decent sample size (>200 users). If you have a few minutes, please stop by and take the poll.

http://macbookprowhinepoll.furrybeanbag.com

- Mark

Barefoot Matt · Mar 21, 2006, 05:06 PM

I don't have one, so I can't vote, but that's interesting. There does seem to be an effect of age, but most likely no effect of processor or HDD speed. Perhaps you could try separating the graphs by whine type? I don't know if that would show anything interesting though given that the vast majority of display-whiners also have processor whine.

mintcake · Mar 21, 2006, 05:29 PM

Not sure why you're posting age stats. Surely all that does is profile your respondents? Or does your pie chart show the percentage of people within a given age group who hear the whine?

Barefoot Matt · Mar 21, 2006, 06:27 PM

There has been speculation that for physiological reasons, certain age groups may be more likely to hear the whine than others. Indeed, if you check out the charts, you'll see that a disproportionately high number from the two oldest age groups and possibly the under-18s don't have a whine.

mintcake · Mar 21, 2006, 07:00 PM

Well yes but it's not clear whether the chart is showing 'percentage of people in that age group who hear the whine' or simply 'percentage of people who responded to the survey who fall in that age group'...

Same goes for the other categories.

I'm not surprised if most of the people responding to his survey are aged between 25 and 45 as this is probably the age group most likely to be able to afford a new Macbook Pro.

Barefoot Matt · Mar 21, 2006, 10:45 PM

The charts are labelled. "Total age distribution" is all respondants, "Whine by age" is the age distribution of people with the whine, and "No whine by age" is the distribution of people without the whine. In the other categories, the first chart in each case is the distribution among all respondants, while the second is that among respondants with the whine.

sladnas · Mar 21, 2006, 11:16 PM

Originally Posted by Barefoot Matt

The charts are labelled. "Total age distribution" is all respondants, "Whine by age" is the age distribution of people with the whine, and "No whine by age" is the distribution of people without the whine. In the other categories, the first chart in each case is the distribution among all respondants, while the second is that among respondants with the whine.

Hi Matt,

You've hit the nail on the head. That is exactly how the charts are setup.

As previously mentioned, I decided to profile the age of the owner for a few reasons: First off, it is free data. Maybe it won't mean much now, but if anybody ever wants to do more analysis on this, the data is available. Secondly, some people were speculating that *all* MacBooks have the problem, but not everybody hears it. I tend to believe that some 'books may not exhibit the issue, or exhibit it to a much lesser degree. Mine has a very loud CPU whine, but is easily masked by launching and quitting the Comic Life application.

The charts that are on display now are realtime, and I admit may not statisically sound in that it may be hard to draw direct conclusions from them. I'm a full time college student first, and a MacBook pollster second

When time allows, I will do more analysis on the data and find different methods of displaying the results. Pie charts don't always tell the whole story.

Thanks again to everyone who is taking the time to participate in this poll. I believe it can be useful to current MacBook community, as well as those considering a purchase.

I want to assure everyone that I'm not gaining anything in anyway from this, other than the data. After my experience with the Apple discussion boards, I think I should disclose this fact.

Take care everyone,

- Mark

mintcake · Mar 21, 2006, 11:28 PM

Thanks for the clarification.

sladnas · Mar 21, 2006, 11:35 PM

To those interested, I have gone ahead and updated the other two charts (CPU/Drive Speed) to also show the distribution by people that do NOT hear a whine. You can see the results by clicking on the [results] link from the main poll page.

One interesting note: The distributions of people who *do* report the whine looks very similar to the total distribution of data in each of the three catagories. This could mean a few things (with a limited sample) including: The majority of the data reflects people who are experiencing the whine OR these three factors may not have any bearing on the issue.

- Mark

Barefoot Matt · Mar 22, 2006, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by sladnas

One interesting note: The distributions of people who *do* report the whine looks very similar to the total distribution of data in each of the three catagories. This could mean a few things (with a limited sample) including: The majority of the data reflects people who are experiencing the whine OR these three factors may not have any bearing on the issue.

Statistically, it's more useful to compare people with the whine to people without the whine than to the total sample.

sladnas · Mar 24, 2006, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by Barefoot Matt

Statistically, it's more useful to compare people with the whine to people without the whine than to the total sample.

