M1 16" heat performance vs M1 13"

[jqc]

Just an observation after a full day of using a new 16" (mid spec config) for work, which involves 3 external monitors (2 via a USB C dock with DisplayLink and one using the HDMI port); office work so loads of outlook, browser tabs, Teams, Zoom, multiple word, excel ppt.

Laptop is fast, but not noticeably over the 13" (no surprise given use case).

The big disappoint is that the 16" was noticeably warm on the palm rests and the bottom pretty much the whole day.The section just above the keyboard was even warmer, so warm that it gets uncomfortable if placing your fingers there fro 5+ seconds. Never heard the fans.

I never owned the 16" intel so can't compare the heat to that, but vs my base 13" M1, the 13" is generally cold to the touch in the exact same use case (minus one monitor), which I personally love. I expected the 16" to be warmer given its designed for performance, but I am disappointed its as warm as it is in the usage scenario, it feels almost as warm as my 2012 12" MBP used to get in the same use case

Thought people would find this info useful.

 

[professional-fold-75]

I've noticed the same on the 14" MacBook Pro. Im wondering if anyone else has this issue?

I have a m1 MacBook Air and its always cool to the touch. Face time on the new 14" had it fairly hot with no noticeable fan noise though. My m1 mba would be very cool under the same face time load.

 

[jqc]

just watched 4k HDR on you tube on both machine to compare the screens. Honestly don't see that much of a difference, in face the 16" XDR screen seems generally darker over all when playing HDR content.

Temp wise, the 16" is noticeable warm on the bottom while the 13" is cool.

Unfortunately probably a deal breaker for me, guess will have to wait for the MBA to get cool temps. Bummer as I really like the extra ports and extra monitor support.

 

[applesed]

is this 16" noticable warm m1 pro or m1 max? what about varied workloads?

 

[jojoba-in]

I installed TG Pro (https://www.tunabellysoftware.com/tgpro/). My temps while running Cinebench R23 go all the way to 98C on my MBP 14 M1 Max.
At idle the laptop runs at 55C.
I was expecting much cooler temperatures, especially compared to what is shared here:

They seem to be using the previous version of TG Pro on that video so I'm not sure if the problem is TG Pro or my laptop.

 

[jqc]

is this 16" noticable warm m1 pro or m1 max? what about varied workloads?

pro. my last comment was just playing 4k HDR YouTube. my first comment was general office work, so can only get hotter from there.

 

[seble]

Unfortunately I’ve nothing worthwhile to add but I’ll be watching this closely. I’m currently using a MBP 13 M1 and That thing Never gets hot in doing the taste you mentioned. The only issue I have is running out of RAM.

 

[aevan]

just watched 4k HDR on you tube on both machine to compare the screens. Honestly don't see that much of a difference, in face the 16" XDR screen seems generally darker over all when playing HDR content.

Depends on the material, but if the screen is anything remotely close to my iPad Pro XDR screen - the difference is night and day. Of course some scenes will be darker, because of deeper blacks - they are intended to be this way by the authors - this is the case with OLED screens, too. But the brights are super-bright and the contrast is amazing.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

I've seen several times on this forum, that people report their machines getting hot when using external monitors. Try and see if that has an effect for you.

 

[jqc]

Depends on the material, but if the screen is anything remotely close to my iPad Pro XDR screen - the difference is night and day. Of course some scenes will be darker, because of deeper blacks - they are intended to be this way by the authors - this is the case with OLED screens, too. But the brights are super-bright and the contrast is amazing.

Watched the the Matrix trailer in HDR on YouTube without full screen and the video window definitely lights up much brighter than the rest of the screen. Compared to the M1 you do see more details in those sunrise shots so guess it works! But also its only noticeable to me with the direct comparison.

 

[jqc]

I've seen several times on this forum, that people report their machines getting hot when using external monitors. Try and see if that has an effect for you.

Nope, don't think its the monitors as M1 13" is cool in same use case. 16" does have the extra monitor attached so I'll without it.

 

[kvlq]

My 16" with M1 pro, is also a little bit warm on usual tasks (YouTube, safari, some office), without any external monitor connected.

 

[warmbear]

This is concerning but hopefully it’s something Apple can fix with a software patch or a power profile. Apple probably allows the Pro CPUs to get a bit hotter in exchange for performance

 

[kvlq]

What worries me, is the fact that I have not seen almost anyone complaining about this.

 

[fuchsdh]

What worries me, is the fact that I have not seen almost anyone complaining about this.

Why would people complain their laptops get warm? I've never had a MBP that didn't get warm when using it. The joke about needing to insulate yourself to stop your computer from scorching your legs is certainly old enough to drink at this point. If your overarching concern with your computer is how warm it gets, you probably don't need a MBP in the first place.

