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So, for the first time ever I splurged and bought a new MBP. Of course it's the i9. At this point do you recommend I just return it and get the i7? I bought AppleCare, but am definitely concerned that there is no real fix for this.

Thoughts?

Probably save money by getting an i7 and maxing out Ram and more storage if that is your thing. You'd atleast get the price of apple care back and more by stepping down to the i7 on the refund of i9 cpu.
 
So, for the first time ever I splurged and bought a new MBP. Of course it's the i9. At this point do you recommend I just return it and get the i7? I bought AppleCare, but am definitely concerned that there is no real fix for this.

Thoughts?
personally, if i were in your position, i’d keep the i9.

but in my position, i’ll wait a while prior to deciding on the i7 vs i9.. ;)
a) more info on these chips in MBP regarding the exact software i use
b) see if Apple can tune/optimize the 2018 MBP a little better for the i9.
(be it increased fan speeds or something else)
 
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So, for the first time ever I splurged and bought a new MBP. Of course it's the i9. At this point do you recommend I just return it and get the i7? I bought AppleCare, but am definitely concerned that there is no real fix for this.

Thoughts?

I'd return the i9. The only solution is for Apple to release a patch to blow the fans at 100% which makes it noisy as hell. Use the money you save to buy an eGPU or something.
 
personally, if i were in your position, i’d keep the i9.

but in my position, i’ll wait a while prior to deciding on the i7 vs i9.. ;)
a) more info on these chips in MBP regarding the exact software i use
b) see if Apple can tune/optimize the 2018 MBP a little better for the i9.
(be it increased fan speeds or something else)


maxing out the fans manually still does not provide enough cooling for it not to throttle.
 
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.

6EJ2GNU.jpg

zvjIzGK.jpg



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.

This well-researched post above should be what the MacRumors article is about.
 
I don't understand people expecting to have a laptop function as your sole workstation. I have always had work that fits on a laptop, and others that are extremely intensive and requires a workstation. The vast majority of 'professionals' doing the heavy lifting are doing it from one (maybe two locations) but not moving from hotel to hotel. Since I make money from my computers, I tend to have at least 2 (usually up to 5) active computers - one being a laptop and the others being either workstations or servers. Except for 4K editing (which you can use a proxy), most work on average is not that much more horsepower intense now as it was 5 years ago. Laptops are not meant (even the current generation) to be run flat out - all the time... the heat (even in a reasonably cooled laptop) has got to have some sort of detrimental effect (IMHO).
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It is possible the hardware release got ahead of the OS release, and internally they were testing it with Mojave. But then we are all guessing. This jumping to conclusions within the first week or two -- by people that have not purchased the device -- that it cannot be fixed -- reminds me of the AMD Ryzen security "backdoor" in support chips made by a 3rd party - the press went wild, AMD was doomed, they were going to be bankrupted by lawsuits... and a week later... patched.

I have a 2015 MacBook Pro Retina with discrete video. Fan behavior on that machine is markedly dissimilar. Fans kick in earlier and stay on longer than on my brand new 2018 i9 2.9 GHz one.

At a minimum, Apple will need to tweak their firmware to accommodate new hotter processors. This has happened in the past -- new machines were released, people complained about heat, and subsequent firmware tweaks medigated the problem. That said, the throttling problem will not go away; these chips will always throttle. Even desktop i9 chips throttle in certain scenarios when paired with anemic coolers. I just hope Apple will acquiesce to the customer push-back and make the new machines slightly noisier but cooler via firmware update.
 
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Back when Laptops were Bricks, I understood the dream of Desktop parts in a slim package. And Apple lead the way. And now we are here, years later finally with that Dream nearly a reality. We have laptops with Hexacore Processors and High End Nvidia cards. (The i7 8750H and GTX 1070 combo) in slim for factors like the Aero 15X. But there is a limit to what you can do, and Apple isn't God to try to use their brand against how Science works.

