MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

Yet others repeat their complaints about how much power the GPU is using now and that their fans are on.

The bottom line is I am happy to not post as long as people don't use terms with defined technical definitions like "overheating" or "defective."

Are the fans louder than you might prefer? Yes.

Does the GPU draw more power than you thought it would? Perhaps.

My point is only that if absolutely silent operation is your major purchasing criterion, you may want to purchase a different machine that has that as a specific design factor.

I can't say I'm familiar as I can't stand to even look at a system running Windows let alone use it for anything. I've certainly never noticed issues when I've had my MBP 16 connected via TB3, but I don't have a 4K monitor.

Certainly fonts look fine on my 5K iMac.

I do not say "use Windows".. Just be aware, there is a big room of improvement.. Please walk outside of Apple world and you will see 1080p displays, even with VGA input.. 5K iMac is ~220 PPI, so it hides the choppy fonts as internal display of MBP16..

he hardware may be the same, but how it programs the GPU may be entirely different. Windows may set a slower clock speed for the GPU, may not drive the GPU in the same way or a variety of other issues come into play.

I do not care what Microsoft does.. What I care is it runs cooler.. From what you say what Apple does is ALWAYS TRUE.. If its implementation consumes higher power, than it is the only solution?.. :)

You can't directly compare systems like this; your old gaming laptop used a different GPU architecture, had different VRAM, and so on.

Actually I can.. What was the word Apple likes to express strongly.. "The experience".. My power hungry "HIGH PERFORMANCE" beast creates less noise unless you require it to roar..

When a car proceeds up a long mountain road, the engine works harder, and it will produce more heat.

This is what you do with the discussion.. Driving it to up a long mountain road..

We all have enough background with when CPU/GPU gets hot.. We are using desktops, laptops, macbooks, phones, even embedded systems.. If we were in 1990's, it was OK a device consuming maximum power on idle.. Today it is unacceptable.. For me, an environmentalist, it is homicide..

My point is only that if absolutely silent operation is your major purchasing criterion, you may want to purchase a different machine that has that as a specific design factor.

So, what you are saying is Apple cannot make this machine silent with software update.. Howcome Microsoft does? The noise is a feature, we are using it wrong by using it with external monitor.. Aside from noise, CPU accelerates less because of headroom, but who cares?

I'll do what you say though.. Unless I need to develop for iOS I'll stay away from those crippled, uncared machines.. Looks like we are left alone with this problem.. Like we are with garbage bluetooth, touchpad, GPU drivers in bootcamp..

You installed the update to 10.15.5

Did you go back to 10.15.4?

I've ran mine now for several days and I don't notice anything being hotter on mine.

If you didn't go back to 10.15.4 did it get better? I noticed that it takes a couple of days for things to settle down after installing the latest and greatest because it has to reindex everything.

denizcan wrote:

Please walk outside of Apple world and you will see 1080p displays, even with VGA input.. 5K iMac is ~220 PPI, so it hides the choppy fonts as internal display of MBP16..

Well, not a problem for me as I wouldn't use my Mac with a 1080p display. I understand there are those that must, though, and certainly if Windows does better it might be a better choice in those particular situations.

I know for a while the native macOS Terminal didn't do as good a job of scaling fonts for display on retina screens used at alternate resolutions as others did, so that's why I tend to use iTerm instead.

I do not care what Microsoft does.. What I care is it runs cooler.. From what you say what Apple does is ALWAYS TRUE.. If its implementation consumes higher power, than it is the only solution?.. :)

If minimizing power consumption is your goal, that's fine. I've mentioned that for me if it's the tiniest bit faster but uses 25w more of power, I have no issues with that, I didn't buy my system to be a power miser, I bought it to be as fast as possible.

Actually I can.. What was the word Apple likes to express strongly.. "The experience".. My power hungry "HIGH PERFORMANCE" beast creates less noise unless you require it to roar..

If you enjoy comparing drastically different systems, that's fine, but I suspect said high performance beast doesn't compare when running performance benchmarks.

We all have enough background with when CPU/GPU gets hot.. We are using desktops, laptops, macbooks, phones, even embedded systems.. If we were in 1990's, it was OK a device consuming maximum power on idle.. Today it is unacceptable.. For me, an environmentalist, it is homicide..

That's your personal preference; I personally don't care about power consumption as much as I do performance.

For example, I like the sound of class A audio amplifiers that suck 1500w at idle, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and I don't shut my audio gear off (nor any of my computers, actually.)

We all have different factors that are important to each of us, and if power draw is primary for you, this may not be the system for you long-term.

That's not a horrific statement; I doubt you would purchase a Ford F-350 pickup truck that gets 8 MPG when your goal was something as fuel efficient as possible.

