[ero2]

The viewing angle, I think, will be okay. The battery life I think will be fine too. HOWEVER, the humming noise coming from the headphone port, and or the humming noise from the second processor may be a deal breaker for me. How bad are these issues? I went to the apple store at my mall, but the place has so many people looking at the mbp that even when I got to play with it and try to max it out or let the processor be idle I couldn't hear anything. How bad is it guys, bad enough to go back to a powerpc Pbook, or just time to go desktop?

[aristotles]

So in otherwords, you are thinking of cancelling your order on hearsay and rumour? Even after you could not find anything wrong?

Where are you getting this battery life crap from. All reports I've read were from people looking at battery life "before" calibrating their battery.

[John123]

Originally Posted by aristotles

So in otherwords, you are thinking of cancelling your order on hearsay and rumour? Even after you could not find anything wrong?

Where are you getting this battery life crap from. All reports I've read were from people looking at battery life "before" calibrating their battery.

Did you not even read the guy's post? He said, quote, "The battery life I think will be fine too." He was asking SPECIFICALLY about the noise.

Anyway, you clearly don't understand what calibration does, either. Calibration mostly has to do with getting proper readings of the remaining charge.

[Rumz]

I think people are straining at every little thing they can find because it's a new product (it's typical for a new product to have to undergo such scrutiny I guess). But it seems like some people have said the noise is something not unique to the MBP.

To be honest, that wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. But I'll tell you what: my friend here at work has his MacBook Pro. I haven't recieved mine yet. I'll borrow his for a bit today, put some music on it, and listen out of the headphone jack with some regular headphones (Sony MDR-G73) and some relatively sensitive earphones (Shure E3) and tell you what I think, since I am picky about audio fidelity (I simply choose to listen to music on a separate device most of the time-- though perhaps movies I would watch with the laptop's headphone jack).

[markus]

Originally Posted by ero2

The viewing angle, I think, will be okay. The battery life I think will be fine too. HOWEVER, the humming noise coming from the headphone port, and or the humming noise from the second processor may be a deal breaker for me. How bad are these issues? I went to the apple store at my mall, but the place has so many people looking at the mbp that even when I got to play with it and try to max it out or let the processor be idle I couldn't hear anything. How bad is it guys, bad enough to go back to a powerpc Pbook, or just time to go desktop?

ive watched about 5 movies and listened to hours of music on my mbp and havent had any problems with buzzing noises.. i have sennheiser hd600 headphones and it sounds great. i havent heard any processor buzzing or screen buzzing or any buzzing at all for that matter. my mbp runs quiet. i have 2.16model

[ero2]

Originally Posted by Rumz

I think people are straining at every little thing they can find because it's a new product (it's typical for a new product to have to undergo such scrutiny I guess). But it seems like some people have said the noise is something not unique to the MBP.

To be honest, that wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. But I'll tell you what: my friend here at work has his MacBook Pro. I haven't recieved mine yet. I'll borrow his for a bit today, put some music on it, and listen out of the headphone jack with some regular headphones (Sony MDR-G73) and some relatively sensitive earphones (Shure E3) and tell you what I think, since I am picky about audio fidelity (I simply choose to listen to music on a separate device most of the time-- though perhaps movies I would watch with the laptop's headphone jack).

I would appreciate that, Thanks!

[ero2]

Originally Posted by markus

ive watched about 5 movies and listened to hours of music on my mbp and havent had any problems with buzzing noises.. i have sennheiser hd600 headphones and it sounds great. i havent heard any processor buzzing or screen buzzing or any buzzing at all for that matter. my mbp runs quiet. i have 2.16model

cool, this makes me feel better then, real world reports are what I am looking for, some people said they noticed it, but I have a feeling I may not. Have you ran any real intensive programs utilizing both cores? If not would you mind doing something to kind of , max it out if you will, to see if any noises arise? Also, some reported that the noise was only evident after pulling the mag safe connectior...can you verify or discredit that as well if ya don't mind?

[JKT]

Just a FYI.

If you are worried about odd buzzing and humming noises, then a PowerBook is not the way to go! The PBs also experience odd chirping, humming etc noises (at times, not constantly) - it depends on what you are doing with them, but certain CPU tasks cause high pitched noises to occur. While very quiet there is a low level hum from the fans at all times.

Saying that, the only way you really notice any of it is if you are using the machine in a really quiet setting.

P.S. If you go back to your Apple Store and request that you be given the opportunity to use one in a quiet area, wouldn't they let you?

[ero2]

well I had a last rev 1.67 and never heard this, are you saying it is on ALL Pbooks, or just the macbookpro? Sorry, just want to make sure I am understanding you, because if it was on ALL of them, and I never noticed it then I would be fine.

