A built-in microphone on a laptop like a MacBook Pro is a useful feature for almost anyone. You might need a microphone to take a video call, handle important business, or play video games. If you’re a musician, a microphone is an essential tool you need to have fun and develop your craft and create awesome music.
Developments in technology over the years have led to microphones becoming smaller and smaller while still capable of high-end audio quality and performance.
On a MacBook Pro, the microphone can be so small that you might not be able to find it unless you really know where to look.
Do you know where to look? Not everyone does, so it’s worth explaining where to find the microphone on your MacBook Pro.
MacBook Pro Microphone Location
You might initially think that the microphone would be near the camera on top of the main laptop screen as that would make sense for FaceTime and other instances where you need to talk and have video at the same time.
Actually, this isn’t the case, and the microphone is always located on the bottom casing, usually near the speakers or top of the keyboard.
For Newer MacBook Pros (2018 or Later Models)
The newer models of the MacBook Pro actually have 3 microphones built-in. You really wouldn’t notice where they are unless you had some sort of diagram, but they are all located in the upper right portion of the keyboard and speaker section of the computer.
Most models of the MacBook Pro 15” have the microphones located under the right speaker casing, which is similar to the diagram above but there are only one or two microphones depending on what year computer you have.
For Older MacBook Pros (2017 or Earlier Models)
The MacBook Pro 13” model from years 2017 or earlier doesn’t have any speaker grids and is smaller overall so the microphone is even harder to find. For these models, the microphone can be found on the left bottom part of the casing above the ESC key.
If you look closely, you’ll see a series of a couple of small holes and this is the built-in microphone. Look at the diagram above if your computer is from these years.
Those are the main locations for the built-in microphones from different versions of the MacBook Pro.
See how small and difficult to find they are? The ones located directly under the speakers are actually not visible, so unless you knew where to find them, you never would know exactly.
Benefits of a Built-in Microphone
When you think of a microphone, you probably picture a singer on stage holding a traditional-looking mic in their hand with the big round top on it and a long cord coming out of the back.
While these microphones still exist and are great and highly functional, the technology has progressed quite a bit over the years and now microphones can be really small. The microphone on a MacBook Pro is so small, it’s hard to find!
A smaller microphone means that it can be built right into a computer and even a laptop computer. This is really convenient for anyone who wants the ability to have a microphone but doesn’t want to deal with the added bulk and space a real microphone would take up.
You also can’t lose a microphone that is built into your computer (unless you lose your laptop!) and it is very rare that it would break.
Built-in microphones are really handy and convenient but they are also very functional. You can complete many tasks that you would use a handheld or studio microphone for with a built-in microphone and unless you are an audio expert, you would hardly notice a difference.
Whether you use the built-in microphone for simple tasks like video calls, phone calls, or games or use it to actually sing into or record music, the microphone on your MacBook can do a great job.
How to Turn off Microphone on MacBook Pro
You can head over to System Preferences, click Sounds, and under Output, hit the Mute option.
Final Words
The location of the microphone on your MacBook Pro can be hard to find if you don’t know where to look. These microphones were built to blend into the surface of the laptop and are really small so can be difficult to locate. They also have changed locations over the course of the MacBook Pro line updates, so it can vary depending on what year of computer you have.
That said, they are fully functional microphones that can be used in a variety of ways. They might not be as good as really high-end external mics, but they have come a long way over the last decade or so to offer really quality audio.
These mics were more intended for talking and speech than for loud noises or professional audio recording. Some music professionals would say that it’s not worth your time to try and record audio with the built-in microphones on a MacBook Pro but I’ve heard some cool music come from trying.
What do you use your MacBook Pro microphone for mostly? Do you like the audio quality it produces?