Apple giveth, and Apple taketh away. While the new MacBook Pro models, which debuted last Thursday, now automatically turn themselves on when you open the lid, the reassuring startup chime that has been around in some form or the other since 1991, is nowhere to be heard.
Pingie.com was the first to report the removal of the startup chime from the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops. The new models all automatically boot up when opened, or when connected to a battery source when the device’s battery is completely dead. The removal of the startup chime could have been in consideration of users in meetings and such, where the noise may have been a distraction.
The sound was originally designed to tell the user that startup diagnostics tests had found no hardware or software issues upon startup. a similar sound has been heard during the Mac boot sequence ever since 1991, and the most recent, almost Zen-like sound was first used in the iMac G3.
Apple has updated its support documents to reflect the removal of the sound, as is shown in the section on how to reset the NVRAM on a late-2016 MacBook Pro:
How to reset NVRAM on late-2016 MacBook Pro models
Follow these steps to reset your Mac computer’s NVRAM if you have a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016), MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, Four Thunderbolt Ports), or MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, Two Thunderbolt Ports).
- Shut down your Mac.
- Find Command (⌘), Option, P, and R on your keyboard.
- Turn on your Mac.
- Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys immediately after you turn on your Mac.
- Hold these keys down for at least 20 seconds to ensure that your Mac completes the process correctly.
- Release the keys.
After resetting NVRAM, you might need to reconfigure settings for speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, and time zone information.
In addition to the removal of the startup chime, the new models do not sport a lighted Apple logo in the lid. Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence.
