The 15 MBP has worst-in-class thermal design. MacBooks have always had worst-in-class thermal designs, as Apple prioritized looks over function on that. Hence why there's no visible vents.
What a 15 MBP can and can't cool is therefore not very interesting. Thermally it's terrible. 45W is still going to be a challenge for other designs, but it can (and has) been done without being deafeningly loud like a MBP or monstrously thick. Simply having intake & exhaust vents beyond just the keyboard & hinge alone massively improves things here. But yes you will hear it under sustained load. But you're also doing whatever you're doing a lot faster as a result - it's a tradeoff here. You could always disable half the cores if you don't like the 45W, Intel will sell you quad cores all day long quite happily.
What a 15 MBP can and can't cool is therefore not very interesting. Thermally it's terrible. 45W is still going to be a challenge for other designs, but it can (and has) been done without being deafeningly loud like a MBP or monstrously thick. Simply having intake & exhaust vents beyond just the keyboard & hinge alone massively improves things here. But yes you will hear it under sustained load. But you're also doing whatever you're doing a lot faster as a result - it's a tradeoff here. You could always disable half the cores if you don't like the 45W, Intel will sell you quad cores all day long quite happily.