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.
For maximum performance, use outside during the winter.
BlameBillCosby.com
The spokesperson clearly explained that you're supposed to hold it with your fingers inside thick gloves (but not too thick, because those keys are tiny) because you're supposed to hold it inside a walk-in freezer.
Isn't this why everyone spends money on a desktop for work and gaming and goes cheap on a laptop to watch videos and read news? Or are people doing it wrong?
you need a freezer and an external gpu?
Benchmarks now need a temperature setting.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
When I started work here, I had the choice between a Macbook Pro and a Surface.
The Surface had Win10 and came only in 13 inch. So I went with the Macbook.
Now don't get me wrong, it's quite usable, but there are so many annoyances that I might just as well have bit the bullet and gone with Win10.
When it's time for new hardware, I just wonder whether there'll be a Surface that doesn't try to be a Macbook or perhaps I'll be allowed to buy from another brand.
Bang for buck wise, neither option makes me tingly all over unless you count my left arm...
Issues like this, the keyboard, lack of ports, sd card slot, overpriced, usually outdated, and they are even internally hiding the iGPU on dedicated GPU models form OtherOS, so they consume more battery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
They sure are making it easy for me to get a Dell and throw Mint on it. Looks like my last MPB will be my 2011. This is simply unacceptable.
That's not true, my first MPB in 2007 killed any other laptop at the time. I was more than willing to pay the $2k+ for it.
yeah, yeah, so thin ... but:
Isn't this the point of the eGPU strategy? To offload real computational work onto a dedicated device that is properly chassied for the job?
The real question might be why spend the money on an unlocked i9 instead of an eGPU. If you want an ultrathin laptop that can rip through any video and not get hot you might be living in 2029.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
-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.
If you want to do real work for extended periods of time, you get a desktop.
Unfortunately, Apple has crippled their desktops so you're out of luck there as well.
It's almost as if Apple doesn't understand what a computer is for.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
http://austinmann.com/trek/mac... http://hrtapps.com/blogs/20180...
The Mojave desert can get as hot as 130 degrees. Clearly, Apple Mojave is more than just a marketing moniker - it's an aspiration!
Intel issue my left nut. Intel had nothing to do with Apple's decision on what processor to use or how to design their thermal solutions. It's rich how you try and blame Intel for something that is entirely Apple's fault.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
New iPhones 8 are thicker and heavier than the 7 (to include inductive charging among other things), new design consists of removing ports, new features are made of animoji and face recog... Then they had to upgrade the Macbook internals, because people complained, and result is something that cannot keep up with its own engine. Have they even _seriously_ tested the thing before selling it? Like they tested Apple Maps 6 years ago ...
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
My deity Apple, look where you are now. Your phones are too thin and fragile, your laptops are too thin, your keyboards are too thin and now your laptops are too hot too. Nobody sane wants your stuff anymore! I think my 13" 20111 MacBook Pro was the best laptop you ever made. Why not take a good look at it and learn from that?
-- Cheers!
In the video at 0:23, he configures the machine from i7 to i9. The price jumps by $300, but the price difference between i9-8950HK and i7-8850H is only $188.
"...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."
So, the answer is to put all the fanbois in the freezer?
Correct me if I'm wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the fanbois, they're gonna lock me up and throw away the key. - Carl Spackler
That's not true, my first MPB in 2007 killed any other laptop at the time. I was more than willing to pay the $2k+ for it.
I agree. I bought a 2013 MBP after a succession of Thinkpads. At the time I bought it you couldn't get another laptop with the hidef screen, aluminium chassis, battery life, weight and SSD for a comparable price. It was expensive, but you got a lot of stuff you couldn't get otherwise for that price.
In the time since, other laptops have caught up on those features, but Apple prices kept their premium. For me the value is not there now, but I guess they have decided that appealing to pro users just isn't worth their time anymore.
Apple products become more and more a fashion statement rather than something you actually use. It's like complaining that you can't fit your family luggage into the Ferrari, or that your Gucci handbag can't hold your stuff. That's not what they're here for.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
They needn't be. Not only do they not have to find workarounds for the shortcomings of their machines, the problems that do arise can trivially be solved with the aid of Google, simply because the user base is large enough that it's almost certain someone else already solved the problem. If only because you CAN actually solve the problem without having to send in your system, accept the loss of all your data and pray that the fix isn't going to brick your system with the next update of the OS.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
But at least it's thin! And shiny! If you buy Apple you deserve everything you get. "Apple - for people who don't understand what's inside their computer."
How many Apple PC/laptop owners understand how a computer works, and what components are actually inside one? I bet it's far fewer than PC owners.
It just works, albeit slower than it should..
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Every Macbook Pro has had thermal issues since the very first one, and I think all have had a recall of some sort for the GPU getting cooked. To keep the A E S T H E T I C , they do their best to keep the vents as non-existent as possible.
Yeah, so if I'm reading this right: - Thermal issues on new laptop line == pushing the gay agenda. Americans are....interesting.
It's Intel's fault you know.. That I9 chip dissipates too much heat for the heat sink and fan.
(sarc off)
Seriously, I think that this is a symptom of Intel's recent FAB issues. Where they not trying to move to a smaller process and having issues getting their yield up high enough to turn a profit? I'm guessing that Apple designed for the expected power/performance and got disappointed. Then the marketing decision was made to release the I9 based systems regardless of the heat buildup performance roll back.
