The OLED MacBook Pro 14 runs louder and hotter under load

The MacBook Pro 14 with a PROLED XDR display is thinner and lighter, but under heavy load its fan is noticeably louder than the previous model’s, and the chassis gets hotter. That’s what Notebookcheck found in tests of a configuration with the M5 Pro chip.

Noise levels are higher

Notebookcheck believes the increase in noise is due to the thinner chassis. Under heavy load, the fans have to spin faster to dissipate heat.

In automatic mode under load, the new MacBook Pro 14’s fans spun at around 5,600 rpm, with noise levels reaching 44.6 dBA. Reviewers measured around 5,100 rpm and 41 dBA on the previous model with a Mini-LED display.

The difference is even more pronounced in High Power mode. The OLED version’s fans reached around 8,700 rpm, compared with 7,500 rpm on the previous model. Noise levels measured 55.5 dBA versus around 51 dBA. This noise could be distracting in a quiet room.

The chassis gets hotter

In a stress test, the top surface of the chassis reached 49.4 °C, while the bottom reached 47.8 °C. At this level of load, resting your hands on the hot areas of the chassis is already quite uncomfortable.

In CPU tests, the M5 Pro delivered results in line with expectations for this chip. In Low Power mode, the fans shut off, but performance drops noticeably.

How cooling could be improved

One possible way to improve cooling would have been to use a vapor chamber, like the one already found in the iPhone 18 Pro.

This upgrade would be especially useful in the 14-inch model. The larger 16-inch MacBook Pro with the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips delivers slightly higher performance thanks to more effective cooling in its larger chassis.