Are you absolutely sure the 13" doesn't run hot on external monitor? Some have posted the 13" can be hot on its own, and I've seen videos where the 13" also has overheating issues. I want to believe you since theres not many threads specific to external monitor/13" overheating like there are with 16", but want to be sure before I buy
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(2019) 16" is HOT & NOISY with an external monitor! :(
- Thread starter Appledoesnotlisten
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Well in my opinion, having to carry an eGPU around reduces its portability. I want a machine that just works out of the box without external hardware. So if you say you are having kernel_task throttling then that means that I will go with the 13", which works great right out of the box. I will have to compromise by going for 32 GB RAM instead of 64 GB.
Thanks for this long reply.
I've seen in iStat a consumption around 20w for my graphic card with two monitors plugged in and nothing exept one tab of chrome open.
So If I understand well, If I buy the EGPU on apple website, the "black magic" thing, it will absorb the load on my internal gpu thus making the macbook less hot and less noisy ?
I actually have :
- two monitors + keyboard + ehternet on CallDigit.
- one usb-c cable for iphone or ipad
- power cable
- one ssd usb-c
Do you then plug everything on this eGPU ?
Or maybe like, two screens on it, and keep the CallDigit for usb and ethernet ?
I see there is only one HDMI output on the blackmagic egpu. It's possible to found a T3 to HDMI adapter ?
I dont want to change macbook for the next years FYI.
But I want my desk setup to last, be quiet and not be a 100 degrees.
And I dont want to invest in an eGPU to realise its another useless investment ^^
This bill is beginning to be huge..
Ironically I don't do graphical task at all.
But I read that upgrading the graphical card was a good idea to have a less noisy-hoty macbook -_-.
Thanks again for advise.
The 13" I had was the 2020 version with 4 thunderbolt ports. It had no problems at all with heat. I drove a single 2K monitor through a Belkin Thunderbolt Pro Dock. It all worked great.
You can wait until the October model, but it will likely be ARM, which isn't fully supported by software vendors yet. How well the rosetta translation works is still a question mark.
You never want to be a guinea pig for any new line that Apple releases. It ALWAYS has issues until the 2nd or 3rd cycle at the very least.
Don't buy anything on apple website.
IF you want eGPU buy Razer Core X or X Chroma if you want to spend extra $100. B&H for example has them.
Then buy a GPU like 580 or Vega 56/64 or 5700 whatever is your budget.
It's plug and play. No way to mess up.
As long as you set app preference to use with external GPU and don't use internal screen for anything heavy (yes that includes watching youtube) then your temperatures will be just fine.
You just connect your laptop to the eGPU (USB-C cable) and then both monitors to the egpu. That's it.
I run two externals with lid open and for most part laptop is silent. It goes bonanza when I start compiling projects or rendering but that's normal.
Never hit above 95 Celsius since I got the eGPU which means it's not throttling. No kernel panics either. Just works.
I'm wondering if this overheating/fan noise issue would happen if I were to use AppleTV airplay to my monitor?
Just don't know if repurchasing the 16", and buying an eGPU is worth it just to connect it to my screen. Does 13" have this issue of overheating, would it be wise to purchase 13" given it might be refreshed soon?
Just don't know if repurchasing the 16", and buying an eGPU is worth it just to connect it to my screen. Does 13" have this issue of overheating, would it be wise to purchase 13" given it might be refreshed soon?
No the 13" likely doesn't have it since the overheating issue is related to the AMD dGPU. I was in a dilemma myself but finally decided to go with the 13" since they have a 32GB option on that as well now.
Your only options are
1. Return the macbook and get one with the 5600M GPU that is not defective.
2. Use clamshell mode with a displayport cable, and it might work (not guaranteed, works with my ASUS OLED monitor via displayport, but overheats via hdmi or if I open the lid. Does not work with a smaller displayport monitor, such as my Wacom Cintiq Pro 13 tablet.)
3. If you do not need fast graphics, and do not use 4K hidpi resolutions, then you can use a displaylink adapter (USB to hdmi or USB to displayport).
4. If you need fast graphics, you can use an eGPU, such as Aorus Gaming Box. It will have to be AMD, as Apple has blocked NVidia. (I cannot use my $3000 Titan V or my $9000 Quadro GV100. Thanks Apple).
I have been doing 2 and 3.
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Yes, they say that the 5600M was a better choice with ext monitors.
But since you’ve made your move, if you want a mostly quiet setup, Razer Core X + AMD 580 it is. It’s not totally silent, but pretty quiet. Way better than without it. And it’s upgradeable and reusable with other Macs. Portable it isn’t. Make sure the 580 has a “zero dB” mode, in which the fans turn off under low/medium load.