Hi Matt,

I've updated the charts so each topic now includes the "whine" and "no whine" charts.

- Mark

volcano · Mar 24, 2006, 06:30 PM

Wow - 18 to 25 and 26 to 35 year olds sure are whiny

Interesting data, though. I expected the 26 to 35 age group to be larger.

Cadaver · Mar 24, 2006, 08:02 PM

Typically, the older one gets, the less sensitive they are to very high pitched sound. Likely why many older folks say they don't hear it - they can't!

Unfortunately, despite being 36 years old, I'm still very sensitive to high pitched electrical noise. Bugs me all the time, especially at work where in one of the rooms we've got 8 CRT monitors. WHINE!!!! And incandescent light bulbs on a rheostat... Forget it. Bugs the crap out of me.

jhogarty · Mar 24, 2006, 10:59 PM

35 here. Took the survey. I have not heard the whine. I do get a bit annoyed when I have a CD/DVD in the drive and it spins up for a bit. But nothing to complain about.

Now, I think my ears are sensitive to a point. I also have a Dual 2.5GHz PowerMac and have suffered from that annoying Chirping issue. Well for a while, as I think Apple fixed it in one of the patches because I have not heard it in a while.

Of all the computers I"ve ever owned, my Macs are by far the quietest (and most reliable). Yes they make noise but in comparison, very minor.

I hope those who have the whine issue get a resolution.

J.

skyman · Mar 25, 2006, 01:05 AM

I just received my MBP today and I too have the annoying whine. I will be calling Apple in the AM as this is completely unacceptable.

Jean-Loup · Mar 25, 2006, 02:47 AM

Originally Posted by Cadaver

Typically, the older one gets, the less sensitive they are to very high pitched sound. Likely why many older folks say they don't hear it - they can't!

Unfortunately, despite being 36 years old, I'm still very sensitive to high pitched electrical noise. Bugs me all the time, especially at work where in one of the rooms we've got 8 CRT monitors. WHINE!!!! And incandescent light bulbs on a rheostat... Forget it. Bugs the crap out of me.

Actually, the whine that is being talked about would not fall under this category. Although you are correct in saying the with age people will hear less of the very high frequencies (down from approx. 20KHz to perhaps 17 or 19 KHz). The whine being mentionned here would be more aroud 10KHz - 12KHz and that frequency can be heard by your average 90 year old grand mother.

So if people are saying they aren't hearing it...well it's probably not there or so low that in their case it's not a problem. Sorry for being anal...but it's the sound engeneering student talking.

Also, the whine seems to have gone away after using my MBP for about 5 minutes. It hasn't really come back...so to me this seems to be a mild issue. Of course YMMV.

skyman · Mar 25, 2006, 02:33 PM

Called Apple and they told me the whine was acceptable. I told them it was not and that it needed to be addressed. They told me that I could send it in to be repaired and I told them that I had just purchased the MBP and think a replacement would be more acceptable. The rep said he could not authorize that and I would have to speak to a supervisor. So, I am waiting for a call back from an Apple supervisor. Will update soon......

sladnas · Mar 26, 2006, 08:13 PM

Hi everyone,

I've taken a few improvements requests and updated the result page. The graphs now breakout each option in every catagory. This should add a bit of fuel to the age debate too

Thanks everyone for your emails and support. Please continue to let me know if there is anything else you would like to see. I can be reached at the email address linked from the results page.

Results:

http://furrybeanbag.com/macbookprowhinepoll/results.php

mintcake · Mar 26, 2006, 08:27 PM

Great updates, thanks! Well I'm 37 and waiting for a 2.0ghz machine with a 7200rpm drive, so according to your results I'm relatively low risk but still more likely than not to get a machine with a whine - except we have no way of knowing how representative your sample is. I assume those who have a whine are more likely to fill in your survey than those who don't, meaning your results probably exaggerate the percentage of whine-afflicted users.

I'm still really foxed by those age results, unless it's simply down to the fact that the sample is too small to be statistically meaningful.

SEkker · Mar 26, 2006, 11:01 PM

I think the real question for the poll should be in lieu of age : are you a long-time (loud) iPod user?!!