Macbook Pro w/ Studio Display - loud fans are not my friends

[mstso]

Hi,

I'm having a little issue.
I have a 2016 Macbook Pro 15.4 Radeon 460 connected to new Apple Studio Display. So far, everything is fine, I love the display!
But when I run easy tasks like Safari browsing or watching photos the fans in the MBP rev up. And I'm that kind of guy who needs
absolut silence.

So I'm thinking about getting a new Macbook (well done Apple, you get even more revenue from me!).

I can't decide between an M1 Macbook Air 8c/8c or a Macbook Pro 14.2 with basic specs and 2 TB Flash.

Is there anybody who uses a M1 Macbook with an Apple Studio Display and can tell if the performance is sufficient (no lags and so on during surfing, Quicktime screen recording and so on...)
Since the Air has no fans, this would be the way to go (and would save a lot of money) (I don't do really have tasks).

Or do I need the new 14.2 Pro to have so much power that everything runs fluently on the 5K ASD and the fans keeps calm.
Maybe there is someone with the new Pro and ASP out there as well you could tell.

Many thanks
Severin

 

[breiti]

I run a M1 Macbook Air M1 (w/ 16G ram) with a ultrafine 5k (which has the same resolution as the Studio Display) and it works absolutely perfect. It's a dream combination. So go for it.

 

[darngooddesign]

Apple has a great return policy so get the Air and if you find it laggy just replace it with the 14". Just make sure you get 16GB RAM.

 

[Traverse]

I run a M1 Macbook Air M1 (w/ 16G ram) with a ultrafine 5k (which has the same resolution as the Studio Display) and it works absolutely perfect. It's a dream combination. So go for it.

The MacBook Air does not have a fan.

---

I can't speak for the intel models, but I have a 14" MacBook Pro wit the M1 Mac chip (so most powerful Apple Silicon chip in the worst cooling case). When connected to a Studio Display in clamshell the fans default to 0 RPM, but it's not hard to get them to come on. When they come on they run between 2300 to 2500 RPM, but they are not audible to me and I'm sensitive to fan noise which is why I returned a Mac Studio.

 

[mstso]

Thank you all for your replies!

@breiti: I probably gonna try the air.

@Traverse: In clamshell the fans of my MBP also default to 0 RPM. The point is, that it doesn't need much to come on.
Could you do a test for me? What happens when you run quicktime display recording for I would say 5 min. and do some tasks like video watching during this? That would be really helpful to know, if in that case the fans still run at 2300-2500 rpm. Thank you!!

 

[AmazingTechGeek]

The MacBook Air does not have a fan.

---

I can't speak for the intel models, but I have a 14" MacBook Pro wit the M1 Mac chip (so most powerful Apple Silicon chip in the worst cooling case). When connected to a Studio Display in clamshell the fans default to 0 RPM, but it's not hard to get them to come on. When they come on they run between 2300 to 2500 RPM, but they are not audible to me and I'm sensitive to fan noise which is why I returned a Mac Studio.

Did you purchase the M1 Max Studio or the Ultra? I saw users reporting the 16in MacBook Pro has a better cooling system than the Max Studio and better benchmarks (the score differences are mostly trivial)

 

[Traverse]

Did you purchase the M1 Max Studio or the Ultra? I saw users reporting the 16in MacBook Pro has a better cooling system than the Max Studio and better benchmarks (the score differences are mostly trivial)

I originally had an M1 Max studio.

 

[Traverse]

Thank you all for your replies!

@breiti: I probably gonna try the air.

@Traverse: In clamshell the fans of my MBP also default to 0 RPM. The point is, that it doesn't need much to come on.
Could you do a test for me? What happens when you run quicktime display recording for I would say 5 min. and do some tasks like video watching during this? That would be really helpful to know, if in that case the fans still run at 2300-2500 rpm. Thank you!!

No worries! So I ran my 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max in clameshell mode connected to an Apple Studio Display and did an 8 minute full-screen recording in Quicktime while I played back a 4K YouTube Video in Firefox. Below were my system stats just before I ended the recording. Hope this helps.

Normally the system runs between 48℃ and 50℃, so you can see this did push the system to be between 5℃ to 8℃ warmer, but the fans remained at their normal RPM.

 

[Fishrrman]

Don't get an m1 MBP.
If you're going to spring for something new...
...Get either the 14" or 16" model instead.

 

[danbalsh]

Running the Studio Display with a base model Air, totally fine.

 

[mstso]

No worries! So I ran my 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max in clameshell mode connected to an Apple Studio Display and did an 8 minute full-screen recording in Quicktime while I played back a 4K YouTube Video in Firefox. Below were my system stats just before I ended the recording. Hope this helps.

Normally the system runs between 48℃ and 50℃, so you can see this did push the system to be between 5℃ to 8℃ warmer, but the fans remained at their normal RPM.


View attachment 1990715

Thank you!!

 

[mstso]

Running the Studio Display with a base model Air, totally fine.

Do you see any longer loading times, laggs or so on? Does it run really quick and fluently?

 

[synicalx1]

Don't get an m1 MBP.
If you're going to spring for something new...
...Get either the 14" or 16" model instead.

They still sort of have a few use cases - cheaper for the same RAM/SSD sizes, smaller and lighter, better battery life, TouchBar (some people like them apparently, not sure why...). They're worse in every other way especially screen but they're not a total write-off yet.

Having said that, Apple seems to have listed 14" and 16" M1 Pro's on their refurb store now and that greatly reduces the cost difference.

 

[danbalsh]

Do you see any longer loading times, laggs or so on? Does it run really quick and fluently?

It's super fast, only real thing that slows this MacBook down is Microsoft Teams... which I think even the M1 Ultra would struggle with

 

[Diablo360]

Not sure about the Apple displays, but I'm running 4 x LG 49" monitors on my 16" M1 Max (32 core cpu, 32 core graphics, 64gb ram) and everything runs super smooth. No heat, no fans, nada.

I also had a really bad experience running even 1 monitor on my 2018 15" touch bar MBP. The fans would go crazy and the laptop would get super hot. I was never able to fix this issue.