But in reality, who's using their MacBook to render stuff? Wrong tool for that job.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Sounds hot.
My last Macbook Pro was 2006. And it had a Core Duo CPU and was obsoleted only a few years later due to not having 64-bit EFI support.
Breaking news!!!! Laptops can't cool off processors!!!! More at 11... come on people. This is why Apple is moving back to RISC, if people weren't so ignorant we would have never been on these stupid processors anyway.
When I replaced a former software engineer at a startup, I was given his old MacBook Pro with an i7 in it. During unit tests, the i7 got so hot that it was thermal throttling down to about 15% of its normal capacity. I was picking up the laptop and flailing it through the air to make the unit tests run faster since as far as I can tell the aluminum chassis of the laptop was being used as a heatsink for the CPU.
Finally, I disabled thermal throttling at the OS level (I'd installed Ubuntu rather than MacOS as a matter of personal preference) and within a week destroyed the thing and had it replaced with a proper laptop.
This is a great example of why you don't buy the brand new shiny object the day it's released.
( Applies to all things electronic, games, etc. )
Be patient and let the unpaid beta-testers find all the problems with it first.
Will save you a lot of headache.
Is that you, Louis?
So, the answer is to put all the fanbois in the freezer?
Using a furnace had already been taken...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
The operating system is based on BSD, which makes it as good as it is. But Apple's contributions make it worse, up to the point where the OS itself is becoming unsuitable for some tasks.
To add to your long list of example, there are timing issues with certain video cards which make it unsuitable for precise tasks. Quite a few software vendors have issued warnings against the latest OsX versions.
I've encountered them in my work with computer vision as applied to robotic CNC-cell control. My wife has encountered them in her work in research psychology. This is, for example, a direct quote from http://psychtoolbox.org/requirements for Psychtoolbox-3, one of the foremost tools for vision and neuroscience research:
Use on Apple Mac OS X is still supported but strongly discouraged if you need any kind of reliable timing for visual stimulus presentation or trustworthy visual stimulation at all, due to the large number of bugs in the Apple operating system.
There was a time where I would happily convert my wife's Apple laptops into Linux boxes. I really liked the hardware. Now, even the hardware is becoming substandard.
No good deed goes unpunished...
The Macbooks have been thermal limited for close to a decade now for one simple reason: Apple refuses to cut ventilation grilles into the bottom of the laptop because it would mar their precious aesthetics. This is why the 15" MBP has always relied on special CPUs (28W TDP versions instead of the regular 45W TDP version) and can only handle a low-to-mid grade GPU. And why Apple ditched the GPU in the 13" version and went with a souped-up version of Intel integrated graphics.
they installed the latest by mistake: macOS Denali
People are buying Steve Jobs...not devices. It will fade.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
apple does not understand the definition of pro. For Gods sakes they added pro to the end of ipad.
[quote]Premiere Pro is not well-optimized for macOS, but the difference between the two MacBook Pro models is notable. [/quote]
Article about the latest model has thermal issues and they randomly take a swipe at the software used in testing. Yet, isn't the issue going to be a problem for all software?
Sites like these can't help but be bias. Triggers me when writers let it leak out like that.
Macs are now "fashion: items, they have to look pretty, and come in different colours.
Think of them like dumb blondes, no one actually cares if they are incapable of doing a job, just so long as they look pretty and in a couple of years you can replace them with the next new model.
Hey Tim, takes your eyes off the bloody small screen, yeah you know the iPhone. LOOK for gods sake.
I have used Mac since the mid 1980's, I have now bought a PC laptop and run Linux on it.
I am am about to replace 200 Macs with PCs because we need ethernet, USB-A, Video out and we are NOT going to buy bloody dongles, adaptors and other crap over and above your already high prices. We have already replaced all of out 27" maxed out iMacs with Linux boxes for number crunching.
Tim, you have 3 options, do it right, sell it off, close it down. Currently you are NOT doing it right, and this time there is no Steve to save you. I went through the PPC 7300 years of garbage machines.
My shift to Linux has meant my Music is no longer iTunes, my Apps are no longer the App Store , my books are no longer the Apple store.... do you get it Tim, that eco system will DIE without the Mac and Apple becomes simply a one trick pony and will go the same way as Blackberry.
Are you taking double penetration?
Now tell me the computer manufacturer(s) who have never had issues with their computers. Go on, I'm waiting.
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
Guess I'm just damn lucky. I've owned a couple of their phones. The first one the only problem was after years it was dropped on a cement garage floor and managed to land right on top of a stone. It still worked, however. I still use the replacement. It's been many years, still holds a charge well. Way better than my Android. It works so much better that I'm considering blowing off android entirely. Companies simply refuse to update their phones and other android stuff. I moved to an Ipad 4 for that reason as well for aviation use. Now after years I'll probably have to pay the $300 to get the battery replaced. I'd rather do that than get another android.
Macbook pro - wife uses it, has used it for many years. When we take it in because the disk finally broke they're like - whoa! This is old!
Macbook air - Daughter's to replace her windows laptop that was constantly being infected with something. No more viruses, no more problems, it's been many years and it's still rock solid. She hasn't even backed it up in years.
I'm not encouraged by the company however. Their rain maker is gone and they don't seem to realize they need a new one. They probably already have one working for the company, another Jobs. They're too stupid to find him, or her. Maybe they have, they just don't want to make that person king of the hill at their expense.
Yes, and it was the same with my 2011 MBP.