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

[Hollycene]

To all those of you that are still suffering with this mess....

I sold that 16" noisy oven, and replaced with a mac mini M1, problem solved... never again I heard the fans, and never again my mac got hot... Also it performs much faster and at 1/4 of the price

I guess the 16" should just be deemed obsolete now, as Apple is not willing to even acknowledge the issue exists...

Buying a new machine is not really "problem solved". I don't want to give apple any more money. I bought almost full spec laptop and expected to last at least 5 and more years. I expected it to be functional as advertised, what is clearly not. I feel cheated by apple and buying new device from that company is not a solution. It's another win situation for Apple.

 

[axu2]

You should re-write that text imo, because the problem mainly applies to external monitors when used open lid. There is no problem in clamshell mode and for those rare cases where Radeon High Side is 18W even in clamshell mode there is the HiDPI fix that reduces Radeon High Side to well below 10W.

Great summary, I’d just add high GPU wattage in clamshell mode only occurs with 1440p monitors and can be solved using the HiDPI mode solution on page 203.

 

[finalfire]

Hello everyone! As everyone else in this thread, I have a 16'' with the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4 GB. I daily use either one of two external monitors (one is a HP Pavilion 24cw, the other is a DELL ULTRASHARP U3415W 34" WQHD 21:9): with the lid open, the fans start spinning and the Radeon High Side wattage reaches ~17/18 W. My 16'' is one year old.

Now, I just discovered that if I close the lid, the fans stop spinning and the wattage of the GPU reaches ~3/5 W! The attached screenshot shows the behavior with the HP monitor. This is extraordinary, although the price is to lose the integrated Retina monitor.

Now, here's my question: assuming the wattage, fans speed and temperature stay in such setting, can the MBP always work with the closed closed? Could the closed lid damage the screen or something similar? Working with the Dell monitor (which is ultra wide) makes me not missing the second display, and it would be cool to work w/o hearing the always spinning fans.

Thanks for your help!

 

[make_mac_fast_again]

There is a bug in the 5500M causing 18W draw. 5600M apparently resolved this. Monterey might resolve too.

Yes, its fine to work in clamshell mode as it's called. Although there is more heat closer to screen, so I would advise forcing fans to max speed at all times. But I guess this is what you don't want. Depends on your workloads, if you are constantly pegging CPU with renders or compilation, then you will generate lots of heat. Underneath the `g` and `h` keys heats up to about 45C IIRC.

If you still want to use your retina, the VRM thermal pad mod can help resolve the throttling issues.

 

[achandlerwhite]

Great summary, I’d just add high GPU wattage in clamshell mode only occurs with 1440p monitors and can be solved using the HiDPI mode solution on page 203.

The problem with high wattage in clamshell also exists in my Dell U2415 1920x1200 monitor. Wattage is down to low levels in the Monterey betas in clamshell mode. Interestingly in an earlier beta wattage was down to < 5 watts with the lid open if I want also in low power mode, but unfortunately the latest beta removed this. I'm still glad to be able to get <5 watts in clamshell mode though for the first time. I had it working in Bug Sur at one point using Res Switch but it was clunky.

 

[mihirdelirious]

Anyone had a chance to check the Power consumption in Big Sur 11.6? I’m still on Catalina with no spare SSD at the moment to test it.

 

[huythanhv2]

Anyone had a chance to check the Power consumption in Big Sur 11.6? I’m still on Catalina with no spare SSD at the moment to test it.

Nothing changes. Lid opens = 19W for me.

 

[arrrr]

Mbp 16 5500M 4Gb:
2x Dell P2415Q + Lid closed = ~21w (webgl can boost it up to 25-27w )
2x Dell P2415Q + Lid open = ~21-22.5w

1x Dell P2415Q + Lid closed = ~8w (webgl can boost it up to 20w)
1x Dell P2415Q + Lid open = ~20-21w

Looks adding the 3rd screen does not make a big difference in terms of power consumption.

 

[PeterJP]

Looks adding the 3rd screen does not make a big difference in terms of power consumption.

No, that's clear. When you add a second screen, the clocks go to max. Can't get higher than that, so any extra screen doesn't have much impact.

 

[redmamoth]

What are my options for recourse with Apple here? Has anyone tried taking their laptop to the Genius Bar? This is a £3,000+ laptop that I can't use with an external monitor!!!

 

[coach_ditka]

Nothing changes. Lid opens = 19W for me.

Same here too - 11.6 does not change anything related to power consumption when using external displays.

 

[GumaRodak]

Maybe contact this lawyer

Apple Accused of False Marketing and Fraud Over M1 MacBook Display Issues

Apple is facing a new class-action lawsuit in the United States that accuses it of false or deceptive marketing for the M1-powered MacBook Pro and...

www.macrumors.com

 

[4743913]

To all those of you that are still suffering with this mess....

