Loud Fan noise when using Microsoft Teams

It's not an Apple Hardware issue, but software Teams issue. However, it's disappointing in which direction Apple is heading in regards to quality/price. To get decent hardware with a decent built quality (MacBook Air has heat problems) you need to get a MacBook Pro above $2K ...

This is an issue with both Apple, Intel and Microsoft.

Intel: they have developed power hungry and powerful processors that compared to other current market options are not that efficient.

Apple: they have developed sleek devices which look great and have metal bases to assist with cooling efficient processors. Apple uses the Intel processors which heat up quick and the Macbook's cannot cool without the fans kicking on.

Microsoft: Developed Teams as an Electron app, which let's it develop and update the application for all platforms really easily. The downside here is that it has overhead involved in running the application which makes it less efficient. Teams is also more than just a video conferencing application, providing businesses with a full unified communication+ application, and therefore often uses more resources.

So combining everything together, Teams does use more processing power than other dedicated video chat only applications (Zoom, Bluejeans, etc). As such, your processor will get warmer, and therefore need to be cooled more actively kicking the fan on to maintain safe temperatures.

To answer the question about longevity, having the fans run is a good thing as it keeps the laptop cool so it will last. They are designed to run and the system will prevent the processor exceeding certain temperature thresholds that could shorten the lifespan. So ultimately, no it won't degrade your device unless you set your computer on a dust pile and the fans suck in said dust and clog up the cooling system.

Finally, disabling the GPU acceleration ends up putting more load on the CPU which could make things worse than allowing GPU acceleration. Granted, the GPU is built in to the CPU in most of these cases which use the same cooling system. The only thing you'll really end up achieving by disabling the GPU is worse performance elsewhere, specifically when multitasking.

So how do you minimize some of this:

1) Use headphones or a headset when in a call. Nothing is worse than being on a call with someone using the built in mic. They pick up a lot of extraneous noises and it's unpleasant for everyone. When using headphones with a microphone has the mic near your face for better audio, plus you then won't be able to hear the fan as you have headphones in. Win-win.

2) Put your laptop on a hard surface. Blankets, carpet, pants, etc will insulate keeping the heat in rather than letting dissipate causing more heat, as well as blocking the fan ports causing more troubles. If you don't have a desk or table, order a lap stand or go buy a small piece of wood from your local hardware store to place your laptop on. We call them laptops, but they are not.

Mine does the same! Also a MacBook Air 2019. I gets extremely hot to the point that if I touch it it actually hurts my skin.

It doesn't do this with apps like zoom, so my best guess is that because it's Microsoft the app just isn't as compatible with a Mac. So frustrating and ridiculous quite frankly.

Same issue, interesting though and still assessing, although when I switched to direct LAN rather than wifi my fans are not as loud. Only day one with this config but promising. I am on a MacBook Pro though.

This happen to me yesterday while using Zoom app, sidecar and Miro on the web with Google Chrome. I have had my 2019 MBP since October of last year and this is the first time it did that.

I see people stating it is isolated to MS Teams and it isn’t.

I have a brand new MBA 2020 i5 16GB. To me the basic issue is that MS Teams triggers the Turbo Boost. Due to a design flaw the MBA 2020 just hasn't got the proper CPU cooling to back up the Turbo Boost. Maybe your Mac also suffers from poor CPU cooling. I fixed the issue with MS Teams by shutting down the Turbo Boost of the CPU, using the 3rd party Turbo Boost Switch app. With the TB off the temperature lowers from 100C to 80C, so the fan doesn't go crazy. With the TB off, MS Teams still works fine. PS Due to this design flaw, I now have turned Turbo Boost off permanently. If I knew about this design flaw, then I would not have spent €1,750,- on a MBA.

I am very fed up with the fans going. I agree that there may be other applications than Teams which are also problematic on my mac, but I have had to use Teams a lot during lockdown. My mac so often gets hot, even when I'm not running many applications, even if the fans aren't really loud, and even after I've turned it off and on again. Battery life is nowhere near long enough to last a day out (not that I have a day out currently because I'm working from home). Mine is from mid 2019 and has been a total disappointment. I'm afraid I don't have the confidence to try a third party TB switch, but thank you for the suggestion.

I hope Mac are keeping an eye on this thread and might consider making some constructive suggestions about what to do about it.

I hope too that Apple comes up with a constructive suggestion. Like modifying the heatsink/ fan construction for free. If you do consider using the TB switch app, it’s good to know that it allows you to set specific apps (in this case MS Teams) to run with TB off, so for other use TB will be on.

Agreed! This doesn't happen on any app other than Teams, and it drains so much battery unlike the rest of my apps. A 1 hour zoom class only takes up 20% of my battery, whereas a 1 hour Teams call uses around 50% of my battery.

Same here! Purchased a 2020 MacBook Air with good processor and 16gb ram as I have loads of apps open at work. Fan noise and battery drain is ridiculous with Microsoft Teams, which is the system that my employer uses. It’s making Macs look like a bad choice in the eyes of my PC-using colleagues! Really hope this gets addressed soon - long overdue.

I have been a very disgruntled user of Teams on my 2019 mac with lots of memory available etc, but have found since Teams was updated and also there was recent Catalina update that the fan noise is much reduced. Still uses quite a lot of battery though. Perhaps we are getting there.

Hi am having the same problem as well

have a fairly new MacBook Air 13-inch 2019.

I’ve had to do a lot of working from home recently and have been using Microsoft Teams.

Question - whenever I’m in a Video Conferencing meeting my fan goes crazy loud. It quiets down as soon as the meeting is over. Does anyone know why this is? Is this the laptops fault or is this normal?

Can this affect the longevity of the laptop?

Many thanks!

Mine is exactly the same. I’ve even had some PC users tell me it happens with theirs as well. It seems to be a Microsoft Teams thing and somehow the video conference is consuming a lot of resource from somewhere. I’ve tried changing the settings in Teams including GPU usage (which is integrated in the MBA anyway) and no different.

I don’t believe it adversely impacts the hardware provided the fan is kicking in and doing what it’s supposed to do.

Working from home with mains power is not so much of an issue (although extremely annoying, especially when other video conferencing apps don’t seem to do this) but once I’m more mobile again it will be a big problem given how much battery it drains in one video call. Eye-contact in these meetings is important so not a simple case of switching the camera off. The technology should do what it’s supposed to do effectively and efficiently.

I have a new 2019 16" MacBook Pro and my fans were going crazy as well when I used Teams. I just switched from a USB hub that was powered by my laptop to a powered USB hub and that seems to help...so far. My guess is that maybe the USB hub was drawing too much power, thus causing the laptop to heat up?

It still doesn't explain why the issue affects Teams more than Zoom. But I thought I would share.

As always, your mileage may vary. Good luck.

I have been noticing the fan becoming noisy when using Microsoft Teams with the video activated. It usually kicks in when the video has been on for 20 or more minutes. It stops as soon as the video is turned off. Good to know I am not the only one with this issue. This issue is only with my video camera being used as I’ve been on zoom calls for several hours without my camera being on and it’s not an issue. I can be in a MS Teams meeting for 1 hour with my camera turned off and it’s not an issue. It would be great if it could be fixed!