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BTW: Anybody knows where the thermal limit for an M4 Pro is? Sontheim vary from generation to generation?

Your not going to reach the thermal limit of the M4 Pro chip. Just not going to happen.

What high thermals do is wear out the capacitors, solder joints, etc. so your concern is a Mac that fails X% sooner than if you ran it cooler.

You aren’t going to melt your M4 Pro chip, no matter how hard you run it.
 
According to whom? The only people in a position to determine what is too high or too long work for Apple—the same people that designed the processor, the computer, and its cooling systems, to operate under a variety of workloads and to not enter race states where temperatures or workload might be too high or for too long.

According to the one who sets the limits in the App Tamer settings, who might need more power for something and you can live with unimportant things taking longer and you have more CPU for the most important thing.

It's not to protect from overheating. Just to give an app or process more or less resources. Also you can stop things permanently. Like I did, when I had a few processes that normally have near zero CPU impact and suddenly everyday gone crazy and caused a CPU load of almost or even more than 100% in some macOS 15.1 betas. I was wondering, why I heard the fand of my iMac while I was doing "nothing".
 
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My M1 Max MBP runs at 100% CPU, 95 % GPU few hrs a day. It gets hot, fans kick in and had no problem for almost 4 years. If the fans can’t cool down, Mac OS will shut down. You bought it to use the computer, 108C isn’t a big deal. You should see my Linux workstation with AMD threadripper and Nvidia 4090. AS temps and fan noise is nothing compared to my workstation.
Edit: Word of advice if you are going to use hand brake, and push it to limits. Get AC+, and stop worrying. Hand break fried couple of HDD in Mac mini 2009.
 
Such overheating is harmful.

When the crystal temperature rises above 85 degrees, multi-level metal connections, contact transitions and inter-level dielectrics are subject to thermal expansion of layers.

With constant overheating, if it works for a year, consider it excellent.

This is why most CPU manufacturers specify TJMax as well over 100c right? Because they break at 85?
 
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The temps are fine. Don’t bother with manual fan control, just let the machine do its thing.

Consider how many M1 MacBook Airs have been regularly running in the 100c range over the last 4 years. If there was a problem we’d know about it by now. Just enjoy your machine 🙂
 
This is why most CPU manufacturers specify TJMax as well over 100c right? Because they break at 85?
Yes, the CPU manufacturer correctly indicated the maximum temperature. But this is the temperature at which the CPU will not burn out immediately. And for long-term operation it is harmful, because the semiconductors will begin to degrade rapidly.

Why exactly 85 degrees?
The manufacturer did not specify the operating temperatures of the processor, so we accept approximate average values.
But 90 degrees is definitely bad for long-term operation of any CPU.

Let me give you some examples.
Heating boilers have a working pressure at which they can work for a long time, and a maximum pressure at which it is harmful to work constantly.
Submarines have a working depth at which they can work as much as they want, and there is a maximum depth at which they cannot stay for long.
Incandescent lamps have a nominal voltage, but they can be supplied with a higher voltage at which they will also work, but not for long.
If a car engine constantly runs only at maximum speed, this will also be harmful to it.
So, a processor has an operating temperature and a maximum temperature.

Do you see the difference between the limit modes and the nominal modes at which you can work for a long time?

PS: When buying a used CPU without checking, there is a risk of getting a processor that is still working, but already degraded, the stability and performance of which may differ significantly from a non-overheated processor. ;)
 
If this is true…80% of hard working MBP would be junk within a year. Are you sure?
Yes! Those macbook & mini M1, M2, which were ACTIVELY used, have already degraded. Usually, upon cursory inspection, they heat up under low loads. When running benchmarks, a loss of performance is noticeable.

You noticed that I don't have a modern MacBook in my signature.
I bought an M1 8/256 for my son, and I need a 16/1024-4096, which is noticeably more expensive. I looked at used models, and tested them myself, and didn't buy anything, precisely because of overheating or the difference in performance in tests compared to my colleagues' working machines.
Mass, simpler models, in good condition, are sold, and not expensively. But advanced used models, which can still be used and used, are sold most often precisely because of defects. :)
Looks like I'll have to buy a new M4.
 
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My M1 Max MBP runs at 100% CPU, 95 % GPU few hrs a day. It gets hot, fans kick in and had no problem for almost 4 years. If the fans can’t cool down, Mac OS will shut down. You bought it to use the computer, 108C isn’t a big deal. You should see my Linux workstation with AMD threadripper and Nvidia 4090. AS temps and fan noise is nothing compared to my workstation.
Edit: Word of advice if you are going to use hand brake, and push it to limits. Get AC+, and stop worrying. Hand break fried couple of HDD in Mac mini 2009.
AC+? Help me out please. And 🙏 for your expertise👍
 
AppleCare+
🤣🤣🤣🤣 now I know what you’re talking about. Thought you meant some kind of codec I haven’t heard of before. Got AC+ already. Mandatory for such an expensive device.
 
🤣🤣🤣🤣 now I know what you’re talking about. Thought you meant some kind of codec I haven’t heard of before. Got AC+ already. Mandatory for such an expensive device.
If you have AC+, use it with out worrying. You bought the device to use it. Just in case, you have AC+ to take care of the problems. I never had a MBP fail on me, except l was worried about my 2019 MBP 16 which ran super hot and made sound like jets taking off. The AS is nothing like it.
 
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Any opinions on what schnaps posted? Are most m1, m2 Macs that had a busy life and heavy workloads with high temperatures really worn out and degraded?
Yes. My M1 is slow crawling under the desk every night. It has grown wheels in past 3-4 years. Other than having to find it under the desk, the internals work the same for my heavy usage. May be get a chain and lock it at night to prevent MBP from slowly crawling.
 
Yes. My M1 is slow crawling under the desk every night. It has grown wheels in past 3-4 years. Other than having to find it under the desk, the internals work the same for my heavy usage. May be get a chain and lock it at night to prevent MBP from slowly crawling.
Poor little thing. Hope you keep it safe and sound every night.
 
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1.
The overheating problem is relevant for more productive PRO series CPU and possibly M3 M4, and those operating under prolonged high load.
This does not apply to simple CPUs, not PRO series. You still have to manage to overheat them.
On my Mini M1, the temperature does not exceed 65-80 degrees even when compiling or playing games, which is very good.
My son has a Macbook Air M1, it is not used for heavy tasks, and he did not notice any strong overheating there, during normal operation it is generally cool to the touch, compared to the MBP 2015. In power saving mode it does not overheat even in games.

That overheating is harmful, I was not the only one who wrote about it, there is enough written about it on the Internet.

2.
I am considering buying a MacBook PRO on M4 or M4 PRO.
I will limit the heating, possibly by turning on the power saving mode. However, with this method, the maximum temperature is about 70 °C. I wonder if it is possible to set the throttling to start at 85°C?
 
i haven’t got the time to go through every line debunking the overheating FUD being shared in this thread. The comments seem to be based on a misunderstanding of famous degradation/failure cases like the Xbox 360 RRoD (caused by cracks in solder joints from thermal cycling, not high temperatures directly), Nvidia 8xxx/9xxx GPU failures (similar issue to 360), and Intel 13th/14th degradation (caused by excessive voltage, not heat). All of these cases are complex and can’t be reduced to “heat bad”.

I sympathise with wanting to extend the life of very expensive hardware, but there is nothing to be gained from micro managing thermals 🙏
 
1.
The overheating problem is relevant for more productive PRO series CPU and possibly M3 M4, and those operating under prolonged high load.
This does not apply to simple CPUs, not PRO series. You still have to manage to overheat them.
On my Mini M1, the temperature does not exceed 65-80 degrees even when compiling or playing games, which is very good.
My son has a Macbook Air M1, it is not used for heavy tasks, and he did not notice any strong overheating there, during normal operation it is generally cool to the touch, compared to the MBP 2015. In power saving mode it does not overheat even in games.

That overheating is harmful, I was not the only one who wrote about it, there is enough written about it on the Internet.

2.
I am considering buying a MacBook PRO on M4 or M4 PRO.
I will limit the heating, possibly by turning on the power saving mode. However, with this method, the maximum temperature is about 70 °C. I wonder if it is possible to set the throttling to start at 85°C?

1. Extra heat with the Pro chips is inevitable. There is a price to pay for the extra power, which comes as extra heat generation. The standard chipsets produce less heat but carry less power. But yes, heat is harmful for any electronic component, although Apple devices do seem to manage the heat rather well.

2. If you intend to limit the heating by only using power saving mode, then why purchase a Pro chip in the first instance? You're clearly not going to benefit from the extra power by limiting it in such a way, so stick with the standard chip and put the extra towards other areas, such as RAM or SSD.
 
Use your devices folks, don’t waste money if you are going to gimp them with power saving mode. The heat degrades devices doesn’t mean much, it’s all about heat tolerance, something with tolerance of 45C is going to degrade faster than something with 120C. macOS does very good job of regulating heat. As some one who pushes my devices to Max, I see no degradation.
 
Use your devices folks, don’t waste money if you are going to gimp them with power saving mode. The heat degrades devices doesn’t mean much, it’s all about heat tolerance, something with tolerance of 45C is going to degrade faster than something with 120C. macOS does very good job of regulating heat. As some one who pushes my devices to Max, I see no degradation.
Have you ever checked your older devices with a benchmark and seen any of the degradation, like schnaps claims? Would be interesting to see....
 
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