What happened to nano engineering? Make a little air conditioner to cool the processor. Apple has the money to do it but all they care about is iPhone/iPad sales and hiding cash in Ireland from the taxman.

Jobs was an inventor while Cook is a CPA.
 
So, for the first time ever I splurged and bought a new MBP. Of course it's the i9. At this point do you recommend I just return it and get the i7? I bought AppleCare, but am definitely concerned that there is no real fix for this.

Thoughts?
I would at least wait for the review by Anandtech to be published... which I gather is being worked on now.
 
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Does an eGPU only really support Video editing/gaming tasks & activities?

The reason I ask is a read somewhere recently that some audio applications (DAW's, plug-ins, etc) can use the GPU also....

Also, in general would an eGPU help the thermal throttling issues if software applications are coded to use it and thus offloading processing from the CPU (and thus the i9 chips)?

Thx
Mike
 
maxing out the fans manually still does not provide enough cooling for it not to throttle.
it could lessen the amount of throttling.
(or, at least, i would think that right now)

if the i9 can hover/average around 2.7-2.8 or so GHz during rendering then that would be acceptable to me.. (ie— i would them pay the additional cost over the i7)

if 100% fan can get it even faster then i’m for that too.

but you don’t think more agressive fans will assist in cooling the chip enough to get it nearer base frequency when utilizing 6 cores?
 
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it could lessen the amount of throttling.
(or, at least, i would think that right now)

if the i9 can hover/average around 2.7-2.8 or so GHz during rendering then that would be acceptable to me..
if 100% fan can get it even faster then i’m for that too.

but you don’t think more agressive fans will assist in cooling the chip enough to get it nearer base frequency when utilizing 6 cores?

I’m leaning towards that thinness has ruined the ability to put better fans etc in. More powerful fans doesn’t necessarily mean cooler chips. Only so much you can do in a thin case and do you want your machine to be so loud you can’t VOIP or hear people over it? LOL
 
I’m leaning towards that thinness has ruined the ability to put better fans etc in. More powerful fans doesn’t necessarily mean cooler chips. Only so much you can do in a thin case and do you want your machine to be so loud you can’t VOIP or hear people over it? LOL

The bigger the blades, the slower they can turn and still produce the same turbulent flow at the heatsink.

Bigger case would definitely help.
 
I’m leaning towards that thinness has ruined the ability to put better fans etc in. More powerful fans doesn’t necessarily mean cooler chips. Only so much you can do in a thin case and do you want your machine to be so loud you can’t VOIP or hear people over it? LOL
i don’t mean more powerful fans or different hardware.

i mean the exact models/fans that are available today only tuned differently.

idk, i like the thinness/weight of the MBP and accept there are going to be slight performance hits due to this.. it’s worth it for me to have light weight/portability over absolute fastest performance.. if/when i need more power, and i often do.. i go to the desktop and/or cloud.

my concern as of right now is whether or not the i9 gives enough of a performance enhancement over the i7 to justify the cost.
but i’m buying one of these laptops.. for me, it’s not wait to see the next iteration to see if they put different fans in there (or whatever)... it’s wait to see if a firmware update comes out soon and make a decision at that point.
 
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i don’t mean more powerful fans or different hardware.

i mean the exact models/fans that are available today only tuned differently.

idk, i like the thinness/weight of the MBP and accept there are going to be slight performance hits due to this.. it’s worth it for me to have light weight/portability over absolute fastest performance.. if/when i need more power, and i often do.. i go to the desktop and/or cloud.

my concern as of right now is whether or not the i9 gives enough of a performance enhancement over the i7 to justify the cost.
but i’m buying one of these laptops.. for me, it’s not wait to see the next iteration to see if they put different fans in there (or whatever)... it’s wait to see if a firmware update comes out soon and make a decision at that point.

I see your point but I do not see how a firmware upgrade will change the laws of physics on the parameters of how much cooling is provided in this device. You could nerf the chip via firmware but......

