Q: When I plug in my Apple Thunderbolt Display to my MacBook Pro, my MacBook Pro starts to overheat.
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Jun 20, 2015 3:01 PMby mickey13,I looked for a built in utility for getting the temperature and could not find one. You have a good point, perhaps it's not overheating and it is running within its normal heat range, but as I'm typing this, the keys on the keyboard are annoyingly warm. And the metal casing above the keyboard is hot to the touch. I've checked CPU and memory usage and that seems fine. This seems to be an issue only when plugging in the Apple display.
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Jun 21, 2015 3:09 AMby OGELTHORPE,There is no temperature monitoring application built in the MBP. If you want/need one, you have to install it your self. The best available currently is iStat menus:
http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/
You have to appreciate that the aluminum case of the MBP is part of the heat dissipation process and is designed to work like a heat sink, drawing heat away from the internal components. Whenever you run resource hungry applications, the MBP will become warm and that is quite normal.
To be sure, there are limits, but the 'good' news is that there are temperature monitors that will shut the MBP if it approaches excessive temperatures. This will save the MBP from self destruction.
Ciao.
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Jun 21, 2015 12:01 PMby mickey13,Thanks for your reply. I expect that the laptop will heat up if I'm putting a load on it, but I did not expect it to get so warm by only plugging my Apple display into it. Perhaps it's the video card getting very warm? I also didn't expect the plastic keys on the keyboard to get so warm. At the moment I really don't have much running; CPU reports 98% idle, 4GB out of 16GB memory being used. If I unplug my Apple display the laptop cools off relatively quickly. Is this a common reason for the MacBook Pro to get unconformably warm?
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Jun 21, 2015 1:15 PMby OGELTHORPE,Adjectives are not a substitute for actual temperature numbers. In order to ***** the situation, temperature data correlated with CPU/GPU activity must be examined. Open Activity Monitor and determine what applications are using the most resources and see what temperatures are being generated. Close any applications that are not needed and see what affect that has on the temperature.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201464
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203184
Ventilation of the MBP and ambient temperatures also can affect the MBP as well as attached peripherals.
Since you have in essence a 'new' MBP, an appointment at an Apple store genius bar is a good option. As part of the purchase price, you have a warranty that you should take advantage of and have it properly examined. At the very least it should give you some reassurance or peace of mind.
Ciao.
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Jun 21, 2015 2:02 PMby mickey13,As a user, I should be able to describe my experience with adjectives. As a user I expect to not feel discomfort when touching plastic keys on a keyboard. Though I do appreciate looking at data, and I have already mentioned that the system is not under load in my previous response, and I gave some metrics (from Activity Monitor) to complement that assertion.
Just to reiterate, my laptop runs at a comfortable level until I plug in my Apple display. That seems to be the only variable that directly affects the extra heat being generated.
I do appreciate you taking the time to address my question.
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Oct 28, 2015 3:50 AMby GreenHornet,Each same problem here with exact same model Macbook.
Depending on room temperatures I'll see an iStat menu average temperature of approx 40 celsius while idle. After plugging in a TB display it'll jump to 55-65 idle and anything up to 95 under load.
Immediately after a reboot with TB display attached temps will be 99 degrees which I suspect is as high as iStat goes.
iStat menu does however report a sensor "Radeon GPU die" but does not give any reading for it. This has me wondering if there is a problem with the GPU and the demand of pushing the extra 27" display is adversely affecting temperature?
