As spotlighted by French blog MacGeneration.fr based on Pingie’s discovery, Apple’s latest MacBook Pro no longer plays the classic F-sharp major chime when the computer has been powered on (you can bring it back with a simple Terminal command).
The iconic boot sound’s been part of the Mac since 1999, but Apple’s apparently decided to break with the tradition beginning with the new MacBook Pro, perhaps because it turns on automatically as soon as you open the lid.
Good-bye, boot chime!
Hidden in a tech note for the new MacBook Pro is a death notice of the Mac startup chime. In an excerpt explaining how to reset the new MacBook Pro’s NVRAM, Apple states one should press and hold the Command (⌘)-Option (⌥)-P-R keys immediately after the computer turns on and continue holding them “for at least 20 seconds to ensure that your Mac completes the process correctly”.
TUTORIAL: resetting NVRAM on your Mac
For prior Mac notebooks and desktops, the instructions specifically mention that the keys must be pressed until you hear two startup chimes.
RELATED: brief history of the Mac startup chime
There’s a reasonable explanation for this
So, why would Apple get rid of the iconic boot chime?
This is pure speculation, but the new Pro turns on automatically when you open the lid without requiring you to press the Power button at the rightmost side of the Touch Bar.
If the MacBook Pro played the familiar startup chime like other Mac notebook and desktop computers have in years past, a mere act of opening the lid would play the boot tone which could get pretty annoying.
TUTORIAL: how to re-enable boot chime on late-2016 MacBook Pro
Aside from the boot sound, here are other features missing from the new notebook:
- There’s no glowing logo on the back of the lid. Instead, the new MacBook Pro gets the same logo inset like the twelve-inch MacBook and iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices.
- MagSafe connector is nowhere to be found because the machine relies on USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports for charging, data, video and other things.
By the way, the new MacBook Pro also turns on automatically when it’s connected to a power source or an external display and the lid happens to be open.
TUTORIAL: how to disable startup chime on any Mac
Are you saddened that Apple seems to be abandoning the Mac’s iconic boot chime?
Source: MacGeneration.fr (Google Translate) via Pingie