You might want to locate it under your desk for max quiet. I’ve done that and it’s only 32 dB, not at all distracting. The cable is short, so some creativity is needed for positioning it behind/under a desk/cover. It’s 42 dB if on the desk: audible but easy to forget about. And the fan/PSU is replaceable, given enough enthusiasm. Noctua NF-A12x25 FLX and CORSAIR SF750.
For “Total Silence With Zero Effort” configuration: BlackMagic eGPU is great, and a bit more expensive, and non-upgradeable. I’d venture to predict it would have a good resale value later, and that‘s another way of thinking about upgrades: it can be sold and replaced. You’d need a TB3-HDMI adapter for it. Those can be bought for cheap.
I say take Core X (not Chroma), because you already have the Caldigit, so keep using that for peripherals. Since this is somewhat of an experiment for you, I’d strongly suggest buying from a store that has a 30 day no-questions-asked refund policy. That’s what I did, but not going to return it.
My setup was mentioned in the post you quoted, and many older posts, so I won’t repeat it here
I can only speak to my own experience, but it certainly takes quite a bit to get the fans going. Is there any particular use case that you have in mind?
I have a BlackMagic eGPU (580), so could test with and without the eGPU pushing the external 4k display.
A word about the BlackMagic eGPU. It is getting a little old now, but it still impresses with its silence. It runs at 18dB even under full load. If you can pick one up second hand, it might be a good option. It would take the strain off the 16" dGPU, letting the MBP run cooler while adding essentially no noise of its own. It has Thunderbolt 3 out and HDMI out, so you should be able to run 2 external displays off it. The Thunderbolt 3 port can output DisplayPort (over USB-C).
If you decide to jump on the 13" MBP and run external displays without an eGPU, I strongly believe it will run quieter than a 16" MBP 5300 or 5500 driving externals with the lid open. However, it will not be as powerful for 3D workloads. Perhaps a simple test (4K YouTube video?) that could be run on both the 13" and 16" each driving a 4k display with no eGPU and then compare temps and fan speed?
Thanks so much for the detailed reply! If I went with the 13", I'd go for the highest end i7 model. Also, did your 13" genuinely just not have any heat or was it just that the fans wouldn't go off like the 16" does?
Do you think this would be worth it to get 13" since they might update/refresh this model soon and possibly to 14" next year? I don't even watch 4k videos or use 3D workloads, mostly just doing chrome/office work heavy loads. I really don't want to buy an eGPU just to have 16" run cooler, unless there's one under a $100 that you think would work well..
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How has the 13" been treating you so far? Any heat or fan noise on external monitor?
With clamshell mode, couldn't the heat damage your internal macbook screen? Do the fans not go off at all on clamshell mode and is it completely cool? Does the displayport cable really make a difference?
It is designed to work in clamshell mode.
fans never go off and they increase the harder you make a computer work.
a computer is never completely cool and will heat up depending how hard you use it [refer to fan comment]
cant comment on display port cable - will leave that to Yurk.
All those who are considering a 13": While there are no dedicated threads about 13" being particularly problematic with an external monitor, there are a lot of threads and YouTube videos talking about how hot it is in general. It's a good idea to do your own research outside this thread as well, to calibrate your expectations.
I personally thought of exchanging from 16" to 13", but the anecdotal data didn't support that decision. I couldn't realistically expect a major difference in overall experience, so it wasn't worth it. It's just the nature of these laptops: they get hot if they do some Real Work ™. And the 16" gets hot in particular scenarios outlined in this thread.
A what-if scenario:
If I didn't already have a late-2019 Mac, I would sit out over September-October events, just to see what they deliver next. I would also see if it's an ARM 13" or 14.1" laptop. I would watch all early YouTube benchmarks of how it performs with Rosetta 2, and if there are any downsides with the first generation.
The DTK has shown very good Rosetta 2 performance for Intel apps, and stellar native performance, see another thread in these forums. Some German article (now pulled) showed measurements indicating that the DTK is already faster than the current 16" with native code, with previous generation iPad Pro Apple Silicon.
If that turns out to be the case, and if there are no apparent bugs, that's what I'd get, add AppleCare, and science the crap out of it during the evaluation period, while the 30-day refund is still in effect.
I was one of those who bought a Rosetta 1 laptop, the first Intel machines. My first Mac. It was awesome, and all PowerPC software worked out of the box. Still one of my favorite Macs, though it was stolen a few years later. While it's reasonable to be a skeptic about generation changes, I don't think it's reasonable to categorically skip it, that's a bit paranoid IMO.
