MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

Add screenshot from Energy tab on Activity Monitor:

On my experiment I did not open new apps, just stay the as was before connect displays. Only GPU started work (anyway for chrome I disabled hardware acceleration, and totally use Safari).

Some more screenshots from iStat.

DPJ wrote:

They may have you send it in for repair.

I meant suggesting an actual physical repair from Apple when we can safely assume every 16" has the issue when connected to the same combination of resolution, frequency and lid opened/closed.

I read people wasting their time sending the device and receiving it unchanged, saying the issue might be software-fixed in the future but with zero promise and having no obligation to do anything about it.

I understand that if the 2-weeks evaluating period is over, we should assume Apple won't do anything since the majority of users use the laptop with no external monitors even though they still proudly shows this slide in the product page :

Mine actually looks very similar to that but running 4k screens rather than 6k.

I've been doing a lot of zoom meetings at work and at home and I cannot tell any difference whether the screens are hooked up or not temperature wise. It does get warmer. Zoom seems to use a lot of energy but it hovers around 63-67C either way. If I'm in a zoom meeting disconnected from power the battery life drops to what it would be using FCPx on battery - about 2.5x-3 hrs. Perhaps the wifi is using a bunch too. Not sure.

I actually believe the vast majority of those that use this laptop (or any MBP) do use externals screens - at least I don't know of anyone that does not, and I have bought many for employees, family and friends.

The thermal optimization on this model is great because the fans can cool it much better than my 15" 2019. Maybe it's more like people don't like the fans so much as the noise produced by the fans. Because the fans are working well - at least on mine.

If your are experiencing problems that are out of the range of what the computer is supposed to do, make sure to contact Apple ASAP. Don't wait.

ahmedfromreservoir wrote:

I bit the bullet and bought a USB-C to display port adapter.

My heart sank when it didn't work at all, power usage remained high and watching a video caused the fans to hit max RPM.

I was so hopeful the display port trick would work.

Were you using HDMI before? I noticed that even thought I use HDMI for my 3 displays. 2 of them are using Thunderbolt/DisplayPort under the hood according to the System Report. I think if your monitor supports DP, it will try to use it when possible.

This is my current setup using a caldigit ts3+ and Apples multidisplay port adapter (I've tried just running the x34 through the ts3+ in none clamshell but power draw and heat remains high):

What I've found with the most recent update is a general regression where the Radeon driver seems to heat up regardless if it's driving an external display or not, if I turn off graphics card switching and run a 4k HDR video the fans eventually reach almost top speed.

Another one to baffle the support peeps at Apple 😂

I have this exact thing in Lightroom Develop Module. Library is fine ( because previews?) and exporting a file that looks like that in Develop is also fine! It went away after restarting and thought it was fine after getting heat issue under control with Turbo Boost Switcher and TG Pro.

2 week old MBP 16. 32GB RAM 8gb AMD Radeon 5500

I got my Radeon Front side to 49+ watts!

this was during a 3d render in FCPx. Temperature stayed around 72C until it finished and then switched over to the CPU for exporting then the temps rose to 80-90C until it finished.

I think I got it close to maxed out but it looks like it can go further. This was not connected to any external displays - only using the built in screen.

"no modern cpu will shut itself down because of heat even if ran without the fan. "

What you're saying is incorrect. Attached is a support document from Intel. Their processors absolutely shutdown when necessary.

Because he said nothing about his laptop reaching thermal shutdown:

Instead he feels the GPU is drawing too much power, requiring the fans to spin up to cool it.

However, the fact that the fans do cool it without reaching shutdown means it is not overheating per se.

savita88 wrote:

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.

Incorrect on microphones:

I would assume someone doing professional sound work would be using something like a Shure SM58 to provide a cardoid pattern pickup in association with a good preamp like a Focusrite Scarlett Solo, or even a USB Mic like the Blue Microphones Yeti which provides a cardoid pickup setting.

That's also a huge assumption for your part on the latter; good luck finding a computer that complies, as PC laptops have fans, too, as you will find out if your purchase one with a GPU as powerful as the Radeon Pro 5000m series in it.

And you are 100% wrong again, zoom and Microsoft Teams don't use the dGPU, check the screenshots, GPU % 0 and on the energy tab where it shows what apps are using the dGPU you can see that Zoom is not one of them.

Wrong again William!

"what is interesting is that the new GPU uses HBM2 memory, this type of memory provides higher bandwidth while also utilizing less power.

"LESS POWER""

I don't see anywhere on Apple's explanation of this GPU on their website that is mentions LESS POWER.

Note the new 5600M GPU is rated at a "Total Graphics Power" of 50w, the same as the 5500M and 5300M.

wccftech: AMD Radeon Pro 5600M GPU With 8 GB HBM2 Memory Announced For Apple MacBook Pro – First Navi Design With HBM

There isn't one.

If it's a software issue they can fix, they will fix it.

If it's not, they likely won't.

"Loud as ***" is massive exaggeration, by the way - an average desk fan is louder.

BTW, this definitely seems to be somehow resolution or interface-related.

I posted this morning that my fans didn't even turn on when driving a 2560x1440 Dell U2717D.

I just had the exact same experience when driving a 2,560 x 1,600 30" Apple Cinema Display (TB3 to MDP, MDP to MDP to Dual-Link DVI adapter), and it stayed even cooler than the MBP 16 was driving the Dell.

I couldn't say why, it's just another data point in this whole long thread.

OK, I've been running a full screen HD video on the Dell screen for the past thirty minutes:

The output from powermetrics:

**** SMC sensors ****

CPU Thermal level: 54
GPU Thermal level: 4
IO Thermal level: 4
Fan: 2126.82 rpm
CPU die temperature: 71.31 C
GPU die temperature: 70.00 C
CPU Plimit: 0.00
GPU Plimit (Int): 0.00 

Number of prochots: 0

Other info: