MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

pairadime wrote:

So has Apple said that it is normal, as in designed, for the 16" MBP to jump to 18 W for when connected to an external display? If so, did they mention how the Air, and previous MBP generations, are able to do it without doing that?

I don't think it's normal and I have concerns about my 16" MBP's life span.

Apple hasn't said it's normal, but that doesn't mean it's a defect either.

You can have concerns about your system's life span, but that doesn't mean they're warranted.

Regardless, purchasing AppleCare+ is one way to mitigate such concerns, depending upon your comfort level.

I understand what you an DPJ are getting at with your analogy. And I do concede the point that the Radeon is more powerful thus needing more power to run.

But it doesn't add up to me and I'm upset that I don't have the option to choose what card I want to run the display/machine. If the Air and the previous gen MBP's can all run the external, and their own display, why can't I choose to run it with Intel's GPU? Or to run it at a decreased output, well I suppose I can do that with Turbo Boost Switch...

But it doesn't add up I mean is when I'm running just the laptop screen with the Radeon (same windows), I'm averaging 6.50 W approximately. When I'm running the external in clamshell, I'm at about 5-6 W. So where does the other 6 come from when I'm running both? That takes into account this specific Radeon and how much it needs to run each display separately. And combined it needs at least 50% more than the straight sum?

Granted, I'm not a hardware engineer, but it seems off to me. I'm running some logs now and I'll post them shortly. Maybe I'm wrong about my numbers.

William K. : I think concerns about heat are warranted with the components inside, especially the battery. Didn't other MBPs have thermal issues? I don't follow this stuff closely.

AppleCare+ is only good for a certain amount of years. I bought the retina MBP right when it came out in 2012 and I still have and it runs well, believe it or not! I don't have faith in this one lasting that long if I run it with an external out of clamshell.

" I think concerns about heat are warranted with the components inside, especially the battery."

I've been using Macs exclusively for the past 25 years and the #1 concern about the Mac laptops and iMac is heat and big worries that heat will damage the components. The worse thermals were in the first 12" PowerBook G4 from 2003. It got insanely hot and not once was there a meltdown of components or component failure. Since then there's been no reported issues of heat causing components in Mac laptops to meltdown or become defective.

It is 5 months right now. Probably the situation happens with all MBP 16.

They, meaning Apple, know about the way this machine works. I don’t believe that some of Apple staff don’t use this flagship machine in their work.

When I watch YT tech channels, I see that majority of testers suggest that new MBP 16 is pretty loud under load or with 4K external monitors.

Everything has been written here already. I think. New people are coming and writing the same things making this thread bigger and bigger. No real answer for their complaints, no visible Apple involvement.

If I can put something here is AMD support. They have not updated VGA drivers for months. In this times such approach is not right.

SzariK wrote:

If I can put something here is AMD support. They have not updated VGA drivers for months. In this times such approach is not right.

To be fair, new drivers are only required to fix bugs in an old driver or to add features.

We don't know (because this exact GPU isn't used in any other products I am aware of) whether this operation is what AMD expected.

If so, there won't be a new driver as it's working as designed.

There may also be no way to reduce power draw, in which case there is also no need for a new driver.

In the old days, I'd say maybe someone that lives in the Bay Area can buy the right AMD GPU designer a beer and find out more.

Perhaps these days, maybe it's bribe them with a case of Charmin. 😆

You could use longer cables to put the machine elsewhere, a hush box or headphones.

These would all be required if using a tower PC with its dedicated fans for the video card, power supply and elsewhere.

I think after 5 months of this thread and people haven't gotten what THEY want

then I would recommend either returning the product (provided you're still

within the return period) or selling it and pick up an older or proper Mac or

capable Windows machine in order to get work done.

DPJ - I think it would be best if you didn't jump into the fray for these kinds of comments. If I could still return this thing, it would be gone. I trusted Apple and bought it in November.

It clearly isn't meeting my needs because it is defective in a fundamental way. It is a pro-level machine that can't even drive an external monitor without getting hot and loud. If that is how this was designed, then Apple needs a new engineering team.

If you aren't experiencing these troubles, good for you, but telling people to sell their $4000 machine for a $1000+ loss is insulting. Best to not say anything.

dcristof wrote:

It clearly isn't meeting my needs because it is defective in a fundamental way. It is a pro-level machine that can't even drive an external monitor without getting hot and loud. If that is how this was designed, then Apple needs a new engineering team.

I keep commenting here, because getting hot and/or the fans kicking in is not a "defect" per se, it's operating in a manner different than you would prefer.

I don't recall any ad showing an MBP 16 driving external monitors coolly or silently, but I know a ton of PC laptops that spin their fans up to full before you can even login to Windows.

