YouTuber Claims 15-Inch MacBook Pro With Upgraded Core i9 Chip is Severely Throttled Due to Thermal Issues

[maflynn]

Everyone is going to pretend Apple isn't aware of thermal testing for laptops?

This is the sad part, if what dave2d posted is accurate and he doesn't have a defective unit, then they had to know. I was worried about the i9 not being able to keep cool because of the thin case. Dell has similar issues as well, but I don't believe its as severe as the MBP. Since there are other youtube videos out there, its unlikely that Dave has a defective MBP. This will continue to play out in the coming days and weeks, but I have to say I'm really disappointed in that the i9 cannot handle the tasks it was meant for.

 

[iMcLovin]

But it’s not how it works. Sadly.

So you claim Premiere can overheat a machine because of its bad optmization. On the same machine which another software can keep it cool and not throttle while still running all 6 cores full force? please explain how that works, I'm interested.

 

[gnipgnop]

Anyways, I can't say that I'm surprised by the results, there are other videos out there that show similar issues, and the problem is the i9 is so powerful and hot, the enclosure cannot cool it adequately.

I can't say that I'm surprised that people are trying to dream up new "flaws" to get hits on YouTube and tech blogs. You actually think this guy's "testing" is more comprehensive than Apple? Why does everyone try to pretend that Apple doesn't have engineers or testing regimens for their products?

 

[0095059]

These machines are ridiculously expensive, have a **** keyboard which Apple just doesn't care about, throttle to hell so that the fancy super expensive i9 is slower than last year's i7 - for what? So we can run MacOS? Have we all forgotten how bad High Sierra has been and how little Apple has cared about MacOS and the Mac since the iPhone took off making all the money?
Time to move on. Sadly. It is time.

Software improvements will make older machines run faster.

iOS 12 is an example of that.

Hardware improvements will make older apps run faster.

 

[bkkcanuck8]

Late to the thread, but I really enjoy Dave2D's videos. He's often quite balanced and while a Apple fan, he will call them out.

Anyways, I can't say that I'm surprised by the results, there are other videos out there that show similar issues, and the problem is the i9 is so powerful and hot, the enclosure cannot cool it adequately. What is very disappointing is that apple had to know this, and yet rolled out a product that was failed to live up to apple's premium pricing.

No, No... you do not understand... you must listen to other posters online and understand that he is just using it wrong. If you turn the keyboard up and the monitor flat instead - it would work much faster

 

[chatin]

I can't say that I'm surprised that people are trying to dream up new "flaws" to get hits on YouTube and tech blogs. You actually think this guy's "testing" is more comprehensive than Apple? Why does everyone try to pretend that Apple doesn't have engineers or testing regimens for their products?

We've all been around Apple logic board replacement programs and faulty Apple graphics. When this guy finds a problem that will make the 2018 problematic in three years, I really appreciate his video.

 

[maflynn]

You actually think this guy's "testing" is more comprehensive than Apple? Why does everyone try to pretend that Apple doesn't have engineers or testing regimens for their products?

This is what bothers me the most, Dave2D was just running some run of the mills stiff for a review and it was throttling and this is what bothers me the most. Apple cannot and should not get a pass on this issue, we constantly hear how apple is a premium product, well then a premium priced product ought perform like a premium product

 

[Marekul]

I predicted this thing would need a cooling pad in order to really be used like a pro rendering machine. This kind of confirms it. I'm sure more news will follow, but this is actually worse than I expected.

I would guess the keyboard membrane doesn’t help with airflow...

 

[vcboard]

IMHO, we are nearing the limit where performance is severely impacted by physical limitations (thermal, space constraints, comfort, and so on).

People want thin, light and sleek but with hyper computing capabilities. Personally nowadays I prefer to just get a cheaper and lighter model, while remotely access the actual computing power that lie somewhere at home on a desktop or on the cloud, where the performance can be limitless and I do not need to spend very high costs upfront.

 

[maflynn]

People want thin, light and sleek but with hyper computing capabilities

People like thin laptops, but apple pushed the boundary too far. I love the apple design and I can't wait for my new laptop (non-i9), but I would definitely trade in a few millimeters for a better keyboard and/or cooler running laptop.

