Tackling the Heat Issue on M2 Max MBP: Exploring Thermal Solutions

[sxlx]

Hello all,

The release of the new MacBook Pro equipped with the M2 Max chip has been met with some challenges. One of the major issues that many users have reported is the increased heat levels generated by the M2 Max chip compared to the previous M1 Max model. This has led to some performance degradation and discomfort during prolonged use.

To address this issue, it is crucial for us to explore potential solutions. One solution that has been proposed is upgrading the heatsink in the MacBook Pro to better manage the heat generated by the M2 Max chip. This upgrade has the potential to enhance the performance and comfort of the MacBook Pro during extended use.

Has anyone attempted this upgrade or have any experience with this type of modification? If so, please share your findings and any tips or recommendations you may have. Additionally, it would be helpful to discuss any potential drawbacks or risks associated with this upgrade.

By working together and sharing information, we can find a solution to the heat issue on the M2 Max MacBook Pro and unleash its full potential.

Best regards,
sxlx

 

[sehnsucht77]

Hello all,

The release of the new MacBook Pro equipped with the M2 Max chip has been met with some challenges. One of the major issues that many users have reported is the increased heat levels generated by the M2 Max chip compared to the previous M1 Max model. This has led to some performance degradation and discomfort during prolonged use.

To address this issue, it is crucial for us to explore potential solutions. One solution that has been proposed is upgrading the heatsink in the MacBook Pro to better manage the heat generated by the M2 Max chip. This upgrade has the potential to enhance the performance and comfort of the MacBook Pro during extended use.

Has anyone attempted this upgrade or have any experience with this type of modification? If so, please share your findings and any tips or recommendations you may have. Additionally, it would be helpful to discuss any potential drawbacks or risks associated with this upgrade.

By working together and sharing information, we can find a solution to the heat issue on the M2 Max MacBook Pro and unleash its full potential.

Best regards,
sxlx

I am considering the 16 inch M2 Max -do you find it getting hot at all around the trackpad area? I am on the 16 inch intel version and trying to decide if the 14 is hotter than the 16 and which one would run cooler with regular use

 

[Queen6]

No experience of the M2 Max MBP, however a lot of experience with the Intel burners. I would raise the rear a half to an inch or source an aluminium passive cooler. I'd also install Macs Fan Control and set a more aggressive fan curve. Might just tip the balance in your favour...

Q-6

 

[dmccloud]

What heat issue?

 

[jennyp]

I haven't experienced any heat issues at all with my M2 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro. It's always cool, cold even, underneath, by the trackpad, everywhere, no matter what I'm doing. In fact, it's the coolest laptop I've ever had (I mean temperature-wise, but the other sense too ).

 

[donawalt]

I haven't experienced any heat issues at all with my M2 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro. It's always cool, cold even, underneath, by the trackpad, everywhere, no matter what I'm doing. In fact, it's the coolest laptop I've ever had (I mean temperature-wise, but the other sense too ).

Ditto for me too! M2 Max 16" MacBook Pro

 

[JtheLemur]

"that many users have reported"

 

[JamesGorman10]

I just got my M2 Max 16" earlier this week. I have been using it to edit photos and videos with Lightroom and Premiere Pro and have yet to notice any substantial amount of heat from the unit.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

This thread has all the makings of heading to the Wasteland

 

[ignatius345]

No experience of the M2 Max MBP, however a lot of experience with the Intel burners. I would raise the rear a half to an inch or source an aluminium passive cooler.

My old black polycarbonite MacBook ran so blisteringly hot that I ended up using a repurposed cutting board on my lap as a buffer. I found this inexpensive bamboo "gripperwood" model worked quite nicely when inverted to use the feet to raise up the MacBook. Also a decent cutting board.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

When having my Intel MBP on the lap, I use this old children's book as insulation: https://www.amazon.de/Warum-ist-das-Wetter-so/dp/3473301760

The 15" MBA is mostly cool, seldom lukewarm.

 

[randomdude83]

I think the thread starter is referring specifically to the 14" which is a legitimate concern. the 16" is well designed and has no heat issues. the 14" does throttle down to keep the heat down and its been reported that it does get warm after a few hours of work.

perhaps a suggestion is to look into cooling pads with fans that they sell on amazon. that might just be the best solution over all but maybe users can report back if that is the case.

