[eslaught]

Let's not exaggerate here. I've got the M2 Pro Mac Mini, and it is nearly silent, but depending on your workload you still generate nontrivial heat and the fans do need to run to keep it cool. Maybe I notice more because I build a lot of software, but this is not some magic bullet that avoids the need for traditional heat management.

[nicoburns]

Very much dependant on your workload. At least on my M1 Pro MacBook. I spend my day doing JavaScript and Rust dev and the fans spin up maybe once every few weeks. Usually when a process is accidentally in an infinite loop and consuming far more resources than it should. Occasionally when I need to compile something really big. And it only gets warm when I use it on my bed leaving it with no airflow at all.

[bhouston]

The fan never spins up for me (does the MacMini have a fan?), but then again I just do web development all day. I have my super powered machine (and hot and noisy) in the back room (Ryzen 5950X + NVIDIA RTX) that I remote into if I need to do a render.

[solardev]

I don't think web dev is particularly taxing. I never hear the fans go off while working (also a web dev), but try playing a game and it spins up after a minute or two, especially when playing recent games on GPT. Diablo IV makes them go whrrrr almost right after the menus.

On a M2 MacBook Pro with the lid closed.