Duration: 0:00

152 views

5

a brief history of this macOS external monitor issue.

The 2019 MacBook Pro 16” was HOT GARBAGE
with 1440p60 external monitors and 5300M GPU

Note: solved in Mar 2022 in macOS 12.3



TLDR: The 2019 Macbook Pro 16" 5300M gets hot and noisy when connected to a 2560x1440p60 monitor, even when idle and the lid is closed on macOS 11.
Specifically, many users report extremely loud fans when connected to 2560x1440p60 monitors. The problem is with this specific resolution and 5300M GPU combination. Tons of users in the comments report no problems when using 1080p or 4K monitors or with the upgraded 5500M/5600M GPUs.





and many comments confirming that this solution worked for other people.

Prior Solutions
Buy the $800 GPU upgrade to the 5600M that was available at the time
Get Apple Silicon
Give Apple all of your money.

My solution
Force enable hidpi mode in clamshell mode

Problem: Resolution: 2560 x 1440 (QHD/WQHD)
This is insane power draw for a laptop at idle. It doesn’t take long for all this extra power to heat up the laptop and cause the fans to start roaring, even with nothing running, just idle.

Solution: 5120 x 2880 (5K/UHD+)
Now the MacBook is drawing a much more reasonable 6W and stays silent during normal operation, as it should! Now it feels like a Pro machine!

Seeing as how it makes no sense that rendering at 2x resolution cause 1/3 of the power draw, this is most likely a GPU driver bug on Apple or AMD’s end, and a temporary solution could be force enabling HiDPI mode for 1440p monitors in the next release of macOS.

So welcome to having a silent MacBook when plugged into a monitor now! As it should be!

Apple partially fixed this with low power mode in macOS 12 and completely fixed it in macOS 12.3Still took about a YEAR to fix



Like, Comment, and Subscribe!