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Video Raises Concerns About Excessive Thermal Throttling On 2018 MacBook Pro With Intel Core i9 (macrumors.com)
Last week, Apple announced new MacBook Pros, including a 15-inch model that supports Intel's 6-core 2.9GHz i9 processor. YouTube Dave Lee managed to get his hands on this top-of-the-line device early and run some tests, revealing that the laptop gets severely throttled due to thermal issues. 9to5Mac reports: Dave Lee this afternoon shared a new video on the Core i9 MacBook Pro he purchased, and according to his testing, the new machine is unable to maintain even its base clock speed after just a short time doing processor intensive work like video editing. "This CPU is an unlocked, overclockable chip but all of that CPU potential is wasted inside this chassis -- or more so the thermal solution that's inside here," says Lee.
He goes on to share some Premiere Pro render times that suggest the new 2018 MacBook Pro with Core i9 chip underperforms compared to a 2017 model with a Core i7 chip. It took 39 minutes for the 2018 MacBook Pro to render a video that the older model was able to render in 35 minutes. Premiere Pro is not well-optimized for macOS, but the difference between the two MacBook Pro models is notable. Lee ran the same test again with the 2018 MacBook Pro in the freezer, and in cooler temperatures, the i9 chip was able to offer outstanding performance, cutting that render time down to 27 minutes and beating out the 2017 MacBook Pro.
He goes on to share some Premiere Pro render times that suggest the new 2018 MacBook Pro with Core i9 chip underperforms compared to a 2017 model with a Core i7 chip. It took 39 minutes for the 2018 MacBook Pro to render a video that the older model was able to render in 35 minutes. Premiere Pro is not well-optimized for macOS, but the difference between the two MacBook Pro models is notable. Lee ran the same test again with the 2018 MacBook Pro in the freezer, and in cooler temperatures, the i9 chip was able to offer outstanding performance, cutting that render time down to 27 minutes and beating out the 2017 MacBook Pro.
-2007
When the 15" MacBook Pro had a frame with hinges attached to it instead of them sensibly being attached to a backplate, so they constantly broke like paperclips.
-2008
When the graphics chips were dying on all the Apple computers. Apple was forced to help by a class action lawsuit. How that worked? They put an Apple diagnostic disc into your computer to decide whether they may or may not help you, based on whether the test passes. Of course, it can't work if you don't have a functional graphics chip.
-2009
"Unibody" 15" MacBook Pro. Except it was made out of 2 pieces stuck together with adhesive. Not only that, it was so well designed with such build quality, the fan exhausting the heat these MacTurd Pros built up, was positioned to exhaust into the adhesive directly. End result: Computers falling apart everywhere.
-2010
A1286 model with the 2850 board, which was failing because the sensors would keep the fans at 1000 RPM when FinalCut Pro was rendering and running a video for 20 minutes straight.
-~2010
iPhone 4 comes out. $600 phone that you could not hold in your hand without dropping a call. Apple is not at fault, it's your fault for not holding the phone correctly on your fucking face!!!
-2011
820-2915 board comes out. Throttling the CPU out of the box with no dust, at 70 fahrenheit room temp. A $2000 machine, throttling and functioning worse than a shitty $300 Acer at that time.
-2013
Apple TrashCan Pro gets released. 2015 models start having major graphical issues that may cause distorted video, no video, system instability, freezing, restarts, shut downs, or may prevent system start up. AMD's FirePro D500 (high-end model) and D700 (built-to-order) GPUs are affected. Apple launches repair program in Feb 2016...
-2011-2013 line of MacBook Pros including Rentina line between 2012-2013 having premature death caused by design flaw with the GPU, which lead to a Class Action Suit, which lead to a repair program only 4 years after the facts.
-2016
Apple shitPhone 6 and 6 Plus with the "Touch Disease" due to shitty soldering system of the Touch IC chips.
-2018
MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboard design flaws which only get a repair program officiated 8 months after mass complaints.
https://theoutline.com/post/5052/apple-admits-its-computers-are-broken
I can keep going and going and going.
Apple experience and quality.
Apple users: The wife who gets beaten at home and calls it love.
yeah, yeah, so thin ... but:
Isn't this the point of the eGPU strategy? To offload real computational work onto a dedicated device that is properly chassied for the job?
The real question might be why spend the money on an unlocked i9 instead of an eGPU.
This... I've got a 2015 MBP, but I'm running 3 monitors off a GTX 1060 in an external case. At this rate, I'm thinking my next machine should be the lightest, smallest, longest battery life laptop out there for traveling purposes, with a pair of eGPUs at my home and office.
Austin Mann didn't do any real performance tests at all beyond some HEVC video conversion that on the latest hardware is done almost entirely on the GPU (and doesnt take that long)
Craig Hunter's review quite clearly shows once there is a CPU bound task working on >= 3-5 cores in his particular workload the expected per-core performance scaling demonstrated on comparable CPUs in the iMacs is not achieved. He kind of gives this a pass since is comparable to their previous (equally shit) design, but this is due to thermal throttling. The only other thing he benchmarks is eGPU workloads which is not relevant to the issue at hand.
There is no doubt that Apple could have delivered a better thermal solution, a better keyboard, more ports, lower engineering costs, lower assembly cost, a more competitive supply chain, (and probably a lot of other better t hings) if they were not after the eternal conquest to build something that is so stupidly thin for a group of users who are asking for the opposite.