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MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

discussions.apple.com

31–40 of 311 posts

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#31

I was planning to buy MacBook 16-inch as I am still on 2014 edition which in my view were one of the best MacBooks. I simply hate that unnecessary Touch Bar, was hoping Apple will remove it but didn’t. Thought then of getting 16-inch as they have an esc key. Waiting for this kind of review, I will put on hold purchasing it until get a clarity on fan noise. My current old MacBook fan do make some noise but only under…

I moved from 2014 15" (i7) to 16" (i9). It is an upgrade, but not by much... The touch bar gets in the way, but I use external keyboardS 90% of the time, so it isn't that big of problem. I would have gladly payed extra for F-keys. The larger track-pad also gets in my way often. Fan noise is significant compared to the old model. USB-C-only is quite annoying. I never missed a port on the 15", whereas now ... well... I…

My 2014 13” i5 broke last year after a drop so I bought a 2019 6 core 15”. I was pretty surprised that the performance of the new device isn’t really that much better. And the hardware feels worse. I think they should go back to the 2015 form factor, maybe replace some USB-A with C but otherwise leave it.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#32
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 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…

> relying upon clock rate throttling and the cpu die thermal sensor to keep things from melting down

Seems like that wasn't working fully, since they report having GPU issues after stress testing the computer (external GPU worked fine). And that is worrying. Is the thermal stress shutdown from OS, or onboard the GPU/CPU?

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#33
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 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.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#34
post #21

Cook is a complete businessman, best at cutting costs, increasing profits and attracting customers to buy more. Don't forget that memory began to weld on the motherboard because this can only be replaced and not upgraded. He was a businessman, not an engineer or a designer, and that was the beginning of apple's decline.

What metric are you using to point to Apple's decline since Tim Cook came into the company? Product lines, revenue, customers, market cap, employees, daily client interactions, brand value, customer satisfaction?

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#35
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…

> Apple says "we are listening now, and here is a new cooling design,"

They also keep at "oh, look how thin it is" even though the vast majority of people stopped caring 5-7 years ago. Make it thicker, but with better cooling, better storage, better GPUs etc.

Worse still, they do it across the line. "We painted ourselves into a thermal corner with MacPro" says Apple and keeps releasing iMacs (and iMacs Pro) with sealed aluminum enclosures, and making them thinner and thinner.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#36
post #4

The thermal design of Macbook pros just isn't adequate for >4 core high clock speed CPUs, especially with a discrete GPU thrown in the mix too. I had one of those i9 2018 MBPros and it was always super hot. Much happier now with a 13" 4 core MBpro, it runs quite cool and without any fan noise most of the time. Built a separate AMD 3900x PC with an Nvidia GPU for heavy lifting, and can use that remotely with the MBpro…

I wish someone would publish a guide for MacBooks based on palm rest idle temperature, having a hot sweaty palmrest (especially in warmer climates) bugs me more than having a bit of fan noise and if it was clear and transparent maybe Apple would design better thermal solutions.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#37
post #21

Cook is a complete businessman, best at cutting costs, increasing profits and attracting customers to buy more. Don't forget that memory began to weld on the motherboard because this can only be replaced and not upgraded. He was a businessman, not an engineer or a designer, and that was the beginning of apple's decline.

This cliched argument is quite ironic and insane. A leader doesn't have to be visionary all the time. Just last week there was a news about Apple selling more Watches than the entire Swiss industry and no one would talk about Cook there but when things go wrong, we forget that it's someone in QA or Product but all the blame goes to how Cook isn't a Product guy.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#38

I was planning to buy MacBook 16-inch as I am still on 2014 edition which in my view were one of the best MacBooks. I simply hate that unnecessary Touch Bar, was hoping Apple will remove it but didn’t. Thought then of getting 16-inch as they have an esc key. Waiting for this kind of review, I will put on hold purchasing it until get a clarity on fan noise. My current old MacBook fan do make some noise but only under…

I went from late 2013 13 inch to the 2016 16 inch (maxed everything but the graphics). I also hate the touchbar. Things like volume control that used to be a tap away are now hidden in sub screens. You can switch it to only function keys but they are missing the icons for volume etc and you can't touch feel where the buttons are so I have left it in full touchbar mode. Some functions of it are actually quite cool but…

You can tweak the touch bar to put e.g. volume control on the 'home screen' if you prefer; it's hard to find though, it's under Keyboard, then the Customize Control Strip button at the bottom.

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#39
I have an issue with an external monitor, confirmed with multiple users on MacRumors forums [1], that looks like a software bug.

When using opened Macbook with an external screen power usage by discrete GPU is not less 19W almost no matter what (resolution, screen size, etc.).

In my case, with new LG 5K, GPU power usage in clamshell mode is near 5W and with the lid open – 19.5W (and the laptop is too noisy to be usable as an additional screen).

[1] https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/16-is-hot-noisy-with-an...

Re: MacBook 16-inch Fan Noise (2019)

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it be a pun to call a fan revolutionary?

Haha. I guess all fans are revolutionary then. But this one is is comes with extra revolution for every USB-C port you use.

Makes me wonder if there's technology for fanless fans, moving air without spinning fans.
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