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

[GumaRodak]

Regarding the variations...each design has revisions, you can check them on the PCB silkscreen for example...each PCB assembly manufacturer has alternative sources to the components placed on the PCB...it could be, that workorder A is populated with different components as workorder B .... some components are not important, some may have influence...only the designers know...

 

[Artemis777]

I gave up guys. I sold my 16inch. And for half of what I got from the sell I bought a M1 MacBook Air. This notebook is so good... never been happier with a MacBook

 

[timelessbeing]

When I had the 16" 5300M, I tried it with well over 15 different monitors -- high heat and fan noise every single time. I'd be over at a friend's house trying my 16" out on their monitors, and when they plugged in their 2018 15" MBP to the same monitors, there was no where near the same heat and noise. These machines are borked, plain and simple.

YOUR machine may have been borked. What configuration is it, by the way?

 

[mouthster]

I gave up guys. I sold my 16inch. And for half of what I got from the sell I bought a M1 MacBook Air. This notebook is so good... never been happier with a MacBook

Did the same, the Air is on another level.

 

[orion73]

Hi, would it be possible to collect a list of monitors giving low wattage with closed lid? I am currently using my macbook pro 16" (5300) with an external 39.5" TV via HDMI, and any resolution from 2560X1440 to lower resolutions, with closed lid, draws ~4-5W (the frequency does not impact) I would like to buy a monitor, possibly 4k, and I am wondering which one could behave like my TV. At the moment my choice is the LG 27UN83A 27", did anyone used this monitor with a macbook pro 16? By the way, with the external TV, and using a firestick, I can connect via airplay, and the dGPU is completely bypassed, in principle the firestick supports up to 2160p, and any monitor with HDMI should be capable handle a decent resolution, but I am not sure if the airplay on the mac can support >1080p, and unfortunately I have not with me the firestick, that I tested with another TV that was 1080p. I have to say that with the TV used to test the airplay, the lags were acceptable. Thanks!

 

[timelessbeing]

fans stay over 3000rpm.

Not sure why you find this surprising. It's a really thin and powerful notebook with a few mm of gap inside.

I can barely hear the fans when they spin 3k rpm.

 

[dukee101]

YOUR machine may have been borked. What configuration is it, by the way?

I assure you, I am not the only one with a borked machine, as 184 pages of this thread makes clear.

I owned two different 16" MBPs: one was the base model w/ 5300M GPU, and the other had the 5500M GPU. Both behaved exactly the same with regards to this external display issue, across many different monitors, with an untold number of resolution/frequency/rotation/port/cable/clamshell combinations. Nothing made a difference.

 

[timelessbeing]

I assure you, I am not the only one with a borked machine, as 184 pages of this thread makes clear.

I owned two different 16" MBPs: one was the base model w/ 5300M GPU, and the other had the 5500M GPU. Both behaved exactly the same with regards to this external display issue, across many different monitors, with an untold number of resolution/frequency/rotation/port/cable/clamshell combinations. Nothing made a difference.

Which one is the base model? The 2.6 GHz i7 ?


"borked" is a subjective term. I think many people just have unrealistic expectations.

I'm aware that you're not alone, but it's 184 pages of repetition and people parroting each other. And you're still going. The number of pages is irrelevant. The number of verifiable cases is.

 

[whacp]

Which one is the base model? The 2.6 GHz i7 ?


"borked" is a subjective term. I think many people just have unrealistic expectations.

I'm aware that you're not alone, but it's 184 pages of repetition and people parroting each other. And you're still going. The number of pages is irrelevant. The number of verifiable cases is.

Unrealistic? You are the one who clearly have not used a windows machine before and lived outside reality for too long. At lease five people claimed to have sold their machine because heat management on the 16 is a disaster pure and simple.

Also for a machine this expensive and you have to waste so much time to find answers for a spinning fan when simply watching a youtube video, it got a problem!

 

[timelessbeing]

You are the one who clearly have not used a windows machine before

LOL Have you been looking through my window? If you did you should have seen the Dell notebook that constantly sounds like a jet engine.

At lease five people claimed to have sold their machine

Yes 5 people "claimed". Out of millions of units sold

because heat management on the 16 is a disaster pure and simple.