 

[JamieLannister]

Did you check your fans rpm’s? I remember apple saying fans don’t even spin much or at all for daily tasks. My new M1 pro 14 I plugged in with a low 23watt usb c power adapter over night. In the morning the top center keyboard area and bottom are warm. Not slight warm but warm enough to notice it being an issue.

Perhaps the fans not spinning at all or not enough. Easy fix via software I’m sure.

 

[kvlq]

Why would people complain their laptops get warm? I've never had a MBP that didn't get warm when using it. The joke about needing to insulate yourself to stop your computer from scorching your legs is certainly old enough to drink at this point. If your overarching concern with your computer is how warm it gets, you probably don't need a MBP in the first place.

You really didnt get my point. Its not my first mbp, and yes, all of them got warm. But this is not supposed to happen with M1 which is praised to be as cold as ice even under high load. And mine is heating up with 3 apps opened and 1 video running on YT.

[mention]JamieLannister [/mention] no, i’ve never heard the fans running.

 

[BJonson]

I knew this was going to happen. I mean it was a bit obvious no? It's got 2 fans, a 140W power brick and it's as thicc as a bowl of oatmeal. Of course its going to be hot.

 

[Zigman]

You really didnt get my point. Its not my first mbp, and yes, all of them got warm. But this is not supposed to happen with M1 which is praised to be as cold as ice even under high load. And mine is heating up with 3 apps opened and 1 video running on YT.

[mention]JamieLannister [/mention] no, i’ve never heard the fans running.

As I recall from one of the newer benchmark videos the power usage under full graphics load is around half of the older MacBook Pro. It is impossible for it not to get warm, especially while charging, otherwise they wouldn't have put in fans in the first place. Regardless of what processes are running, driving multiple screen will tax any GPU especially at higher resolutions. The reason you don't see it get very hot on the the m1s is because they have far less graphic cores. The biggest complaint from people I know with the Intel 16" MacBook Pros is that running external displays would drive the temps to insane levels.

The faster you charge the laptop the more heat is generated as well.

 

[Crz10]

Same thing with the base 14” I was a bit disappointed but decided to check for updates, sure enough there was a new Monterrey update which took forever but it seemed to fix the temperature issue for now. I’ll be testing it more today though.

 

[white7561]

Same thing with the base 14” I was a bit disappointed but decided to check for updates, sure enough there was a new Monterrey update which took forever but it seemed to fix the temperature issue for now. I’ll be testing it more today though.

12.0.1?

 

[ponzicoinbro]

I put 16” through paces now for 24 hours. The heat is a non issue. Not as hot as x86, no fan noise, no throttling. Even if I use it on my lap no issue.

I know what is an issue well as many Intel PC/Mac laptops in last 25 years were toasting my legs and reducing my sperm count.

 

[Sanpete]

Will be interested to see the comparison with exactly the same use case, including same monitors. The Pro is running close to twice as many pixels, sometimes at a higher refresh rate that could double the load again at times, just for its own screen, so it starts with that extra load regardless.

Same version of OS for both?

I suppose indexing was over.

 

[Gonfonix]

I've noticed the fans do not seem to be spinning on the new MacBook Pros. I have the MacBook Pro 16" 1TB model with the M1 Pro chip. On idle, my system hovers around 40 C. When running Cinebench R23, it hits 91 C instantly. I checked TG Pro and the fans are not even spinning. However, if I manually set the fans to spin in TG Pro, they work fine and the temps drop. Can anyone check to see if your fans are not spinning when on idle and running Cinebench R23? This seems to be a software issue.

 

[fa8362]

Just an observation after a full day of using a new 16" (mid spec config) for work, which involves 3 external monitors (2 via a USB C dock with DisplayLink and one using the HDMI port); office work so loads of outlook, browser tabs, Teams, Zoom, multiple word, excel ppt.

Laptop is fast, but not noticeably over the 13" (no surprise given use case).

The big disappoint is that the 16" was noticeably warm on the palm rests and the bottom pretty much the whole day.The section just above the keyboard was even warmer, so warm that it gets uncomfortable if placing your fingers there fro 5+ seconds. Never heard the fans.

I never owned the 16" intel so can't compare the heat to that, but vs my base 13" M1, the 13" is generally cold to the touch in the exact same use case (minus one monitor), which I personally love. I expected the 16" to be warmer given its designed for performance, but I am disappointed its as warm as it is in the usage scenario, it feels almost as warm as my 2012 12" MBP used to get in the same use case

Thought people would find this info useful.

Had mine for 48 hours. Hasn't even been warm yet. First computer I've ever had that's cold.