thasp Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I read that some of the older models had issues where they'd burn a hole through your crotch, or the audio would hum out the headphone jack loudly. I'd like to buy a refurb one to save some cash, I get a student discount it appears. This way I could use Logic at work, at home, wherever on my own machine instead of being limited to the machine at work. The machine at work also sucks. I was just curious if any of the models I could be getting would have an issue like that. I'm looking at a 2.2 GHz 15" one with a 120 gig drive. A few extra MHz doesn't matter to me and the larger internal drive of the newer models doesn't matter since I would be using external drives for all the work anyway. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilikelmo25 Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I'm probably not qualified to say this but, I think you should just buy it. However I've never bought a MacBook Pro and have hardly used it in the shop so I wouldn't really know what you should do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thasp Posted April 6, 2008 Author Share Posted April 6, 2008 I'd love to buy it. but I'd hate to buy it without being aware of the above! If I have to get an expresscard soundcard/headphone amp for my etys or open it and remove excess thermal paste I'd like to be aware, as this is a factor in deciding whether or not the refurb is for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigboss Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Even the newer Santa Rosa and Penryn macbook pros have the humming problem. It's a flaw in the logic board... There is a fix to the solution however, just use headphones with an inbuilt volume control and you will completely remove the hissing and most of the other whining and humming noises however they do chime in from time to time. As for the Macbook Pro getting hot, that is also a problem with ALL MBPs as it is the way the system is built/designed. Generally when you have the power adapter plugged in and you are not doing any graphics/CPU intensive work, the temperature will be around 50 C and seeing as how most of the heat is getting pushed out of the back of the unit, its not as noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thasp Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 That's too ghetto a fix for a really expensive laptop. the heat thing too drove me nuts with my inspiron. Thanks a lot for being honest about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macprodan Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 No Humming here, and it will get hot for goodness sakes, all good powerful laptops/notebooks will. It is designed to, the aluminum dissipates the heat and helps keep things cool inside. It does not burn, Unless you plan on using it on your lap naked I would say it will be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigboss Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 No Humming here, and it will get hot for goodness sakes, all good powerful laptops/notebooks will. It is designed to, the aluminum dissipates the heat and helps keep things cool inside. It does not burn, Unless you plan on using it on your lap naked I would say it will be ok. The humming sound in my case can only be heard through the external audio jack but if the audio circuitry is not in use for 30 seconds, OS X shuts down the audio jack and the humming/hissing and other noises cease. Ofcourse, the moment you start to play music again, they start. Unfortunately, there is no solution other than getting a high impedance audio system or one with a volume control. EDIT: Also worth noting that the aforementioned issue cannot be fixed through any software troubleshooting as it is a hardware problem. The fact that the problem still persists on the new Penryn laptops probably means that Apple either: 1) Does not know about the problem. Hard to believe considering the numerous discussions about this issue on the Apple forums. 2) Does not care to solve the problem. 3) Is attempting to but unable to solve the problem and thus refusing to comment on the issue. Don't bother trying to take your MBP to the AppleStore as they will be unable to solve the problem. Even if the logic board is replaced, the problem still wont go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thasp Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 my headphone amp has a pretty high input input impedance that knocks the signal down pretty hard. hmm. I guess I still gotta consider the whole vista/reaper/nuendo vs osx/logic thing at the end... damn. decisions are hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ludacrisvp Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Correct me if i am wrong but doesn't the MBP have a digital out built into the headphone jack? For those connecting to the MBP to an external amplifier wouldn't it make sense to connect to the external amplifier via digital and eliminate the hum?Correct me if i am wrong but doesn't the MBP have a digital out built into the headphone jack? For those connecting to the MBP to an external amplifier wouldn't it make sense to connect to the external amplifier via digital and eliminate the hum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigboss Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Correct me if i am wrong but doesn't the MBP have a digital out built into the headphone jack? For those connecting to the MBP to an external amplifier wouldn't it make sense to connect to the external amplifier via digital and eliminate the hum?Correct me if i am wrong but doesn't the MBP have a digital out built into the headphone jack? For those connecting to the MBP to an external amplifier wouldn't it make sense to connect to the external amplifier via digital and eliminate the hum? Anything with high enough impedance will filter out the noise anyways. I have not tried the TOSLINK connection yet but supposedly it should be better than using the analog connection but i don't have any speakers/headphones that will accept that input (only my home theatre AV Receiver). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thasp Posted April 20, 2008 Author Share Posted April 20, 2008 Correct me if i am wrong but doesn't the MBP have a digital out built into the headphone jack? For those connecting to the MBP to an external amplifier wouldn't it make sense to connect to the external amplifier via digital and eliminate the hum?Correct me if i am wrong but doesn't the MBP have a digital out built into the headphone jack? For those connecting to the MBP to an external amplifier wouldn't it make sense to connect to the external amplifier via digital and eliminate the hum? takes away some of the portability though don't you think? I'd have to get another D/A converter. I don't want to carry around a lynx aurora or something everywhere I go just to plug my ety er4s headphones in to get work done on the go. I'm still thinking about this. penryn mbps are beginning to make it on ebay... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geekdad Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 I just bought a MBP a week agao and it gets a little warm then it cools off. It mught ne that this MBP has the new Intel Penryn chip in it. They are supposed to run cooler and more effient. I get about 4 hours on a battery charge as well.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfhuk Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 I got a 2.2 santa rosa and never had any humming problems, just use decent headphones (sennheiser HD 400 something or other pro). In fact the sound is awesome. It gets warm is you use it on a duvet for example, or you have a particularly insulating lap, but only if your really stressing it will it get uncomfortable, and being as my heating isn't great in my student room i kinda like a bit of warmth. I've used logic and garageband on mine without it getting too hot to use on my lap and if it does get hot you just run it on a flat surface for a bit to get it plenty of airflow and it cools down again. Go with the refurb, save the dollars and dimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigboss Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 You could also re-apply the Thermal transfer paste because for some reason, Apple recommends you dump a metric ton of it on each chip which causes temperature hell at times. The procedure will void your warranty but it has resulted in noticeable temperature decreases (up to 15 degrees celsius change) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsianInvasion Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 I have had the santa rosa MBP and now I have the Penryn MBP and when i use my studio headphones and plug it in i alway got a humming sound.. i guess i got used to it. btw i have the Audio Technica ATH-M50s and they are superb headphones for professional studio mixing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berzerker Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 I use the optical/TOSLINK out for connection to a Logitech x-5500 5.1 speaker set, and when I have no music playing, or no sounds, it detects nothing out of the port. It's excellent for music and movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ongeloof Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 It seems a good buy, and as it is from Apple, you know it is safe if anything even trivial stuff, goes wrong just take it back to the store. Also, a little known secret. If you can fit 3 credit cards under your apple laptop, take it back to the store and they will give you a new one. No questions asked, just like that. Gah, i am so l33t... TM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berzerker Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 It seems a good buy, and as it is from Apple, you know it is safe if anything even trivial stuff, goes wrong just take it back to the store. Also, a little known secret. If you can fit 3 credit cards under your apple laptop, take it back to the store and they will give you a new one. No questions asked, just like that. Gah, i am so l33t... TM What do you mean? 3 credit cards on top of each other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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