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Finally got to play with the 16

P

pshufd

macrumors G4
Original poster
Oct 24, 2013
10,168
14,585
New Hampshire
I was at BestBuy on Sunday and waiting so I had a look at the 16. I thought it overall was a great laptop from spending ten minutes with it.

I liked the screen, performance, keyboard, physical escape key. I did not hear any extraneous sound though Best Buy was pretty noisy that day.

The only negative was that the laptop was warm which I wasn't expecting. The laptop wasn't doing anything but the areas to the left and right of the keyboard were warm and I was wondering how they were when it was at load. If there were a problem there, I'd expect it to be fixed in the near future.

Would I enjoy one of these? Yes. But I can't justify buying one when my 2014 and 2015 are just fine. My requirements would just be 32 GB of RAM and 512 minimum SSD though 1 TB would be better.
 
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pshufd said:
I was at BestBuy on Sunday and waiting so I had a look at the 16. I thought it overall was a great laptop from spending ten minutes with it.

I liked the screen, performance, keyboard, physical escape key. I did not hear any extraneous sound though Best Buy was pretty noisy that day.

The only negative was that the laptop was warm which I wasn't expecting. The laptop wasn't doing anything but the areas to the left and right of the keyboard were warm and I was wondering how they were when it was at load. If there were a problem there, I'd expect it to be fixed in the near future.

Would I enjoy one of these? Yes. But I can't justify buying one when my 2014 and 2015 are just fine. My requirements would just be 32 GB of RAM and 512 minimum SSD though 1 TB would be better.
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I was informed that the display models run a special version of macOS that comes with a lot of extra data in order to show off the features (Kiosk mode). Could that have anything to do with the display model running hot? I'll admit that I know little about this special version of macOS.
 
revmacian said:
I was informed that the display models run a special version of macOS that comes with a lot of extra data in order to show off the features (Kiosk mode). Could that have anything to do with the display model running hot? I'll admit that I know little about this special version of macOS.
Click to expand...

I didn’t see a kiosk mode running on the model at Best Buy. I am used to seeing it at The Apple Store though.

I will check them out when they show up at Costco for another reference point. Costco still has a 15 as a demo even though they sell the 16.
 
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pshufd said:
I didn’t see a kiosk mode running on the model at Best Buy. I am used to seeing it at The Apple Store though.

I will check them out when they show up at Costco for another reference point. Costco still has a 15 as a demo even though they sell the 16.
Click to expand...
Hmm.. could be that not all Best Buy stores have Kiosk mode running on their display models.. I know the ones at my local Best Buy do. I'll try to check out my local Costco as well. I'm interested in the 16" and may get one next year. I've only owned two MacBook models (2017 MBP and 2019 MBA) so I'm interested in seeing how well the scissor keyboard works for me.
 
revmacian said:
Hmm.. could be that not all Best Buy stores have Kiosk mode running on their display models.. I know the ones at my local Best Buy do. I'll try to check out my local Costco as well. I'm interested in the 16" and may get one next year. I've only owned two MacBook models (2017 MBP and 2019 MBA) so I'm interested in seeing how well the scissor keyboard works for me.
Click to expand...

I’ll give them some time to work out the few issues that I see being discussed. I use my MBPs mostly in clamshell mode with a high resolution monitor or two and I want dGPU cooling issues worked out. Apple has been listening to customers so I think that stuff that shows up here will eventually get resolved.
 
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People do all sorts of things on display models that may clutter up the caches or whatever and have them running warm by the end of the day. There are have been remarkably fewer complaints related to heat about the 16" than its predecessors.
 
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Sanpete said:
People do all sorts of things on display models that may clutter up the caches or whatever and have them running warm by the end of the day. There are have been remarkably fewer complaints related to heat about the 16" than its predecessors.
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Yes, good point. One of the things I like about kiosk mode is that it seems to clear out the clutter and restart the machine as if the OS was just installed.
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Strelok said:
Unless something has changed, they are designed to run “warm”. The fans generally don’t come on until it’s absolutely necessary.
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Oh, ok.. I didn’t know that. Good to know, thank you.
 
