MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

William Kucharski wrote:

We also have zero proof their issues were due in any way to heat.

We also have zero proof that their issues are not due in any way to heat.

What we do know is that they got hot and then died.

It is obviously an software issue. You can see the power consumption shrink to 2/3 in clamshell mode but can see it rising if you switch to another resolution while being in clamshell mode. The issue is obvious and in the meantime well documented and replicated by IT magazines from IT professionals. You are leading a fake discussion.

No it is not normal, yes it is an issue, yes apple needs to fix. Simple as this. This whole idealistic discussion is completely pointless.

TailsDog wrote:

William Kucharski wrote:

We also have zero proof their issues were due in any way to heat.

We also have zero proof that their issues are not due in any way to heat.

What we do know is that they got hot and then died.

Correlation with no proof of causation.

Your assertion is a bit like avoiding drinking water because people who have died drank water within a day of doing so.

Well we are just looking at the evidence, and as there is little information we make assumptions based on what we know, there are patterns emerging but until we have more information we focus on the data that we have.

I totally agree!

The most important thing here is that a powerful machine like the MacBook Pro gets really hot and the fans get really crazy, up to full speed (5000 RPM) by simply connecting an external monitor but it can handle a really heavy load without getting that hot if the computer is not connected to an external monitor.

I think we can all agree here that if we spent 4000 or more on a machine it’s because we use it for work and probably most of us here are professionals so if we are here wasting time is because we want a SOLUTION not because we want talk trash about Apple.

He was saying that people come here and blow up a problem they are having enough to scare others into avoiding the product when there's no guarantee others who potentially want to buy this product will have the same issue.

God forbid consumers make informed decisions about what they purchase.

I know if I had seen this thread before dropping over 5k on a laptop I would have waited a bit to make sure the issue was fixed or at least apple acknowledged a problem they were working to fix.

This is not a minor issue, you cannot use the laptop in a quiet office environment because it will be the loudest thing in the room by far, you can't use it for audio editing for the same reasons - and the 'solutions' apologists have used like "get another kind of computer" or "ignore the blaring sound of the fans and move on with your life" are not helpful.

But most of us here who have problems aren't worried about costing Apple a sale, we just want our defective devices fixed so we can move on with our lives.

"God forbid consumers make informed decisions about what they purchase."

You're confusing the proper word influenced with the word informed. And there are one or two people here who continually repeat themselves over and over in order to influence others.

Indeed, and as to trying to downplay this as some sort of scare campaign I assure it is not. Some of us even have APPL stock and own multiple devices from Apple. Currently I have 3 MacBook Pros and 2 iPads, I'm not a hater just someone that wants a solution.

DPJ wrote:

"God forbid consumers make informed decisions about what they purchase."

You're confusing the proper word influenced with the word informed. And there are one or two people here who continually repeat themselves over and over in order to influence others.

Literally you and one or two other people who don't have issues (or even own the machine?) keep insisting everything is fine, doubting and questioning our claims while the rest of us are constantly posting video evidence, screenshots and links to other discussions online of people having problems.

This is the video I wish someone had shown me before I bought the laptop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJT660pUOMc

Sadly no one did so I made the video as total proof of how bad it is. This will inform potential buyers of the issues with the MacBook Pro 16".

Hi Ahmed...

Thanks for all your thoughts on this issue regarding the overheating / loud fans issue.

I have set up an appointment with Apple this Saturday ... This is a real issue .. I am not here to bash Apple .. I just want to find a solution so that I can enjoy my computer ...ever since my original post yesterday my computer has crashed twice and now my screen has finally started flickering all while connecting to my external monitor “ LG ULTRAWIDE 34Inch”

the problem is getting worse!

please see my video link

https://youtu.be/9DtpHesTWGU

Good luck with Apple on Saturday.

Do you have any sensor apps like iStat and do you know how hot it was getting when you experienced the graphics glitches?

I too have that monitor, I dare not run any apps apart from an IDE when it is plugged in.

TailsDog wrote:

Well we are just looking at the evidence, and as there is little information we make assumptions based on what we know, there are patterns emerging but until we have more information we focus on the data that we have.

Though it's important to wait to make leaps of logic until you have full corroborated data proving causation not just correlation.

For the most part, people have done the right thing here - complain to Apple and raise the issue with Apple Support. If you can and it bothers you, return it - you can always buy another later.

I stand by my statement that for many with multiple monitors, an iMac/iMac Pro/Mac Pro would be a better choice but I do get why people want a portable solution.

Ultimately no matter what people find here, Apple needs to make the final determination as to what's going on and I hope they will have more data available soon.

Thank you all for your advise.

i wish everyone the best with their issues!

I will post my results of my Apple visit on Saturday 🙏

I found the following on gearslutz:

not sure if this might bring any light to the

fan issue:

On my full maxxed out mbp 16" with Radeon 5500M 8GB its pretty easy:

- some apps force to run on the AMD GPU. On my machine these include Logic, Ableton, Cubase, Serato DJ Pro, Native Access. There may be more, but I havent checked everything yet. You may observe this, when looking into activity monitor: click into the energy tab, there will be a 'Yes' if an app is forced to run on the dGPU. You will also notice a massive increased power consumption, when looking into iStat Menus (you need to separately download the sensors add-on from the Bjango homepage to monitor power consumption). For most apps, iStat Menus shows 15-20W power consumption for the 'Radeon Highside' as soon as some elements of the GUI are animated. As this wasn't enough insane, Serato DJ Pro tops out at 25-30W for literally doing nothing graphical demanding. When no GUI elements of the demanding app are animated, the AMD GPU idles at 6-8W.

- connecting one of my external 4K monitors forces everything to run on the AMD GPU. In activity monitor the GPU utilization (could be found in the window menu) changes from internal to the Radeon. iStat Menus shows a power consumption of 18-20W for the 'Radeon Highside'.

- when the AMD Radeon completely idles and everything runs on the Intel GPU, it consumes 0.15 to 0.2W. 

The AMD GPU sits together with the Intel CPU on the same heatpipe. They share the same thermal budget. Those 20W the Radeon consumes, heat up the CPU and will force it to throttle down sooner. And/or will ramp up fan speed earlier and stronger.

I dont know if it makes a huge difference if you have the 5300M or the 5500M with 4/8GB on your 16" macbook. Theoretically the 5300M and 4GB should consume less power. 

My opinion: Apple should drastically reduce the power consumption of the AMD GPU. Sacrificing 20W on a laptop for doing nothing more than moving the locator in your DAW is absolutely unacceptable. This light workload should not trigger to ramp up all shaders and VRAM at full frequency. We are not playing heavy 3D games here. Its even worse when using an app like Serato DJ Pro: In addition it also has an insane CPU demand and together this leads to draining the battery, even when the charger is connected. When playing from battery only (fully loaded) whithout charger, game over after no more than 1 hour. Thats 100% what the DJ wants, shutdown due to battery drain...

Alternatively app developers should rethink if they force their apps to utilize the AMD GPU (dont know if it depends on which API for graphics they use). Most Apps should run fine on the Intel GPU. Well Serato is another kind of beast. Even when disabling CPUs turbo boost it stresses the CPU more than using the AMD

RICHD101 wrote:

My opinion: Apple should drastically reduce the power consumption of the AMD GPU. Sacrificing 20W on a laptop for doing nothing more than moving the locator in your DAW is absolutely unacceptable.

This may not be up to Apple.

A lot depends upon how the GPU is designed; it may well be an all-or-nothing type of thing.

FWIW, I also know of no DJs that would run their laptops off battery while doing a show.