BasementJack
Level 1 (32 points)

Q: Noise and heat on current 15" macbook pro models?

Considering buying a new macbook because my current one is too loud.

Looking for feedback from power users of the current 15" models.

 

I assume the slowest model with integrated graphics is the coolest and quietest -

Has anyone compared the sound/heat from a 2.2ghz 15" rMBP vs the top of the line 2.8ghz 15" rMBP with Nvidia graphics?

Posted on Mar 6, 2015 8:33 PM

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BasementJack

Q: Noise and heat on current 15" macbook pro models?

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  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Mar 7, 2015 4:04 AM in response to BasementJack
    Level 9 (52,089 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 7, 2015 4:04 AM in response to BasementJack

    If you are running resource intensive applications, the fan speed will be increased and any MBP will become noisy.  That is in essence the only noise maker on a retina MBP.

     

    Ciao.

  • by BasementJack,

    BasementJack BasementJack Mar 7, 2015 4:14 AM in response to OGELTHORPE
    Level 1 (32 points)
    Mar 7, 2015 4:14 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

    Thanks, at what threshold Does this happen, and what model do you have?

     

    on my 2011 MBp if I hit say 20% cpu load it starts getting noisy.

    while I do expect the fans to kick in if I am rendering video, I'd like to be able to enjoy more everyday tasks without the noise.

     

    the base model has no graphics card, but I believe still has two fans, so I'd expect that to be the quietest.

     

    if anyone who owns one can chime in that'd be awesome.

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Mar 7, 2015 4:24 AM in response to BasementJack
    Level 9 (52,089 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 7, 2015 4:24 AM in response to BasementJack

    Have you opened up your MBP and checked to see if there is dirt and dust inside, especially in the fans.  On my unibody MBPs, fan noise become obvious around 3500+ rpm.  Otherwise they are very quiet.  Unless your hearing is very acute, I suspect that there may be an abnormal reason for the noise that you are dealing with.

     

    Ciao.

  • by BasementJack,

    BasementJack BasementJack Mar 7, 2015 4:35 AM in response to OGELTHORPE
    Level 1 (32 points)
    Mar 7, 2015 4:35 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

    yep, it's clean inside.

    my specific model is known to be on the hot side (mid 2011, 2.5ghz with ati/amd graphics)

    on mine, I would say I don't notice the fans too terribly bad below 3000 rpm.

     

    my idle temp on this model is around - 130F

     

    I dont know that I have acute hearing, but I do use the Mac for recording webinars & screencasts and I can hear the fans in the recordings.

     

    this becomes more of a problem when I'm editing the recording becuase the fans are also loud during the editing session, so even if I pull out the fan noise with eq, it's very hard to hear the result since the fans are on pretty high during editing with logic.

     

    sorry for any typos/bad punctuation - typed from my iphone...

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Mar 7, 2015 11:30 AM in response to BasementJack
    Level 9 (52,089 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 7, 2015 11:30 AM in response to BasementJack

    I too have a 2011 2.5 GHz MBP, 17" model (8.3 model identifier).  For lightweight work, mine is about 15°f cooler than what you report but that will fluctuate somewhat.  Ambient temperature will be a factor so in a cool room, the temperatures will be lower.

     

    Have you tried a SMC reset?

     

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

     

    Have you checked in Activity Monitor to see if there are any third party applications that may be running in the background?  Anti-Virus software or any so called 'cleaning' applications are prime offenders.

     

    Ciao.

  • by BasementJack,

    BasementJack BasementJack Mar 7, 2015 12:51 PM in response to OGELTHORPE
    Level 1 (32 points)
    Mar 7, 2015 12:51 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

    yep, I've done a reset, I've even had it to the apple store to re-apply thermal paste - I've read that some users have done this themselves and seen a 10-20 degree drop in temps - I wasn't comfortable doing it myself, but apple did it under warranty - It helped a little on the CPU, the heat from the GPU seemed to get worse.


    No antivirus, but I run istat menus so I keep an eye on CPU temp, CPU activity, and fan speed via that, so maybe if anything, I'm more aware of it than the average consumer would be.

     

    Also I think I mentioned from my phone the temps ran in the 130's, but as I'm typing this it's 114 with a CPU load of 2-4%

  • by Smokerz,

    Smokerz Smokerz Mar 7, 2015 1:30 PM in response to BasementJack
    Level 6 (9,699 points)
    Mar 7, 2015 1:30 PM in response to BasementJack

    A better by is the 2.3 or 2.6 GHZ late 2013  both have 99.9% of the specs of the current models. Less cost also. They are quiet and really good heat fan control.