(2019) 16" is HOT & NOISY with an external monitor! :(

[ConnorMac]

I have to say, having moved from windows to Mac for the first time, I have to laugh at how many things I never thought about on Windows are now totally preoccupying me. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around? I'm installing a bunch of different apps to try to make my $3500 computer function normally? I still like the laptop, but, again, pretty funny as a longtime Windows user.
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Is this less of a problem with the 5300m than the 5500m? I have both models at the moment, an i7 in the first and an i9 with the 5500m. Seems like the power draw from an external monitor is consistent, but I wondered...

It’s funny cos mature companies like Apple always wish they could really hear what the customers think and feel and are always asking and prompting us for feedback. Well I hope someone over at Apple is monitoring this thread cos it’s a goldmine of honest feedback from many seasoned MacBook users.

Dear Apple, you gotta get your s**t together soon, cos a lot of users are actively discussing which PCs would better meet their requirements than 2020 MacBooks

As a long time Apple fan and MB user I am truly heartbroken.

Steve would be horrified to see what has become of Apple
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[Grohowiak]

If not for iOS dev, the 16" would be the last mac I own. Not because of some grudge or hate but because thermals get in the way seriously crippling this thing.
I also pray to all the Gods begging for ARM to behave better.

 

[Corncab44]

I'm still in my return window, but I am really enjoying the Mac OS. I find the build quality to be quite good, and I moved from Windows/Android for security/surveillance reasons. But the overheating is truly dumb. So badly designed. I'll probably stick with just the 16 inch on a stand, vs. using it as a clamshell. Sometimes a slightly smaller screen is better for focus... but I'm probably making excuses lol.

 

[Norbert Mikołajczyk]

I think there could be some corruption with system resolutions files or smc/nvram. The corruption happened to me when I tried new usb-c cable as I wanted to unlock 144mhz refresh rate. Yes it unlocked It but it didn’t transmit the audio so I went back to my HDMI cable with the converter. To my surprise my last awesome custom resolution no longer worked. In clamshell mode Radeon draw 18w, but earlier it took 4-5W only! I installed fresh install of Catalina, switched some cables and something odd happened. SwitchResX and display settings showed higher refresh rates that wasn’t achievable earlier! My monitor via HDMI isn’t able to deliver 120mhz and 144mhz! But it works now! The power draw is again like it was before but I’m unable to get low temps as before as I posted! They are much higher! Right now I’m trying to restore my system from time machine, fingers crossed 🤞. Maybe the culprit is SwitchResX when switching the cables? Something weird is happening here, I’m so angry that I tried different cable :/

 

[dooyou]

I will be returning to using a desktop ... for desktop "pro" applications. As soon as an ARM based iMac is available...my 16" goes on Craigslist. I'll add an iPad Pro or entry level Apple laptop for general, mobile computing needs. I suspect I can start this transition within 6 months.

Yes, that was also my thought, since I have a stationary computer as a workstation. However, I wanted the 16" as a mobile workstation in case I don't want to sit at my desk. The stationary workstation has Windows, awesome with the Adobe Suite, but Windows is Windows ... My 16" is still on order and in production (bto) since three weeks now.

 

[Corncab44]

This feels absurd but... if I'm going to be turning Turbo Boost off most of the time, will having 8 cores offer better performance day to day than the i7? That's what this suggests, but it also is using benchmarks that don't reflect real world use always.

I'm currently deciding between an i7 and i9 model that I am testing at home -- I have to send one back soon. The i7 is refurbished and has battery issues from what I can tell, and also has a smaller 512gb hard driver. I upgrade the other model (with a discount so the price difference is only $300 more) to the 2.3ghz i9, a 1tb ssd, and 8gb 5500m. I didn't need the 8gb graphics card (I'm wondering if reordering this model with a cheaper card would help with what's being discussed in this thread?), but it was only $100 more and I'm a sucker.

It seems I'll likely be running either model with Turbo Boost off whenever I'm on battery. So my question is... does the i9 still come out on top in that scenario? Given the small price difference owing the Apples' entry/high end pricing scheme, the i9 really only cost $200 more. However, if the i9 is actually generally just going to give me problems with battery/heating with limited performance gains in any context outside of really high end tasks, perhaps I'll return both and buy an i7 model with 1tb ssd and the entry graphics card.

What do folks think? Neither of these options fix the horrible wattage draw when plugged into my 4k monitor, but... seems like everyone is screwed equally in that regard.

 

[ateslik]

So, I think this is my machine. It's noticeably snappier than the 13", not that the 13 was too slow, but once I get to rendering I'll really appreciate this extra boost.

A day later and I can say this 5600M machine is great. The speakers are such a big difference over the 13". 18-22W total while using Citrix, Spotify, Slack, iMessage, and Safari heavily with temps/fan max at 133F/2000rpm is really nice. Low temps and low fans. I really enjoy that it comes back from sleep with the watch -much- faster than the 13". I liked the 13" too, it wasn't a bad machine, but this is a better fit for me. I'm very unhappy about the extra money it took to get here, but there's too much work to do to be stuck with a non-working machine.

 

[Corncab44]

Has anyone reconfigured the fan settings to override the set apple profiles that cause the fans to run so high? I'm playing around with TG Pro but after having some luck letting it run slightly higher but quieter with the following profile (or something close), my computer actually froze up, got a crazy graphic on the screen then brought me back to the login.

According to TG Pro, it hit 100 centigrade once, randomly, out of the blue, when it was steadily in the low 80s centigrade while connected to a 4k monitor and running 5-6 chrome windows with 50+ total tabs, some light editing and a few firefox/safari windows. That might have been what did it. Why can't apple just have a low power mode!!!

 

[ateslik]

Has anyone reconfigured the fan settings to override the set apple profiles that cause the fans to run so high? I'm playing around with TG Pro but after having some luck letting it run slightly higher but quieter with the following profile (or something close), my computer actually froze up, got a crazy graphic on the screen then brought me back to the login.

According to TG Pro, it hit 100 centigrade once, randomly, out of the blue, when it was steadily in the low 80s centigrade while connected to a 4k monitor and running 5-6 chrome windows with 50+ total tabs, some light editing and a few firefox/safari windows. That might have been what did it. Why can't apple just have a low power mode!!!

wow this sounds sketchy.

 

[Corncab44]

wow this sounds sketchy.

Yea, I was following the "solution" suggested in Max Tech video above. I watched the temp like a hawk, letting it creep up slightly. Still not sure how it could randomly jump to 100 from 85 in a split second. But after that, even when I reset it to system controlled fans, everything got glacial and bluetooth mouse stopped working. It seems fine now but.. yes very sketchy. We really just need a software fix from Apple for crying out loud!

 

[Grohowiak]

FYI 10.15.6 same behavior.
Just installed it and I guess "our issue" wasn't on the list of things to do.

 

[Norbert Mikołajczyk]

After a full erase and restore from Time Machine now my mbp16 work as before but better???
All my temps are good as before when idle. I'm not touching anything from now on!
What's weird and new? I returned to use the same HDMI and converter cables and Catalina somehow gives me new refresh rates to choose for my external lcd!!??
Before, for months at default it was only: 99,88Mhz, 75Mhz and 59,88Mhz.
Now, after the moshi usb-c cable try, clean install, smc/nvram/lcd settings resets drama and finally TM restore, it shows: 144Mhz, 120Mhz, 99,88Mhz and 59,88Mhz... Which is great, because I wanted 144Mhz from the beginning, it's silent at idle, buttery smooth and even goes back to the low rpms during browsing and light work as before!
Wtf Apple??

* I think higher res than my max monitor resolution 1440p is max gpu output?

open lid, idle, room 24C

 

[Norbert Mikołajczyk]

Has anyone reconfigured the fan settings to override the set apple profiles that cause the fans to run so high? I'm playing around with TG Pro but after having some luck letting it run slightly higher but quieter with the following profile (or something close), my computer actually froze up, got a crazy graphic on the screen then brought me back to the login.

According to TG Pro, it hit 100 centigrade once, randomly, out of the blue, when it was steadily in the low 80s centigrade while connected to a 4k monitor and running 5-6 chrome windows with 50+ total tabs, some light editing and a few firefox/safari windows. That might have been what did it. Why can't apple just have a low power mode!!!

It’s intel cpu problem imo, we have very powerful mobile CPUs but power hungry, 10 or 14nm old that quickly becomes very hot... that’s why arm CPUs are coming.

 

[vocalnick]

Why can't apple just have a low power mode!!!

Doesn't Turbo Boost Switcher more or less give you a "low power mode"? I realise it's a hack/workaround, but if it does the job...?

I've just chanced the $10 on the PRO version, and I'm testing an auto-switch profile based on a fan-speed of around 2500. If the fans go above that, Turbo Boost comes off, and doesn't come back on until speed falls below around 2000 again. This lets applications "surge" to faster speeds in the short term, but keeps the fans/temps under control in the long term.

 

[CibbySF]

Yea, I was following the "solution" suggested in Max Tech video above. I watched the temp like a hawk, letting it creep up slightly. Still not sure how it could randomly jump to 100 from 85 in a split second. But after that, even when I reset it to system controlled fans, everything got glacial and bluetooth mouse stopped working. It seems fine now but.. yes very sketchy. We really just need a software fix from Apple for crying out loud!

