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Most of the suggestions are taylored to video conferencing, such as a better camera and microphone. I have gotten around this personally by purchasing a separat

Most of the suggestions are taylored to video conferencing, such as a better camera and microphone. I have gotten around this personally by purchasing a separate external microphone and camera for a huge improvement. My main issue with my (intel 2019) MacBook Pro is the noise! Whenever I do heavy work it gets very hot and loud, and uses more power than my desktop PC. Driving a 4k monitor also contributes to the heat. It would be great to have a better cooling computer, but maybe that would just be a mac mini!

Tagbert 6y ago
The new M1 Macs are so much quieter than the Intel ones, you really have to ask “what is going on in there” to cause all that fan noise.
xiphias2 6y ago
That’s so bad, I just ordered an M1 MacBook Pro because in the reviews they said that it’s not noisy even with extreme use. I hope you are talking about an Intel based one.
maxcan 6y ago
Noise is solved by the M1s. I have a new 13" M1 MBP and I've never heard the fans turn on in spite of pretty heavy dev use
swizzler 6y ago
You might be interested in controlling Turbo Boost directly (e.g. google find this: http://tbswitcher.rugarciap.com/ http://tbswitcher.rugarciap.com/) Your computer will be slower. Depending on the task that may or may not be welcome. Some video conferencing can eat all available CPU/GPU cycles and generate fan noise; this is probably a good time to manually disable Turbo Boost. Unless you want more sword fighting time, disabling during compilation tasks is probably not a great time. Better battery life and less fan noise are benefits, though!
ghaff 6y ago
It's also easier to get a good mic and webcam if you're not constrained by the thickness of a laptop screen. A lot of people would benefit from better lighting as well although some of that can be a function of their physical environment which can be hard to do something about.
- roland35 6y ago
  Yes I should have added I bought a desk light which also helps the poor quality camera significantly!
  - ghaff 6y ago
    I think a lot of what you see, given modern laptops, isn't so much low-quality webcam issues as it is poor lighting issues, whether because of low light levels, backlighting, or a combination of the two.
    - throwanem 6y ago
      It's a little of both. A larger lens gathers more light from a given scene and thus doesn't need to crank the sensor gain as high (which adds both luminance and color noise) for a given exposure value. Even a fairly basic webcam will have a larger lens than the camera built into a laptop's lid. So, while my laptop from 2016 almost certainly has a better sensor than my webcam that hit the market in 2013, the 2013 webcam still looks better, because it can do more with the same amount of light - for example, I'm facing three windows in full sun right now, and the laptop video still manages to be washed out and grainy while the webcam looks just fine.
jedberg 6y ago
I got an external cooling pad for my MacBook Pro and that helped a lot. I actually got the overpowered "gaming" cooler since I don't plan on taking it anywhere with me. It just sits on my desk. One other tip for the MacBook Pro: If you haven't opened the case and blown out the dust elephants in the last year, you might want to do that. The fans and fins tend to get really crusted up and it makes a big difference. This is the one I got: https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rwnb17b-laptop-cooler/p/N82E16834988092 https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rwnb17b-laptop-cooler/p/N82E...
- ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  I got an external cooler an it reduced Mac's temperature by a whopping 1 degree... The damn thing has no intake on the bottom, coolers don't do jack.

Tagbert 6y ago

The new M1 Macs are so much quieter than the Intel ones, you really have to ask “what is going on in there” to cause all that fan noise.

xiphias2 6y ago

That’s so bad, I just ordered an M1 MacBook Pro because in the reviews they said that it’s not noisy even with extreme use. I hope you are talking about an Intel based one.

maxcan 6y ago

Noise is solved by the M1s. I have a new 13" M1 MBP and I've never heard the fans turn on in spite of pretty heavy dev use

swizzler 6y ago

You might be interested in controlling Turbo Boost directly (e.g. google find this: http://tbswitcher.rugarciap.com/ http://tbswitcher.rugarciap.com/) Your computer will be slower. Depending on the task that may or may not be welcome. Some video conferencing can eat all available CPU/GPU cycles and generate fan noise; this is probably a good time to manually disable Turbo Boost. Unless you want more sword fighting time, disabling during compilation tasks is probably not a great time. Better battery life and less fan noise are benefits, though!

ghaff 6y ago

It's also easier to get a good mic and webcam if you're not constrained by the thickness of a laptop screen. A lot of people would benefit from better lighting as well although some of that can be a function of their physical environment which can be hard to do something about.

roland35 6y ago
Yes I should have added I bought a desk light which also helps the poor quality camera significantly!
- ghaff 6y ago
  I think a lot of what you see, given modern laptops, isn't so much low-quality webcam issues as it is poor lighting issues, whether because of low light levels, backlighting, or a combination of the two.
  - throwanem 6y ago
    It's a little of both. A larger lens gathers more light from a given scene and thus doesn't need to crank the sensor gain as high (which adds both luminance and color noise) for a given exposure value. Even a fairly basic webcam will have a larger lens than the camera built into a laptop's lid. So, while my laptop from 2016 almost certainly has a better sensor than my webcam that hit the market in 2013, the 2013 webcam still looks better, because it can do more with the same amount of light - for example, I'm facing three windows in full sun right now, and the laptop video still manages to be washed out and grainy while the webcam looks just fine.

jedberg 6y ago

I got an external cooling pad for my MacBook Pro and that helped a lot. I actually got the overpowered "gaming" cooler since I don't plan on taking it anywhere with me. It just sits on my desk. One other tip for the MacBook Pro: If you haven't opened the case and blown out the dust elephants in the last year, you might want to do that. The fans and fins tend to get really crusted up and it makes a big difference. This is the one I got: https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rwnb17b-laptop-cooler/p/N82E16834988092 https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rwnb17b-laptop-cooler/p/N82E...

ClumsyPilot 6y ago
I got an external cooler an it reduced Mac's temperature by a whopping 1 degree... The damn thing has no intake on the bottom, coolers don't do jack.