Yes, I know past MBPs did not do this. Past MBPs also did not have as powerful a CPU and GPU inside.

I'm surprised you didn't try to return it last November, but perhaps you didn't have an external monitor then; I don't think you'd honestly expect Apple to accept a return for a refund five months after purchase.

I'm not the poster, but telling people to just sell their MBP 16 isn't insulting; life is too short to be aggravated the way the MBP 16 apparently triggers many here, and it's better to move on to a different solution if you really hate it that much.

"Every company in the world is in business for the same reason, to make money. Not sure why you needed to mention purchasing Apple stock or that you love Apple?"

People are saying that "Apple will take care of it" and "they haven't addressed it because it's not a problem to them" and I replied with examples of when they never replied(keyboard), examples to when they had to be class action sued(numerous), and to when they finally addressed something years after the fact. My point being, they are a corporation like others, and their debt to shareholders is to make profits not go out of their way to take care of customers. They will take care of them in so far as to prevent not taking care of them impacting the bottom line, be it through lawsuits or reputation hits, etc.

And I say that s a huge Apple fan, I think they've changed the world and will continue doing so. But like, I don't blindly follow them and expect them to catch me when I fall back.

"Not necessarily to you paradime but just info from my experience."

Great post. I think what's muddying the waters here is that there are 2 distinct groups participating in this very large thread.

1. People genuinely experiencing problems such as full blast fans for no reason, GPU artifacts, etc.
2. People concerned about the amount fo energy being used when an external monitor is connected out of clamshell mode. Concerned about battery life, concerned about longevity, etc

So far the concensus to these issues are

1. Return the machine and/or contact Apple about warranties and repairs.
2. Wait and see if Apple will address non-clamshell energy use in further updates.

Both of those consensuses, as far as I know, has Apple not admitting to issues. The first scenario can be argued to be anecdotal, as you said, millions of these are sold and it's impossible for all of them to be perfect, especially when considering their complexity. The second scenario can be argued to be systematic, as all16" MBP's are behaving the same way with external monitors.

Now add in the people that are saying that some of these issues are not actually issues... as in it's a feature not a bug, and we're in the seemingly opaque waters that we're in.

Interesting because I just spent the better of 2 hours with my 16" MBP connected to even my 64" Plasma display via HDMI doing finishing touches editing my Final Cut Pro project for work, watching YouTube videos using Chrome (which I despise this browser), playing Apple Music and the MacBook got warm around the speakers and Touch Bar but the fans never turned on. You don't have to recommend this machine, that's definitely your choice but there are lot of customers like me with a positive experience. They just won't post online.

Correct - they use contacts to Apple Support to gauge how many people are experiencing an issue and the severity (and thus priority to their engineers.)

Though some attention may be paid here, it's definitely an unofficial support channel.

Contact - Official Apple Support

The thing is, automotive lemon laws only apply to defective vehicles. The issue with the MBP 16 is that when connected to an external monitor, the fans ramp up faster than you would like them to.

I get that it can be annoying, but it's like saying a truck with a four cylinder engine has to work the engine at higher RPMs in a lower gear to pull a trailer than the version of the truck with a V8 does. It can still do it, but you're unhappy with the sound of the engine at a high RPM.

If you are being allowed an extended return period, I suggest you take full advantage of it as you clearly remain unhappy with it, and I get that.

Personally it's the fastest, most powerful MacBook Pro I've ever owned, I am thrilled with it, and would recommend it to anyone who asked, but I don't have the use case you do.

" I have spoken to Apple a few time about this. It seems they never will admit there is a problem - I assume for legal reasons?"

There's also one major reason they can't just admit (assuming there's really a defect in the first place) things to customers. Social Media! Just like you're on a forum right now. If any company was to admit something without collecting enough information from customers directly and they've experienced the issues themselves then they would be setting themselves up for Social Media backlash. It's no longer 1980 where there was no internet communication and forums for people to put companies on blast for admitting something.

"However the Apple person told me to inform the group to call Apple as much as possible as they take no notice of sites like these. "



Thank you for posting this. I said this exact thing yesterday and got questioned of my authority. 😉. I was only speaking facts. Some others just can't handle facts.

Because you have no idea what the design parameters of the system are (nor do I.)

Many conventional desktop PC GPUs draw much more than that.

According to this, the MBP power supply needs to be prepared to deliver as much as 50w to the GPU:

https://www.amd.com/en/graphics/radeon-apple-5000m-series

Thank you for pointing this out, I just missed this because I got a final warning on this board for saying this machine is defective and complaining about the moderation, complete with G-rated language.

I am going to get a new monitor and hopefully reduce the thermal load on my MBP until they figure it out, or until someone forces Apple to make it right.