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Fans and MacBookPro 16"

S

Spadeychops_73

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 4, 2020
4
0
Hi all,

Just brought 3 days ago a new MacBook Pro 16 (8-core i9 model). While setting up, I've noticed on occasion (and cannot pin down to any particular activity yet), but the machine gets incredibly hot, and fans run on full-chat. I'm not doing anything specifically CPU or GPU heavy. Mainly just word/powerpoint/websurfin/email and the other odd application, but no rendering/game playing or video work.

I've read on the apple website, a few grumbles associated with this - but nothing on here... any other users experiencing any issues? Thanks
 
There may be indexing going on in the background, see how you go after a week. But yes, the fans are louder, more frequent than my 2015. I use TurboBoost Switcher and leave turbo boost off by default because they irritate me. Then, after working I enable TurboBoost to render etc. There are a few threads on this on this forum.
 
Update: been onto Apple this morning after reading other threads elsewhere and on Apple forums...
cut long story short he reset some settings and got me to reboot machine several times in the process and the fans went into hyper drive while rebooting and he could hear it over the phone!! Advised me to take Mac into a store for a replacement which i have done this morning....
 
butterflyscisstor said:
Glad you got it sorted! Did the new machine exhibit the same issues?
Click to expand...
It’s currently doing a restore from my time machine backup, but so not heard a peep out of it (from the fans) and along the top of the laptop by the touchbar is cool to the touch. (The original got very hot here). Once the restore has finished and I have used the machine for a few days I will update this thread. Thanks
[automerge]1580829477[/automerge]
 
My fans are draining my battery like crazy. I have had my computer for about five weeks and the battery life is down to less than one hour, since the machine runs so hot, even from just using pages. I have no idea what to do, but I'm glad others have had the same issue. I have run diagnostics and disc utility with no results, as well as downloaded Malware just to make sure, but nothing yet. The computer runs so hot that it almost burns on touch. And now that the battery has taken a hit, it charges incredibly slowly.
I think I have to go back to the Apple Store and see what can be done. But I can't really be without my computer since I work on it.
Tricky, the 16 inch is not a cheap computer...
 
Uninstall the anti-Malware software. It’s not necessary and could be causing problems. But since you had problems before installing it you can’t rule out a hardware issue.

The first thing you should do is look in Activity Monitor to see what (if any) processes are hitting the CPU and causing the high temps and fans.
 
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It’s not the cpu that is causing the heat in the Touch Bar area, or at least not only that. I think a big part of it is the Radeon chip pulling a ton of power for basic tasks. I caught mine pulling 20-40 watts recording in a 10 track session in Logic Pro with no external monitors. I think that’s enough to starve the cpu of power when it may be needed.

Let us know if your new one doesn’t have the hot Touch Bar area issue. I wonder if I got a dud. Performance wise it’s been great though, except the Catalina bugs, and seems like everybody’s 16” is doing the same thing with the Radeon power.

check using istat menus and see if your Radeon is pulling a lot of wattage when the touch bar area is getting hot. I think it has something to do with it.
 
Given that the original poster has had a replacement MBP (assuming it’s the same spec as the previous one with loud fans?) - and if the new one as it appears from the earlier post does not have the same loud fans , is this not suggesting there’s a problem here with Apple quality control on the new MBPs?

This seems consistent with what other reviewers on here and YouTube are reporting, as some claim the i9 64GB is quietest and fans are only excessively loud under load, while others claim fans are loud with no load?

Look forward to hearing more from the original poster’s experience here with his replacement machine in comparison.
 
Update #2: My restore finished and I have been using the MacPro for about a week or so now. When just using the MacPro on it's own with no hub, 2nd monitor or devices plugged in the machine is as quiet as a mouse and runs cool to the touch. However if I plug in a USB hub and run a second monitor via HDMI and plug in a USB keyboard, the fans will eventually kick in and machine becomes hot. I also noticed the battery drains very quickly in this scenario as the above poster mentioned (Probably lasted circa 2.5 hours or so and certainly not anywhere near the 11 hours that Apple quote!!). That was only using Word, email and a little web surfing' (on a large 100+ page document). I don't do anything graphical/music driven at all.

I am going to continue to experiment with it and buy some apple connectors direct to the Thunderbolt ports and try utilising it without the hub. (The USB hub I brought was from Amazon and essentially just had the connectors I needed which is HDMI, Ethernet & a couple of USB).

Gotta say, my last MacPro was a 2012 model and that was a workhorse and barely ever heard a sound out of it no matter what I plugged in to it or did with it, but this new model is very much noisier so far...
 
YouTuber Max Tech has a video with tips for reducing noise, at the expense of some increased temps or reduced performance. Apple seems to have a more aggressive fan curve profile for this laptop.

 
simonmet said:
YouTuber Max Tech has a video with tips for reducing noise, at the expense of some increased temps or reduced performance. Apple seems to have a more aggressive fan curve profile for this laptop.

Click to expand...
He is talking nonsense in this video.
Don't listen to him.

We have already discussed this video here:
forums.macrumors.com

(2019) 16" is HOT & NOISY with an external monitor! :(

Check this out, very interesting!
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
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