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MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

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Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#171

Post by nottorp »

zarmin wrote: post #155
gnudad wrote: post #28

This appears to be a software bug in macOS or AMD's drivers. Plugging in an external monitor at certain resolutions (1440p@60Hz in my case) will cause the AMD GPU to draw 18-20W constantly, no matter what it's doing. This causes the total system draw to increase from ~10W to ~30W. All that heat has to go somewhere. If I change the resolution of my external monitor to 1080p the AMD GPU drops to ~4W and the fans are qu…

This is a bug on Macbooks in general, as I understand it. I have a 2019 MBP with a 4k monitor, and if I change the resolution to anything except the default, there is massive system-wide lag. God forbid I use PyCharm on 4k scaled resolution – a full second between typing and seeing the text.

That seems unrelated; I think Mac OS is the only place where non native resolutions use GPU-accelerated scaling. The other operating systems just set whatever resolution you asked for and let the monitor handle it.

This seems to be excessive GPU use when simply connecting an external monitor at its native res.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#172

Post by bluedino »

There isn't anything wrong here.

One of the confusing issues is that people say, "I'm only using 15% of my CPU, the fans should not be coming on."

What they don't realize, is that using 1 core running at turbo speeds is only going to show up as 15% of the CPU, but draw enough power and create enough heat to trigger the fans!

Another thing that some of these posters are not aware of, is that running these temperature/fan speed monitoring applications can use quite a bit of power! They're drawing all these fancy graphs, the applications are usually poorly optimized. Even the Mac OS Activity Monitor is a hog in Catalina for some reason and can take 15-20% of a CPU all by itself.

And that doesn't even take into consideration all the other apps people have running. You can see in their screenshots or menu bar they have Dropbox, 3rd party wireless keyboard/mouse programs, they might have 10 things running in just their menubars! They need to look in the Activity Monitor's Power section to see what the real culprit is.

Plugging an external monitor into your MacBook will enable the dGPU and that will create more power draw, this is nothing new:

https://i.imgur.com/9KmLPMX.png

It's the workload, not the monitors you have plugged in.

I posted a picture in the MacRumors thread with 4 externals (4K, 2x1440, 1x1080) plugged into my base model 16" and it idled in the 50 degree range with no audible fan noise. Once I started streaming video and opening apps, the fans then started, as expected.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#173

Post by _bxg1 »

treyfitty wrote: post #108

To be fair, I run 2 4K monitors at 60hz and I don’t hear my fans doing normal work (Excel, Firefox, PyCharm, Jupiter Labs). I use a DisplayLink hub (idk if that matters, but I’ve heard DisplayLink is driven by CPU) However, when I watch a 1080p movie, no matter what player, on just the laptop display, the mouse cursor feels sluggish and my fans are on 50-75% at all times.

I have this happen too, on my 2014 at work. In Chrome, like clockwork, any time I watch a video that isn't on YouTube my fans spin up to the point where it's distracting. Not sure if I've had it affect my mouse cursor, though. I do have a 1080p monitor plugged in but I never have fan issues outside of watching videos.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#174

Post by bradstewart »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #33
walrus01 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had to guess they know what they're doing engineering wise, but they're taking a calculated (and poorly thought out, in my opinion) risk that a small percent of people will regularly peg the cpu at 100% usage, and they're further relying upon clock rate throttling and the cpu die thermal sensor to keep things from melting down. Or the management/product design group has overridden the input of the people who act…

That's why I buy gaming laptops for my work needs even though I don't play games. Their heatsinks are generously sized resulting in good thermals and acoustics.

