New Macbook Pro 16 inch Overheating

Same issue, they couldn't replicate it. I had the same specs but not within the return policy only about a month and half in and this machine has crapped out. Really disappointed. Not sure how we can escalate this that WE ARE NOT LYING! I feel if everyone can post on this thread and get their attention just maybe they will do something about it. I will be reporting and filing a complaint on BBB, but as consumers we shouldn't have to spend 3-4K on something and be scammed by APPLE and their shenanigans. If nothing happens might consider to file a class action lawsuit on apple for ignoring this and not being transparent with their consumers about this 16 inch MBP heating issue :).

It has been 6 months now since I bought this laptop for work and made a substantial investment and moved from Windows 10 to Apple (Falling for the Marketing trap of bigger fan... bigger build... more performance... Less noise). Then I bought a 27inch 1080p External Display 75hz to increase my productivity (After reading a little about heat issues with the 16inch) ... Radeon GPU goes from 0.5 to 25W and temperature jumps from 40C* idle to 65C* idle (Doing absolutely nothing).

I turn down the Hz of the external monitor to 60 on 1080p and Radeon goes from 0.5 to 20W temperature jumps from 40C* idle to 60C* idle (Doing absolutely nothing).

If I am working on those setting above temperature can go as high as 80C* (Simple Photo Editing) 90C*(Simple Video Editing) and as low as 75C* (For simple tasks like having one browser open...)

Without the external monitor it is 45C* (Simple Photo Editing) 55*(Simple Video Editing) and as low as 42* (For simple tasks like having one browser open). That's all good...

Clamshell mode helps reduce the thermals but after doing that for some time I decided there is no point doing the clamshel mode because at the end of the day you are just replacing one 16inch screen for another bigger screen... I need to actually have two full size applications open to do work and so do probably most of your guys here too...

• Also all of these tests above have been done with a Twelve South Curve Stand bought from apple and the room temp is 20C* so there is enought airflow.
• https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/HLST2ZM/A/twelve-south-curve-stand-for-macbook

Apple can anyone over there hear us? Please fix your graphic switching... I really need an external monitor to work... Otherwise I would've bought a PC if I knew this was going to be a problem...

Please fix this for the 99% of MacBook Pro owners out there who use an external monitor and you will actually make our life a bit better doing work locked down at home, not having to worry about our lava laptops.

I want to be able to still work on this laptop for a few years before people start buying the new ARM based MacBooks and eventually I will have to too. Please don't just make us wait for that and say "there is no heat problem there as it's not intel its our design and engineering and its been optimised".

Really wish you can fix this before the new MacOs Big Sur so we can enjoy all the great things using an external monitor (Hopefully I can by then buy a proper 4K monitor and not worry about thermal issues).

Otherwise there's always Windows 10... (Really don't want to go back to that)

Thanks.

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Dear Grant,

As you may have access to Apple issues portal , do a query on "MacBook heating up" and find out how many were resolved by apple support . I am sure you will get your answer.

By posting here in this forum we let others know the issue is more wider then we thought.

Well before buying any NEW APPLE PRODUCT i will strongly suggest go through the apple forum .

Thank you

~Ansh

My apologies, i thought you are working with apple and have some sort of solution to the problem . I was directing my issues to Apple , so you may ignore .

If i buy close to $4000.00 worth of machine then the problem to me is not SMALL , how can someone work on a laptop when it get hot in 10 seconds from 41C to 95-100C .

Well i did not read the forum and Ended up buying the the product , which is my mistake . That is my suggestion to the folks .. they wana take it or not its on them .

There is no point keep on talking here ....if the issue here is not addressed by APPLE

PS: BUY an AC folks and use specifically for your MacBook Pro to cool it down..

~Ansh

There is another thread about fan noise, whichis basically the same. I ll post screenshot here aswell. Loosing faith into apple product andeven more thair customer support and sincerity.

I find this machine weird, i never had a computer like this, CPU temps are all over the place by doing nothing, CPU workload never even reached 20%. Browsing, skype, twitter, pw manager, max temps wen up to 87 with fans on 5k. I open an installer or zipping a file, it goes instantly on 80 C and fans 5k.

I had the same issue. It started overheating when I was migrating my data from older Macbook to the new 16 inch Pro. I attempted to reinstall macOS Catalina the issue continued. Then I decided to delete all data from both HD Drive and HD Drive Data in recovery mode. I reinstalled macOS Catalina. Since then my Macbook Pro 16 inch has been woking like a charm. 2 days of full use did not hear the fans turn on. My guess the issue might be in migration assistant app.

Hope this helps.

Serg,

@tripletabs, your university should find different job for your technical consultant... It is OK to keep your laptop connected to power.

Actually your computer will perform better with power connected because it doesn't need to preserve energy.

50-60deg C is normal temperature at idle. If you have all apps closed, it may still spike the temperature when it is downloading updates, or indexing files etc.

I used app to manually control fans and set them to full speed. With maximum cooling I wasn't able to bring temperature down below 47deg at idle.

