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Ryan P

macrumors 6502
Aug 6, 2010
362
235
I have the maxed out 16” with just a 3840x1600 external now, but wondering how it will handle dual 6K pro XDR displays. I can’t see native on those being usable with such a high DPI.
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,421
6,797
I'm sitting here with the MBP in clamshell mode, using Firefox. The CPU sits at 60º C and the fans are inaudible.
But, whenever I do anything that puts some load on the CPU, the fans go off. Reaching 100º takes seconds .

Sitting here, staring at my idling MBP is not what I got it for. It has to work for it's money. And it's thermals are clearly underpowered.

What kind of load are you putting on it? I ran Cinebench and it hit 100c after 10 seconds or so but that's 100% load across all 8 cores, all 16 threads etc

I did some video editing and while editing it was fine, exporting when the processors are begged it spins up sure (not as high as Cinebench causes but 89-90c).

I'd say its thermal performance is about the same as my 2015 15" Quad Core model but obviously with much greater performance due to the extra cores, higher IPC and higher clock speeds.
 

grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,108
775
coding, multiple IDEs, browsers, VMs. Thats not peak load, but more constant medium load with some exceptions when a build starts or something.
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,421
6,797
coding, multiple IDEs, browsers, VMs. Thats not peak load, but more constant medium load with some exceptions when a build starts or something.

Perhaps an iMac 27" would be better for your usage? Though not a laptop I don't think Apple will make a laptop able to do everything you want with both acceptable performance and quiet fans, it would need to be one or the other.
 

grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,108
775
Oh, I know. An iMac would be Perfect. It does not fit into my bicyclebag though ?

I don’t don’t want to deal with multiple machines, I’m almost 100% certain that I’ll see if an egpu helps. Still undecided if an 5k display is the better option. it’s also very possible that a MacBook Pro is simply the wrong tool for me.
the last option is the one I like the least
 
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matram

macrumors 6502a
Sep 18, 2011
781
416
Sweden
As usual things depend on the exact use case. But running a complete rebuild in Visual Studion in a Fusion VM, gives me the following:

CPU temp: about 62 degrees centigrade
Fan speed: about 1.800 rpm
CPU power draw: about 20W
CPU average speed: 2.6 GHz

This is with the 2.4 GHz and 32 GB RAM.
 

grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,108
775
Hmmm, that sounds much better than mine (15"), which hits 60° without any running build lol.
 

Macintosh IIcx

macrumors 6502a
Jul 3, 2014
608
595
Denmark
Oh, I know. An iMac would be Perfect. It does not fit into my bicyclebag though ?

I don’t don’t want to deal with multiple machines, I’m almost 100% certain that I’ll see if an egpu helps. Still undecided if an 5k display is the better option. it’s also very possible that a MacBook Pro is simply the wrong tool for me.
the last option is the one I like the least

The old trashcan Mac Pro got a lot of hate, but it was borderline mobile. Heard about someone who had a bag for it when bicycling and move it between home and work that way. Oh well...
 

grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,108
775
The old trashcan Mac Pro got a lot of hate, but it was borderline mobile. Heard about someone who had a bag for it when bicycling and move it between home and work that way. Oh well...
A Mac Mini would fit lol. But I need a screen on the go when I work away from the office or my own desk.
 
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mightyjabba

macrumors 68000
Sep 25, 2014
1,586
328
Tatooine
I just received my upper-tier base model 16" a couple of days ago, and had to wait until last night to get all of the cables necessary to connect it to the monitors that I had been using with my 2014 15" MBP. I did have a fair amount of trouble trying to figure out an arrangement that would actually allow me to output to all three monitors, since I would have a problem where plugging one screen in would cause another to blank out. In the end I decided to remove my KVM switch since that seemed to be the sticking point, and I'm having to use all 4 of the ports on the MBP, including the power adapter, since the HP Thunderbolt 3 hub I was trying to use apparently won't output to two screens at once or supply enough power to the computer when it's under load. After using it for a few hours I found that my battery had run down to around 57% while actually plugged in! But other than that I have had no issues with performance or fan noise. None of my monitors are 4K, though (I have two 27" Dell monitors and a 34" LG Ultrawide).

I am very interested to hear that clamshell mode might actually run cooler. I had been running the 2014 MBP in clamshell mode, but I had assumed that it might be too hot for this computer. I'll have to do some testing, but I would rather run in clamshell mode since the internal screen is not very useful in my setup.
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,421
6,797
For sure Clamshell mode makes it run cooler. The fans spin 700 RPM slower and the overall laptops power consumption falls as does its temperature on various sensors.
 
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grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,108
775
It looks like clamshell really helps with heat and noise. It's much better now.

I'll look how it holds up after a full day of work. But for now the fans seem to be stuck at 2000rpm with my full dev env running.
 
Last edited:
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Fravin

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2017
803
1,056
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
While in clamshell a lot of things that actually consumes performance just stop working:
- Display: the GPU doesn't has to drive the internal display;
- Touchbar: the CPU and T2 doesn't has to deal with it;
- Mics: the microphones are shutdown with the lid close. The process running to make "ask Siri" just stops.
- Trackpad: the CPU doesn't has to drive it.

