I just got my new mac mini, and the fan inside makes a noise. I cannot stand this noise, and therefore I cannot use as a htpc. Apple guys say some noise is normal. My mac seems to make noise even when the fan spins at low rpm, and low load. Anyone experience this.
Thanks

Based on my own experience, I would say this is not normal. I don't think I have ever heard the fan in my Mini. The only noise it has made is the optical disc drive turning when I insert a DVD or CD.

Based on my own experience, I would say this is not normal. I don't think I have ever heard the fan in my Mini. The only noise it has made is the optical disc drive turning when I insert a DVD or CD.
Let me add, this is an Intel mac.
Thanks

Yes, that is what I have also.

It is possible to hear the fan in the Mini -- I have certainly heard mine. But only if the sound is off and you are leaning over the thing, listening. Any noise that you can hear, coming out of the Mini itself (rather than some nearby peripheral) while watching a movie or listening to music and sitting on a nearby coach is NOT normal.

That said, it is not advisable to stack stuff on or below the Mini -- it increases the chances of the Mini getting hot and thus the fan being on high RPM.

Inside the mini, there's a small jumper pin on the motherboard for the fan. If that jumper is un-plugged, the fan will run all the time at maximum speed. I'd be willing to bet that jumper is un-plugged. If your mini is under warranty, take it to an Apple-authorized repair center. I'll bet they will recognize the problem.

You could do the repair yourself, but you will have to pop the mini open and look for the jumper and the wires leading to it. There are a number of sites with photos of that jumper and with instructions on how to pop the cover.

As Further mentioned, the DVD drive in the Mini can make a lot of noise. In my minis, that accounts for more noise than the cooling fans. But, I only recall it getting very loud when burning a CD, or copying data from a disc -- where the drive is spinning up to maximum speed. I think that in normal DVD viewing, it doesn't spin up to full.

The cooling fans can speed up and be quite noisy. But, for me that only happens on a sustained high CPU state, like when compiling a huge project. Otherwise, I need to put my ear close to it to hear the fans.

There are some apps you can download to control the fan speed and monitor the temperature. Obviously you don't want to override the cooling and overheat your mini.. but it can allow you to see how fast the fans are spinning and gauge the corresponding sound as you spin them up or down. iCyclone is one example, but I think there are others.