The Model II was a loud beast. Its floppy drive drew directly from mains power, not a DC rail off the power supply, and spun all the time. The heads engaged via a solenoid that was so powerful it made a loud "thunk" sound and actually changed the size of the display on the built-in CRT.

The Model 12 and 16 improved on the design, sporting Tandon "Thinline" 8" drives that ran on DC and spun down when not in use, leaving fan noise that was quite tolerable.