 

[dmccloud]

I think the thread starter is referring specifically to the 14" which is a legitimate concern. the 16" is well designed and has no heat issues. the 14" does throttle down to keep the heat down and its been reported that it does get warm after a few hours of work.

perhaps a suggestion is to look into cooling pads with fans that they sell on amazon. that might just be the best solution over all but maybe users can report back if that is the case.

Again, what heat issues with the 14"? I have yet to see even the slightest warming of the machine, and even that was while running Cyberpunk 2077 via the GPTK.

 

[JouniS]

The 16" MBP gets hot if you run all CPU cores at 100% for extended periods of time. The keyboard feels warm, and the case is uncomfortably hot on the bottom and above the keyboard. The fans are clearly audible, but noise level is closer to a good tower PC than an Intel Mac. I haven't noticed any throttling so far.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Hello all,

The release of the new MacBook Pro equipped with the M2 Max chip has been met with some challenges. One of the major issues that many users have reported is the increased heat levels generated by the M2 Max chip compared to the previous M1 Max model. This has led to some performance degradation and discomfort during prolonged use.

To address this issue, it is crucial for us to explore potential solutions. One solution that has been proposed is upgrading the heatsink in the MacBook Pro to better manage the heat generated by the M2 Max chip. This upgrade has the potential to enhance the performance and comfort of the MacBook Pro during extended use.

Has anyone attempted this upgrade or have any experience with this type of modification? If so, please share your findings and any tips or recommendations you may have. Additionally, it would be helpful to discuss any potential drawbacks or risks associated with this upgrade.

By working together and sharing information, we can find a solution to the heat issue on the M2 Max MacBook Pro and unleash its full potential.

Best regards,
sxlx

I have not heard of an issue with the M2 Max on a 16-inch MacBook Pro. I would be curious to know where you are getting your information about these issues and challenges that you speak of.

Certainly, the M1 Max had issues in the 2021 14-inch MacBook Pro for quite a few users because, unlike in the 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro, the M1 Pro heatsink and cooling was used for the M1 Max (whereas on the 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro, there were different heatsinks used for the M1 Pro and M1 Max). They rectified this with the 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro and started using a better heatsink on the M2 Max models. But, even then, you're still getting a smaller cooler with a weaker battery for use with the same chip (as is on the 16-inch equivalent). This has always made me wary of pretty much any 14-inch MacBook Pro SoC configuration that is also available on the 16-inch model, but I know there are several 14-inch MacBook Pro users that haven't had any issues either.

I think the thread starter is referring specifically to the 14" which is a legitimate concern.

That was my first instinct, but the OP lists a 2023 16-inch MacBook Pro in his signature.

the 16" is well designed and has no heat issues. the 14" does throttle down to keep the heat down and its been reported that it does get warm after a few hours of work.

I think it's more that the Pro and Max SoCs (especially the Max SoCs) were clearly engineered around the 16-inch chassis first and foremost with the 14-inch being a secondary concern. Whereas, they could've engineered and optimized around the 14-inch chassis first and foremost and then all that extra battery and larger cooling would've just been gravy on top. That being said, I don't really understand the practical need behind a Max SoC in a 14-inch. Everything that one could possibly need a Max SoC over a Pro SoC for would be cramped on a smaller screen.

perhaps a suggestion is to look into cooling pads with fans that they sell on amazon. that might just be the best solution over all but maybe users can report back if that is the case.

Yeah, I haven't heard as much about aftermarket cooling solutions for either 2021 or 2023 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pros. The last Macs I heard talk of this for were the 2020 Intel MacBook Airs and the M2 MacBook Airs. Nothing else on either side of the Apple Silicon transition has had such a widespread thermal issue that it has even come up (at least, not to my knowledge).

 

[DisraeliGears]

Again, what heat issues with the 14"? I have yet to see even the slightest warming of the machine, and even that was while running Cyberpunk 2077 via the GPTK.

See this is an instance in which exaggeration is really not helpful.

Did you run it for less than 5 minutes? Because otherwise I can promise your MBP got warm. My 14" MBP gets noticeably warm playing Crusader Kings 3 (no GPTK required, tho probably Rosetta). Now, I mean warm, not HOT like the old Intel ones would. But when you exaggerate in this manner, the Overton window shifts, and that warm turns into unbearable heat for some people who expect absolute perfection out of everything, and you end up with threads like this.

