MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

Has anyone taken there Macbooks to get checked at Apple store .

i took mine on Saturday it was my second visit for all of the heating and loud fan issues discussed above. I showed them video of the problems I was having.

there test results found no hardware issues and they said there was no way of reproducing my issues ..... they suggested that I update the drivers on my lg 34” ULTRAWIDE and to get rid of any 3rd party plugins.

if that doesn’t work leave the computer with them. I showed them ‘bad magic ‘ messages and they said I would have to call Apple care for error messages.

so I came home reinstalled a fresh copy of Catalina and the problems are still there.

i will inconveniently drop off my computer .

i just have a feeling that if they don’t find any issues ... I will end up with a lemon

I know a few too and they all have their computers inside the studio.

On a side note, a few days ago I was watching an online coding session and the person was using a Macbook Pro 16-inch to code (connected to an external monitor) and it was almost imposible to hear his voice because of the fans noise, I even asked him about that and he said that the noise was annoying, so like some people mentioned before, Apple recommends this Macbook to be a good fit for podcast and streaming because of the Mic, well that is not true at all, only if you want to podcast or livestream a really loud fan noise.

OK again, nobody talks about sound boots, studios have many forms plus this machine is advertised as perfect for podcast authors and similar professionals. This was not the discussion about what studio you would recommend someone to build but the issue that all machines have the same problem, fan makes this laptop unpleasantly loud for anyone using external monitors let alone audio professionals.

From what you are saying the only solution is to " buy a long cables and move the laptop in different room, than use the magic keyboard and magic mouse and noise problems are solved." Thank you very much.

I will have to disagree with your statement about the iPad and the iPhone, specially the latest iPad Pro, is a beast (and it’s a beautiful device), and the iPhone is also a really powerful device and it has one of the best cameras available even now in 2020 that new phones from other brands are coming out.

nkostic wrote:

...

I really loved my ipad but it became useless quickly because of the planned obsolescence

...

Your devices continue to be able to do everything they could do with them the first day you used them. Apple has added additional capabilities as well, for free!

It is not 'planned obsolescence' that makes these devices less useful to you, it is your own increasing expectations for ever more features and functions.

As someone who posted relatively early in the life of this thread about excessive thermals / fan noise caused by high power utilisation in the dGPU, I thought it might be good to provide an update.

I recently bought a CalDigit TS3 Plus docking station, mostly for the convenience, but also with a vague hope it might help with this issue. It has not. But some interesting observations nevertheless:

• With a 4k60 monitor connected using USB-C to HDMI 2.0 cable directly (no CalDigit), dGPU sits at 20 W power consumption when idle. Temperature / fan noise issues follow as observed by everyone else here
• Connecting the CalDigit and connecting to the same 4k60 monitor using the same USB-C to HDMI cable to the CalDigit, dGPU power consumption remains 20 W. Temperature / fan noise issues remain
• Similarly, connecting the CalDigit and connecting to the same 4k60 monitor using the a DVI to DVI cable to the CalDigit, dGPU power consumption remains 20 W. Temperature / fan noise issues remain

Different resolutions / refresh rates make no difference.

Probably no surprises there. But a couple of further observations I found interesting with the CalDigit connected and the monitor connected to the CalDigit, but the monitor turned off:

• The dGPU remains activated - gfxCardStatus is not able to switch to the iGPU
• Usually, dGPU power consumption is around 5 W, same as with running on battery standalone
• But sometimes, dGPU power consumption is higher, even as much as 20 W
• This issue seems to happen much less frequently if the monitor is connected to the CalDigit by DVI

In my mind, this is another data point on misbehaviour of the dGPU.

These observations also extend to leaving the MBP connected to the CalDigit with the lid closed and the monitor off (that is, I have plugged in the MBP to charge). I've come back a few times and found the MBP surprisingly hot, and after turning on, I can see that dGPU power consumption was high while "asleep", per the above observations. That's not good.

For reference, I have MBP 16", 2.3 GHz 8 core i9, 5500M with 8 GB VRAM

What's the point of discussing anything here, anyway? There's a problem. I have that problem, too. But this thread is 83 pages long already. What's the result? There's a lot of people with a problem, there's a couple of ardent Apple defenders who are tough on the unwanted posts. There's no solution.

You should not have to re-boot to resolve this.

Historically, to get a Mac display to become active, you need the Mac to query the display, and the display to answer with its name and capabilities. Otherwise, the display will not be shown as present, and no data will be sent to the display.

This query is only sent at certain times:

• at startup

• at wake from sleep

• at insertion of the Mac-end of the display-cable, provided everything on that cable is ready-to-go

• on invoking Option-(Detect Display) button in Displays preferences

so try doing some of those things and see if the display comes alive at the correct resolution.

Exactly! And what's more – as this video shows, it's absolutely not worth it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjOdBH9QgrQ

The sole reason to get an eGPU is to combat those overheating issues. And that's simply ridiculous.

This is responding to the deleted questions. I couldn't respond for quite a while. I think I was put in timeout.

I bought mine in mid-November '19 and received it on November 18.

Mine does not feel hot to the touch unless I'm working it hard. Barely warm most of the time. I'm just looking at the temperatures since the fans barely run. But to the touch it's not very warm. I do wonder if there are background apps that are just varying between all of our computers.

So it turns out I can't return my MacBook Pro 16 after all :( All that's left is to try an eGPU, maybe that will work. If not, I'll be stuck with the most expensive Netflix machine ever, while doing any serious work on my PC.

Dear Apple - get your act together and come up with a fix, will you?

I read this article and it pretty much sums up

The way my MacBook Pro 16 inch has been running?

With or without the monitor.?

https://medium.com/@azamsharp/why-i-returned-my-brand-new-macbook-16-449d8afe5748

It has its quiet phases then all of a sudden

When I download music , apps etc . Fans go wild and computer heats up .There also seems to be a high coil wine that reaches Very unhealthy frequencies that have caused me Ear fatigue.

Very excessive? Loud fans .

So my question is if this is normal ? how can anyone use the highly promoted ‘ pro mic ‘ on these 16 inch MacBook Pro’s?

fan noise basically makes it useless.

I’m out of luck ... I can’t get an exchange past my 14 day return period.

I’ve tried everything to work around the fan noise.

I feel so duped 😞 I hope there is some kind of official Apple Announcement regarding this issue.

I pray that it is just a software issue

its a very expensive loss for me.

ive been using Apple products since 1995

blue G3 . I’ve never experienced something like this before.

please Apple make this right !

I find it can be a very random also, like today quiet fans low temp with monitor plugged in. Am using docker running alsorts of services, virtualbox running linux, chrome with loads-a-tabs, video conferencing and some other stuff no problem, why is that? Most days it acts crazy when I am running less or no apps...

Mine is currently whining away, all I am doing is running a virtual machine. Connected to an external UHD monitor, turbo boost OFF, and the fan is sitting at 3300 rpms doing NOTHING. Annoying AF.

If 10.15.4 doesn't fix this, I am going to return this late, and if they won't accept it, I will get an attorney.

I sold my butterfly keyboard machine for a loss, I am not going it again. This is not acceptable for literally $3,900.

Hopefully, it means that the problem will be fixed soon for you.

I happened to go on to a training site today where I used my MacBook Pro with an external TV hooked up through HDMI. With the screen open and the HDMI connected through the adapter, it made absolutely no difference. The fans never ramped up at all. I was connected for nearly an hour and a half Giving a presentation.

I would say some more about my observations, but it would get removed.