I sold that 16" noisy oven, and replaced with a mac mini M1, problem solved... never again I heard the fans, and never again my mac got hot... Also it performs much faster and at 1/4 of the price

I guess the 16" should just be deemed obsolete now, as Apple is not willing to even acknowledge the issue exists...

I can sympathize with your plight, however the 16 is not obsolete. It is ridiculous to hate on it because you made a mistake buying an orange when you wanted a banana. The 16 is my travel tote because its the best macbook I have ever owned.

 

[PeterJP]

I can sympathize with your plight, however the 16 is not obsolete. It is ridiculous to hate on it because you made a mistake buying an orange when you wanted a banana. The 16 is my travel tote because its the best macbook I have ever owned.

I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous. It's not because you personally don't have the issue, that it doesn't exist. I have a €5K+ laptop that I need to unplug from the external monitor to make a Teams call. That's just stupid. I can do lots of stuff really fast and well and fast on the built-in screen but when I plug in the external screen, even Word is (almost) too heavy for the damn machine. They fixed it in beta 4 and 5, it seems, then unfixed it again in beta 6. It's not about a wrong purchase. The laptop is marketed as supporting a multitude of external monitors but plug in a single one and it's hovercraft mode.

 

[4743913]

I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous.

my point was that calling it obsolete is ridiculous. I never doubted that the issue exists but it is still the best macbook pro Apple produces.

 

[electronino]

This thread made me join MacRumors to speak to this issue. First I would like to say thank you to all the people who have contributed to this thread. Amazing work!

In summary:

• I have two MacBook Pros 2019, Big Sur 11.6, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M
• Installed iStat and have the following situation with the graphic card power usage:
  • Just laptop: 0.1 W
  • Laptop + external monitor (2012 monitor with HDMI dongle): 20 W
  • Laptop + external monitor (2020 monitor with USB-c connection, no dongles): 20 W
  • Laptop lid closed + external monitor: 4.5 W
  • Laptop lid closed + 4 various external monitors (usb c-cable, HDMI dongles, all 4 connected at the same time): 5.0 W
• After 15 minutes of graphic card drawing 20 watts, fans start blowing at full speed (over 5000 rpm)

What did I do so far:

• I submitted this to apple.com/feedback, it did not go anywhere
• I called Apple Support via phone:
  • The first line of support was kind, understood my frustration and expectation that a $3000+ laptop should not sounds like a hair-dryer with a single external monitor plugged in, forwarded me to their senior support representative
  • Senior support representative told me how this is expected behavior
  • After telling him that MacBook 2015 did not blow air like this, my 2010 HP laptop does not blow air like this, MacBook Pro 2019 AMD 5600 does not blow air like this, Windows laptops with AMD 5500 do not blow air like this - he said that there is nothing he can do, that he can't escalate it to the engineering team, and the best way to get to the engineering team is to just keep submitting frequently feedback on apple.com/feedback
  • I told him that this is not what I expect from Apple. It is ironic that we are watching shows how Apple is faster than ever, better than ever, caring for the Earth and so on, yet do not care about listening to their existing customers
  • He added how there is nothing Apple can do at this point because external monitors are working so the behavior is as expected. If I don't like the fans blowing, well that is unfortunate.
  • We said our good byes and I said I will go to the Apple Store and plug in the monitor they sell at their stores and see what happens. If it also blows fans at idle, I want an official escalation report, enough is enough.

What this all made me realize is that complaining here won't get us anywhere. We have to call their in-person support. We have to go to Apple Stores support. We have to be annoying. We have to flood their support with our requests, we have to demand an upgrade to 5600 model, otherwise Apple won't care.

My gut feeling is telling me that this is not a hardware problem, and that this could all be resolved with a driver upgrade. Instead of making the best products ever they should just upgrade the damn driver!

F...

 

[Hollycene]

Laptop lid closed + 4 various external monitors (usb c-cable, HDMI dongles, all 4 connected at the same time): 5.0 W

Ou that’s really interesting. Does it mean you’ve plugged all 4 monitors
and GPU is still drawing only 5 watts?

Can you share what type of monitors do you use? (Resolution, frequency, company)

I totally agree with you, this is NOT expected behaviour. My fingers are literally burning on keyboard while external display is plugged. It’s really uncomfortable to even type on this MacBook “pro”, with only one FHD external display with lid open. Big shame for Apple. I’m waiting for the fix since 16 inch was launched, that’s almost 2 years! I really hate apple for this!

 

[electronino]

Ou that’s really interesting. Does it mean you’ve plugged all 4 monitors
and GPU is still drawing only 5 watts?