So, what you are saying is Apple cannot make this machine silent with software update.. Howcome Microsoft does? The noise is a feature, we are using it wrong by using it with external monitor.. Aside from noise, CPU accelerates less because of headroom, but who cares?

We don't know what Apple can and can't do, but we do know that sound level was not an advertised feature of the MBP 16.

The CPU doesn't have to accelerate if it was already running quickly.

I'll do what you say though.. Unless I need to develop for iOS I'll stay away from those crippled, uncared machines.. Looks like we are left alone with this problem.. Like we are with garbage bluetooth, touchpad, GPU drivers in bootcamp..

That's your opinion; despite complaints seen here, millions of people use their devices daily with absolutely zero issues whatsoever, whether it is from Bluetooth or any other part of the system.

I hope you search forums for alternate products and see the issues they are having as well.

After quite few months of using this "flagship" Macbook Pro 16'' i9 8 Core for $4000, reading all the other people's experiences, trying everything available to reduce the fan noise nuisance (resets, turbo boost off, fan controls etc.), I must say that this laptop is almost unusable. How can Apple think that a "professional" creative work can be made sitting at some "hair dryer" machine making a constant terrible noise at your head whenever a professional application is used (FCP, audio software etc.).

I have a friend who also bought this for audio work and he is quite desperate - he can't record anything or work with it, since it constantly produces this terrible noise ...

savita88 wrote:

After quite few months of using this "flagship" Macbook Pro 16'' i9 8 Core for $4000, reading all the other people's experiences, trying everything available to reduce the fan noise nuisance (resets, turbo boost off, fan controls etc.), I must say that this laptop is almost unusable. How can Apple think that a "professional" creative work can be made sitting at some "hair dryer" machine making a constant terrible noise at your head whenever a professional application is used (FCP, audio software etc.).

Unusable for you; perfectly usable for hundreds of thousands of others.

What kind of audio work is your friend doing such that his mic is picking up the MacBook Pro's fans and how? Are they actually using omnis rather than a cardoid which would be much less sensitive if the MBP is behind the mic?

For people I know using it for video editing, the fans are quieter than the HVAC system in their office or home.

I'm not saying the fans aren't annoying to some, but they hardly make the machine unusable.

For photographers I know, they often have music playing at levels that completely drown out any noise the MBP would even be capable of making.

A professional machine/laptop that produces a loud annoying noise whenever a professional work is attempted to be made is not a professional device (costing fortune), but rather amateurish attempt. As you can see even in this thread itself, so many people are unhappy with it. To attempt a creative work with loud fans next to your ears is just a a stressing, not a professional environment. To cover a noise with louder noise (music) is not very clever way to solve the problem.

Regarding the microphones - the directional characteristics of course does not matter: if there is a noise in the room, it will be recorded ...

A professional laptop in this price range should be 100% silent. Using processors that overheat or using them in too small laptop body/space is not in relation with a "professional" use.

Been using this Macbook for a little more than 2 weeks now and just now found this topic. I’m really disappointed in Apple. I’ve been working with a 2013 MBP up until now, and it actually still did it’s job quite well, just lacked a little on speed. So I thought buying a maxed out MBP 16 inch would have me settled for the next 6-7 years or so.

Then I noticed the high fan speed quite instantly when connected to my 4K display. I saw the 8GB memory just kept using up more every minute so thought maybe something there was the issue. I tried 2 1080p monitors instead for couple of days now but experiencing similar issues. I’ve exceeded the 14 return period, but I wonder if there’s still a way I can return it and buy an older 2018 model or so.

You are in wrong profession dude.. You seem to answer the question but just create noise.. You should be a politician..

Well, not a problem for me as I wouldn't use my Mac with a 1080p display.

Then why do you bother to discuss? BTW: People DO USE Windows machines.. Mac's are 1 out of 10.. With other products catching up in design estatics, we will see less Mac's for sure.. If the Apple's mentality is like yours, then we are wasting time on discussing those problems..

If minimizing power consumption is your goal, that's fine.

..

hat's not a horrific statement; I doubt you would purchase a Ford F-350 pickup truck that gets 8 MPG when your goal was something as fuel efficient as possible.

You really write without understanding.. I would use F-350 if I need to, but I would not use it to commute between office and home.. If a device can idle at 5W instead of 20W, it SHOULD idle at 5W then.. What's wrong with that? That monstrous device uses nVidia Optimus, iGPU handles display output, if a high performance required it is passed to eGPU than the surface is moved into the iGPU's RAM..

Funny thing is if I use eGPU with 2019 MBP16, it consumes 100Wh battery at the same speed with that old machine's 56Wh battery.. So for me there is no difference in battery life.. Oh your response will be: Use other one than.. I DO.. I bought this shiny junk for iOS..