I do the same thing for my personal laptops. While it certainly has a few quirks, I've found the Razer Blade to be a good balance between size and cooling performance. It is noticeably thicker than a Macbook Pro, but still light enough to carry around.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#175

Post by aquaticsunset »

mns wrote: post #129
Naomarik wrote: post #55

Been using Mac primarily since 2011 and sad to see everything keep declining with Apple's software and hardware quality. When programming an app and its backend with react native/clojure my 2015 Mac Pro gets way too hot and slow. Just built a Ryzen 3600 desktop with 32 gigs of RAM for about 1/4th the price as the cheapest 16 inch Macbook. Windows with WSL2 has been extremely good and I'm satisfied with my development…

I think you are underestimating the cost of your setup. There is no way in my opinion that you can build a decent PC with 1/4 price of a MacBook Pro. European prices might be higher, 2699 official price for base 16" (you can actually get it for 2399 from official resellers). But still 675 Eu for a proper setup is impossible. Just the CPU and RAM will cost you a bit over 300. I know you are just making a point, but it…

I mean, it's not that outlandish. It's such an apples to oranges comparison but performance for dollar is still in the "build your own desktop" side of the arena, as it's always been.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rfLcGc

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#176

Post by stouset »

missosoup wrote: post #146
selectodude wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cook has overseen just shy of 1 trillion dollars worth of growth for Apple. They routinely have quarters larger than Apple’s entire year back in 2011.

Cook is riding on the upward trajectory that was set before he took his role. Brand image carries a lot of inertia, and as a manager rather than a visionary, cook focused on getting the most use out of that pre-set trajectory while it lasted. It has run out of energy. If AR doesn't pay off, it's all downhill for Apple from Q4 this year onwards.

This argument gets more and more ridiculous as time progresses. Apple is worth nearly ten times what it was eight years ago. It’s launched a watch which has, in a few short years, overtaken the entire Swiss watch industry in revenue.

This is just another take on the tired argument that Apple is only successful because of a core group of fanboys/girls who will buy anything just because it’s Apple, despite Apple’s customer base being an order of magnitude greater today than it was back then.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#178

Post by baybal2 »

jacurtis wrote: post #150
baybal2 wrote: post #14

What can I say as a person somewhat close to electronics engineering: Look at that single skinny heat pipe, it will get saturated very fast. Second to that, look at those tiny radiators, they are clearly not capable to discharge the full heat flux. I simply don't see any signs of proper thermal engineering there. Apple says "we are listening now, and here is a new cooling design," then it comes out to be even less ad…

> if anybody wants to dish out something on an order of $1.5m to do a contract manufacturing run for a properly designed full sized laptop, give me a note. Something tells me that Apple spent more than $1.5M designing the recent MacBook Pro. It is a bit presumptuous to say "well i could do it better" when referencing an entire team of qualified electrical engineers at one of the largest corporations in the world that…

I worked in OEM electronics since 2007, and spent almost entire career in roles around manufacturing. And yes, when cookie cutter OEM laptops were making money, I did them too.

> It is a bit presumptuous to say "well i could do it better" when referencing an entire team of qualified electrical engineers at one of the largest corporations in the world that has near limitless resources.

Well, they still clearly screwed up. Challenge that.

I does not take to be a genius to understand that this scrawny cooling system could've performed much better if it had adequate heatpipe size, radiators, and air pathway optimisation.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#179

Post by comboy »

bluedino wrote: post #172

There isn't anything wrong here. One of the confusing issues is that people say, "I'm only using 15% of my CPU, the fans should not be coming on." What they don't realize, is that using 1 core running at turbo speeds is only going to show up as 15% of the CPU, but draw enough power and create enough heat to trigger the fans! Another thing that some of these posters are not aware of, is that running these temperature/…

My 2019 15" mbpro makes quite a bit of noise on login screen with nothing connected to it. It's not a made up issue. USB 2.0 devices disconnect randomly which is a no-go for musicians. Touch bar freezes. The list goes on. I'd abandon it a long time ago but music software is macs first. Plus Logic is decent. It's so sad that they don't give a damn because market takes a while to adjust.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#180

Post by fiddlerwoaroof »

logicalskeptic wrote: post #135
jmull wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the real reason is to suppress bad press. Your assertion doesn't match the plain facts though. We know Apple isn't suppressing this issue because there's a long, detailed thread about it on their own discussion site. If they wanted to try to suppress it, they would surely include that but didn't. Also, suppressing information about problems to prevent bad press can't work anyway, since Apple only controls its own l…

Have they acknowledged their keyboard issues?

Yeah, which is why this MacBook Pro line has a non-butterfly keyboard and why they went through three iteration of the butterfly keyboard before giving up on it.
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