On the wider side, other blog posts have stated the 6core CPU's are an emergency deployment by intel due to the gathering pace of AMD.

I dont think we can escape that the design of this MBP iteration and the inherent problem at the nm of architecture, the heat it produces under load.

We end up with in its simple form: very thin device, lots of heat from internals...problem...
 
I’m leaning towards that thinness has ruined the ability to put better fans etc in. More powerful fans don’t necessarily mean cooler chips.
More airflow over the fins of the heatsink actually does mean cooler chips. You can either size up the heatsink or increase the airflow (cool air in, hot air away) and achieve the same results (more or less a balancing act). Of course, your heatsink still has to have enough surface area to pull the air away. A properly engineered metal case can also act as part of the heatsink if you can figure how to have a solid attachment to the heatsink so the heat can be pulled into the case ... as long as you can figure out how to get the air to actively move over the surface (inside or outside) as well (not sure anyone has accomplished it though). [Not an overclocker] In a desktop (DIY) I appreciate a huge heatsink (Noctua DH-15S 1+ kilogram in weight) so that the fans don't have to work as hard (more silent), but in a laptop, my health appreciates the leaning towards thinness and lightness.
 
More airflow over the fins of the heatsink actually does mean cooler chips. You can either size up the heatsink or increase the airflow (cool air in, hot air away) and achieve the same results (more or less a balancing act). Of course, your heatsink still has to have enough surface area to pull the air away. A properly engineered metal case can also act as part of the heatsink if you can figure how to have a solid attachment to the heatsink so the heat can be pulled into the case ... as long as you can figure out how to get the air to actively move over the surface (inside or outside) as well (not sure anyone has accomplished it though). [Not an overclocker] In a desktop (DIY) I appreciate a huge heatsink (Noctua DH-15S 1+ kilogram in weight) so that the fans don't have to work as hard (more silent), but in a laptop, my health appreciates the leaning towards thinness and lightness.

which I think returns us to the point of a redesign either in the entire cooling assembly of the current design or a redesign of the whole chassis....
 
which I think returns us to the point of a redesign either in the entire cooling assembly of the current design or a redesign of the whole chassis....
And that will be completed likely AFTER Intel updates to 10nm - which makes it a moot point (or after Apple gets fed up with Intel and goes its own route). Which my spine will be happy about since we won't have to carry around an extra kg of heatsink :eek:
 
And that will be completed likely AFTER Intel updates to 10nm - which makes it a moot point (or after Apple gets fed up with Intel and goes its own route).

well hopefully 10nm brings in better efficiency but then I imagine more cores so maybe as equal heat. Either way they need to look at the cooling situation in this and any future design if the mantra of thinness is going to stay.

Chicken and Egg....
 
I don't understand people expecting to have a laptop function as your sole workstation. I have always had work that fits on a laptop, and others that are extremely intensive and requires a workstation. The vast majority of 'professionals' doing the heavy lifting are doing it from one (maybe two locations) but not moving from hotel to hotel. Since I make money from my computers, I tend to have at least 2 (usually up to 5) active computers - one being a laptop and the others being either workstations or servers. Except for 4K editing (which you can use a proxy), most work on average is not that much more horsepower intense now as it was 5 years ago. Laptops are not meant (even the current generation) to be run flat out - all the time... the heat (even in a reasonably cooled laptop) has got to have some sort of detrimental effect (IMHO).
[doublepost=1532066072][/doublepost]
It is possible the hardware release got ahead of the OS release, and internally they were testing it with Mojave. But then we are all guessing. This jumping to conclusions within the first week or two -- by people that have not purchased the device -- that it cannot be fixed -- reminds me of the AMD Ryzen security "backdoor" in support chips made by a 3rd party - the press went wild, AMD was doomed, they were going to be bankrupted by lawsuits... and a week later... patched.
god forbid there are people that want one machine that has power and is mobile and don't care to have 5 machines....

amirite?:rolleyes:
 
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