 

[ginkobiloba]

My take on this is that :

- Apple is fully aware of the issue.
- and they still released it because....they had to. Almost all other PCs chose to do it (while having the same issues), and if Apple didn’t release an i9 machine, everyone would still be lamenting how they are behind the PC industry. What matters to most of the press and bloggers is the superficial aspects, the specs on paper.
- so Apple probably did some marketing thinking and decided that the damage of being blasted for having a laptop that can’t handle its i9 processor is lower than the damage of being blasted for not having an updated machine at all.

 

[simonmet]

Who'd have thunk it? Apple emaciates their Pro line and they get severe throttling issues. They should've seen this coming. 6-core chips from Intel were planned aeons ago (in tech time).

At this point I argue that senior management in Apple is suffering from something like a mental illness. What I see as an admittedly armchair psychologist is a combination of extreme arrogance coupled with this need to "amaze" with futuristic-looking devices, a need that seems to be born out of insecurity. Nobody was asking for these dramatic changes; and when they were revealed many many people questioned the choices and predicted some of the problems that could ensue, so why couldn't Apple?

I've argued before, but the problem with senior management at present under Cook seems to be that they judge their success solely on financials and economic performance. During investor calls it's all Tim Cook ever talks about. Tim Cook follows standard (and pointless) MBA teaching and schools of thought. He doesn't know any different. Jobs on the other hand had a healthy disregard, perhaps even disdain, for Wall Street and the products came first. He was not an economic manager but a product manager. That's what a company like Apple needs in a CEO, not a glorified accountant.

Even when you look at Apple supposedly engaging an advisory committee of Pro users, I don't think they're going to act on advice that they don't want to hear. Just look at the pro users Apple dragged out to the recent MBP unveiling, it was all marketing and spin and none of them criticised anything about the product.

Well I'm a Pro user and I'd love a 6-core i9 MBP, but put it in the old chassis with the old ports (except upgrading TB2 to 3) and update its cooling system. Keep the battery at 99 Wh. Upgrade the screen and increase the trackpad size slightly not stupidly. A good chance this won't throttle quite so severely in the older case.

 

[mrzz]

I did a mistake and bought some of the previous MBPs with the highest possible CPU. I am having issue with overheating very often - especially during summer this is **** annoying. I don't like 2016/7/8 MPBs, but I would not recommend to go for i9 just because of likely issues with overheating or hot laptop in general (in case you don't just browse a web). Apple, just make it even thinner, remove the rest of the ports (I guess 1 usb-c should be enough) and call it "Pro" machine, we can at least prepare scrambled eggs on it.

 

[ondert]

I'm happy with my 2016 15" model, it doesn't exceed 75 Celsius degree generally for iMovie renders. However, gonna sell this in any case because I passed to iMac this time because 8th gen Intel cpus run much hotter thanks to Intel lies about tdp values. Intel should be first to blame in this case. Lots of manufacturers suffer from this situation. Asus Zenbook, Thinkpads, Dell XPS etc. Every of them throttles hard.

 

[antonis]

Premiere tries to use the CPU as much as possible by going full 100% utilization. The problem with throttling is that there's a severe penalty if you do hit the temperature threshold.

Final Cut keeps it under 100% cpu utilization (either that's intentionally done in code, or simply because it's being offloaded by GPU, not sure). Even without full GPU acceleration, Final Cut would still likely complete a render vs Premiere. Just compare the throttling dips. First is Final Cut, and second image is Premiere.

Not sure if people were expecting Macbooks to be able to withstand 100% CPU utilization for hours. If you were, then the past couple of generations have had the same issue.

The only thing surprising is that the 2018 ended up being slower than 2017 laptops. One explanation is that Premier/Final Cut have 2017 Macbook specific optimizations and they're still working on optimizing it for 2018.

The problem is not only the slim case which - as you correctly suggested - is not a recent issue but it affects earlier models as well. There is also the super silent "feature" that makes fans kick in way later and with fewer RPMs than what the given internal temperature dictates, leaving the machine with high temperatures for longer periods. This extends throttling even more.

I wouldn't be surprised if i9 makes the whole issue worse.

Not sure if people were expecting Macbooks to be able to withstand 100% CPU utilization for hours.

Right. I do not expect them to. Surely you don't either, since you seem to know what you're talking about. On the other hand, though, it's Phil Schiller who suggested that MBP can be used as a replacement for the Mac Pro.