Can you share what type of monitors do you use? (Resolution, frequency, company)

I totally agree with you, this is NOT expected behaviour. My fingers are literally burning on keyboard while external display is plugged. It’s really uncomfortable to even type on this MacBook “pro”, with only one FHD external display with lid open. Big shame for Apple. I’m waiting for the fix since 16 inch was launched, that’s almost 2 years! I really hate apple for this!

Four Dell P2312 monitors (from 2012, 1920x1080, 60 Hz) via Anker HDMI dongle. If you are in closed lid mode, GPU will draw around 5 watts in idle mode with all programs closed.

Your only alternative until hopefully a driver update is to just buy and external keyboard and mouse and use you MacBook Pro with lid closed.

 

[kenhoward1972]

Four Dell P2312 monitors (from 2012, 1920x1080, 60 Hz) via Anker HDMI dongle. If you are in closed lid mode, GPU will draw around 5 watts in idle mode with all programs closed.

Your only alternative until hopefully a driver update is to just buy and external keyboard and mouse and use you MacBook Pro with lid closed.

I would be thrilled if, in clamshell mode, I could get even one external monitor to work in normal resolution without using the hidpi fix. If I could add a second monitor that would solve most of my problems. I am using an HP27q, which has a recommended resolution of 2560 x 1440 @ 60 Hz, but if I run it in any resolution other than 1920 x 1080, my Radeon High Side power goes way up. Could I ask what the model name of your Anker HDMI dongle is?

 

[electronino]

I would be thrilled if, in clamshell mode, I could get even one external monitor to work in normal resolution without using the hidpi fix. If I could add a second monitor that would solve most of my problems. I am using an HP27q, which has a recommended resolution of 2560 x 1440 @ 60 Hz, but if I run it in any resolution other than 1920 x 1080, my Radeon High Side power goes way up. Could I ask what the model name of your Anker HDMI dongle is?

This is the Anker HDMI dongle I'm using: https://www.amazon.ca/Anker-Aluminum-Portable-Supports-Pixelbook/dp/B07THJGZ9Z

However, the difference is that I'm using 1920 x 1080 resolution.
The other monitor I tested my laptop with is Dell U4919 (ultra wide 49 inch) with it's native usb-c to usb-c cable, and the GPU power usage hovers around 6-7 W in clamshell mode.

Not options that align with yours, but just throwing ideas out there.

 

[kenhoward1972]

This is the Anker HDMI dongle I'm using: https://www.amazon.ca/Anker-Aluminum-Portable-Supports-Pixelbook/dp/B07THJGZ9Z

However, the difference is that I'm using 1920 x 1080 resolution.
The other monitor I tested my laptop with is Dell U4919 (ultra wide 49 inch) with it's native usb-c to usb-c cable, and the GPU power usage hovers around 6-7 W in clamshell mode.

Not options that align with yours, but just throwing ideas out there.

Are you chaining the monitors somehow, or using four dongles? I appreciate the help, I would really like to figure out how to use a second monitor in clamshell mode. I wish I would have researched this issue before buying this Macbook, but I am stuck with it now. I do need to be able to travel with it, but when I travel I just use the built-in monitor with no external.

 

[electronino]

Are you chaining the monitors somehow, or using four dongles? I appreciate the help, I would really like to figure out how to use a second monitor in clamshell mode. I wish I would have researched this issue before buying this Macbook, but I am stuck with it now. I do need to be able to travel with it, but when I travel I just use the built-in monitor with no external.

Four dongles each.

 

[GumaRodak]

I am just wondering if anybody using the notebooks on the go. I mean ppls attaching external monitors etc to it. Thats not very mobile, and notebook is for portability. If i have this setup with several attached HW, i would for sure purchase a desktop instead..its not a solution, it just idea for future to think about…

 

[huythanhv2]

I am just wondering if anybody using the notebooks on the go

Yes I take it with me to meeting rooms, to my bed, to my couch.

But when high productivity required then it’ll be connected to monitor at my workstation.

You can’t have a MacMini or MacPro in the same manner obviously.

 

[Minga089]

I would be thrilled if, in clamshell mode, I could get even one external monitor to work in normal resolution without using the hidpi fix. If I could add a second monitor that would solve most of my problems. I am using an HP27q, which has a recommended resolution of 2560 x 1440 @ 60 Hz, but if I run it in any resolution other than 1920 x 1080, my Radeon High Side power goes way up. Could I ask what the model name of your Anker HDMI dongle is?

What's the problem with using the hidpi fix? Not only does it reduce power consumption to 5W, it also delivers a much crispier picture on 2K and FHD monitors in MacOS.