Macbook pro 2015 Fan Condition

[josh_123]

Hi guys,
i'm looking for a new macbook pro to buy and doing some research since i'm considering the model 2016-2017 with touchbar 13 inch and 2015 15 inch. Well i do like the macbook pro 2015 inch more because i really hate the keyboard on the new macbook pro, its design is really sexy though.
Anyway i want to ask you guys is the Fan of these 2 models loud ? Well i'm using surface pro 3 and it's literaly the loudest thing on the room right now and it's driving me crazy. I know while running heavy software or games the fan would probably turn on. But would it turn on loudly (well noticeable) even when i'm watching Youtube or Facebook or just doing some normal tasks ? Because i want to bring it with me to university and it's so not cool when the fan goes loud in a quiet room. Thank you!

 

[Schranke]

Cant speak for the models you are looking into, but I have not heard the fans when using youtube/facebook on an old 2011 13" MacBook Pro or my new 2017 15".
Of course both of them will be noticeable with a load on the system, but I am not under the impression that any of what I consider normal student workload will not trigger the need for the fans ramping up.

I am a student myself, and multiple taps (safari), word, excel, pdf's and the like do not affect my fans on the 2017 model.
The 2011 model I used before can do many of the same things without fans ramping, as long as you are a little more aware of resource management. Ie when taking a break to watch youtube, save work and maybe close the apps which hog most of the system resources

 

[pancakesrockyvalley]

Speaking as a 13 inch 2015 owner the fan does turn on when doing heavy work. I am currentlyrunning IINA and safari with few tabs (3-5) open and sketch up and the fans are completely silent at 0RPM.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

The 13 inch will be quieter the 15 inch will run the fans when the dGPU kicks in. All the current mbps are cool and quiet by all reports except the non touchbar 13 inch which has a 15w cpu and only one fan so it kicks in on sustained tasks and higher workloads far more frequently. If silence is you goal check out the retina MacBook it’s passively cooled and surprisingly powerful for normal tasks.

 

[Schranke]

the 15 inch will run the fans when the dGPU kicks in

This is a modified version of the truth. There are plenty of apps which will activate the dGPU, but will not draw a significant enough compute power to affect temperature. so the fans will stay quit.
Working in Nvivo 12 right now, and even through it uses dGPU it does not change temp.
Also gfxCardStatus can force the machine to use iGPU only, which can be a good way to safe some battery while using apps which will normally change graphic card without really using the extra power it provides.
(It is how ever important to know that the original version hasn't been updated in a while and there is another developer who have picked up updating it https://github.com/steveschow/gfxCardStatus/releases)

Have not used any version on my 2017 model, but it worked great on an old rMBP (2012).
Will see how it works later

 

[Fishrrman]

Be aware that the version of the 2015 MBP 15" that Apple is still selling new has only the integrated GPU.

Nothing wrong with that, but all the discussion about "fans kicking in when the discrete GPU is used" simply don't apply to this model.

You can still buy Apple-refurbished 2015 MBP 15 units that have the discrete GPU.
But again, only the integrated GPU is still offered in "built new" units.

OP -- I agree with your assessment regarding the keyboard on the 2017's.
I'd recommend the older 2015 (still "new" from Apple, though!) as the better buy.

 

[Schranke]

So just wanted to update. I have tested how my usually study workload is taxing the machine both on integrated graphic and dedicated graphic.
The fans run at the same standart RPM, but the machine is 5-6 degrees celcius colder when using the integrated graphic compared to letting the system change to dedicated graphic. So getting a 15" with dedicated graphic should not make any noice either way. The testing is of course made on my 2017 15", so a 2015 15" may perform a little different.

If you get a system with both integrated and dedicated graphic I will recommend using the version of gfxCardStatus I linked as it works better on High Sierra.