MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

What a mess this isssue is, i have been following this thread for 2 monthes already.

My current macbook is barely capable of doing workload i need at the moment, so i'm desperate for the upgrade. This keyboard update was perfect in my eyes. Decided to wait a bit after release before buying and saw this thread. I'm mainly using macbook in non-clamshell mode with 2 external displays connected all the time, so this a deal breaker for me. As soon as this fixed(if fixed at all) i'm going to immediately buy one.

Need to mention that i also live in a place where refund would be almost impossible, so i can't just try my luck to see if the heating/noise is at okay levels for my case.

Thanks for your observations! There's one scenario I'm missing in your report, that is what happens to the power usage of RHS if you run 1 or 2 displays through the CalDigit dock WITH the lid open (NOT clamshell mode)?

Faced with the same problem. When an external monitor (Dell U2715H, Type C -> DisplayPort) is connected, CPU 60-63C, fun ~2200-2400, RHS ~18W.

In safe mode, RHS ~10W, which is closer to the truth.

I really hope it can be fixed with a patch. Apple, fix this situation.

I have same issue. My MacBook Pro 16 inch configuration :

  Model Name: MacBook Pro

  Model Identifier: MacBookPro16,1

  Processor Name: 8-Core Intel Core i9

  Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz

  Number of Processors: 1

  Total Number of Cores: 8

  L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

  L3 Cache: 16 MB

  Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled

  Memory: 32 GB

talked to apple today.. another data extraction test, with screens connected/not connected.. with/without dock .. they will send it to the "engineers" again... seems rather pointless..

If you mention or show them istat on remote session they just ignore you and say 3rd party apps are ignored by the engineers...............

Several responses all included in one reply:

@ Marpies

If I remember right it was still at the 7 watts but I'll try and confirm that if I can tomorrow.

@iTech 23

>>do you use the CalDigit TS3+ dock to power your Mac?<<

yes I do. The last update to the firmware bumped the power up to 87 watts. I have never had a problem with not keeping it fully charged and using the computer at the same time. Using it in clamshell mode doesn't use as much power so it's not an issue.

@alekseykurylev

>>Using a power supply for mbp 16 with less power can negatively affect the battery life!!! There is also a drop in the power of the device when powered with less power!!! You must use the original charger with the power 96W!!!<<

Though off topic I'll respond, what you say is not completely true. How you use it makes more of a difference. The 96w power brick is not big enough to power and charge the 16" MBP if you are using it to it's max. I've experienced it myself when exporting multiple 4k videos and the screen at full brightness, exporting batches of photos from CaptureOne, and loading massive picture files in Affinity, and keep your screen at full brightness.

The battery will drain as it just cannot keep up even with the included charger. This kind of work is few and far between but it still is real and if this is a regular condition then a laptop is not for the person.

However, if you are using the computer in clamshell mode, you don't need as much power because you are not powering the 16" screen. In that case, especially under regular use, it will handle everything just fine without using the battery. If I was using it with the screen on and at full brightness, it might struggle in FCPx and using the other apps all at the same time.

This is why Apple sells the CalDigit TS3+ dock as a recommended accessory for the 16" MBP. If it was bad, would Apple have in their own store?

I have watched reviews that claim the 96W adapter is required to get the maximum performance. I've also seen others that said that's not true and you will get the same performance even on battery. I myself have not experienced a difference in performance but the MBP does run cooler using the Apple adapter (87W) vs the TS3+.

It's great that Apple is using USB C connector for charging because you can use anything to charge if you have to get by.

Yeah a bunch of posts deleted. I have the other video now as well, you can see what exactly happened when i wanted to make a stop motion sequence with 300 images. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ta-TELWO1M, and already posted, rendering 1080p video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZdhElm2Z7k .

It looks like a process crashed.

My guess would be if you checked

Applications -> Utilities -> Console

you might find a crash report file for WindowServer.

Obviously, that shouldn't happen, so that's where debugging should start; the iStat numbers don't matter for now.

FWIW, the iStat panel shows the temps of the cores at 69 - 70ºC, and that's well below the maximum allowable temp for the processor specified by Intel, 100ºC.

1) I don't see where the CPUs are only "25%" used.

2) What happens if you do this same operation with no external monitors attached?

Note that the CPUs may be heavily used just doing ordinary tasks; as I type this one CPU is maxed at 99.5% moving email messages around.

Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor is great for this, click on the CPU tab.

There is activity monitor next to the temperatures in the video,CPU was 70-75% idle at the time this happened, its not seen well, i have another video where its clearly seen as i reproduced the error one more time, i ll edit and upload when i have more time.

I will try again with no display, but thats far from i expected from this machine.

I cant find any relevant info int he logs with windowserver or i dont know what to look for.

I have heard of this issue but have not experienced it at all on my MacBook Pro (2019). If I run boot camp with windows 10 and run a game then the fan will come on but that is a situation where the CPU and GPU are under extreme loads so it is not surprising that the heat is going up and the fan needs to run.

Two questions, please:

1 - how is it equipped (processor, ram, gpu, gpu memory)

2 - do you use an external monitor and run it with the lid open?

if not, can you please try it and let us know how it goes?

Ive a 2018 6 core macbook pro and I too have tons of fan noise, both in MacOS and Windows 10 via bootcamp. Its loud enough and annoying enough that people wonder what is "wrong" with my laptop. In windows, the CPU load is low- ~25% and definitely happens during the first boot in a while windows anti malware scan. Or it just happens while visual studio is open at varying(~2%-50%) CPU loads. It is slightly less often in MacOs, but similar CPU loads and symptoms. Its annoying to say the least, and combined with the atrocious keyboard, I am struggling with whether or not I want to keep it.

Sounds like you should've gotten a Windows machine from the get go. Also Mac's cooling systems are not optimized for Windows so expecting the fans to run "properly" to your liking is expecting too much. You have to keep in mind that being able to run Windows on a Mac is a nice benefit but it will never be optimized like MacOS is. About the keyboard, you made the choice to buy it so you could've made sure this is something you wanted before buying. There has been plenty of social media news about the keyboards.

Thank you for your helpful response. I can live with the keyboard, but fan noise to me indicates(as it happens in both windows AND Mac) that Jony Ives quest to add more thinness means you have a loud noisy laptop when using it for "pro" applications.