I've got a new laptop, and occasionally, when I'm on the Internet, it will make a 'bleep' noise lasting a second or two that comes from the front part, not the loudspeaker, and is independent of whether I've turned the sound up or down. There is no error message or any other anomaly when it bleeps.
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"If you're using half your concentration to look normal, then you're only half paying attention to whatever else you're doing." - Magneto in "X-Men: First Class"