Nacho98 said:
Wrong. MBP fans are always on, and always have been.
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The 2018/2019 13“ fans do not run all the time. Under light load, the fans are stopped. I have not seen that same behavior on the 16” at this point.
 
I want more samples so I will try at Costco when they come in. I will also try them at the Apple Store. My local Apple Store has been mobbed lately - yesterday I went by and there was a line going out the door into the mall. If they do run hot, I'll come up with an external fan solution.
 
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chrfr said:
The 2018/2019 13“ fans do not run all the time. Under light load, the fans are stopped. I have not seen that same behavior on the 16” at this point.
Click to expand...

I don't know about the 13" but fans on 15" models are always running. Same for the 16" model, but they are inaudible on idle.

As far as the rest of this conversation goes — people often confuse "machine doesn't do anything" with "machine is in idle". Just because it does not do anything useful you can see, it can still be under heavy load. There is a lot of stuff happening in the background and some software can be an incredibly inefficient resource hog. From my experience with the 16", it is not any louder or warmer than any 15" before it. Actually, since the heatsink has higher thermal capacity it can gap short periods of higher activity without ramping the fans up, unlike the previous 16".
 
leman said:
I don't know about the 13" but fans on 15" models are always running. Same for the 16" model, but they are inaudible on idle.

As far as the rest of this conversation goes — people often confuse "machine doesn't do anything" with "machine is in idle". Just because it does not do anything useful you can see, it can still be under heavy load. There is a lot of stuff happening in the background and some software can be an incredibly inefficient resource hog. From my experience with the 16", it is not any louder or warmer than any 15" before it. Actually, since the heatsink has higher thermal capacity it can gap short periods of higher activity without ramping the fans up, unlike the previous 16".
Click to expand...

I've been a software engineer since the mid-1980s.

Next time I'll fire up the Activity Monitor and verify that the laptop wasn't doing anything.
 
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chrfr said:
The 2018/2019 13“ fans do not run all the time. Under light load, the fans are stopped. I have not seen that same behavior on the 16” at this point.
Click to expand...

13" MacBooks only have one fan. It is off (0 RPM) until the system needs cooling.

15" and 16" have two fans which run from 1700 to 2000 rpm all the time. When there is demand, the fans on the 15/16" system speed up to cool the system before the temps can get too high. But, Apple is famous for playing with the curves used to time when fan speeds increase or decreases. Apple also runs their laptops hotter than most manufacturers. They let hold frequencies high as their their systems heat right to the product limits, 95+C (200+F).
 
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pshufd said:
I've been a software engineer since the mid-1980s.
Click to expand...

I know that :) sorry if my post sounded confrontational, it was not directed at you specifically. It is just that very often people complain about noise and heat and then they post their activity screenshot and you see the GPU drawing 50Watts doing god knows what. It is also the unfortunate reality with modern computers that you are at a mercy of software devs to take ever to efficiency seriously... it’s a complicated matter.
 
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leman said:
I know that :) sorry if my post sounded confrontational, it was not directed at you specifically. It is just that very often people complain about noise and heat and then they post their activity screenshot and you see the GPU drawing 50Watts doing god knows what. It is also the unfortunate reality with modern computers that you are at a mercy of software devs to take ever to efficiency seriously... it’s a complicated matter.
Click to expand...

That's why I prefer to wait a while when new hardware is released. If they never resolve it, then I'd build something to fix it myself.
 
jerryk said:
13" MacBooks only have one fan. It is off (0 RPM) until the system needs cooling.

15" and 16" have two fans which run from 1700 to 2000 rpm all the time. When there is demand, the fans on the 15/16" system speed up to cool the system before the temps can get too high. But, Apple is famous for playing with the curves used to time when fan speeds increase or decreases. Apple also runs their laptops hotter than most manufacturers. They let hold frequencies high as their their systems heat right to the product limits, 95+C (200+F).
Click to expand...
The 13” models with 4 Thunderbolt ports have 2 fans. The models with 2 ports have one fan. Both versions stop the fan(s) when cooling demand is low enough.
 
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