The only time I heard the fans on my M1 MBP was when I was doing a really intensive build of somebody else’s Github repo (either C++ or Rust I think) and it was still really quiet. No heat besides that one time either.
1 Like
I have owned mine since February and I don’t recall the fans kicking on a single time using it. I think at this point it would shock me of it did happen. I have used it with several apps open at once including Parallels running the developer preview of Windows multiple times and run a few video encodes through iMovie. If they have come on it’s been at a low enough level I have not been able to hear them. My configuration includes 16GB of RAM.
Turns out there’s data available.
reference
(Image showing both idle and wireless web sound pressure level is 4 decibels.)
reference
(Image showing sound pressure levels for common things, threshold of hearing is defined as zero dB, rustling leaves is 10 dB, conversation is 60 dB, etc.)
Heat
As for heat: these figures are for the Mac mini, can’t seem to find MBP, but should be similar. reference
(Image showing M1 idle heat produced is 23.2 BTU, max is 133 BTU per hour, while the 2018 Intel is 68 BTU, max 417 BTU per hour.)
Compare that to my iMac Pro space heater:
(Image shows iMac Pro idle BTUs is 218, max is 1262 BTU per hour.)
For perspective, a person generates about 330 BTU per hour.
3 Likes
If the fan on mine ever turns on I’ll be sure to pay attention and let you know
1 Like
I’ve heard the M1 MBP has a fan, but I had yet to hear it.
5 Likes
I use mine all the time and the only time I ever hear it is when I’m doing path-tracing in Blender—which admittedly it wasn’t built for. 4K video renders, running web servers, Xcode compiles, Lightroom exports really anything else will at most make the fan audible to someone examining closely with near stethoscope-like hearing.
It also only ever gets slightly warmer than my skin temperature. It’s an odd feeling. It’s like when you feel someone’s forehead to see if they have a fever and they do. Noticeably warm, but I definitely wouldn’t call it hot.
This thing is a miracle wrapped in an aluminum unibody.
3 Likes