Does the 2019 MBP 16” suffer from any issues?

[tothemoonsands]

A max 16” MBP is a very expensive device. Even if it is not fully maxed, still expensive. I’ve read about many different issues on here. Sound popping, WiFi problems, kernel panics, overheating, etc.

Have these issues all be resolved at this point? Which issues remain?

 

[chabig]

You shouldn’t expect any “issues”. Each machine is different, and the warranty exists to protect you from the rare problem.

 

[tothemoonsands]

You shouldn’t expect any “issues”. Each machine is different, and the warranty exists to protect you from the rare problem.

Agreed, but I've read about so many problems here. Of course, people will seek help on forums like MacRumors when things go wrong (and don't when there is nothing wrong), so any problems that occur often appear more severe than they really are....

However, my last experience with a MBP was a 2017 16" which suffered from popping sounds (not speaker related, but the actual unibody aluminum), and some other quirks like that.

Sure, warranty exists to protect from problems, but sometimes there are true design defects that persist even after receiving a replacement. I am trying to save myself the trouble of going through all of that. Right now I am weighing the 2019 16" versus the 2020 13".

 

[SuperMatt]

No problems so far with mine (knock on wood)... screen looks great, keyboard feels nice - go for it!

 

[throAU]

Right now I am weighing the 2019 16" versus the 2020 13".

Wait until 2020 13" Pro comes out, Apple stores open, and go test both back to back.

I have seen some reports that the 16" has coil whine whereas the person's previous 15" did not, but one person whinging isn't indicative of a model-wide fault...

 

[cp1160]

A max 16” MBP is a very expensive device. Even if it is not fully maxed, still expensive. I’ve read about many different issues on here. Sound popping, WiFi problems, kernel panics, overheating, etc.

Have these issues all be resolved at this point? Which issues remain?

Well. I'have had mine since they came out, getting one of the first units. I have had no complaints with it so far, and would not say I have had any nagging issues that bother me, other than I really do not like the Touch Bar (and I have two of laptops with them, and on my 13 in MBP I deplore the Touch Bar...my reason is I tend to drag a finger high up on the keyboard, so I am always exiting what I am doing, etc. I wish you could just turn it off when in some programs, but alas no...

My unit is a 2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 2 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 with a 2 TB HD. For what I paid, it should have very few to no issues, and so far none. The only issue I might have is if I connect to an external monitor, many report it runs hot. Don't do that now, so I don't have an issue.

The keyboard is so nice compared to the keyboard desert we have been in. Still not as good as the keyboard on my MacBook Pro 17 or my MacBoo Pro 15 Retina 2011, but not so bad. Better feel, quieter, etc. Thanks for that.

They are bound to start having some price reductions on them soon I would think. It's been a nice upgrade for my photo editing and video editing. Not like a iMac Pro but not bad.

 

[MrGimper]

Had mine for a few days and love it. Came from a mid 2014 13”. No issues so far and I’ve been running multi-core vms with big workloads on it, doing basics, gpu-switching and no issues. Only scare I had was 89% battery health out the box, but with a few recharge cycles it’s up to 98-99%

 

[emraha06]

No problems so far with mine (knock on wood)... screen looks great, keyboard feels nice - go for it!

screen is great while you are looking to wallpaper but when you start move sth on desktop like scrolling a page, all pixels get crazy smear blurry because of 60hz ultra slow pixelresponse time

 

[bill-p]

I got a new 16" that came with 10.15.4 out of the box. So...

1. No speaker popping. There's a bit of a barely audible "tick" sound when stopping and starting videos on Youtube rapidly, while using the built-in speaker or headphone out port. I use a separate USB DAC to connect to my speakers and I don't hear this "tick" so it probably just affects the internal sound board in this one specific situation. Not sure if it's even an "issue" because I don't rapidly play and then pause my Youtube videos all the dang time like that. But it's there.

2. No WIFI problem. I get signal while I'm in the backyard, where most other devices don't even see the WIFI network at all.

3. No kernel panics. It's been 9 days since I last restarted the MacBook, and it's been plugged into my Thunderbolt 3 monitor. It doesn't wake up randomly nor does it kernel panic when it wakes up.

4. No overheating. There was one instance where I played around with Macs Fan Control in Bootcamp and that messed up fan profile even for Mac OS. The fans would go full blast as soon as the OS boots up. It seemed like the sensors were busted and kept reporting sky high temps. CPU stuck at 0.7GHz indefinitely. Took 4 SMC resets to clear. Now I know to steer clear of all 3rd party apps that try to control the fan profiles or otherwise. Do not listen to these folks telling you that you need these apps for your Bootcamp install. It's not worth the hassle. Now the computer runs cool and nice and can sustain >3GHz speed even when I'm stressing the GPU.