There is a difference between it getting hot and it getting throttled. I have no problems with my MBP running hot but when it starts kernel_task throttling frequently, that I do mind, because it slows down the MBP to a crawl and you can't get any work done. In your current 16", do you just experience 'hot and noisy', or do you experience throttling?
With regards to the Sept-Oct events, the 13" was just released in May. If they do release another one in Sept/Oct, it will likely be an ARM based on and trust me, you don't want to be the guinea pig for Apple's new major releases, because they are always bad and have problems.
“Kernel_task 1000%” with throttling, that happened on a few hot days in high ambient temperature, no A/C in the room. Perhaps a total of 3 or 5 times over 9 months. In an office with normal ambient temps, 21-23 °C Celsius, there I’ve never seen that happen. It keeps turbo boosting nicely over long loads.
“Hot and noisy“ is the issue. Not “hot and slow”. The fear of excessive throttling isn’t a reason to avoid 16” in my experience. Under comfortable ambient temps the 20 W extra load cuts off some of the top speed and that‘s all it does, speed-wise.
As for guinea-pigging: different people have different risk tolerances. I’m an early adopter and conscious of what it entails. I’ve personally bought almost all gen-1 models of what I’ve needed (after checking the reviews and initial reactions) and have had very few disappointments in the past 15 years. Your mileage may vary, I’m not discounting that! The 30-day return is a great worst-case parachute.
Note that this 16” will likely be the last of its generation with the best thermals they could do. So is the latest iMac, and its top-of-the-line GPU has had issues as well, according to forums/news. So, I guess there’s always a chance for disappointment, no matter which generation it is. “First gen bad, last gen good” is a good rule of thumb, but not nearly always true.
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I am an early adopter too, and never really had any issues. And yes there is the return window for any returns, so I always buy with confidence.
The new thermals alone are a good reason to look forward to the AS updates.
I also agree with 1st gen of products can be dodgy, however I don’t really see this as a massive change as the iPads and phones have been using the chips for ages. Also it is the 1st gen of a totally new product which is when things go wrong, whereas for AS computers, thing I am concerned about is software over hardware this time, given laptops have been made for ages, as have the chips.
Anyway here is hoping no more overheating, loud and throttled laptops and AIO computers. Not too long to find out.
To anybody here who's tried working with Apple Support to be 'allowed' to return/replace their MBP 16" to get a new model with the 5600M, what was that process like? How many support interactions/calls did it require?
Do they mail you the replacement unit, let you migrate, and you can mail your old one back?
To the others here talking about waiting for Apple Silicon: I agree it's going to get us out of this Intel-induced hell of thermal issues. The transition to Intel in the mid-2000s was the right move and ultimately led to ~15 years of relatively successful Macs, but sadly Intel hasn't been able to keep pace with Apple+TSMC, and Apple's exclusive partnership with AMD for GPUs the last ~10 years wasn't a good idea either. The thermal issues everyone is experiencing are direct evidence of this. Zoom, YouTube, etc are driving high-performing Macs to their limits somehow. Apple Silicon is the way out and I can't wait!
Do they mail you the replacement unit, let you migrate, and you can mail your old one back?
To the others here talking about waiting for Apple Silicon: I agree it's going to get us out of this Intel-induced hell of thermal issues. The transition to Intel in the mid-2000s was the right move and ultimately led to ~15 years of relatively successful Macs, but sadly Intel hasn't been able to keep pace with Apple+TSMC, and Apple's exclusive partnership with AMD for GPUs the last ~10 years wasn't a good idea either. The thermal issues everyone is experiencing are direct evidence of this. Zoom, YouTube, etc are driving high-performing Macs to their limits somehow. Apple Silicon is the way out and I can't wait!
The thread is degenerating more and more into a self-help group, but well, why not. But once again in summarized form, save yourself the time with time-consuming test scenarios. As long as Apple does nothing, the problem will not go away. I estimate the chances of a fix to be close to zero.
I am very happy with my MBP, but I use it in a clamshell and knew about the issue before I bought it. I couldn't and didn't want to wait for a 16" refresh from Apple. A product refresh will surely get other dGPU's.
So you can only teeth-gnashingly accept it or leave it. That is unfortunately the reality.
I am very happy with my MBP, but I use it in a clamshell and knew about the issue before I bought it. I couldn't and didn't want to wait for a 16" refresh from Apple. A product refresh will surely get other dGPU's.
So you can only teeth-gnashingly accept it or leave it. That is unfortunately the reality.
I am wondering why people don't just use it via AppleTV screen mirroring, which apparently won't trigger the AMD GPU and won't produce heat/fan noise?
