MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

I tested my new MacBookPro Max and was disappointed because it makes medium fan noise on a PT Session with about 60% CPU.
(PT 2021.12, OSX 12.3)
All over the net people say they never hear the fan of the M1s, but for me this is a problem.
Any other experience ?

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

I believe the comments about little or no fan noise are for the original M1 computers. The M1Pro and M1 Max are higher performance processors and therefore generate more heat (still much less than their Intel counterparts). Therefore to keep the thermals in a good range, the fan necessarily need to run. In an ultra slim notebook, there is little room for air to move and thus the turbulence as air is pushed or pull across the components, heat sinks, and heat pipes creates noise. There is quite a lot of discussion about the Mac Studio and the fan noise there. No matter how quiet it is, in a recording environment requiring critical listening, any noise is undesired. There will always be some form of compromise. You will need to determine if the noise level is acceptable for your environment or not. It is possible that your particular unit is noisier than others, so you might consider exchanging it for another one. Or you might need to sacrifice performance for a quieter fan noise model based on the original M1 (note limited Unified RAM capacities).

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

i also have the macbook pro 16 max and while loading projects with many tracks and various plugins i never heard its fan turning on "maybe i'm lucky". In your case, it may be some of your plugins that are creating the problem as not all third party plugins work well with rosetta and perhaps in your case it is one of these plugins that abnormally overloads the CPU. The hope is that Avid release a native M1 version as soon as possible since now all the other Daw Logic, Studio One, Ableton etc etc are Native M1 only Protools is missing ..

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

This is my exact experience as well. NEVER hear the fans ever and mine sits on a rack at ear/head level 3 feet away at all times in clamshell mode connected to an external monitor. Lots of VI’s and Waves plug-ins. Logic Pro and Studio One running full native mode and Pro Tools running under Rosetta 2.

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

Another vote here for checking plugins and making sure everything is as optimized as possible. I think we see this variability on old Intel MacBook Pros as well (there with more of a tendency to run hot overall).

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

Just tested here using a little free application called Endurance by Tunabelly software.
(MBP 16" M1 Max 64GB RAM, 10/32 cores, 2TB SSD).

Ambient temp in my room is 20degC and I have the laptop held up in the air on a stand, clamshell mode (shut) with one large external display.

Idle CPU is about 6% (which is a 5-7 watt system load) so I ran a 6 core test - Endurance cranks 6 cores at random upto 100% each - giving a roughly 66% load. Total system load shows as 38 watts.

After 1min30sec the CPU temp was up to about 80 degrees C. Both fans still at 0rpm.
After 4 mins the CPU temp was up to 93 degrees on one core, and the fans kicked in - both at around 1500 rpm, which is the lowest speed they go (apart from zero) and is very quiet. The CPU cooled down a bit and so the fans stayed at the same 1500 rpm level.

So, either you are really pulling some serious power on your PT sessions, or something is wrong. I know that ambient temperature makes a lot of difference.

Dominic

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

This app helped with my i9

TURBO BOOST SWITCHER PRO

But I'm not sure it's applicable to the apple processors.

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

thanx for your experience.
I found out one thing that helps. when I close the macbook it makes no noise most of the time. I use it with an external 5k display. but I had it open beside me and I thought it is getting cooler when its open, but the opposite is the truth.

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

I have an M1Pro MacBook Pro, never heard the fans, even when video editing which is more intense than audio.

Re: MacBookPro Max Fan Noise
 

so may be its a combination and I use plug ins that makes this problem. but the closed MacBook definitively makes it better.