First day with new M4 14", fan is loud

[kave]

After four years with a M1 Pro 16" MacBook Pro I thought I would downsize to a 14" M4 with 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD. I have just transferred all my data to a new 14" M4.
With four years of using the 16" I have never heard the fan, no matter, video export, Dropbox indexing etc.
Now with the 14" I am hearing the fan on and off all the time. I really hope this will end when all indexing is done otherwise I will return it.

 

[ISKOTB]

After four years with a M1 Pro 16" MacBook Pro I thought I would downsize to a 14" M4 with 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD. I have just transferred all my data to a new 14" M4.
With four years of using the 16" I have never heard the fan, no matter, video export, Dropbox indexing etc.
Now with the 14" I am hearing the fan on and off all the time. I really hope this will end when all indexing is done otherwise I will return it.

I traded my 16"/M1 pro for this 14"/M4 pro and it is quiet, unless your running an LLM and editing videos.You're comparing the 14 inch chassis vs a 16 inch one. The fans on the 16 inch are bigger so they are able to spin slower while providing the same level of cooling (and also take longer to come on due to the chassis allowing for better passive cooling)
I just tried Endurance CPU and the fans never came on.

 

[kave]

Just an update, I returned the 14" and went back to my 16" m1 instead. Not worth it imho.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I had a brief flirtation with an M4 MBP 14" before going to my current M4 Mini and I can also attest to the fan being noisy.

In doing the very same things with both devices, I literally never hear anything from my M4 Mini, whereas the M4 MBP 14" fans would ramp up quite a bit and were very audible (annoyingly so at times)

I was a bit surprised honestly

I don't think I'll be into an Apple laptop, for my usages, other than the fan less MBA models

It's amazing how annoying computer fan noise is once you get used to "not hearing it"

 

[Lasermoon]

What model 14" M4 or are they all noisy?
A3112
A3401
A3185

 

[DrwMDvs]

I have the base model 14" M4 and have yet to hear the fans on it. I've had it for almost a month now.

OP, it's quite possible that the Spotlight was still indexing, which is known to cause the fans to whirl up. Depends on much storage you transferred over though.

 

[Astuces iOS]

After four years with a M1 Pro 16" MacBook Pro I thought I would downsize to a 14" M4 with 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD. I have just transferred all my data to a new 14" M4.
With four years of using the 16" I have never heard the fan, no matter, video export, Dropbox indexing etc.
Now with the 14" I am hearing the fan on and off all the time. I really hope this will end when all indexing is done otherwise I will return it.

So which model did you pick? Don’t forget 16 inch has always 2 fans and the MacBook Pro m4 (base model) has only 1 fan so if you do heavy task it might be loud (depends on what)

By the way I have an m4 MacBook Pro (1 fan yes), I have heard it when I push the CPU at the limit (which I don’t have to do for example some programs ask how many cores I want to give them and if I pick all of them then all the cpu is used and the fans start…) but I use Xcode and Final Cut Pro… I heard a bit the fan (almost nothing) one time. I guess with a M4 pro you won’t hear anything since there is 2 fans and better performance with 8gb extra ram on their base model!

 

[Realityck]

After four years with a M1 Pro 16" MacBook Pro I thought I would downsize to a 14" M4 with 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD. I have just transferred all my data to a new 14" M4.
With four years of using the 16" I have never heard the fan, no matter, video export, Dropbox indexing etc.
Now with the 14" I am hearing the fan on and off all the time. I really hope this will end when all indexing is done otherwise I will return it.

You could have seen this with Mac Fan Control comparing the single fan M4 model vs the way better duel fans using larger thermal design in the M4 Pro/Max model. They are normally off in that model only spinning up during sustained thermal demand.

 

[Petite messe solennelle]

Your write in the title: "First day", and if you copied a lot of files or downloaded a lot of files from the cloud, Spotlight was starting to build its index. This can easily take several hours or even up to a day if there are several TBs of data.

 

[throAU]

Just an update, I returned the 14" and went back to my 16" m1 instead. Not worth it imho.

M4 What spec? Pro? Max? Base?

In low power mode my 14" M4 max is 100% silent and still faster than my M1 Pro was.

If it was a base m4, I suspect you got a dud.... that machine shouldn't be pushing the 14" chassis cooling system to be noisy unless there's something wrong with it.

 

[Realityck]

M4 What spec? Pro? Max? Base?

In low power mode my 14" M4 max is 100% silent and still faster than my M1 Pro was.

If it was a base m4, I suspect you got a dud.... that machine shouldn't be pushing the 14" chassis cooling system to be noisy unless there's something wrong with it.

I thought I would downsize to a 14" M4 with 16GB Ram and 1TB SSD. I have just transferred all my data to a new 14"

It’s the single fan base model.

 

[throAU]

Ah, forgot the base was single fan. Still though.... it runs fanless in the air. I really suspect your specific machine may have been faulty.

 

[kave]

What model 14" M4 or are they all noisy?
A3112
A3401
A3185

It was the cheapest base model, I can only dream of how bad the M4 pro will be in this chassis

 

[kave]

I have the base model 14" M4 and have yet to hear the fans on it. I've had it for almost a month now.

OP, it's quite possible that the Spotlight was still indexing, which is known to cause the fans to whirl up. Depends on much storage you transferred over though.

Just did the same on a 16" M4 Max and no fans where heard. It's not the M4 that is the problem, it's the 14" and M4 in combination imho

 

[kave]

Your write in the title: "First day", and if you copied a lot of files or downloaded a lot of files from the cloud, Spotlight was starting to build its index. This can easily take several hours or even up to a day if there are several TBs of data.

But it does not happend on the 16" M4 Max. I don't like hearing a fan for normal work.

 

[NeonNights]

I've had my M4 Pro MBP 14 for about a month and only heard the fans once during an export of Insta360 X4 footage that was 70GB. Granted, I haven't done anything else super taxing yet but I never heard the fans during initial setup and indexing either. When the fans were on during export it was still a gentle "whoosh". I don't know what the fan speed was at the time but the sound wasn't distracting nor irritating and not loud at all.

I was worried about the single-fan on the M4 MBP and, when configured identically, I figured it was worth the extra $130 (Edu discount) to get the M4 Pro for added performance, dual fans, and Thunderbolt 5 ports for future use. I am lovin' my 14" M4 Pro with nano-texture! Part of me misses my old M1 Max 16" w/64GB and 4TB because it was just a killer deal at the time for $2999, but honestly I hated carrying that beast around. The M4 Pro is just so much quicker and more responsive than the M1 Max.

 

[wakemac]

I've had the 14" M4 Pro for about 2 months. I've never been able to hear the fans, though most would probably call my use moderate.

 

[Realityck]

I've had my M4 Pro MBP 14 for about a month and only heard the fans once during an export of Insta360 X4 footage that was 70GB. Granted, I haven't done anything else super taxing yet but I never heard the fans during initial setup and indexing either.

I was worried about the single-fan on the M4 MBP and, when configured identically, I figured it was worth the extra $130 (Edu discount) to get the M4 Pro for added performance, dual fans, and Thunderbolt 5 ports for future use. I am lovin' my 14" M4 Pro with nano-texture! Part of me misses my old M1 Max 16" w/64GB and 4TB because it was just a killer deal at the time for $2999, but honestly I hated carrying that beast around. The M4 Pro is just so much quicker and more responsive than the M1 Max.

Yeah for the modest amount additional it’s a no brainer to opt for a M4 Pro for the new features and performance. It won’t be that long when TB5 external SSD’s are cheap.

 

[Toutou]

It was the cheapest base model, I can only dream of how bad the M4 pro will be in this chassis

14" M4 Pro here, it's (obviously) noisy when playing games, almost inaudible when compiling or exporting photos, and absolutely silent (the fans are stopped) when doing anything less intensive (such as my usual software dev work).

 

[NeonNights]

It was the cheapest base model, I can only dream of how bad the M4 pro will be in this chassis

The M4-series of chips do run hotter than previous generations so that's a contributing factor in fan noise, but the M4 Pro MBP 14 is actually quieter in most situations due to dual fans versus a single fan in the M4 MBP. The M4's single fan has to work harder (spin faster and louder) at all conditions to cool the M4, whereas heat from the M4 Pro is dissipated by two heat-pipes going to two fans running at much lower and quieter RPM.

Under full load, yes, I expect M4 Pro to be loud, but so would the M4. The point is the M4 Pro is quieter, or silent, in many situations where you'd hear the M4 fan spin up early and often. Several YouTube videos point this out and it is a major distinction between the M4 variant vs M4 Pro MBP. If you're still within the return period then take back the M4 and look at refurbished M4 Pro from Apple. Apple Refurbished M4 Pro MBP is literally like-new and probably about the same price as your M4.

Edit: Just realized this thread started a month ago, so OP is probably beyond the return window.

 

[raythompsontn]

Under full load, yes, I expect M4 Pro to be loud, but so would the M4

I have stressed my M4 Pro for six minutes at 100% CPU. The fans came on naturally. I could only hear the fans if I listened closely with my head six inches from the display. I wear hearing aids and my high frequency hearing sucks. Maybe the fans are hitting frequencies I cannot hear.

 

[NeonNights]

I have stresses my M4 Pro for six minutes at 100% CPU. The fans came on naturally. I could only hear the fans if I listened closely with my head six inches from the display. I wear hearing aids and my high frequency hearing sucks. Maybe the fans are hitting frequencies I cannot hear.

I agree, even under load the laminar air flow of the M4 Pro MBP actually has a pleasant sound to me. My Windows work laptop sounds worse using just Outlook, Chrome, and a Teams meeting.

 

[Realityck]

I have stresses my M4 Pro for six minutes at 100% CPU. The fans came on naturally. I could only hear the fans if I listened closely with my head six inches from the display. I wear hearing aids and my high frequency hearing sucks. Maybe the fans are hitting frequencies I cannot hear.

There were people complaining similar with studio Mac’s using Max processors because fans were audible. So yes some are overly sensitive to fan noise.

 

[Astuces iOS]

The M4-series of chips do run hotter than previous generations so that's a contributing factor in fan noise, but the M4 Pro MBP 14 is actually quieter in most situations due to dual fans versus a single fan in the M4 MBP. The M4's single fan has to work harder (spin faster and louder) at all conditions to cool the M4, whereas heat from the M4 Pro is dissipated by two heat-pipes going to two fans running at much lower and quieter RPM.

Under full load, yes, I expect M4 Pro to be loud, but so would the M4. The point is the M4 Pro is quieter, or silent, in many situations where you'd hear the M4 fan spin up early and often. Several YouTube videos point this out and it is a major distinction between the M4 variant vs M4 Pro MBP. If you're still within the return period then take back the M4 and look at refurbished M4 Pro from Apple. Apple Refurbished M4 Pro MBP is literally like-new and probably about the same price as your M4.

Edit: Just realized this thread started a month ago, so OP is probably beyond the return window.

this means m4 MacBook Air need to be optimized or they will get very very hot

 

[UnifiedMelody]

There were people complaining similar with studio Mac’s using Max processors because fans were audible. So yes some are overly sensitive to fan noise.

from my experience windows fan noise is obnoxiously annoying, even clicking one image in LR somehow sends the fans blazing for god damn knows what reason I will never understand why windows does that... so I ran off it asap...

I moved so quick to M4 Max 16" MacBook Pro. There is a bit of fan here and there but I have to push the system so hard for it to happen [which is never/rarely] in most cases no fan at all ever. while the fan does come out it's not with one click...

I am aware M4 generation increased cpu clock speed which is why fans does come more often vs say M1 generation [which the clock speed was very low]... that said still a non issue. its much quieter than most windows laptops I've seen running subpar chips. like i5/i7 let alone i9/285x