I am not sure if this is the case or not but a friend told me that if you ever had any heat related warranty issues AND used any kind of 3rd party fan profiles, Apple might refuse to services it under the warranty. Not any warranty claim, just heat related ones. I am not sure if this is the case your not but I've avoided fan profiles apps due to that advice.

 

[nikhsub1]

Part of the reason Apple is switch to it's own ARM chips is to deal with bad thermals etc. Apple can only do so much to deliver a laptop with a CPU that is hard to keep cool. I have news for you, it isn't just Apple that has fans spinning up on their laptops - all the Windows machines do it too.

 

[pluggy13]

Has anyone here tried the Svalt to see if it makes any difference? It seems to be optimised for the MacBook and claims to be the best cooling solution on the market. I'd give it a try if I wasn't living in Europe. There is no money back policy for international orders...

 

[bomby0]

Part of the reason Apple is switch to it's own ARM chips is to deal with bad thermals etc. Apple can only do so much to deliver a laptop with a CPU that is hard to keep cool. I have news for you, it isn't just Apple that has fans spinning up on their laptops - all the Windows machines do it too.

Maybe you should actually read the thread.

 

[Corncab44]

Part of the reason Apple is switch to it's own ARM chips is to deal with bad thermals etc. Apple can only do so much to deliver a laptop with a CPU that is hard to keep cool. I have news for you, it isn't just Apple that has fans spinning up on their laptops - all the Windows machines do it too.

My main issue is that I can't turn off the graphics card when it's plugged into an external monitor. What does that have to do with intel?

 

[CibbySF]

Sharing a few more data points in case it's helpful.

I installed Turbo Boost Switcher Pro on my 5600m config. Wow, what a difference it makes. I've got a ton of Chrome tabs open, slack, Mac excel, but the real cpu culprit is my Parallels Windows VM (setup w/ 2 dedicates cores). Even with that VM basically at idle with just excel open, if I disable Turbo Boost temps are right around 60 and fans below 2k around 1.8k. If I enable Turbo Boost though, temps jumped to 80-90, fans 3500+.

Suspending the VM and turning turbo boost back on, idle temps are low / mid 60s and fans 1.8k. Disabling Turbo Boost reduces CPU temp to right around 60, fans still around 1.8k.

Just noticed after using my Windows VM for a while with Turbo Boost off, temps low 60s and fans 2.3k.

 

[ateslik]

Sharing a few more data points in case it's helpful.

I installed Turbo Boost Switcher Pro on my 5600m config. Wow, what a difference it makes. I've got a ton of Chrome tabs open, slack, Mac excel, but the real cpu culprit is my Parallels Windows VM (setup w/ 2 dedicates cores). Even with that VM basically at idle with just excel open, if I disable Turbo Boost temps are right around 60 and fans below 2k around 1.8k. If I enable Turbo Boost though, temps jumped to 80-90, fans 3500+.

Suspending the VM and turning turbo boost back on, idle temps are low / mid 60s and fans 1.8k. Disabling Turbo Boost reduces CPU temp to right around 60, fans still around 1.8k.

Just noticed after using my Windows VM for a while with Turbo Boost off, temps low 60s and fans 2.3k.

That indicates a problem with Parellels. I also installed Turbo Boost Switcher on my 5600M, just to see. It made no difference in normal operation. I think because all the apps I have already behave and don't pull unreasonable resources. So I quit the app. It's laying around in case something changes in the future, but I want the CPUs to go turbo when appropriate and the 5600M seems to manage that correctly already.

 

[pluggy13]

I've just chanced the $10 on the PRO version,....

I'm also interested in that. Could you let me know if I will have to re-enter the admin password every time I reboot in the pro version? The trial version is a bit annoying because of this quirk.

 

[poematik13]

This thread reminds of the old 2013 mac pro GPU issue megathread. Just a lot of wheels spinning around and people blowing steam, and when you actually come forward with a workaround or solution, you just get shut down and dismissed lol

Seems like yall just want to vent and don't actually care about solutions. Enjoy your ****ing Dell lol

 

[vocalnick]

I'm also interested in that. Could you let me know if I will have to re-enter the admin password every time I reboot in the pro version? The trial version is a bit annoying because of this quirk.

It seems to run without interruption after you authorise it once on first run. I think it’s a deliberate incentive to upgrade to the paid version. I figured $10 is pretty nominal compared to the cost of the 16” 🙂

 

[pluggy13]

It seems to run without interruption after you authorise it once on first run. I think it’s a deliberate incentive to upgrade to the paid version. I figured $10 is pretty nominal compared to the cost of the 16” 🙂

Thanks for your quick reply! By all means, $10 is a no-brainer. I just wanted to ask first to make sure since I already own Volta, which does something very similar.