PB17 fan irregularities

thepopethepope
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Finally got my 17" and haven´t been able to stop drooling yet.....my oh my the wonderful industry design behind it just amazes me.



Okay, things are working fine and then suddenly I hear what I imagine is the fan coming on. It sounds very little like the fans I have heard on other laptops. First of all, it seems to be spinning up, then stopping somewhat, spinning up again etc. The spin-up/spin-down happens about once every second, and to me it doesn`t really sound like it should. It is almost like it wants to spin up to a higher rpm, but cuts off every second.



Anyone care to elaborate on this? I really don`t want to send it back already.....

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    cliveclive Posts: 720member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by thepope

    Anyone care to elaborate on this? I really don`t want to send it back already.....



    I haven't yet seen a 17" for comparison, but I've certainly seen cyclops/windtunnel towers do things like that - but not on an ongoing basis.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    alecralecr Posts: 33member
    I've had my 17" for three days now and I can't tell you Ive heard the fan at all... I've used it quite extensively without shutting down once and I do not recall the sound of the fan whatsoever.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    fuzz_ballfuzz_ball Posts: 390member
    I've heard the fan (especially when I'm playing games



    The fan is variable speed and sometimes it just kicks on for a couple seconds, other times it can come on full force, but either way it "revs up" when getting up to what ever speed it needs to get to.



    So yours is probably fine, but if you're worried, and you have an Apple store near you, stop by and talk to one of the Geniuses.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    jcjc Posts: 342member
    it took me about a week before i heard the fan. it sounds so unlike any fan i ever heard i actually tried to figure out what was making the noise. it sounds like a miniture 4 cylindar subaru reving up to shift gears.

    It seems as though it is a multispeed fan and i think that the sound is actually the speed change. As my 17 has never crashed or misbehaved in anyway I say this is part of my PB17s personality. so do not worry be happy, your 17 just likes to whistle every now and then
  • Reply 5 of 6
    thepopethepope Posts: 8member
    Yes, I checked other pb owners and they all reported the same - although the fan is very quiet, it does tend to "oscillate" when revving up, and if it doesn't need to go full speed, it will stay oscillating until it doesn't need to run at all.



    It didn't really worry me, but it was nice to know that nothing is wrong....



    I put my old (actually quite new) hp omnibook next to the powerbook, and just the harddisk idle humming on the hp was twice as loud as the pb fan on full speed...hehe. Cool.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    jcjc Posts: 342member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by thepope





    I put my old (actually quite new) hp omnibook next to the powerbook, and just the harddisk idle humming on the hp was twice as loud as the pb fan on full speed...hehe. Cool.



    I have had this pb for a month now and every now and then i find myself still picking it up just to marvel at it.



    I saw Del's new 15.4 wide screen computer and it looks huge compared to our 17, it is an inch and a half thick (compared to less than an inch), 10.8 inches deep (compared to 10.2) and our powerbook is only one inch narrower even though our screen is two inches bigger. Plus it was a lot heaver.
Sign In or Register to comment.