 

[dmccloud]

See this is an instance in which exaggeration is really not helpful.

Did you run it for less than 5 minutes? Because otherwise I can promise your MBP got warm. My 14" MBP gets noticeably warm playing Crusader Kings 3 (no GPTK required, tho probably Rosetta). Now, I mean warm, not HOT like the old Intel ones would. But when you exaggerate in this manner, the Overton window shifts, and that warm turns into unbearable heat for some people who expect absolute perfection out of everything, and you end up with threads like this.

There was no exaggeration, there has literally been nothing i've thrown at the machine which has generated enough heat to even worry about throttling, let alone consider there to be any issues. I was able to run the game for around 25-30 minutes, with only some slight warming (i.e., just enough to notice, not enough to be concerned with) around the 6, T, and Y keys on the keyboard. iStat showed core temps around 75-80c, which is well within specs.

Now if your definition of "exaggeration" somehow also includes comparing past experiences with Intel-based Macs as well as windows-based PCs and laptops, that's another issue entirely.

 

[DisraeliGears]

There was no exaggeration, there has literally been nothing i've thrown at the machine which has generated enough heat to even worry about throttling, let alone consider there to be any issues. I was able to run the game for around 25-30 minutes, with only some slight warming (i.e., just enough to notice, not enough to be concerned with) around the 6, T, and Y keys on the keyboard. iStat showed core temps around 75-80c, which is well within specs.

Now if your definition of "exaggeration" somehow also includes comparing past experiences with Intel-based Macs as well as windows-based PCs and laptops, that's another issue entirely.

Core temps of 75-80c is literally the definition of warming when you previously said that you had "yet to see even the slightest warming".

In this case, the first comment was exaggerating, because you have seen slight warming. When you say that you haven't, then people who are worry warts or not as technically inclined feel that same slight warming and think things are wrong, rather than normal. Normalize the experience of slight warming, and people won't feel the need to strap unnecessary fans and coolers when things are perfectly within specs.

 

[mirkomen77]

Mine is 80% idle and the palms rest is so warm to be uncomfortable. The chassis is even hotter below where the Macbook Pro engraving is. The room temperature is 25 Celsius.

Any suggestions? (other than setting the fans to full power)

 

[iMacDragon]

71% idle is technically quite busy, really, for the amount of cores these things have, what's it actually running?

But guessing if this is some decent workload, then fans higher manually is about all can do if there's nothing that can cut down constant cpu usage.

 

[Fravin]

Mine is 80% idle and the palms rest is so warm to be uncomfortable. The chassis is even hotter below where the Macbook Pro engraving is. The room temperature is 25 Celsius.


View attachment 2231982

You are using 21% of system resources, running 4.843 threads. How can you think that your computer is on idle?

You might have a lot of apps opened, and I believe it is using a lot of GPU. Video editing software, perhaps?

 

[Fravin]

Just for comparision purposes:

You can see that I'm running Affinity Publisher and Designer, while listening to Music, Teams and Edge are dealing with Microsoft network stuf and Chrome have 15 tabs openned. lol

 

[mirkomen77]

You are using 21% of system resources, running 4.843 threads. How can you think that your computer is on idle?

You might have a lot of apps opened, and I believe it is using a lot of GPU. Video editing software, perhaps?

To clarify, are you suggesting that the M2 Max laptop with 32GB RAM might experience overheating even when the workload is at around 20%? Additionally, I'm curious whether pushing the workload beyond 50% could potentially lead to serious overheating issues or even hardware damage.

for completeness, this is the activity monitor when I experience a burning palm rest

 

[mirkomen77]

71% idle is technically quite busy, really, for the amount of cores these things have, what's it actually running?

But guessing if this is some decent workload, then fans higher manually is about all can do if there's nothing that can cut down constant cpu usage.

This is what I have running while my palm rest is hot

 

[mirkomen77]

Just for comparision purposes:

View attachment 2235486

You can see that I'm running Affinity Publisher and Designer, while listening to Music, Teams and Edge are dealing with Microsoft network stuf and Chrome have 15 tabs openned. lol

Is your palm rest boiling when you have that workflow on?