[JKT]

On the PowerBooks - as I said it is dependent on what you are doing (and I should have said it is also dependent on the processor setting - historically the Highest setting caused this). I can't be bothered to look for it myself, but search the forums for threads about noises and PowerBooks and you will find plenty of them. Maybe the last version PBs don't have this "problem", but it certainly exists in prior revisions. The reason I pointed it out was that some people will complain of noises even though most people don't even notice them or don't care about them. The PowerBooks do give off odd noises under certain circumstances so they are not perfect in terms of this issue.

To add to that, maybe the MBP is making more or worse noises, but who knows until you try them for yourself in a setting where you can hear them? Or maybe it is just that some people are more sensitive to the noises?

[Rumz]

Ok a little background.

I have an old PC (ok 3 1/2 years old really) and once the Sound Blaster Live! that I had died, I wasn’t using it enough to get a new sound card so I’ve just used the onboard audio when I’ve used it. All sorts of humming and noises I can hear through the headphones when doing things on the system and even when it’s not doing anything. This is probably about as bad as it gets. (Anyone play the old Atari 2600 game "Adventure"? When I open a window I can hear a sound that sounds just like picking up an item in that game, and when I minimize the window it sounds exactly like when you put down an item in that game. These are not wav files but just the noise coming from the system-- that's how loud the noise coming from the system is).

Right now I’m listening to a compilation CD of choral / instrumental tracks from film scores— so there are both loud passages and some very quiet passages. I’ve got my Shure E3 plugged into the MacBook Pro’s headphone jack on the side, these earphones have foam sleeves, so they’re basically like foam earplugs that block out most all sound outside of the music being pumped in... So I should be able to really hear any flaws in the audio signal coming from the MacBook Pro.

I’ve got the volume up near full (system volume on max, iTunes volume at 90% or so for listening to silence (have to bring the volume in itunes much lower during the actual music lest anyone think I’m deaf). Upon listening, there is some very very faint electronic noise in the background (the machine is sitting idle basically). I’d really have to be listening for it to notice it. That said, while listening to music it’s non-existant— you can’t hear it. The only noise I hear is white noise from the original recording of the music. Even tracks that were done digitally and have almost no background noise I don’t notice it, and if there’s any music at all you can’t hear any electronic noise from the MBP. Only thing I really notice is when I press pause on the music, I hear a brief electronic “blip” (it’s not terribly loud but you can hear it).

Granted I am not running any processor intensive tasks. For fun, I paused the CD player in iTunes and opened every app on the dock really quickly (just the default ones that come installed on the mac). The level of the again very very faint noise coming from MBP doesn’t increase. I may have heard one quiet blip while I was quitting all those programs. Even though this isn’t a substitute task to replace some heaving processor use, the system is still doing some work for a short period of time.

While my tests were brief, less than scientific, and not exhaustive (ie I wasn’t encoding video while listening or anything to really give the processors a workout), they were enough to indicate to me as to whether I’d use the MacBook to listen to music or watch movies, being that the earphones are very sensitive. The answer is yes— I’d have no problem watching DVDs on this or listening to music. I can’t hear any noise at all coming from the earphones while listening to music, either while on battery or while the AC is connected.

Hope this helps. You should still give it a drive youself-- your mileage my vary depending on what you're doing, what ear/headphones you use, etc.

[iobuffa]

Originally Posted by Rumz

Hope this helps. You should still give it a drive youself-- your mileage my vary depending on what you're doing, what ear/headphones you use, etc.

I agree. See if you can get to an apple store and plug in some headphones. I've done this before and the only thing the rep asked was "So does it sound good?"

[slffl]

The viewing angle is a deal breaker for me. The battery life seems to be the same as my 17" 1Ghz. However, it is A LOT quieter than my 17". I barely hear anything coming from it let alone something annoying or unusual.

[inkhead]

You could cancel your order and wait till after the 28th. My money is on Apple actually releasing a tablet mac. You might want to wait till tuesday to take a look.

[PiñaGrande]

My MBP 2.0 is an exquisite machine. It's the best computer I have ever had. Super fast, quiet, and with a magnificent screen with perfect pixels. Heat is same as my PB 1.25. PS CS2 is a mite faster than on the PB 1.25.
However all this talk means nothing. A truly indecisive person will never listen to others, because he would have to decide to trust others. What a truly indecisive person really wants is for someone else to make the decision for him, but he can't even make that decision!

[alex_kac]

We only hear a very very very quiet buzzing noise and only when the room is near silence.