It's a lot of system process that suddenly stops. There is a lot of process running to drive TB. It's insane.

So, the overall system runs better while in clamshell. It's pretty obvious.

But no one will buy a 16"MPB to turn this amazing display off, right?o_O
 
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virtuallynathan

macrumors newbie
Sep 21, 2012
4
0
This seems to happen on mine in clamshell mode, doing mostly nothing, just FF or Chrome with 20 or 30 tabs open.

Elgato TB3 Dock -> LG 5K @ 3360x1890, Dell 4K @ 3360x1890
Displayport -> Dell @ 1440x2560

Mid 2017 MBP 15 only spins up with 4K youtube, or google hangouts, etc. Kind of annoying.
 

milhous

macrumors member
May 17, 2007
67
20
I dunno what these other people's issues are, mine is not struggling to drive an external 4K panel even when rendering a 5K image and downscaling it to 4K. The fans are not audible at all under any scenario that I'm using it with my external monitor and that includes with the laptops display open too.

2,200-2,400 RPM is not audible to me unless my head is at the keyboard. 3,000-4,000 RPM is where it becomes audible at a sitting position near the laptop.

With the laptop in clamshell mode the fans fall even further to 1,400-1,600 RPM.
I think a lot of the potential issues stem from exactly how the displays are connected to the computer. As we don't yet know how the OP has connected the displays to their system, the list of cables and USB-C docks that were listed as part of their setup suggests that everything may be daisy-chained together in a manner that is not optimal for multiple display setups. It's important to clarify that the mechanical USB-C connector can run on two separate sets of technologies or rules. There's USB 3.1 Gen 2, the current evolution of the USB standard that uses this new style of connector at 10Gb/s, and Thunderbolt 3 which has 4x the bandwidth of USB 3.1 Gen 2 running at 40Gb/s. Now you don't need a Thunderbolt 3 dock to connect high resolution displays to a system. Simply a USB-C to DisplayPort or HDMI cable should be adequate to get the display running at its native resolution. There should be no USB-C docks in the middle of that connection, just a cable that directly connects the computer and display. If I was relying on USB-C connections, I would directly connect one display to one USB-C connector on the system.

The downside of USB, and using lots of USB devices together, including routing display signals for monitors, is that it's CPU dependent--the processor has to do a lot of heavy lifting to make it all work. A pipe 1/4 the size of Thunderbolt 3 has to carry audio/video data that may be hitting/exceeding the maximum speed. Thunderbolt 3 on the other hand, uses a dedicated hardware controller inside the computer, that significantly offloads the pressure from the CPU and lets the Thunderbolt 3 controller do most of the heavy lifting. Reports of high CPU utilization and fan noise suggests that the system is under heavy load because the display signals are being routed through USB.

When using a Thunderbolt 3 dock, Thunderbolt 3 can route audio/video signals directly, as well as offer USB capabilities. Think of Thunderbolt 3 as a giant pipe that contains smaller pipes inside. There's a dedicated pipe to handle audio, a dedicated pipe to handle video, a dedicated pipe to handle Ethernet, and a dedicated pipe to handle USB devices. Now external displays don't need to be routed through USB to work anymore because they have their own direct pipes to the system, leaving the USB pipe available for other things like flash drives, keyboards, mice, printers, etc.
 

Fravin

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2017
803
1,056
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
When using a Thunderbolt 3 dock, Thunderbolt 3 can route audio/video signals directly, as well as offer USB capabilities. Think of Thunderbolt 3 as a giant pipe that contains smaller pipes inside. There's a dedicated pipe to handle audio, a dedicated pipe to handle video, a dedicated pipe to handle Ethernet, and a dedicated pipe to handle USB devices. Now external displays don't need to be routed through USB to work anymore because they have their own direct pipes to the system, leaving the USB pipe available for other things like flash drives, keyboards, mice, printers, etc.


Nice!!!

Thanks for sharing!
 

soiramk

macrumors member
Nov 17, 2008
65
11
Greece
I think a lot of the potential issues stem from exactly how the displays are connected to the computer. As we don't yet know how the OP has connected the displays to their system, the list of cables and USB-C docks that were listed as part of their setup suggests that everything may be daisy-chained together in a manner that is not optimal for multiple display setups. It's important to clarify that the mechanical USB-C connector can run on two separate sets of technologies or rules. There's USB 3.1 Gen 2, the current evolution of the USB standard that uses this new style of connector at 10Gb/s, and Thunderbolt 3 which has 4x the bandwidth of USB 3.1 Gen 2 running at 40Gb/s. Now you don't need a Thunderbolt 3 dock to connect high resolution displays to a system. Simply a USB-C to DisplayPort or HDMI cable should be adequate to get the display running at its native resolution. There should be no USB-C docks in the middle of that connection, just a cable that directly connects the computer and display. If I was relying on USB-C connections, I would directly connect one display to one USB-C connector on the system.