Now I'm starting to wonder how many Macbooks YOU have used. This is one of the coolest ones I've ever seen. Which is remarkable for the performance.

watching a youtube video, it got a problem!

what problem exactly?

 

[whacp]

sounds like a jet engine

Then I suggest you to see a doctor to check on your hearing function

millions of units sold

how many exactly? Citation needed

This is one of the coolest ones I've ever seen. Which is remarkable for the performance.

what's the temperature? what performance for junk like this?

 

[timelessbeing]

Wow you are interested in my office appliances and my personal health. You should be my secretary

 

[whacp]

Wow you are interested in my office appliances and my personal health. You should be my secretary

No if I was your secretary, I would suggest you to listen to a jet engine.

 

[dukee101]

Now I'm starting to wonder how many Macbooks YOU have used. This is one of the coolest ones I've ever seen. Which is remarkable for the performance.

On this point I agree. When my 16" MBPs were undocked from an external monitor -- when it was just the laptop -- they were the coolest MBPs I'd ever used up until that point. Under light to normal loads, the fans were near-silent. I'll grant you that. (Plus they finally "fixed" the keyboard with the 16", but that's a separate story.)

The problem is that as soon as you connect them to a display, good freakin luck. You're on the airport tarmac from the very first minute. And, a large part of the time, I'm docked to a display.

To that latter point, some on here have said "Well then you should just have an iMac, or a Mac mini". This has made no sense to me. About 20% of the time I want to pick up my computer and go somewhere else. Why should I own a desktop?

Lastly, let me say this: I'm a huge Apple supporter. The company has its faults, but they are a BigCo I'm happy to root for. This issue on the 16" was a major mess-up on their part. Now they birthed the M1, and all is right in the world. But I'll never forget the mud they dragged us through with this 16" fiasco.

 

[richinaus]

On this point I agree. When my 16" MBPs were undocked from an external monitor -- when it was just the laptop -- they were the coolest MBPs I'd ever used up until that point. Under light to normal loads, the fans were near-silent. I'll grant you that. (Plus they finally "fixed" the keyboard with the 16", but that's a separate story.)

The problem is that as soon as you connect them to a display, good freakin luck. You're on the airport tarmac from the very first minute. And, a large part of the time, I'm docked to a display.

To that latter point, some on here have said "Well then you should just have an iMac, or a Mac mini". This has made no sense to me. About 20% of the time I want to pick up my computer and go somewhere else. Why should I own a desktop?

Lastly, let me say this: I'm a huge Apple supporter. The company has its faults, but they are a BigCo I'm happy to root for. This issue on the 16" was a major mess-up on their part. Now they birthed the M1, and all is right in the world. But I'll never forget the mud they dragged us through with this 16" fiasco.

I think it is more like a major mess up by Intel, and Apple did the best they could without making a huge thick laptop.
The windows laptops at similar performance are worse than Apples, so it is easy to see where the blame is.

 

[jhack]

Chrome tends to be the biggest culprit. Browsing should not trigger fans though I appreciate some sites are more like apps. Running 2 x 4k monitors and all is fine when I moved to Safari. I expect fans with Xcode builds etc

 

[panzer06]

On this point I agree. When my 16" MBPs were undocked from an external monitor -- when it was just the laptop -- they were the coolest MBPs I'd ever used up until that point. Under light to normal loads, the fans were near-silent. I'll grant you that. (Plus they finally "fixed" the keyboard with the 16", but that's a separate story.)

The problem is that as soon as you connect them to a display, good freakin luck. You're on the airport tarmac from the very first minute. And, a large part of the time, I'm docked to a display.

To that latter point, some on here have said "Well then you should just have an iMac, or a Mac mini". This has made no sense to me. About 20% of the time I want to pick up my computer and go somewhere else. Why should I own a desktop?

Lastly, let me say this: I'm a huge Apple supporter. The company has its faults, but they are a BigCo I'm happy to root for. This issue on the 16" was a major mess-up on their part. Now they birthed the M1, and all is right in the world. But I'll never forget the mud they dragged us through with this 16" fiasco.

