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Any fan noise from MBP 2018 when playing 4K youtube videos in full-screen on external 4K display?
- Thread starter hajime
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The fanless model that doesn't exist?
Perhaps fan noise is so low that it can only be heard if you place your ear next to the machine? So low that even the laptop is placed in arm's distant, it cannot be heard?
My model(i9 2018 15") didn't show any fan activity when watching video, no matter whether internal or external display, or streaming to AppleTV vie Airplay.
I don't think that fan activity will depend on the model — but rather on the video codec used. If decoding doesn't utilise the specialised hardware, it will push the CPU and trigger fans as a result. I haven't noticed this at all with youtube though.
I don't think that fan activity will depend on the model — but rather on the video codec used. If decoding doesn't utilise the specialised hardware, it will push the CPU and trigger fans as a result. I haven't noticed this at all with youtube though.
Is there any merit of using Mac OS over Windows in this case? I bought a Thinkpad X1E recently. Everything was excellent except that the fan noise was driving me crazy. So I returned it.
On a Mac, yes because Apple doesn't really optimize its drivers and so you get inferior cooling, and inferior battery performance.
I thought you hated the keyboard so much that apple laptops were off your list?
By inferior battery performance, isn't the MBP 2018 battery life 10 hours?
I can use an external keyboard at home but I cannot make a noisy laptop quiet.
I think you also said you *needed* to be able to run Linux?
Fan noise may even be an issue with parallels running Windows. Not sure how successful you will be with Linux on the MBP.
Fan noise may even be an issue with parallels running Windows. Not sure how successful you will be with Linux on the MBP.
That is another issue. If I buy a MBP 2018, I will need to spend extra money to build a workstation to run Linux. I checked T480, T480s, X1 Carbon Gen 6 and X1 Yoga Gen 3.
T480: has Nvidia GPU but slower SSD at 16GB/s and slower TB3 port. Not good if I need to connect it to eGPU.
T480s: has Nvidia GPU, SSD at 32GB/s but only 1 TB3 port
X1C6 and X1Y3: 2 TB3 ports and SSD at 32GB/s but no Nvidia GPU.
If I choose X1C6 or X1Y3, I need to also build a linux workstation with Nvidia GPU to run CUDA applications. Not sure if eGPU under Linux will work on these machines. So, they are just cheaper with more advanced hardware. I think the MBP 2018 has higher res screen and longer battery life. If it has no fan noise even when playing 4K videos in full screen on an external 4K display and no fan noise when doing CAD, I need to reconsider it again.
My answer is yes, on all models. The reason is very simple actually - YouTube 4K is only supported on Chrome, which as we know is a resource hog on the Mac.
Here’s a sample from my 2017 nTB. It will set the processor on Turbo Boost right away and keep it there. Throw a 4K monitor in there and the fans will surely run throughout the video. Downloaded files playing on iTunes or QuickTime, airplay, H265 etc. are another story entirely though. I don’t think things would change too much for the 2018s.
My answer is yes, on all models. The reason is very simple actually - YouTube 4K is only supported on Chrome, which as we know is a resource hog on the Mac.
Here’s a sample from my 2017 nTB. It will set the processor on Turbo Boost right away and keep it there. Throw a 4K monitor in there and the fans will surely run throughout the video. Downloaded files playing on iTunes or QuickTime, airplay, H265 etc. are another story entirely though. I don’t think things would change too much for the 2018s.
Watching this kind of relaxing videos on a 49" 4K tv is very very nice but the noisy fans of my ex-X1E caused stress insted. If I just get a mini or Apple TV, will I experience noisy fan?
Apple TV won't make any noise while watching 4K videos, nor will Roku. Neither will a smart TV with Chromecast or WebOS or the like.
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The issue is that youtube only serves 4k videos in vp9 codec, which apple does not provide hardware decode support for ( despite the processors being capable of it ) so chrome has to software decode, which will basically gaurantee to tax cpu enough to ramp fans up.
It's possibly that under windows where hardware support should be available it could remain cool enough to maintain fans at low rpm.
It's possibly that under windows where hardware support should be available it could remain cool enough to maintain fans at low rpm.
I tried Chrome, Firebox and Edge under Windows 10 but the fans were spinning at aroudn 2500 rpm to create noise.
Sounds like a slight shame, might just mean that dgpu being active is one step too far for completely idle fan speed then.
My laptop has a 4K screen. I wonder if driving two 4K screens caused the heat and noisy fans. Could getting a configuration with FHD screen be better?