The downside of USB, and using lots of USB devices together, including routing display signals for monitors, is that it's CPU dependent--the processor has to do a lot of heavy lifting to make it all work. A pipe 1/4 the size of Thunderbolt 3 has to carry audio/video data that may be hitting/exceeding the maximum speed. Thunderbolt 3 on the other hand, uses a dedicated hardware controller inside the computer, that significantly offloads the pressure from the CPU and lets the Thunderbolt 3 controller do most of the heavy lifting. Reports of high CPU utilization and fan noise suggests that the system is under heavy load because the display signals are being routed through USB.

When using a Thunderbolt 3 dock, Thunderbolt 3 can route audio/video signals directly, as well as offer USB capabilities. Think of Thunderbolt 3 as a giant pipe that contains smaller pipes inside. There's a dedicated pipe to handle audio, a dedicated pipe to handle video, a dedicated pipe to handle Ethernet, and a dedicated pipe to handle USB devices. Now external displays don't need to be routed through USB to work anymore because they have their own direct pipes to the system, leaving the USB pipe available for other things like flash drives, keyboards, mice, printers, etc.
So... if a monitor has DisplayPort 1.4, USB 3.0 and HDMI 1.4, which is the best cable/adapter/dock to use to with MacBook Pro 16''?
 

SMC23

macrumors member
Nov 15, 2019
43
14
Here's another datapoint...but it seems to be inline with others reporting here. I'm not used to high temps like this though on idle and light processing tasks.

i9 2.3/32Gb/5500M-8Gb in clamshell connected to Dell 30" 2560x1600 display:
idle temp: 60-62c
email/web/youtube: 63c - 70c
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,421
6,797
So... if a monitor has DisplayPort 1.4, USB 3.0 and HDMI 1.4, which is the best cable/adapter/dock to use to with MacBook Pro 16''?

The best to worst connectivity would be as follows.

1. Display Port to USB-C Cable.
2. HDMI to USB-C Cable.
3. Thunderbolt 3 Dock which includes Display Port output.
4. Thunderbolt 3 Dock which includes HDMI output.
5. USB-C Dock with Display Port or HDMI output (this will be a lot more strenuous than all other connection types).

I'm personally using option 3 and my system runs quiet while running both its internal display and an external 4K display. My dock is also providing 1Gb ethernet and charging the laptop at 85 watts while plugged in too.

Here's another datapoint...but it seems to be inline with others reporting here. I'm not used to high temps like this though on idle and light processing tasks.

i9 2.3/32Gb/5500M-8Gb in clamshell connected to Dell 30" 2560x1600 display:
idle temp: 60-62c
email/web/youtube: 63c - 70c

Those temperatures are normal for these chips. Pay attention to the fan speed though as that's where you can get an indication of whether the machine is outside of its comfort level or not.

At 60-70c my fans are at only 1600-1800 RPM. Which is lower than the idle RPM speed of my 15" 2015 MBP when its temperature was 55c (2400 RPM).
 
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seangrimes590

macrumors member
Jun 21, 2012
81
101
Villanova, PA
Here's another datapoint...but it seems to be inline with others reporting here. I'm not used to high temps like this though on idle and light processing tasks.

i9 2.3/32Gb/5500M-8Gb in clamshell connected to Dell 30" 2560x1600 display:
idle temp: 60-62c
email/web/youtube: 63c - 70c

These are the same temps I see with the i9 2.4/32GB/5500M-8GB running an external 4K at the highest scaling option and the internal display also at the highest scaling option. I'm connected with a USB-C to display port cable, no dock. I see about 20w at the Radeon high side when connected to the external display. Under these conditions the fans run at 10-15% according to iStat which is roughly 2500rpm. I can't hear them until around 3000-3200rpm in a fairly quiet environment (though not silent). I'm also coming from a 2070 razer blade which was not quiet, specially running linux, so my threshold for fan noise is pretty high.
 

Appledoesnotlisten

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 2, 2017
505
208
3. Thunderbolt 3 Dock which includes Display Port output.
4. Thunderbolt 3 Dock which includes HDMI output.
5. USB-C Dock with Display Port or HDMI output (this will be a lot more strenuous than all other connection types).
I'm personally using option 3 and my system runs quiet while running both its internal display and an external 4K display. My dock is also providing 1Gb ethernet and charging the laptop at 85 watts while plugged in too.
Thanks!

What Docks would you recommend if I want the MacBook to
1) run quiet&cool and to
2) connect the following to the dock:
- Ethernet
- 1-2 high resolution displays
- charging cable
- several USB devices (printer, magic touchpad, etc).
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,421
6,797
Thanks!

What Docks would you recommend if I want the MacBook to run quiet&cool and to connect Ethernet, 1-2 high resolution displays, charging and several USB devices to the dock?

Probably the one I have would do all that, it claims dual 4K @ 60Hz output on a MacBook Pro. Has 1Gb Ethernet, USB Ports and charges the laptop at 85 Watts. Here is a link to the manufacturers website: https://www.caldigit.com/usb-c-pro-dock (They do have a sale on for Black Friday right now it appears).

It comes with a 0.7 Meter Cable, make sure that'll be long enough for you.
 
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