M4 MBP 14” (base model)

[Rhisk]

I need some opinions from others who have one about the fan noise. I’m a light user and I’d like to know if the stuff about the fan noise only applies to really pushing it. I’m trying to decide between this and a M3 MBA 15” 16/512 so fan noise definitely matters since both will fulfill my power needs

Is the M4 quiet for typical daily use?

 

[reasonrulaz]

I have been using the M4 pro Base model for 3 days. I still haven't heard any fan noise. I have the "Stats" app installed, so I monitor the fan. Just only once, when I installed Win 11 with Parallels, it only worked for a few minutes at around 2500 rpm. But even that workload, I couldn't hear the fan noise. So, the fan doesn't work in daily %99 regular usage for me.

I have a PC for gaming, also dont doing any heavy video processing with mac.. So we need further user experience about these conditions..

 

[Recon73]

I was wondering the same thing I am on fence getting base model. Thanks for the info.

 

[JSRinUK]

I have the 14” MBP (14/20, 24/1TB) for a week now. I haven’t done much more than play with it (install Parallels/W11, and Affinity apps) and have it syncing cloud storage stuff.

It’s my first Mac as a primary machine, so it’ll take a while before I put it through any serious paces as I transition across from my Surface Pro.

So far I’ve not heard a peep out of the fans. It took watching some YouTube tear down videos to remind me that it actually had fans in it.

It did get a tiny bit warm when using it on my lap for a few hours, but I kind of had to take a moment to notice it.

 

[throAU]

I need some opinions from others who have one about the fan noise. I’m a light user and I’d like to know if the stuff about the fan noise only applies to really pushing it. I’m trying to decide between this and a M3 MBA 15” 16/512 so fan noise definitely matters since both will fulfill my power needs

Is the M4 quiet for typical daily use?

below based on M1 Pro (since release) and m4 max experiences so far... both in 14"


If you haven't had an m series MacBook Pro before - FYI - "normal use" the fan will be at 0 rpm. You need to push the machine significantly for a period of time for it to start spinning, never mind making any fan noise.

You may get fan noise if gaming, rendering things in blender, benchmarks, etc. If you want the machine to shut up (when working hard), set power profile to low power mode and give up maybe 10-15% performance (still FAST - way faster than any Intel Mac).

If you're coming from intel - it's not like that. At all.

I will go DAYS at work without hearing any fan noise (many browser tabs, virtual machine(s) remote admin tools, email, teams, zoom all open - memory pressure in the orange on the M1 Pro). If you think that you're a "light user" I don't think you'll ever hear the fan.

 

[chrono1081]

It is extremely rare to hear the fans. The only time I hear the fans (which are super quiet) is doing 3D work and that's only during rendering and is 100% expected.

 

[JSRinUK]

I've just this minute run the core temperature app from Parallels and it's showing 39C for the efficiency cores, and nothing for the performance cores. So I'm guessing (to my non-technical mind) here that while doing light duties (I'm just browsing this site, and moving files around as I sort out my cloud storage) that the MacBook isn't even touching the performance cores right now - so there'd be no need for any fans to kick in.

Of course, this is extremely light usage, but I thought I should add the observation to my previous post.

 

[Adamj53]

Had my M4 base for 2 weeks and not heard the fan yet, the laptop has stayed cool also (the days of the intel ones burning your legs are long gone!!). I would highly recommend it based on my experience. I tried a 15" Air also but I had to send it back, never had it on any other laptop but the screen made me feel nauseous. The 14" is fine and the screen quality is far better. Hope that helps.

 

[raythompsontn]

I have the M4 Pro and the only time the fans come on is when pushing the CPU hard. I have pushed the CPU at 98% for about 5 minutes and the fans came on. I could not hear the fans unless I held the machine close to my ear. I was importing 3K images into Lightroom and the thumbnail rendering was CPU intensive. In normal use the fans have not come on or are running so slow as to be completely silent.

 

[throAU]

I've just this minute run the core temperature app from Parallels and it's showing 39C for the efficiency cores, and nothing for the performance cores. So I'm guessing (to my non-technical mind) here that while doing light duties (I'm just browsing this site, and moving files around as I sort out my cloud storage) that the MacBook isn't even touching the performance cores right now - so there'd be no need for any fans to kick in.

Of course, this is extremely light usage, but I thought I should add the observation to my previous post.

I would typically see ~40-50 precent utilisation across all 10 cores on my M1 Pro and still get no fan noise.