>>Irritated with a) my loud MacBook Pro

Sounds like you might want to focus on making your build as quiet as is reasonable. That used to mean lots of ducting or water cooling (I used to water cool for silence). Things have changed. Many CPU coolers are, effectively liquid cooled (heat pipes). Of late, all I've done for quiet (still just as important to me) is use a tower case designed to be quiet, a power supply with a large diameter fan on a side inside the case, the biggest CPU cooler that'll fit on the CPU and a graphics card with overdesigned cooler.

I also have sound deadening foam on the wall behind the tower, and on the underside of my desk, which are holdovers from the bad old loud days - but I see no reason to rip that out.

Sitting or standing at my desk, when it's very quiet out (late at night on a snowy evening) I can just barely perceive the difference between PC on and off. Good enough for me.