The iMac and Noise

I actually really like iMacs. They are beautiful and sufficiently powerful machines that can do pretty much all that you want to do with a computer. But…

One fundamental problem of the iMac is (or at least can be) the noise it produces.

It’s not that an iMac is particularly loud or noisy. But they do have fans and hard drives and some of them are plagued by display noises like a high pitched tune or a crackling or buzzing sound.

The screen noise problem could be the same with every other computer. (In fact I have already returned two other displays because of their whining noises.)

With the noise that comes from fans and hard drives however the iMac has a particular problem because the fan and hard drives are standing right in front of the user, behind the display. Thus an iMac has to be particularly silent to not be heard by the user. And that is a problem. You can hear the iMacs I know quite clearly. A modern and silent »normal« PC in contrast cannot be heard at all because all components that make noise are located behind or under the desk.

So personally I would like Apple to produce an ordinary headless PC: cheaper than the PowerMac, faster and more capable than the Mac Mini. An iMac with a separate display, so to say.