2020 Macbook Pro overheating

jessica1623 wrote:

I just bought a 2020 Macbook pro and have only had it for about 5 days. After being on it for not even 10 minutes, it starts to overheat, to the point where it's too hot to touch, and a fan comes on. What is causing it to overheat so quickly? I do not have a ton of applications open, usually only one.

Verify you are plugging the USBC charger into the right side of the Mac—

For thermal management resetting the SMC https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

You have free call in support, take advantage of that Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

That said—I would not hesistate to return for a full refund, or exchange for one that works out of the box.

When doing first setup on a Mac (laptops especially), especially while installing additional software (including apps from the Mac App Store), the fans will ramp up and the machine will be hot. Don't worry, that eventually dies down. It's a common phenomenon.

That said, your screenshot from that thermals app shows your machine as being a MacBookPro15,4 which is the MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Two Thunderbolt Ports). Those models ran pretty warm in general. And their 2020 successors (using the exact same processors) are similar in this regard. So, some of that should be par for the course. But if it persists long after you've finished setting things up and on simple tasks (using Safari to check your e-mail, for instance), then I'd be concerned.

Though, your original post wasn't too long before the 2020 models came out. Hopefully you were at least able to exchange it for the 2020 equivalent (with its much nicer keyboard!).

For the “new today” owners, Is it over heating or just running at the top of the thermal envelope? Back in the day the first few hours/days after you got a new Mac it would run the spotlight indexing which would use all available processing power (and Hd reads, long ago...) sometimes for an annoyingly long time. I do t recall the process name off hand, but you should be able to spot it in the cpu tab in activity monitor.

Hi there. Mine was mostly fixed. I made a call to the customer service and I was given guidance to update the OS to 10.15.6. The overheating issue is gone. I don't know what exactly was updated, but as I heard, to exhibit the performance, Apple tried to turboboost the processor. So it could be that they turned down some of the unnecessary settings. I just use regular stuff and I don't have a chance to benchmark it so I couldn't tell any evident performance degradation. