2015 15" MBP - Fans often on

One thing I noticed is that when running BootCamp (windows) the fans came on far less than they did with the Mac OS. I can only assume this is due to the fan speed to heat ratio is different in windows that it is in the Mac OS. This may change with 10.11. I personally don't think 10.10 was optimized all that well. People have complained about sluggish graphical performance in just OS actions and windows. Its probably using more GPU and CPU power than it should.
 
I noticed the 2015's fans kick on much more quickly and at lower operating temps than previous model years. This is a good thing. Those laptops got way too hot for comfort, and now I can actually use my laptop on my lap.
 
bds120 said:
I too will agree. I would not expect them to come on this much but they do. As soon as my MBP his 150F they kick on.

Pretty surprised actually.
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150F is actually decently hot for a CPU. I'd expect cooling to really begin around there. The max temperature of a CPU is really about 200F (and that's when it actually turns off due to overheating) so I'd definitely expect fans to start spinning up around 150-160, and go into overdrive around 170-180.
 
mlsusa said:
Yes, fans don't speed up as much as Safari. I'm in the process of weaning myself off Chrome and primarily using Safari but haven't gotten there yet. Plus the other times the fans have gotten loud weren't when I was using Chrome.

I have the one with a 2.8 ghz CPU and AMD dGPU.
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Switching to safari that fixed it for me. I have the same model as you.
 
So what's the general conclusion? All new mid-2015 15-inch Macbook Pro with dGPU have fans/noise issue? Because in some professional reviews they stressed that there is no more noise or heat than from previous generation...
 
Aye, I didn't see this thread and posted my own...
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...config-with-fan-issues.1890227/#post-21418546

But yea, I'm getting this problem. Just paste over from the other thread:

So I first noticed the fans kicking up to max turbo speed when just going around in 3D maps with the CPUs pretty much with no load on them. So it might be relative to the graphics card, but then this weirdness happens...

The fans kickup during boot. So just turning the machine on and booting and the fans spin up. After the machine finishes the boot, maybe about 1 minute later in the finder, they finally spin down.

My 13" rMBP (2013) never kicks up doing similar things. The only thing to note is I used Migration assistant on my Mac Pro (2010) to create my account on the new 15 mac book and wonder if there might be some account cruft that might be causing this effect?

Any ideas on this. Anyone else experiencing very quick-to-fan bursts on their new 15"? I'm probably going to take this back to apple but was hoping to get some feedback/insight from the collective brain trust.
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and this bit...

Thanks so much Queen6. But my partners each have the same [15"] model, just the 2013 edition. All three maxed out. In the same apartment, running the exact same software, their machines do not exhibit this fan issue.

Further, unless I'm in death valley or someplace extremely hot, there should never be a situation where just booting causes the fans to kick up, IMO.
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I'm starting to suspect this is a problem with the model and and not just my laptop. Since the 2013 15" rMBP doesnt exhibit this behavior under similar circumstances, I'm starting to think it's time to ask for a refund. It's highly unpleasant and nuts that the fans should kick up just from booting...
 
BTW, for me even running the apple diagnostic test makes the fans kick up (after the obvious left/right fan test) my fans just start up slow and then go to full wind towards end of the test.

Here's how you run diagnostics on your mac:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202731

Diagnostics report no problem, but by the time I go to restart the mac and as it reboots, the machine is at full gail.

Really bummed out.
 
I have the same issue. My fans kick on when I boot into the OS. My old 2013 rMBP with DGPU never did that, but this one does. I don't use Chrome, and this was while it was on the integrated GPU.
 
ECJ said:
I have the same issue. My fans kick on when I boot into the OS. My old 2013 rMBP with DGPU never did that, but this one does. I don't use Chrome, and this was while it was on the integrated GPU.
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Its the OS. Bootcamp (Windows) does not do this. Just wait for 10.11 that will be announced tomorrow and will probably come out with in a month, or less, and pray that it will be optimized much better than 10.10
 
Again, don't think this is an issue with all machines. My machine runs cool and the fans rarely spin up, only when i'm doing intensive stuff in Lightroom or FCP. When just browsing in safari with things like tweetbot, imessage, mailbox running it's silent and very cool.
 
mlsusa said:
For me the heat's not the problem, the battery is. I'm seeing 10-15% drops in a half hour even if I'm not doing heavyweight tasks. Just surfing the web on Safari and keeping Mail on and reading and writing emails. Can't say for sure if it's related to the overactive fans, but seems like there's something funky with this unit. I've also done the SMC reset and no difference. I have a Genius Bar appointment this week and will keep an eye on the battery and fans until then. If things don't get better I'm bringing it in and if they say they don't see any problems I'll decide then if I'll ask for a replacement or just return it.
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I'm seeing much worse battery life too. Let me know what they say about the battery.

Between the fans, battery, and force touch issues (phantom clicks, and no clicks at all), this 'upgrade' has been pretty rough.
 
Kal-037 said:
I had to do the same, I reset SMC and whatnot. My MBP actually got so hot the keyboard felt like an oven when I hovered my hands over it. I called Apple and did what I could but ultimately the fans kept whirling on and the system got super hot way fast so I am exchanging it. If the next one does the same I'll be returning it for good and waiting for the next MBP to hopefully have this issue fixed. It's one thing to have the fans turned on when necessary, but they whizzed on just from watching some YouTube and then surfing safari. Other times they whirled up like crazy just because I resized a large image. I closed out of the program and it still was going super loud and warm.
I still think this MBP is a good update in general terms, but the fans definitely are making me ticked that Apple didn't get this sorted out before mass production of these.
I am not going to be happy if the replacement does the same thing, I don't want to have to wait for the next MBP and take the chance that they remove the I/O ports or change the keyboard size (I doubt they will) but Apple never does things one would expect. :/





Kal.
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No fan issues on my 2015 15" MBP w/ dGPU. I mostly use Adobe Illustrator, Spotify, Email, and Safari and have only had the fan audible a couple of times (rendering w/ After Effects).

I hope your replacement fixes it!
 
MallardDuck said:
I'm seeing much worse battery life too. Let me know what they say about the battery.

Between the fans, battery, and force touch issues (phantom clicks, and no clicks at all), this 'upgrade' has been pretty rough.
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Yeeeah, about that, sorry but I decided to forgo the Genius Bar. As much as I'd like to find out what's going on here, the more I thought about it I realized one way or another I'm going to return this unit and ask for a new one and hope it's better. (Or possibly just return it if I get any kind of hassle.)

Either the tech will find that there's actually a problem at which point I'd need to get this repaired or maybe they'll swap it out with a refurb. For something I've only had a few days I'd prefer not to have something that's been opened up and fiddled with and I definitely don't want a previously owned unit, as solid as it may possibly be. If they don't find a problem, which is more likely what's going to happen, then I'd prefer not to hold on to something that I'm not completely satisfied with.

It will be quite the disappointment if I had to return this or the potential replacement unit. The performance in general, hardware build, and user experience is fantastic. But the fans and the subpar battery performance is too much for me, personally, to overlook.
 
I have just purchased my first Mac (now on day 3), its an rMBP 15" with dGPU, 2.8GHz CPU bump and 512SSD (mid 2015 model). Overall I am liking the new machine, however I was very surprised when running a 3 minute youtube video (720p) through safari that the fans came on and stay on for some time. I would understand this is I was doing video editing or some other high intensive graphical task or had lots of programs open.

I will do more testing but I am very surprised and slightly disappointed by this. I bought through a local Apple re-seller (not an apple store as we don't have one) and I have no option to return what is now a used item.
 
rozel3 said:
I have just purchased my first Mac (now on day 3), its an rMBP 15" with dGPU, 2.8GHz CPU bump and 512SSD (mid 2015 model). Overall I am liking the new machine, however I was very surprised when running a 3 minute youtube video (720p) through safari that the fans came on and stay on for some time. I would understand this is I was doing video editing or some other high intensive graphical task or had lots of programs open.

I will do more testing but I am very surprised and slightly disappointed by this. I bought through a local Apple re-seller (not an apple store as we don't have one) and I have no option to return what is now a used item.
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Are you using Flash?

Q-6
 
I got mine a few days ago and have absolutely no complaints. Runs really well and the fan has only come on during gaming for me.
 
What's the ambient temperature like? If you are using your device in a rather warm environment, you are not giving it too much "moving space" as far as the operating temperature(s) go.
 
In my case the fans revved up in all the places I used it. This included a wide open desk where it was sitting flat on the surface and had no obstructions anywhere. Until today the temperatures have been mild... maybe in the low to mid 70s F. In other words normal conditions.
 
rozel3 said:
Hi

I've not installed flash, does it come pre-installed? Should I be using Flash or HTML5?
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HTML5, Flash will drive up system temperature. Being a owner & user of the 15" MacBook Pro forever; Over the years the 15" has frequently struggled with it`s thermals, especially when an external display is connected as the dGPU switches on as default, internal temperatures soar;
  • Elevate the rear, aluminium passive coolers generally work best (I use RainDesign`s mStand & iLap)
  • Increase base fan RPM to 3K or as much as you are comfortable with (MacsFanControl or SMC Fan Control)
  • Swap out Chrome for Chrome Canary as it`s way more optimised for OS X and will extend battery run time, reduce thermals
  • Swap out VLC for Movist as again it`s a reduced load on CPU/GPU
  • Uninstall or block Flash
  • Powered coolers are very much a "mixed bag" when it comes to Mac portables, you need one that has a high capacity (100 CFM minimum) and preferably a large single fan, this can help to keep the 15" internal fans below 4K which for many is good enough as often it`s this point and beyond where the fans become intrusive. Don't expect a powered cooler impact internal temperatures, beyond a couple of degrees
  • Cleaning the cooling system of older machines is also an option, depending on which year, the complexity varies. A good an indication as any is the environment.
  • Replacing the thermal paste has been hit & miss, some with very positive results, some with no improvement over stock. Personally I would only do this on a Mac Portable that was either very old, or one that I can confirm was definitely running hotter than stock.
The key to a quiet life with a 15" MacBook Pro is several incremental changes that add up to reduce temperature. From my experience over the years if your going to push a 15" hard the fans are going to max out fast, with associated noise. If your using it with a moderate load life can be made cooler & quieter. For the most part the 15" MBP runs hot as that`s how Apple designed it, the trade of for form over, function, thin & light...

The old adage still applies; it`s easier to keep a system cool, than cool-down an already hot machine. This being said it`s not strictly necessary, equally it`s nice to know that there are options for reducing temperature out there :apple: My own 2014 13" rarely if ever heats up or spools up the fan. Remember if your running 10.11 its Beta, so it may impact the thermals of the system.

More on cooling
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cooling-pad-for-rmpb.1493580/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cooling-pad-for-rmpb.1493580/

Q-6
 
mlsusa said:
Yeeeah, about that, sorry but I decided to forgo the Genius Bar. As much as I'd like to find out what's going on here, the more I thought about it I realized one way or another I'm going to return this unit and ask for a new one and hope it's better. (Or possibly just return it if I get any kind of hassle.)

Either the tech will find that there's actually a problem at which point I'd need to get this repaired or maybe they'll swap it out with a refurb. For something I've only had a few days I'd prefer not to have something that's been opened up and fiddled with and I definitely don't want a previously owned unit, as solid as it may possibly be. If they don't find a problem, which is more likely what's going to happen, then I'd prefer not to hold on to something that I'm not completely satisfied with.

It will be quite the disappointment if I had to return this or the potential replacement unit. The performance in general, hardware build, and user experience is fantastic. But the fans and the subpar battery performance is too much for me, personally, to overlook.
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Just to update in case anyone's interested, I finally got around to getting a replacement unit. I'm using it as we speak and maybe it's just the placebo effect but the fans don't seem as loud even when at the 5k MPH level. They're loud but not as distracting as my previous unit, which at 5k you could hear throughout our home. (It's a tiny place but still.)

I've connected it to my iMac to use it as a target display and the fans are whisper quiet at 2.5k MPH. The fans do rev up to around 6.5k and get loud when using Photos. Checking Activity Monitor that may be more to do with Photo's high CPU usage -- which was around 200% the whole time -- rather than its requiring the dGPU.

The jury's still out regarding the battery since I've been very busy setting this up from scratch so usage is high. I frankly don't buy that restoring from a Time Machine or some other kind of backup would make a difference that would adversely affect how the unit operates. But I went with a fresh install anyway just to eliminate that as a suspect. All I know is the previous unit I had, one night with only light surfing and doing some emailing, I used up 50% of my battery in about 2.5 hours. That's way below the "up to 9 hours" estimate even if it has all the fine print about how that was calculated.
 
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