High pitched squeal defect on some MacBook Pros

Just to chime in: I just got my MacBook a few days ago and it started with the high-pitched whine this evening. After "googling" for an answer (I remembered reading about this possibility a few weeks ago), I tried booting up Photo Booth.app and voila! noise instantly disappears. What this says to me is that this is fixable via a firmware update. For the time being, I'm just going to hold my nose and wait--though I will definitely call Apple and let them know it's an issue. I also have a lid that is a couple of milimeters higher on one side than the other, but my 12" G4 had the same issue and it never really caused a problem for me in the almost three years I've had it. I'm definitely picking up AppleCare for this thing sooner rather than later though.

This is all making me very nervous... the large amount of posters with problems. My Macbook should be shipping in a week and it will be my first Mac. I'm not going to be too thrilled if I have to send it in for returns/repairs after waiting forever and paying nearly 2,500 dollars. I know people are probably making this a bigger problem than it actually is- remember there are thousands of people who aren't posting their MBP woes on blogs. I just hope if I have any issues its limited to the whining noise...if I can download mirror to fix it then so be it, I'll be content.

Also- the MBP in my university's store had a slight noise but it really wasn't loud enough to bother me, I don't think.

I'd like to know what percentage of MacBook Pros are affected. Could this be a widespread problem? When Apple get it right, as generally they do, we're presented with the best products that money can buy. However, people are paying good money for MacBook Pros & have every right to expect a flawless product from day one. I love my iBook G4 & very much hope to buy a Macintel later this year. But Apple can ill-afford for these type of problems to keep cropping up. I'm sure I'll stick with Apple in future but, as no doubt with many others, the thought of buying a PC laptop is not anathema to me.

You don't have to go all the way back to the mirrored G4 for examples of this. The first-generation PowerMac G5's also had a rather audible high pitched noise. For those machines, it was a problem with the power supply that could make noise itself and push quite a lot of feedback out all the ports, including the speaker jack. The solution for those machines was either replace the power supply, or adjust the Energy Saver settings ("Automatic" and turn off "Nap" mode).

My new MacBook Pro has both of the current popular problems. It has a high, scratchy, brittle whine. This sound is only heard during CPU idle times. Give it any CPU load and it shuts right up.

My MacBook Pro also has the "flickering screen" syndrome. When the backlight is set to a very low setting, the brighter parts of the screen flicker visibly at about 3-5Hz.

I'd heard about these problems before I bought the laptop, but a dead PBG4 15" DVI forced me to make the switch before I wanted to.

I picked up a 2.0GHz MacBook Pro last Tuesday night and it suffers from the hiss that is "fixed" by running the iSight. Don't get my wrong, I am extremely happy with the computer, but for $2500 I shouldn't have a single problem out of the box. This occuring on a few machines here and there is acceptable because it is bound to happen, but a widespread problem like this is not something I would expect from Apple.

This is definately very weird...
I have the whine problem...but unlike the others who posted here...It occurs only when my display is brighter than about 5 bars out of the 16...
haven't found a fix yet...
i took it to an apple store in my area and they said it was nothing...

it bothers me since i have to use my laptop on only 5 brightness...

I bought a MacBook Pro last Wednesday and immediately noticed two defects. The high pitched noise is really annoying! So annoying I have to keep PhotoBooth minimized in the dock (b/c no sound with isight on). Secondly, the lid is warped- the left side is 3mm higher than the right when I close it, causing the display to torque severely. Apple said they would gladly replace it, and am waiting for a new, hold my breath...working machine.

One of the major problems is there are at least three separate noises, and calling them all "the whine" just makes it harder to track down.

1) Low modulating hum from the upper left - probably a fan, but I'm not sure as it's *always* there.
2) Brittle high-pitched whine when running on battery power.
3) High-pitched buzzing when the backlight is anything but full brightness.

For me, noise 2 goes away when using the iSight, or disabling a processor core. Noise 1 never changes, and noise 3 fortunately doesn't bother me, as I always run at full brightness.

People who say they can fix "the whine" by various things are usually referring to noise 2. I've yet to see a fix for noise 3. Whatever the case, I'm waiting a few months for Apple to get their heads around the problem or change suppliers/run through thr bad batch, and then I'll think about replacement. Right now it just means being without my MacBook for a long time without any guarantee the new one will fix it.

Ditto James, I have a PowerBook G4 1.5 and has been doing the same thing since I recieved it. It seems that having the PB on a slight incline causes the screech to subside. It is pretty annoying at times, wish there was some sort of fix.