5. External display issue is real. If you open the lid while connected to an external monitor, the GPU uses more power. Overall, it just makes the machine slightly warmer to me, as opposed to causing undue fan noise or heat. Closing the lid fixes this. I've tried this with both my Thunderbolt 3 monitor and a USB-C monitor. Confirmed power consumption via iStat. If you use a 3rd party Thunderbolt 3 dock that's not compatible, I think that will cause issues. TL;DR: just close your lid when connected to an external monitor.

6. Screen is good/okay. Yes, I know a display with better response time will look cleaner, but I feel this issue is overblown. Most of my workflow is literally just staring at a static screen. I read texts, I write code, I post process static photos, I listen to music with static album arts, and when I watch a movie, I don't give a damn if it's a bit more blurry when things are moving. I don't try to read things while scrolling, either. The 16" MacBook screen is far from being the worst in the market. In fact, color accuracy is far better than the other stuffs. I would trade response time for color accuracy any day.

 

[Salomonander]

Depends on what you want to use it for. Want to use it with external screens? Stay away! Want to use it for music production - stay away! I only know about music production since this is what i do for a living. It might be great for doing graphic work.... dont know.
there is a 1200+ post thread concerning the fan issues and apple just dont give... they rather release some macpro wheels at 850€.

 

[bomby0]

I want to second the if you plan to use an external monitor run away! The fan noise is super annoying and I doubt it'll ever get fixed by Apple.

 

[esphil]

Why would people not expect for the system to use more power with the laptop lid open plus a external screen? I have mine on the way, and personally generally use it with the lid closed for desk space. If it has to drive the full retina screen resolution plus a external, I would expect for it to use more power.

 

[triangletechie]

The most negative comments I read about the 16" model is the screen can smear. For a machine that costs a min. of $2400 from Apple, shouldn't the display be flawless?

 

[bill-p]

Why would people not expect for the system to use more power with the laptop lid open plus a external screen? I have mine on the way, and personally generally use it with the lid closed for desk space. If it has to drive the full retina screen resolution plus a external, I would expect for it to use more power.

You can daisy chain a 5K + 4K screen with the lid closed and the GPU still won't break past 7-8W usage at idle. I've tried that and confirmed that the GPU can indeed idle even when it's displaying two high resolution screens.

But even a 1080p display with the lid open and the GPU is forced to constantly stay at 18-20W. This is what people are complaining about. I agree it is a legitimate issue.

It's funny, though. People say the screen is bad... that it's blurry and the response time is horrible, and yet they absolutely need to have that screen open plus an external monitor.

 

[jonnyr78]

@triangletechie: No display is perfect, even at these prices, the MPB display does have relatively high ghosting, but it's uniformity and backlight bleed is good for an LCD (in my experiecne) and the gamut/calibration is good as well. There are technically better displays but they are a lottery as well; OLED grey blotches (I have an OLED TV and it is great, but grey-scale is a permanent weakness you live with as a TV), backlight bleed (I have seen two Thinkad Extremes with the Dolby Vision displays that have backlight bleed), etc.

 

[esphil]

You can daisy chain a 5K + 4K screen with the lid closed and the GPU still won't break past 7-8W usage at idle. I've tried that and confirmed that the GPU can indeed idle even when it's displaying two high resolution screens.

But even a 1080p display with the lid open and the GPU is forced to constantly stay at 18-20W. This is what people are complaining about. I agree it is a legitimate issue.

It's funny, though. People say the screen is bad... that it's blurry and the response time is horrible, and yet they absolutely need to have that screen open plus an external monitor.

Good to know, I'll have to see how it works with my workflow. I use a 34" ultrawide screen. That wattage use is really only a issue if you are maxing out the CPU right?

 

[bill-p]

Good to know, I'll have to see how it works with my workflow. I use a 34" ultrawide screen. That wattage use is really only a issue if you are maxing out the CPU right?

Well, it depends. The GPU always eating up 20W means you need at least 100W power delivery in order to be able to max out the CPU. If the GPU was idling at 5W until it's needed, you can get by with 85W power delivery. That's the situation with my LG 34WK95U. I don't plug in the 100W charger unless I need to. The MacBook and the monitor is a one-cable solution. If I exceed 85W power delivery then... the battery gets drained pretty rapidly.

But from my experience, power delivery is just one part of the equation.

The maximum thermal profile for the 16" MacBook seems to be about 90W for prolonged use. It doesn't seem like it can exceed that power consumption for too long (approx. 5-10 minutes?) before the CPU and GPU are scaled down. So if the GPU is constantly at 20W power consumption, that means you only have a headroom of about 70W max for the CPU. It's less flexible overall. From my experience, 70W translates to about 2.4 - 2.7GHz on all cores, or barely any Turbo Boost at all. 80-85W is about 3.0 to 3.2GHz and often translates to 30-40% better overall processing times.

