MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise

Be thankful yours is running great without issues. Mine runs like that too and ranges anywhere from 45-65 in general use.

Yesterday I did the zoom meetings with all three screens and sharing 4k desktop with the front camera and it only hit around 70 at the hottest and the fans still were just fine. This was also teaching some graphic intensive programs.

The person I was in the meeting with was using a PC and they had significant performance issues when sharing their desktop - low resolution too. She ordered a new computer hoping it would help. I didn't realize Zoom was so resource intensive. My 16" MPB makes it act like it's nothing.

We are the exception for quite a few people in this thread as theirs gets much hotter.

are you using a dock? I can't quite tell by the picture. I see several things plugged in.

I'll use the 2 weeks period to make sure it doesn't get worse in a few days using my daily applications for working, but yeah it doesn't look as bad as the others.

I am not using a dock. Here are the adapters I use:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B085NLTTLB (HDMI + Apple charger + USB Keyboard)

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01M6C49X2 (HDMI)

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07BYWJN6K (HDMI)

I have this problem too and it's annoying the **** out of me. I DID NOT buy a 3000+€ laptop for it to not be usable on a daily basis.

Which, for me, is recording podcasts.

Imagine this: I open ONLY Garageband, record ONE SINGLE audio track with an external microphone, and after about three minutes, the MacBook Pro 16inch gets so loud that I have to stop recording because it's too loud. There is NOTHING else going on.

Also- it gets so hot, it could burn your fingers, on the right side, right above the Touch Bar.

This feels like an actual joke. I bought this device because my old 2013 MacBook Air can't be used for video editing anymore. But it runs smoothly in Garageband, without a noise, with dozens of audio tracks even.

Just takes the fun out of everything, I'm so frustrated and this is NOT okay for a device in this prize class.

I, like many by the sounds of it, am very annoyed that this problem has not been fixed. I can not use an external monitor the way things are now. My neck is killing me. Apple, get this fixed or pay for my future chiropractor. Such an expensive computer and yet this? Please hurry up and fix this.

(Macbook pro 16 inch, core i9, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4. No problems until I attach it to an external monitor and then the fans go nuts and it heats up greatly).

This is a friendly community discouraging others from posting here is inappropriate.

Eindaj stated he has “No problems with his MBP 16... until He attaches it to an external monitor and then the fans go nuts and it heats up greatly).

Eindaj Welcome to the forum I understand your frustration sorry about your neck : (

but this is an ongoing situation for many of us.

Please read past posts from this thread ..

you will find many helpful suggestions and theories as to what might be causing MVP 16s

to heat up and cause fans to spin at high Rpms.

Hi pairadime,

Just wanted to let you know that I was working on RAW images yesterday in Adobe Bridge 2020 (in clamshell mode, connected to an external 4K display) and saw the same things happen when I opened the images in Camera Raw. Opening them in Photoshop's Camera Raw also showed the same results.

I think that the only thing we can do when this happens is to disconnect the monitor and reset the GPU.

There's a very minimal increase in power when I run two HDMI displays, plus an LG 5K display, plus the internal display from my 15" 2019 with Vega 20.

This is not a "treating displayport as HDMI" problem. This is a.... something else problem.

I’m using the The MacBook with an external DELL U2419HC connected via USB-C.

There is no increase in fan noise neither in macOS nor Windows Bootcamp, though the temperature of CPU and GPU rises a bit.

The fans are kicking in when playing games or doing some more stuff then just surfing. They are a bit noisy but the temperature stays below 80 degree even while playing under Windows.

As for now I think this is normal.

Monitor running at 1080p@60Hz.

Despite the fact that Apple went out of their way to make you happy by refunding the purchase of all your machines, you still feel compelled to hang around here and complain about the same issues.

The bottom line is the heat and power issues are just the machine working in a way you would prefer it not.

I've stated several times, the machine is not reaching thermal shut down. The machine is not failing to operate. It's just running its fans at a level you find unacceptable but that was never specified in any way, anywhere.

The people who have graphics issues certainly have my empathy, and frankly that of Apple Support. Those who get upset because they spend their days obsessing over temperatures they believe are wrong and power consumption levels they don't like seem to be spending a lot of time they could otherwise be getting useful work done.

The exception of course is those who need the machine to be silent to do their work, and I don't know what to say to them other than the fact that any laptop made may spin up its fans to cool itself for whatever reason except for those specifically made to cool solely convectively.

So while I am sad that the machine isn't meeting your expectations, that doesn't mean much as I don't so much as even own a single share of AAPL and thus have no vested interest and have no more ability to address Apple engineering than you do, and that's this:

Contact - Official Apple Support

Feedback - MacBook Pro - Apple

That said, I have also stated that if Apple can fix the issue, they will, but no one will know if they can until and unless they do.

I have already published an upgrade in which I said that the fan problem was not only due to the graphics card with the second monitor but to a complex system of things.

Eg:

MBP retina 15 mid 2015, integrated monitor only, quiet condition: 37 ° C*.

MBP 16 2019, turbo boost deactivated, integrated monitor only, quiet condition: 50 °C average*.

We can say that the problem is not only the discrete graphics card (with the second monitor) and not even the turbo boost, there is something else that I cannot explain.

*measured by iStat, average in time of all sensors

I did not misunderstood your posts. We are arguing if the heat/noise with external screens is an issue or not. I think it is. You don't and try to convince me it's just my problem, while others have the same issue trying to document and fix it.

Of course I would have preferred to keep the computer as I have no issues besides this one. I must use MacOS to compile iOS apps in my work, I also needed a new laptop and I'm used to work with 3 screens. When I saw in the product page that it supports up to two 6K displays with the open lid, my choice was made.

I didn't say complaining in the forums is the only reason Apple added the Escape key back, but it is still documented criticism that people can confirm while googling their issue. We all know Apple will take action if it has an impact on their sales. I personally wanted a 2019 15" last summer but decided not to buy because of the Escape key. It took them 4 years to address it, but eventually their product became better, because of voiced criticism.

We are "only" 6 months in with this one. As far I know, the only place on the internet confirming it is in these 2 threads and some Youtube videos. People who are not happy with the heat/noise with external screens should keep talking about it and write their concern here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

"We are arguing if the heat/noise with external screens is an issue or not. I think it is."

Perfect! Then since you're in still within your return period on your 16" MBP then get an iMac or a Mac Pro so you can get your work done quietly.

TimUzzanti wrote:

Apple may have not properly calculated all the heat for all the components when they built out the thermals for the 16inch MBP. It's a bit concerning since they had the same issues with certain 2018 and 2019 15inch MBP's.

Yet none have gone into thermal shutdown which, if they had actually improperly designed the thermals, they would easily do otherwise.

brycesteiner wrote:

did you experience the problem yourself of extreme fan noise or was it just from this thread that gave you that concern?

It was not extreme fan noise but yes I did tried the macbook for 2 weeks and it is still enough to bother me (Just watching a podcast while browsing gets me around 2700 - 3000RPM). About the macbook air, I feel 13" is too small and actually need some power for XCode / Android Simulator / 3D Applications.

I tried William's suggestion to unsubscribe but I'm caught in a infinite loop trying to!