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M4 / M4 Pro fan noise

J

jon08

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
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I'm in the market for a silicon Mac, long overdue from my Intel MBP.

With the introduction of M4 I thought this could finally be the one to pull the trigger on. However, after reading/watching the reviews where the reviewers mentioned fan noise it now made me having second thoughts. Weren't silicon Macs supposed to be dead silent unless you really pushed them for extended periods of time?!?!

One thing I've always hated about Intel MBPs is that as soon as you start watching a YouTube vid or even just scrolling through pics the fans come on.

So please can users of M4 and M4 Pro comment on regular use and fan noise? Will the fans turn on only on intensive tasks or even just mundane everyday tasks? I tend to have tens of tabs open in Chrome/Firefox and also I'd be highly pissed if I heard any fan noise during watching Youtube videos for example - whether it be just HD or 4K, it's unacceptable nowadays.

I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible.

Thanks!
 
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I have the base M4 Max 36GB - Fans only come on when rendering video/working on intensive projects for long periods of time. During everyday tasks/YouTube/DAW Audio use etc they stay off and machine is silent.
 
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I am also interested in this, I watched a video on YouTube
and the comments are not encouraging "Yes, I think Apple went too far with the M4 pro, max chips..... And it seems that only the base M4 models are quiet."
 
jon08 said:
So please can users of M4 and M4 Pro comment on regular use and fan noise? Will the fans turn on only on intensive tasks or even just mundane everyday tasks? I'd be highly pissed if I heard any fan noise during watching Youtube videos for example - whether it be just HD or 4K, it's unacceptable nowadays.
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14" M4 Max, Previously 14" M1 Pro.

Fan comes on when doing things like long duration renders, gaming, etc.

Set low power mode, fans go off, no matter what the machine is doing.

Fans do not come on during normal use, including many browsers, video playback, external monitor connection, etc.

They aren't like intel - I had several Intel Macs previously - totally different. My intel machines would have fan on during normal use, and screaming when connected to an external display.
 
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Just a thought, have you considered the MacBook Air? It’s going to be way more powerful than any Intel MacBook Pro and you can get it in the larger size. If fan noise is something you dislike, I guarantee you won’t ever hear fan noise from it. If you’re doing video editing or gaming, then it’s probably not the best choice
 
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I have maxed (96%) the CPU on my 14" M4 Pro for a period of 5 minutes. The fans (there are two) came on for much of that time. I could feel the warm being expelled at the back. I could barely hear the fans even placing the laptop close to my ears. When placed on the desk at normal distance the fans could not be heard.

I don't think fan noise from the new M4s is going to be an issue. Apple apparently has done some work in reducing the fan noise.
 
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raythompsontn said:
I don't think fan noise from the new M4s is going to be an issue. Apple apparently has done some work in reducing the fan noise.
Click to expand...
Funny you say that yet according to reviews, it’s seems just the opposite??
 
jon08 said:
Funny you say that yet according to reviews, it’s seems just the opposite??
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I agree. I fully expected to be hearing something like a hair dryer with fan noise. So I intentionally maxed the CPU and listened for the fans. I did not hear them while the laptop was on my desk. I could feel the warm air. I did it again and this time held the laptop close to my ears. I could hear the fans and they were not at all loud.

It makes me question the reviewers and if they are really listening to the fans or just using old information to guess at the possible outcome. Maybe I need to stress the CPU longer, well beyond the 5 minutes I did. I don't know.

The posted videos are the M4 Max, my use is the M4 Pro.

My experience is that the fans are not objectionable or loud. My use is real world, in my environment, with my workload. So take it with a grain of salt valued at $0.02.
 
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Every new MacBook Pro release comes with the same YouTube videos.
When the M2 released there were complaints that it was hotter than the M1.
When the M3 came out, there were complaints that it was hotter than the M2.
And here we are again.
The M4 works perfectly fine in the 5MM thick iPad, i’m pretty sure it’ll run just fine and perfectly quiet in the comparatively massive MacBook Pro.
 
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jon08 said:
I'm in the market for a silicon Mac, long overdue from my Intel MBP.

With the introduction of M4 I thought this could finally be the one to pull the trigger on. However, after reading/watching the reviews where the reviewers mentioned fan noise it now made me having second thoughts. Weren't silicon Macs supposed to be dead silent unless you really pushed them for extended periods of time?!?!

One thing I've always hated about Intel MBPs is that as soon as you start watching a YouTube vid or even just scrolling through pics the fans come on.

So please can users of M4 and M4 Pro comment on regular use and fan noise? Will the fans turn on only on intensive tasks or even just mundane everyday tasks? I tend to have tens of tabs open in Chrome/Firefox and also I'd be highly pissed if I heard any fan noise during watching Youtube videos for example - whether it be just HD or 4K, it's unacceptable nowadays.

I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
My 2016 MBP and M2 MBP do not run the fans unless they are worked quite hard. The M2 Max MBP with 96 GB RAM pretty much never runs the fans. I mention the RAM because I am fairly certain that the extra cycles and the SSD paging that lesser RAM engenders will make more heat.

No MBP has been as hot as previous Apple laptops like the G3 were. So I just blow off comments [usually clickbait reviewers] I see from folks claiming heat from M-series MBPs.

Personally I do not go to YouTube reviews [including those posted above] because they are almost all clickbait, presenting sensationalism to gain clicks. I seek data not entertainment/sensationalism.
 
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I really hate the fan noise, especially when they go up an down and then up again.

And I have solved this problem by buying the MB Air M3. It’s powerful enough to carry all my design work without skipping a beat and has no fan noise because it has no fan. The absolute win/win in my case. It’s also thin and light.

I know people criticise Apple a lot, but I consider M3 Air a laptop design masterpiece. 13” is just amazing with how portable it is. I went with 15” because I need to do design work on the go.
 
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The noise of noise could be heard long before the M4 Macs arrived at anyone`s desk. Sure, they were noisy. Fud always is.
 
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My 14" 12/16 is totally silent throughout the day, in fact, the fans are not spinning at all ~95 % of the time. But if I max-out all cores with Cinebench, it becomes pretty noisy (comparable to my old 13" Intel MBP) very quickly. Not as in "I have to bring it close to my ear to hear it", but as in "my wife asked me from across the room if I was torturing the computer".
 
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I just got my MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (16/40) two days ago, and from today suddenly started to create very loud noises from the right side, not like healthy fan noise, more like grinding or something stuck in the fan noise. And now when the fans want to start, this screeching and grinding noise comes from the right side of my device.

Do I need to take it back to the Apple Store?

I have another MacBook Pro 16" M3 Max and I have never heard a single noise from it, and I'm very shocked at hearing the fan this loud.
 
dsaad89 said:
I just got my MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (16/40) two days ago, and from today suddenly started to create very loud noises from the right side, not like healthy fan noise, more like grinding or something stuck in the fan noise. And now when the fans want to start, this screeching and grinding noise comes from the right side of my device.

Do I need to take it back to the Apple Store?

I have another MacBook Pro 16" M3 Max and I have never heard a single noise from it, and I'm very shocked at hearing the fan this loud.
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Well that looks like a custom build. Maybe call Apple first...they probably would like to have it back and "capture it" and maybe they can put a new replacement custom build order in front of the line of production.
 
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