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Brand new M1 Mac Mini has fan on continously

C

cvl01

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 24, 2020
3
0
Hello,

I just received the new M1 mac mini, however, contrary what a lot of users/reviews say, the fan of my mac mini is constantly on.

Not at full speed I guess, but I hear it fanning all the time.

It starts even before I enter my password - it seems to have no relation with what I'm doing.

Is this a problem I can try to fix? Did probably someone else experience the same? Or should I just return it to Apple?
 
cvl01 said:
Is this a problem I can try to fix? Did probably someone else experience the same? Or should I just return it to Apple?
Click to expand...
Don't do anything. Don't go looking for problems. You said the machine is brand new. Wait a few days before you do anything at all. You have no basis to think the machine isn't working as designed.

Edit: Never mind. I see you're already going down the road to obsession.
 
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I had an i5 2018 Mini for a while. 1700 rpm is the baseline fan speed. I am VERY picky when it comes to fan noise and the sound emitted from the Mini running at 1700 rpm, sitting beside my monitor, was inaudible. Even at night in as quiet an environment as could be. Only then, putting my ear against it, could I tell it was even running.

So it looks like they did not change the fan system at all, and you know what: I think that's just great. The 2018 fan system could handle the i5 just fine, and it is total overkill for the M1. It will keep your system cool no matter how long or hard you ride your machine. So: don't worry about the fan running. Enjoy your little speed demon.

And don't worry about wearing out the fan, either. First of all, the fan failing is not a known issue with the 2018 Minis. I had mine open to install more RAM and I was impressed by the solid metal casing of the fan, which was easily accessible und could be replaced in 5 minutes IF something were to go wrong with the fan. And if that DID happen, you would have access to the same fan replacement hardware as for the 2018 Minis. The cooling system is rock solid.
 
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Woah! Random reddit post suggested disconnecting an external drive and bingo!
The drive in question was a WD My Passport Ultra for Mac using USB C on the drive end to USB-A on the Mac mini end. Even without drive access the drive must have been running and making noise. As it was sitting directly next to the Mini it seemed as though the Mini may have been making the sound. FYI for anyone else dealing with noise issues as well.
The mini with fan at 1700rpm is virtually soundless in my office.
 
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Jggl33r said:
Any updates on this issue?

I've observed the same thing on my new M1 Mac Mini: the fan is running all the time as soon as the machine is powered up but noise level is almost inaudible. You can tell the fan is running because there is a constant very light airflow leaving the air intake at the back of the mini.

So this is the expected behavior? Or did a receive a faulty unit?
Click to expand...
Yes, and it's perfectly fine. You have a quiet machine that is not thermally constrained. This fan solution was powerful enough to cool the i5 (about 60 watts max. power draw) sufficiently in the sense that you would rarely hear the fan spin up beyond the inaudible baseline. And now it is cooling the M1, which even at full tilt draws significantly less. Don't worry a second about the fan running at baseline speed.
Basically what you are getting is the fastest M1 setup possible: it will be faster under sustained loads than the M1 Air and it will be quieter than the M1 Pro.
 
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etthere said:
When I try to render an image from Blender, I can see the difference between with automatic fan settings which is 1700 RPM all the time and with manual fan settings, very clearly.
Click to expand...
It seems Apple is putting slience and energy efficiency first on the M1 Mac Mini. Great thing about macOS is that its open than iOS and we can set the fan speed as we want it. The Mac Studio on the other hand looks to be way better for sustained loads.

 
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When idle, the fan on the Mac mini always runs at its lowest speed. It’s not audible, so if you can hear it then you have probably have an issue. Try resetting the PRAM and restarting in Safe Boot - little things like these can often sort these sorts of issues.
 
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I even don't hear it (M1 Mac mini 16GB, 256GB SSD).

I bought the smallest M1 Mac mini with 16GB Memory just to check it out.
It is a speedy machine and iOS app are a fun to use. There is no problem booting from an external Thunderbolt 3 SSD (with mac os x 11.01 on it). The user interface is no different from the intel Macs.

But at the end of the day it is a Mac OS only machine - and that is to less to work with.

I will keep it - may be the situation will change with the release of Parallels or VM Ware.
 
Update: I installed iStatistica Sensors and that showed that fan is working at 1700 rpm.

Screenshot 2020-11-24 at 20.28.08.png
 
Thanks for the replies, I'll just use&wait for a few days.
 
This appears to simply be the min fan speed. There's no heat anywhere to get rid of.

Unless another M1 Mini user wants to chime in that their fan actually turns off...
 
I don't have the M1 Mac mini, but I do have the previous generation Mac mini and that has the fan spinning the slowest it can go....which is 1700rpm all the time....but I can't hear it personally when its running that slow.
 
cvl01 said:
Hello,

I just received the new M1 mac mini, however, contrary what a lot of users/reviews say, the fan of my mac mini is constantly on.

Not at full speed I guess, but I hear it fanning all the time.

It starts even before I enter my password - it seems to have no relation with what I'm doing.

Is this a problem I can try to fix? Did probably someone else experience the same? Or should I just return it to Apple?
Click to expand...
Launch the Activity app and see if there is an app hugging the cpu, that's what I did back in the day when I heard a lot a fan noise. I also have the Mac mini 16gb 512 SSD, never heard the fan. Also some reviewers have said they could not even get the fan to start up...
 
Seems strange to me that the fan would be on all the time. Also 1700 rpm sounds like a lot, PWM fans can go quite a bit slower than that.
 
I have the M1 Mac mini and it seems to behave the same at idle as the i3 intel model from 2018 that I had previously. Fan at 1700 rpm all the time. Silent for me, since I have it several feet away from where I sit. Big difference with the M1 model is that it never seems to ramp the fan up even under load.

My 13” 2020 MBP does drop the fans right back to 0 rpm at idle. That truly is silent, but loud under full load of course.
 
The imac fan at idle stay at 1200 rpm
The 15/16” mbp around 1900-2000
Mac mini at 1600-1700 rpm
 
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