MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

In my case Turbo Boost Switcher Pro didn't fix the issue when my computer is connected to an external monitor, if I disable turbo boost the machine still gets hots and the fans go crazy (I think the problem is related to the GPU and the Turbo Boost is for the CPU).

Hi Everybody

i sended my first 16“ fully loaded MBP back because of the Fan and heat issues. I thought after reading all discussions in the web that only a few MBP have that problem.

now i have a brandnew Mac, installed first with my TimeMashine **- same Problem. Then clean Install, same Problem.

i am running the Mac with an external Monitor, so I bought an external eGPU from Blackmagic, that helps a little bit. But nearly all the time when working in ProTools the fans are running with 4000 speed. Only the Turboboost App helps a little bit.

I think most of you are over reacting, it makes some noise - yes, but it also it depends what apps you are using and it is silly to think that it would be dead silent while running some apps.

This is how my MacBook sound https://youtu.be/GyVwcdYHg7Q

This is sound of my macbook pro 16" compiling JS project with webpack and running VS Code, Chrome with 25+ tabs, slack, skype, whatsapp, spotify,... with 4K Dell display connected.

If you want silent computer, get the MacBook Air.

In fact a plane is in fact designed to fly with just one engine, so that’s not a good example.

I’m not saying the current operation is intentional, but we don’t know and the fact that the machine does not go into thermal shutdown means it was designed well, at least from a cooling perspective.

Apple even advertises the fan performance:

More advanced thermal architecture enables faster processing. The thermal architecture in MacBook Pro has been completely redesigned, featuring larger impellers with improved fan blades for optimal airflow and more heat-dispersing fins for more effective cooling. The resulting gain in cooling capacity allows MacBook Pro to deliver up to 12 watts more maximum sustained power.

Enough with the excuses please. Drawing 20W off the GPU and blowing the fans hard at idle or low workload clearly is a defect. Especially considering reports that it's drawing 5W and quiet when connected to the 6K Pro Display XDR.

Holding off on purchase here until this is resolved or I can confirm a working set-up without excessive fan noise (using mine for music production).

Would be interested to know if anyone has tried with Dell PX2715Q.

No other MacBook Pro this GPU and chip set.

You can't compare the weak GPUs of old MBPs to this one.

Have you actually had your MBP 16 go into thermal shutdown? If so, take it in for service as it may be a defective unit, but most here are just complaining the fans are too loud when connected to third party monitors.

As for driving a high resolution external monitor while on battery, I don't know why you would expect any laptop to do that for long.

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

It is very frustrating there is clearly a reproducible issue that is effecting a lot of people and not just related to a few defective units.

The problem now is that it is Apples MO not to acknowledge these situations unless it becomes a big problem for them like; mass repairs, class action lawsuits or bad PR. This has been seen before: The previous generation keyboard issues, it became ridiculously expensive for them to fix as they had to replace core components with the keyboard. The 2011 GPU problems, it took a class action lawsuit for apple to acknowledge this and provide a fix, then there was the iPhone 4 signal issue, it took a load of bad press for them to even mention it.

In this situation its not really a critical issue so we may not be seeing a fix for this for a while if ever.

For what you are describing it seems that is definitely an issue with the GPU, hopefully is just a driver/software issue and is not a hardware related. I Bought mine to go on 5 month trip to another country and now I’m stuck with this machine.

its becoming more annoying every day not being able to use the external monitor for more than 40/50 minutes and every time I put the machine to sleep I have to remember to disconnect the monitor cable because if I leave it connected the machine gets really hot even when the machine is sleeping.

I did not rule out the possibility that some Users own MacBook Pro 16-in that has a "sample defect" a problem that occurs in only a few samples of the product.

I was only suggesting that possibly the solution to 'ordinary' problem that "it makes too much noise under heavy loads" may be to re-introduce the throttling that was the default on all previous model MacBook Pro.

[Edited by Moderator]

I have the 5500M 4GB and it seems that it quickly uses up all it's memory, see screen shot. This is without using any graphic apps or even watching videos etc.

Is there some GPU memory leak when using an external monitor with the dedicated GPU?

Is there someway to switch to the integrated graphics and see if the problems still exist?

Integrated graphics is not wired (has no pathway to) external displays.

are you working with Apple support? can you describe your experimental setup (output shown above) to document it, then let them know it is here?

ahmedfromreservoir wrote:

I just have sincere doubts the midtier and lower TDP Radeon 5500M that Apple chooses to use can be that much hotter than an RTX 2070.

But that's just it; AMD's GPUs use entirely different silicon and layouts and implementations of GPU features than NVIDIAs, and so they may indeed have wildly different thermal characteristics, depending on what each vendor chooses to emphasize in their silicon.

AMD Radeon™ Pro 5000M Series

I got my 16" at the end of November. I've not had the fan out of control issues but I have had the issue where it could not go into clamshell mode if it was connected to a thunderbolt dock (CalDigit TS3+). As soon as it was plugged in (while the computer was closed) it would go into a state of "seizure" where the mouse could be moved but the screen was unresponsive. The keyboard would respond with the caps lock light. After about 30 seconds it would reboot.

10.15.3 came out and fixed that problem.

For the fans, mine can usually go up to 300% in Activity monitor before they kick on. They will progressively increase as the cpu usage increases - up to 1500 %. This is in programs that are seriously working such as FCPx or Affinity loading massive art boards.

It's much more efficient than my 2019 15" and much more powerful. There have also been times when I hear the fans kick on and I'm not sure so I check and I see that a safari or chrome page has decided to take a bunch of resources. I just kill it and they are back down.

Since 10.15.3 I can say now that I finally recommend this laptop and Catalina.

brycesteiner wrote:

I got my 16" at the end of November. I've not had the fan out of control issues but I have had the issue where it could not go into clamshell mode if it was connected to a thunderbolt dock (CalDigit TS3+). As soon as it was plugged in (while the computer was closed) it would go into a state of "seizure" where the mouse could be moved but the screen was unresponsive. The keyboard would respond with the caps lock light. After about 30 seconds it would reboot.

10.15.3 came out and fixed that problem.

For the fans, mine can usually go up to 300% in Activity monitor before they kick on. They will progressively increase as the cpu usage increases - up to 1500 %. This is in programs that are seriously working such as FCPx or Affinity loading massive art boards.

It's much more efficient than my 2019 15" and much more powerful. There have also been times when I hear the fans kick on and I'm not sure so I check and I see that a safari or chrome page has decided to take a bunch of resources. I just kill it and they are back down.

Since 10.15.3 I can say now that I finally recommend this laptop and Catalina.

**** you got me excited, sadly I'm already on 10.15.3 with the issues you had.

Maybe it's time to send mine in for warranty, if you haven't had issues at all makes it more likely this is an issue witha few of them.

Has anyone here had success with Apple warranty on their macbooks fan issues?

No, I've been monitoring them for a few days now, they're always around 1700/1800.

Even when I fire up my usual development env (VSCode + maybe a node server), they stay the same around that.

However when I fire my app development env (Simulator plus react-native node server) yes they go up for a few seconds, which is normal for me, I had this behaviour on my iMac and my prev MBP 2016.

That's it: