Macbook Pro 14 M1/M2: When will fans take action?

[hemon]

Hello,

I am very interested in the Macbook Pro 14 M1/M2 and I wanted to know under which conditions the fans become active and audible. What about browsing and works with office? Because it's quite important to me that the Macbook is practically silent during such work. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

 

[3Rock]

From my experience, just using the office software and browsing the web, my fan does not kick on at all on my 14 inch MacBook Pro M2, Max 64 gb 38c gpu. Right now just surfing the web/office my temps are 40 to 43c

 

[maflynn]

y fan does not kick on at all on my 14 inch MacBook Pro M2, Max 64 gb 38c gpu. Right now just surfing the web my temps are 40 to 42c

I concur, my M1 14" MBP is whisper quiet. Quite a difference between that and my 15" Razer whose fans fire up loudly

 

[tstafford]

Hello,

I am very interested in the Macbook Pro 14 M1/M2 and I wanted to know under which conditions the fans become active and audible. What about browsing and works with office? Because it's quite important to me that the Macbook is practically silent during such work. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

I don't do any content creation just office, email, streaming, etc. I don't believe my fans have ever come on.

 

[Sagnet]

On a related note: How much does the 14" M2 Pro heat up, compared to the M1 Pro? I had a brand new M1 Pro for about a week before I returned it for an M2 Pro (both with 10 cores). During the few days I used the M1 I never felt it get warm, but the M2 has been feeling warm on a couple of occasions.

I'm a bit worried that the extra power that the M2 consumes (or has the potential to) will generate more heat than the M1 did, even for light use. But on the other hand, as the M2 has more efficiency cores, I would assume that would lead to a cooler running computer.

What experience do other M2 Pro owners here have so far?

 

[throAU]

Hello,

I am very interested in the Macbook Pro 14 M1/M2 and I wanted to know under which conditions the fans become active and audible. What about browsing and works with office? Because it's quite important to me that the Macbook is practically silent during such work. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

In my experience, extended 100% CPU usage. Gaming, rendering.

Normal use, including running business apps in VMs. Never. The machine is 100% silent 99.9% of the time I use it.

M1 Pro, owned since late 2021.

As above, the M series machines are nothing like the intel discrete GPU machines of the past. They're cool and quiet unless pushed properly hard.

 

[ascender]

My workflow is a "bit of everything" and the only times I was able to get the fans going slightly was with the 3D match engine in Football Manager.. so gaming. Nothing else made them come on. Even when they did, they were barely audible.

I'll typically run multiple VMs, have a bunch of normal productivity apps open, browsers, Teams, Photos music etc and it would just stay cool and quiet.

Basically, what @throAU says ⬆️

 

[hemon]

Thank you very much for the replies, this helps a lot 🙂

 

[3Rock]

Just to add additional information for you, I have a notebook cooler and using this now with my 14 inch and my temperatures are at 37/37c with a few tabs open on the Internet. I think the highest has been now is 40c. That if you are interested in such a device for your notebook..

Just noticed that if you download updates, like say the operating system, the temperature will go up to about 70c.

 

[xraydoc]

My MBP has fans?
/s

 

[TinyMito]

I concur, my M1 14" MBP is whisper quiet. Quite a difference between that and my 15" Razer whose fans fire up loudly

Fan on the MacBook Pro M1/M2 don't spin up until it hits high load. 99% of the time the fan never spin up at all. Zero RPM.

 

[TinyMito]

Just to add additional information for you, I have a notebook cooler and using this now with my 14 inch and my temperatures are at 37/37c with a few tabs open on the Internet. I think the highest has been now is 40c. That if you are interested in such a device for your notebook..

Just noticed that if you download updates, like say the operating system, the temperature will go up to about 70c.

For the humour, but I doubt that is even necessary for this generation MacBook Pro.

 

[3Rock]

For the humour, but I doubt that is even necessary for this generation MacBook Pro.

I kind an agree. Haven’t noticed much of a difference, maybe 2C and that’s it.

Edit: Played with Flight Sim 12 and my temps went up to 94c, no fans noticed

 

[PBMB]

What about videoconferencing applications, like Zoom? I noticed that an iMac 21.5-inch Core i3 from 2019 goes up to 60-70°C (as per iStat Menus) only with Zoom. At least it stays inaudible, although the fans are on.

At laptop level, I had the opportunity to hear the fans during videoconferencing (with macOS and Windows machines, all Intel-based). Apparently, Zoom stresses much the CPU/GPU for the live video transmission and processing.

Skype is perhaps the same but I have not used it for a very long time, so I don't remember clearly.

Has anyone tried a new MPB M2 Pro, 14-inch, with such software?

 

[hemon]

I would like to know this as well!

 

[Macalway]

Right.

You would think when looking at these configurations '30 core gpu' there would be a potential for some noise, considering the rather extreme variations in configurations, particularly the gpu, and memory.

I don't know. People are saying it doesn't get loud?

Then there's articles saying: "Because of supply chain issues the heat sinks are....like really small" LOL. This doesn't help.

I'm looking at a (middle) Max 14" 32/2tb. Hmm

 

[PBMB]

I would like to know this as well!

During, and now after, the COVID-19 lockdowns, videoconferencing software became so common that it could be considered today as standard part of office setting. The benchmarks though do not take it into consideration because there is nothing meaningful to measure, performance-wise. There is though the system response, especially if the CPU temperature rises, and the concern of noise.

Below is an indication that the M2 Pro MBP will be just fine:

(scores at 6:00)

It looks like that even if it gets really hot with Zoom, we always have the option to put in "Low Power Mode" and have the same performance as the M1 Pro at its full power, without the fan.

 

[adventurer2112]

Hi, M2 32gb ram 1tb ssd 14”. Fans come on when I start surfing. I can hear them playin Humankind. Did the same on the M1 Pro. M1 quieter, but I’m using a Plastic case with bottom vents on the M2.

 

[throAU]

What about videoconferencing applications, like Zoom? I noticed that an iMac 21.5-inch Core i3 from 2019 goes up to 60-70°C (as per iStat Menus) only with Zoom. At least it stays inaudible, although the fans are on.

At laptop level, I had the opportunity to hear the fans during videoconferencing (with macOS and Windows machines, all Intel-based). Apparently, Zoom stresses much the CPU/GPU for the live video transmission and processing.

Skype is perhaps the same but I have not used it for a very long time, so I don't remember clearly.

Has anyone tried a new MPB M2 Pro, 14-inch, with such software?

I use zoom on a regular basis on my M1 Pro.

No Fan (I mean it runs just fine on the iPad, M1 Air, etc. without a fan either).

Like I said this isn't like the intel MacBook pros of old (of which I have had several).


edit:
and yes, if you do run an extended hard workload (and zoom really isn't one) you can turn on low power mode to trade say 10-15% performance for less heat and noise. Seriously though, regular office workloads (office 365 suite - all apps, many tabs, basically everything in my dock open at once - no fan (pick of my dock below for reference - I typically have everything pinned open at the same time at work, plus other apps occasionally). No, no fan with teams either - ever. Don't believe they come on during time machine backup at the same time either.

 

[xraydoc]

Hi, M2 32gb ram 1tb ssd 14”. Fans come on when I start surfing. I can hear them playin Humankind. Did the same on the M1 Pro. M1 quieter, but I’m using a Plastic case with bottom vents on the M2.

Nothing I've ever done on my 14" M1 Pro, especially web browsing or playing YouTube 4K, has ever made the fans audible except a rather long session I spent doing high resolution 3D CT reconstructions on a rather large full-body dataset in Osirix. And by audible, I mean a whisper of a sound versus the normally completely inaudible fan speed.

 

[PBMB]

I use zoom on a regular basis on my M1 Pro.

No Fan (I mean it runs just fine on the iPad, M1 Air, etc. without a fan either).

Like I said this isn't like the intel MacBook pros of old (of which I have had several).


edit:
and yes, if you do run an extended hard workload (and zoom really isn't one) you can turn on low power mode to trade say 10-15% performance for less heat and noise. Seriously though, regular office workloads (office 365 suite - all apps, many tabs, basically everything in my dock open at once - no fan (pick of my dock below for reference - I typically have everything pinned open at the same time at work, plus other apps occasionally). No, no fan with teams either - ever. Don't believe they come on during time machine backup at the same time either.



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Very interesting, thank you!

 

[hemon]

Hello,

I have now received the Macbook Pro 14 M2 Pro and i am pretty impressed so far, thanks for the tips 😉 !

One more question: Is it safe to run it in clamshell mode all the time - for example, even in summer?

 

[TinyMito]

Hello,

I have now received the Macbook Pro 14 M2 Pro and i am pretty impressed so far, thanks for the tips 😉 !

One more question: Is it safe to run it in clamshell mode all the time - for example, even in summer?

Yes, the air you live with will always be under 99'c Celsius.

 

[capkapak]

M2 Max connected to two external LG 38” with BetterDisplay running HiDPI, typically runs 48C with fans running about 2800RPM.

 

[Chris_99]

hi capkapak do you have an 14 or 16 inch?