I just don't see any of these issues with my MBP 16. Even b4 I bought the eGPU, mine worked fine connected to my Dell U2720 vis USB C. Only time the fans kicked in was rendering in Final Cut X or running 5 or 6 QT videos simultaneously on a loop. My GF has no complaints about hers but she hardly uses it connected to a monitor. She also owns an iMac so her primary use is sitting in bed with it. The few times she's connected it to her external monitor she hasn't had an issue.

Certainly there is an issue with some MBP 16 units but until the people who have units with this issue sue in a class action Apple will probably not do anything. It would be better if Apple took the time to figure out what the issue is with some units and get it resolved.

 

[David58117]

On this point I agree. When my 16" MBPs were undocked from an external monitor -- when it was just the laptop -- they were the coolest MBPs I'd ever used up until that point. Under light to normal loads, the fans were near-silent. I'll grant you that. (Plus they finally "fixed" the keyboard with the 16", but that's a separate story.)

The problem is that as soon as you connect them to a display, good freakin luck. You're on the airport tarmac from the very first minute. And, a large part of the time, I'm docked to a display.

To that latter point, some on here have said "Well then you should just have an iMac, or a Mac mini". This has made no sense to me. About 20% of the time I want to pick up my computer and go somewhere else. Why should I own a desktop?

Lastly, let me say this: I'm a huge Apple supporter. The company has its faults, but they are a BigCo I'm happy to root for. This issue on the 16" was a major mess-up on their part. Now they birthed the M1, and all is right in the world. But I'll never forget the mud they dragged us through with this 16" fiasco.

Something was definitely wrong with your unit then. Even docked to two 4k monitors (LG27) the fans on mine only spin up when they are needed. Browsing / general use is silent, it's about on par with my 2015 15" it replaced.

But the fans starting as soon as you plug it in isn't normal.

 

[lukelol]

This redditor indicates some impressive performance on windows with the latest 2020 drivers.

https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/kg5aeb

anyone able to report the status with external monitors on bootcamp with this driver update? It would be interesting if windows performs better.

 

[dukee101]

Certainly there is an issue with some MBP 16 units but until the people who have units with this issue sue in a class action Apple will probably not do anything.

This is basically what it boils down to. This thread to me is for those who are afflicted specifically by this issue. Even though it turns into a general rant against the 16", undeserved or not, this thread is supposed to be a specific "I have this issue" discussion. The reason there's a 184 pages is that Apple has ignored the issue so wantonly.

It would be better if Apple took the time to figure out what the issue is with some units and get it resolved.

Exactly. They need to get a couple of their GPU driver people together, make some phone calls with AMD, and get better drivers out. The fact that this issue doesn't exist when running Windows via Boot Camp, shows that this is a macOS GPU driver issue. That's the biggest frustration, at least to me. But Apple's moved on. Those people are working on next year's new 16" with the M1X or whatever they'll call it. Such is life.

 

[kzqbfxob]

For me - I don't give a damn if my computer is hot, or if the fans are going full-bore 100% of the time. I have a high end machine, i expect that.

I care about the kernel_task throttling making the computer completely goddamn unusable. And this is a thing it does at comically light workloads (ie 2x4k youtube videos) when the ambient temperature is over about 25ºc.

 

[timelessbeing]

yeah I hate it when I'm trying to work on something , while giving my full attention to two ultra high res Youtube videos all at the same time, and the computer can't keep up with me.
#poweruser

 

[supaninjax]

yeah I hate it when I'm trying to work on something , while giving my full attention to two ultra high res Youtube videos all at the same time, and the computer can't keep up with me.
#poweruser

We get it, YOU don’t have issues with your particular configuration. Good for you. But everyone else here does. Whether you choose to believe it or not makes no difference.

 

[Minga089]

We get it, YOU don’t have issues with your particular configuration. Good for you. But everyone else here does. Whether you choose to believe it or not makes no difference.

Well, I don’t have problems either. So don’t use the term „everyone else“. BTW: Most of those people who don’t have problems either never attended this thread or left long time ago, because the same people keep repeating themselves.

 

[iMacDragon]

Just to note, I for one experience the problem, just long ago came to conclusion that whatever causes it Apple either seem to not care or can't fix, so not much I can really say.