I like the sound of class A audio amplifiers that suck 1500w at idle, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and I don't shut my audio gear off (nor any of my computers, actually.)

Good for you.. I whish you shared that earlier.. Because it would be impossible you to understand consuming responsibly.. Fortunately not everybody is like you, or at least most do not have resources to pay for it. That "I don't care" mentality reflects itself onto the coding as well.. I am 43 years old, and the computers are 1000, maybe 10000 times faster than the ones 30 years ago, but the software works at the same speed because of "I don't care"..

millions of people use their devices daily with absolutely zero issues whatsoever, whether it is from Bluetooth or any other part of the system

Try installing bootcamp, try using bluetooth headphones.. Especially Airpods Pro.. Then try using Magic Mouse.. When you open magic mouse you will hear garbage from earpods.. I have tested this MacBook Air's, MBP 13 2017, MBP 16.. Same problem..

About zero issues.. No dude, there are lots of issues related to dongles, software, T2 chip, reboots, loss of display etc.. Apple deletes the comments.. I've seen it with my eyes.. It took 3 years Apple to recognise keyboard was crap..

Can you imagine you could logon the system with credentals "root" with empty password..

Airpods Pro has a frequent problem: one side connects, other side does not connect.. You have to place to the case, wait, remove it back..

I use menu bar hidden, frequently window manager forgets that and resizes the window as menu was visible..

After 5 years, iPhone still have vulnerability with notifications, problem with BLE stack promising to wake up an App when it sees a device but forget it.. 5 years ago we discussed the problem with support for 3 months, then we found work arounds, we told the support, instead of filing a bug report about the system they threathen us with removing the app from the store..

I can go on listing the bugs, but neither you nor Apple will care.. The difference between Apple and Microsoft/Google is, they care problems and fix them.. Apple hides..

@Savit88 if you are in the market for a new laptop with similar performance (and superior GPU performance) I'd opt for the new Dell XPS 15"/17"s or if you're feeling brave a Mag-15 (or whatever they call it in your local region) which has a ripper of a graphics card and should still run quietly for work use.

The new Asus laptops with the Ryzen processors look really good as does the new Microsoft SurfaceBook 3 but I can't vouch for them on noise from my own experience.

All these laptops have significantly more powerful GPUs than the Radeon in the MacBooks and will generally run quieter under normal use like audio editing. You will compromise on sound output and microphone quality if that matters but if you're working in audio I doubt you rely on your laptops equipment.

From what I've seen the Dell XPS' NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile is roughly comparable on benchmarks to the MacBook Pro 16's Radeon Pro 5500m, no idea about the 5300m.

The GPUs in the Mag-15 look to be slightly faster given that unit is designed specifically as a gaming laptop.

I agree completely that no one using a MBP for professional audio work would be using the built-in mic, or speakers, though the built-in speakers are actually not bad.

Hi brycesteiner, I have 2 partitions the main one that I use for work and another one to test the new versions, I decided not to upgrade the one I use for work because of all the issues I found on 10.15.5, to be honest I only tested the oficial release of 10.15.5 for about 3 hours but it was enough to realize that if I use Zoom or watch a YouTube video, the GPU will use up to 30 watts and the machine will get hot eventually and the fans will go crazy like they did before, doing the same with 10.15.4 will only use from 6 to 13 watts, so the machine never goes over 60 degrees, in fact it stays at 50/60 degrees most of the time (doing light work, browsing the web, zoom, if I use Xcode to compile an app the machine will get hotter, but that is expected behavior).

This is when using my external monitor at a 144 Herts refresh rate, if I change it to 60, the machine will always use 20 watts (or more) and it will get hot and the fans will go crazy no matter what I do.

I really wanted to take advantage of the new battery health management feature but unfortunately I will have to wait.

True, the SM58 isn’t a studio mic, but every recording venue I know of that uses computers explicitly has their studios wired so the computer lives in the mixing room, not the studio where the mics are.

William Kucharski wrote:

True, the SM58 isn’t a studio mic, but every recording venue I know of that uses computers explicitly has their studios wired so the computer lives in the mixing room, not the studio where the mics are.

Yes, of course, the studio is not a problem, there the computers are placed outside of the studio room. I am talking about occasional field recordings etc. Also about making some music videos on MBP, home editing etc. Where the rude hair dryer is super annoying ...

I don't have any external monitor connected ... Still the noise starts soon and after some use (especially in FCP). When it is too much, some SMC and PRAM resets help for a while, but not for long ... So it means something is wrong with the inner design .. Users should not be supposed to make some resets all the time to keep the machine working normally for a while ...