So in short, if you just run the MacBook by itself (no monitor attached) or in clamshell mode, you gain 30% more CPU performance overall, compared to running with the lid open.

I think it is a legitimate issue with the 16" MacBook. My use case skirts around it but for others, I agree it's very annoying to lose 30% CPU performance like that.

 

[SuperMatt]

screen is great while you are looking to wallpaper but when you start move sth on desktop like scrolling a page, all pixels get crazy smear blurry because of 60hz ultra slow pixelresponse time

WTF? There is no smearing on my screen. It's a 60Hz display. So is pretty much everything with the exception of newer iPads and some high-end TVs and gaming laptops. Even the "120 Hz" TVs are faking it most of the time anyway. People on the "120Hz or die" train remind me of the audiophiles who insist on buying massively overpriced sound components because they "swear" they can hear the infinitesimal differences.

How many frames per second can the human eye really see?

30 fps? 60 fps? If you've ever debated framerates, the cognitive researchers we spoke to have some complex answers for you.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[achandlerwhite]

SuperMatt, the issue is the some pixels retain color too long so as you scroll new pixels do turn on at 60fps, but the old ones aren't turning off at 60fps.. instead they take several frames to fully adjust and it looks like smearing.

It's not on all screens. The tone of your post is misguided.

 

[involuntarheely]

WTF? There is no smearing on my screen. It's a 60Hz display. So is pretty much everything with the exception of newer iPads and some high-end TVs and gaming laptops. Even the "120 Hz" TVs are faking it most of the time anyway. People on the "120Hz or die" train remind me of the audiophiles who insist on buying massively overpriced sound components because they "swear" they can hear the infinitesimal differences.

How many frames per second can the human eye really see?

30 fps? 60 fps? If you've ever debated framerates, the cognitive researchers we spoke to have some complex answers for you.

www.pcgamer.com

there's a huge difference between a 60hz and a 120hz or 144hz screen. there are certainly diminishing returns, but 60hz is by no means at the top of the curve.

this is by no means similar to the audiophiles analogy that you suggest, as a large majority of people would certainly pass a blind test when presented with a 120hz vs a 60hz screen, but very few would pass a similar test of "audiophile" gear vs "just good" gear.

 

[Hieveryone]

Mine didn’t have any issues except the screen was yellow dull which I didn’t really like. I think that may be normal though.

other than that it was awesome no issues. I returned it though bc of the screen

 

[SuperMatt]

SuperMatt, the issue is the some pixels retain color too long so as you scroll new pixels do turn on at 60fps, but the old ones aren't turning off at 60fps.. instead they take several frames to fully adjust and it looks like smearing.

It's not on all screens. The tone of your post is misguided.

Perhaps the tone was misguided, perhaps because of the post I replied to. “all pixels get crazy smear blurry because of 60hz ultra slow pixelresponse time” isn’t really the case. I overstepped in response to that. My apologies.
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Mine didn’t have any issues except the screen was yellow dull which I didn’t really like. I think that may be normal though.

other than that it was awesome no issues. I returned it though bc of the screen

Did you adjust the True Tone settings or try turning that feature off?

 

[ScreenSavers]

No issues with mine. The speaker popping (software issue) was annoying but that has since been fixed with mine.

 

[achandlerwhite]

Supermatt, you are right the original post was a little excessive as well.

 

[rhashem]

Why would people not expect for the system to use more power with the laptop lid open plus a external screen? I have mine on the way, and personally generally use it with the lid closed for desk space. If it has to drive the full retina screen resolution plus a external, I would expect for it to use more power.

The problem is not just that it uses more power with an external screen, but that there is clearly a bug in how the external screen is handled. On my 2019 16”, just connecting to a 2560x1440 external monitor, even with the lid closed, causes the GPU power usage to increase to 20W at idle. But reducing the refresh rate a tiny bit from 60 Hz to 57 Hz causes that to go down to 5W. Even running some light WebGL apps at 57 Hz keeps things under 8 watts. Some people have reported that turning up the refresh rate, from 60 Hz to 144 Hz causes the power usage to go down from 20W to 5-6W. There is clearly some bug that causes either high GPU usage, or causes the GPU to go into a high power mode on some external monitor setups. It’s just that in clamshell mode, sometimes that high power mode kicks in, and sometimes not. With the lid open, it always happens.

The reason this matters is that the machine has a tight power and thermal budget. It’s designed to boost for short sprints and cool down so it can boost again for the next batch of work. At idle on battery with the internal display, it burns less than 10 watts. But if the GPU is constantly using 20 watts (twice as much as the rest of the system at idle), that cuts into the lower budget of the CPU for those boosts, and the temperatures stay at the edge of needing to spin the fans up beyond the 2,000 RPM idle speed. Getting the GPU down to 5W, by contrast, drops temps by 10C. That means you can max out the CPU for a minute or more without needing to spin up the fans.