Overheating means the computer is freezing and shutting down by itself. If the vents are obstructed and air cannot flow, the fans will speedup and the CPU will throttle itself down in order to protect itself from overheating.

Hi tripletabs,

Congratulations on the purchase of a new MacBook Pro 16"! I'll be happy to talk to you about the temperature of your Mac.

While there isn't a specific article that I can point you to for this, I can let you know that your Mac is designed to protect itself from overheating by powering off to cool down if unsafe temperatures are reached.

That being said, there is a great article that you might want to review: Keep your Mac notebook within acceptable operating temperatures

Have a great day.

I have usually 3-4 browsers opened, about 5-10 tabs on each, wordpress websites, forums, facebook manager, no videos playing.

I use one 4k monitor. I ll try editing first time today, i finally got some 4k footage, i hope i dont start a fire lol.

I have External GPU turned on constantly (graphic card switching turned off) because of another issue i had, i got my first unit replaced after 1 day - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250826263

Actually i dont mind the noise that much, it can be annoying when doing a screencast, but my main concern is malfunction, its a work station, i need it to work besides its no pocket change computer.

Hi, I think the problem it's related to having the computer connected to an external monitor, a lot of users are having the same issue (including myself), check this: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250878229

Just by having the machine connected to an external monitor the GPU goes from drawing 3 or 4 watts to almost 20 watts and the fans go from 1700 RPM (without an external monitor) to 3000 RPM, so for me the problem is a driver/software issue, hopefully Apple will fix it soon.

@tripletabs

I had the same issue until I reset my System Management Controller.

Check out the link below:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Before I did this, my processor was operating around 60 Degrees C. After, I'm down to 33-35 Degrees C and battery is operating more as expected.

I hope this helps!

Same/similar issue here: MBP16, bought new in December 2019, only when connected to an external monitor (which is all the time in my case) it overheats. Unplug the external monitor and it cools down, plug it in and it will get uncomfortably hot and noisy. Pretty much regardless of CPU activity. And also regardless of activity on the screen; also if the device display is sleeping it will overheat. And also otherwise in the same state: same running programs, same activities, same location and ambient temperature for the device, etc.

I know that without external monitor connected, the device uses its Intel integrated graphics. In that case it stays relatively cool. When connecting an external monitor, the device gets really hot and noisy. And it will also drain the battery from 100% to 20% in a matter of 2 or 3 hours. Quite disappointing for such an expensive device.

Other info:

• From what I read elsewhere, I can disable the Radeon Pro 5300M discrete graphics card.. but then I can't drive my external monitor any more. Which is not acceptable for me. Apparently, USB-C is hardwired to this graphics card only, not to the Intel integrated graphics.
• I have a Dell monitor, resolution 2560x1440.
• Monitor is connected using a USB-C to HDMI cable. I have also tried a 'dongle' to connect USB-C to HDMI. Same thing.
• I bought a new USB-C to DisplayPort cable because someone suggested that would make it run cooler. It didn't. At least there was no noticeable difference.
• Even when the CPU is doing close to nothing and the display is 'sleeping' it will overheat. I have carefully looked at the Activity Monitor and used 'top' on the command prompt. It indicates very little activity. Obviously, I do put load on the CPU regularly (for instance when running Xcode) in which case I get more heat and more noise.
• I don't play games and I hardly ever play videos on the device. I mostly do web browsing and software development.
• To define 'overheating': I have not measured the actual temperature, but it feels uncomfortable having your hands on or close to a piece of hot metal.

@Apple or others: is there a remedy for this? Can I get the device replaced? It is not strictly 'broken', but I'm not a happy user.

I have exactly the same situation.

It is bad design and I don't except apple to do anything about it. Just an over hipped bad product.

1. You can lower the temperature by installing fan controlling software. It will increase the noise but at least it will extend life of your computer. (high temperature will weaken soldering over time and GPUs will start dying in couple years).
2. I bought external GPU. For additional $700 (Razer Core X mk1, and Radeon RX 5700 XT) you keep noise and temperature low. It is not perfect because you need to logout every day or the system will start slowing down and may freeze. This hopefully will be addressed by apple but I can imagine it would be last in priority. For this solution you may need $80 cable if you need to put the case further away I got mine from OWC. It was cheaper than Razer and I wouldn't want to try Chinese random stuff.

This is the config that I ran full screen HD video on the external monitor while reading and replying to Apple Support Communities for well over an hour without seeing my fans rise above 2500 RPM on my:

16" MBP

Radeon Pro 5500M/8 GB GDDR6 VRAM

2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

32 GB RAM

2 TB SSD

• Included Apple USB-C Power Adapter
• ITD ITANDA 4K Thunderbolt 3 to Mini DP Adapter ($14.44 at Amazon)

The external monitor was one of:

• Apple 30" Cinema Display (M9179LL/A) via Apple mDP to Dual Link DVI Adapter (MB571Z/A)
• Dell U2717D 27" QHD monitor via MiniDP cable