Hello, before and when laptops (including the MBP) just became available, we all longed for one with 8th gen CPU with more cores and possibly better battery life. However, we now know that unless we go for laptops of over 2kg, we experience heat and other thermal issues. Battery life for some laptops with 8th gen CPUs also do not seem to be impressive. So, I wonder if it is a blessing or a curse. I wonder if I should even choose laptops that has 7th gen CPUs.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Are laptops with 8th gen Intel CPUs a blessing or a curse?
- Thread starter hajime
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
We experience? I can say that I'm not experiencing heat, or other thermal issues. Battery life if phenomenal and performance is through the roof.
Neither, they are a tool to accomplish work. The MBP will either fit your needs or it won't. If it doesn't, then find another laptop (or desktop) that does.
I'm pretty sure you'll not be choosing any laptop in the near future. You seem stuck in analysis paralysis. All I can say buy a laptop and enjoy the machine. Nothing is perfect, so don't sweat the small stuff. For instance, if you bought a 2018 MBP when they were announced, you'll be enjoying it right now, instead of wondering what to do.
Good luck
Everything is a trade off. Work out what you want to prioritise, and thus work out a conclusion.
And no, 8th gen CPU is not a curse. TDP stayed the same and we got pretty damn good performance bump.
And no, 8th gen CPU is not a curse. TDP stayed the same and we got pretty damn good performance bump.
I would have to echo this. Using a 2018 2.9 i9 with Handbrake - runs at 87-90% CPU utilisation at a constant 3.2 Ghz and around 96 degrees. I've not run it harder but Handbrake is great at using the additional cores. I don't see any problem with this and the 2 additional cores of the 8th gen are being put to good use.
Thanks for sharing. Does the fan get noisy? How hot is the laptop when doing it?
The fans spin up and are audible of course, but they're not intrusive. I will likely have a look at Macs Fans Control and see if I can get the RPM's off. The laptop only gets hot around the top edge between Touch Bar and screen i.e. where the login board is. Keyboard and trackpad don't get warm.
I don't think I have a peculiar device here. I just don't get the whole "MacBook Pro thermals are terrible!" perspective, as mine doesn't seem bad at all.
Source is 1920P 50 fps HEVC MP4 file outputting to 720P 25 fps HEVC/X.265
Last edited:
Thanks. How about the heat level at the bottom? I use public transportation often (4 hours/day) so I care about the heat at the bottom of the laptop.
You care about heat on laptop, or do you care about weight? Because I can guarantee something 3-4x the weight of MBP has better thermals and won't make your knees hot.
But your knees may get bothered by the weight.
Another angle: you NEED laptop, yet you're aware that a desktop rig with water cooling CANNOT be beaten in terms of thermals, on any laptop.
Everything is a trade-off.
Similar experience here with a new top-spec MBP. I use virtual machines frequently; they are core hogs and RAM-hungry. The new machine is significantly smoother and more responsive than the previous top-spec MBP. The user experience when being pounded is remarkably more refined.
All this nay-saying about thermal this and throttle that is not based on real power-user experience, that much is very clear.
As to Thinkpad vs. Mac, my only comment is that I came to my MBP from a Thinkpad. Those aren't what they once were, unfortunately.
This makes me happy to hear, as I am waiting for an iMac update to do just that. Obviously mileage might vary, but this is a bright star in a rather dull sky right now.
Not sure what your use cases are, but in normal use it won't get hot. I tried the Handbrake test today on train and you can feel the heat coming out the back on your knees/lower thigh area. Noticeable but not uncomfortable. But that is quite extreme.
Solidity, build quality, lack of factory-installed bloatware, reliability, keyboard and trackpad quality, and my own experience.
That last point has been very sore with HP, Dell and to a somewhat lesser extent Lenovo. I would never, ever buy another HP or Dell and would be reluctant to consider ThinkPad again, as they command a premium price without offering premium experience, reliability, service/support or longevity, anymore based on my last two examples.
I've had surprisingly good luck with an inexpensive Acer Swift 3. Nicely constructed, good keyboard, decent screen, passable trackpad (but nothing as good as a Mac's), excellent value. It came with not a lot of bloatware and what there is can be easily removed. If I had to purchase another PC laptop I'd go straight to Acer at the moment.
I would not recommend getting MAcs Fan Control to slow the fans down. The fan profile on the MAcs are fairly laid back in terms of how fast they spin up anyways. That is many other computer makers spin up their fans sooner and faster then the Macs. Slowing them down with temps already in the high 90s will only make the heat worse.
I would instead look at using the Volta app, you can under-volt and/or throttle the wattage. The downside, of course is performance but you may find a balance of good performance and heat.
Ah apologies for the misunderstanding. I only installed Macs Fans Controls to be able to get the fan RPM's displayed in response to the OP's query. I agree in not fiddling with the standard fan behaviour.
Go to hear that. I recall that few years ago, a man in the UK got his pen*s burnt due to his hot laptop.
Don't get me wrong, I use that app myself. I set up a profile that makes them a bit more aggressive, i.e., spin up faster when the temps hit 60c and then go full bore at 80c.
It is great to get updated hardware. It would be nice if Apple had better engineering. I have a suspicion that these new models will have heat death issues like many of Apple’s 15” MBPs in the past... except now you can’t remove storage. But yeah, more cores is awesome!
I think Intel is just as guilty here as these aren't really 45 watt chips...
This is similar to Intel's Emergency Edition Pentiums that they tried to use to counter AMD back in the day and they're now just repeating history. The 6 core chips do work, they're just not performing to their full potential in the MBP. Only a few gaming laptops in the 6+ lbs. range are able to do that. True high performance 6 core laptop CPU's that would work in a thin chassis are still a couple of years away in the 10nm or smaller process...
I think you're mistaken. Previously, the CPUs were 35W. MBPs struggled with that too.
The i9 part is 45W officially, but it can be set to 35W by the vendor. Since Apple doesn't tell us what they use exactly, we can't even be certain they are rolling at 35W.
A bump from 35 to 45W makes a 28% on an already struggling chassis.
8th generation Intel i-series CPU