MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

You keep saying defective yet you refuse to listen to any of the reasons you are told why it is that way.

I understand that the solutions offered did not work with your configuration, but that doesn't mean they didn't work for others.

It's not playing down anything to note the issue isn't universal.

Interestingly enough, full throttle is exactly how modern computers and CPUs with "Turbo Boost" are designed - they run at as fast a speed as possible until they need to be thermally throttled. This provides optimal performance for quick bursty tasks at the possible cost of longer-lived ones.

Likewise AMD's explanation is they would rather have higher clock rates, meaning more power and heat, than risk ever presenting flicker to the viewer.

This is just super great. One more time you are buying laptop for 4k and then you are going to the forum to fox your issue, cause apple is not accepting it in any possible way. They even refused to set up appointment cause closest to houston is in Austin. Apple also cannot provide any other solution. And about those usbc to hdmi and vice versa. Why should I buy those uncertified converters and why should I spend time in order to fix apple fault?

What would you like Apple to do, given many Texas Apple Stores are still closed due to COVID?

They will offer you the opportunity to send your device in if you so choose and will even send you a shipping box to do so.

Converters don't need to be "certified," that's the whole point of having industry standard ports, any USB-C video converter should work.

It's not Apple's fault you are annoyed by fans running at the speed necessary to cool a high performance machine connected to your choice of external monitor, but I certainly understand the frustration.

They didn’t provide me any other option. Only head of repair department proposed to me to call those local locations directly and beg them to accept me! I asked her twice what other options does she have. She didnt provide any others! Do u work for apple? Only escalation in the chat brought me to another guy and he helped me to ship the device. And u dont know whole story. There is not only noise. This is nit about noise. I cannot work with externally connnected display at all. Dont make assumptions, sir. Kernel task process getting 1200% of cpu and I barely can switch between windows. To send a message in teams takes 20 seconds. Do u call it extra noise?

You still seem to defend Apple on this. What about the hundreds of error messages logged every second. I can not even disconnect from my external monitor and plugin next morning without having issues like lagging mouse cursor etc. Dont try to tell us that this is a feature. The device is not worth the money and you wont change the opinion of several thousand people having the same issue. Hopefully my feedback is not getting deleted by apple again.

William I spent 5k on this high end Mac book pro and it is unusable in a professional recording studio environment. It simply is not ok that the fans make so much noise that it is rendered useless - no matter how high the performance is.

honestly what would you do if you were a professional recording artist?

The same most do already - put the computer in the control room with only guaranteed silent devices in the studio connected via long cords, or use only fanless devices like iPads.

Most studios I have been to do just that, they use an iMac or Mac Pro in the control room with long cords and only a keyboard, a mouse or trackpad and display in the studio itself.

Thanks William Kucharski!

Despite the slings and arrows of people who do not like to hear your advice, your post above shows that you have always strived to serve the the interests of users of Macs everywhere.

A completely different model of monitor from the ones I and others have no issues using.

In particular, yours is a 4K monitor where the ones I and others have had luck with (like the Dell U2717D at 2560x1440) are not.

Thanks for the tip. This is one possible solution to avoid the symptom until Apple fixes the defect or provides a solution to adjust to select the level of power by the client.

Until now this was not required - but with the current flagship it is.

"That's not true; I and others have found their MBPs to run silently or very nearly so when connecting to external monitors via a USB-C to MDP adapter rather than via HDMI."

I have personally tried USB-C, thunderbolt monitors and DP connectors, and none permit my machine to run with the GPU using less than 18W of power. Just because you can find some people who don't have a problem with it doesn't mean it isn't using the power.

I have an honest question for those who have experimented with multiple monitors and connectors; has anyone been able to get their wattage below 18W when connected to an external monitor other than Brent?

I am currently using an Acer XF270H 27" LED FHD FreeSync Monitor connected to a CalDigit TB3 hub, and it continues to run at 18W. It is connected via a DP 1.2 connector to the hub.

Anyone else try this configuration and push the wattage below 18W? Or see the fan drop lower than 3900 while the machine is a rest, with no apps open? Turbo boost is and has been off since last December.

[Edited by Moderator]

The key here is that the MBP can seemingly run with fans no higher than 2400 RPM all day if GPU power draw is around 20w when connected to at least some monitors via mDP.

Out of curiosity, my room is 74°F; is yours warmer than that?

Have you tried a USB-C adapter rather than the dock?

How about a 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 monitor?

Just brainstorming here.

The key here is that the MBP can seemingly run with fans no higher than 2400 RPM all day if GPU power draw is around 20w when connected to at least some monitors via mDP.

Except mine has run this way since last November, with fans running at 4000+ RPM and nothing running on the machine. I have never experienced this before with any MBP I have owned for over 10 years, it seems there is a defect in its design somewhere.

Out of curiosity, my room is 74°F; is yours warmer than that?

Nope - cold in here. I run the air to keep my machine cool.

Have you tried a USB-C adapter rather than the dock?

I have tried USB-C, a Thunderbolt monitor that I returned and DP.

How about a 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 monitor?

I have tried as many resolutions as my machine and monitor would support, including buying this monitor to replace my perfectly good Samsung because it would run at 144 Hz based on feedback from individuals who have seen moderate success through using the refresh setting to keep the wattage down. To no avail for me.

housur_dadi wrote:

Except mine has run this way since last November, with fans running at 4000+ RPM and nothing running on the machine. I have never experienced this before with any MBP I have owned for over 10 years, it seems there is a defect in its design somewhere.

Thats where I can't agree; though older machines may have behaved differently, the fact that the more powerful GPU generates more heat isn't in itself a defect.

Once again there are no specs promising quiet operation, though I can understand why the change in behavior might be annoying.

How about a 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 monitor?

I have tried as many resolutions as my machine and monitor would support, including buying this monitor to replace my perfectly good Samsung because it would run at 144 Hz based on feedback from individuals who have seen moderate success through using the refresh setting to keep the wattage down. To no avail for me.

All I can say is that I didn't change resolutions or refresh rates, but did not experience these issues with a Dell U2717D or Apple 30" Cinema Display.

Both of those have a horizontal resolution of 2560 and a refresh rate of 60 Hz.