 

[gnipgnop]

This is what bothers me the most, Dave2D was just running some run of the mills stiff for a review and it was throttling and this is what bothers me the most.

Again, you're essentially trying to claim that Apple wouldn't have tested the i9 thermals as extensively as a random YouTube video reviewer. That's obviously false.

 

[GPDawes]

Its sad and misleading if the device cant even operate at its base clock speed without thermal throttling.

 

[Falhófnir]

Late to the thread, but I really enjoy Dave2D's videos. He's often quite balanced and while a Apple fan, he will call them out.

Anyways, I can't say that I'm surprised by the results, there are other videos out there that show similar issues, and the problem is the i9 is so powerful and hot, the enclosure cannot cool it adequately. What is very disappointing is that apple had to know this, and yet rolled out a product that was failed to live up to apple's premium pricing.

I think it’s a bit disingenuous of intel to list this as a 45W chip if really it can’t adequately perform within that thermal envelope. Though I do agree Apple should not have offered it if they knew they couldn’t adequately cool it

 

[maflynn]

Again, you're essentially trying to claim that Apple wouldn't have tested the i9 thermals as extensively as a random YouTube video reviewer. That's obviously false.

No, I'm not claiming that at all, I'm claiming that apple tested it, and knew it had thermal issues but still released it.

 

[nottorp]

Well, that's the only macbook hardware problem that I don't care about. I've always bought mid range cpus for my laptops.

Desktops are another matter though, the normal iMac throttles, the iMacPro... I'm not sure... how will they mess up the Mac Pro?

 

[Substance90]

IMHO, we are nearing the limit where performance is severely impacted by physical limitations (thermal, space constraints, comfort, and so on).

People want thin, light and sleek but with hyper computing capabilities.

If by "people" you mean Jony Ive, then yeah.
I don't know anyone who does actual work on a Macbook and has ever complained of thickness.

 

[maflynn]

I think it’s a bit disingenuous of intel to list this as a 45W chip if really it can’t adequately perform within that thermal envelope. Though I do agree Apple should not have offered it if they knew they couldn’t adequately cool it

If that's part of the issue yes, I agree. The i9 does run very hot, I don't think anyone will disagree, coffee lake has been out long enough to have a good body of evidence, but apple markets itself has a premium product, it charges us a premium price, am I wrong to expect a premium experience? I don't think anyone can deny that the i9 is not performing as it should

 

[bkkcanuck8]

Again, you're essentially trying to claim that Apple wouldn't have tested the i9 thermals as extensively as a random YouTube video reviewer. That's obviously false.

Not necessarily, Apple could have decided that after all the complaining about why you did not throw x processor in ... they just decided they would offer that option - even though because of the thermal limitations with regards to that processor it would not give any more power than the lower i7 processor. In other words, Apples testing could have identified that the performance increase is negligible for any process used at full utilization (not even turbo boost) for more than a few minutes.

 

[33man]

Just wait few months so battery capacity drop under 80% and cpu get naturally throttled.

 

[Mydel]

What gets me is that for several months now, since these 6-core CPUs were first released, folks on the PC side have been screaming about how hot and prone to throttling they are in things like 10lb 17" Alienware notebooks.

Not to pick on Alienware, that's just one particularly bad example. The Notebookreview forums are overflowing with people talking about repasting and undervolting all manner of machines to try and tame these CPUs, because a bunch of OEMs saw fit to shoehorn them into existing designs.

For real, the minute I saw that Apple had updated the machines without making any changes to accommodate the additional heat, I just shook my head. I've been considering buying a gaming notebook and retiring my desktop, since mobile GPUs are so capable now, but reading one horror story after another about 8th gen CPUs thermal throttling even in massive gaming notebooks has convinced me to wait maybe another generation.

But if Alienware can't properly cool an 8950HK in a 17", 10lb, 1" thick monster, how the heck can Apple expect it to do anything but choke in something like the 15" MacBook Pro chassis?

yeah. Agree. I was waiting for the teardown to see if they change the cooling system. But it seems they went cheap way just stacking new CPU to the old frame. I bought top of the line 13 inch and will wait to see if its worth to go i9. But frankly I dont think it makes any sense. The baseline processor in 15' makes it as good as it gets. Running the computer close to 100C ruins all of the parts and decrease the life time significantly. My opinion of i9 at the moment ...its a dud!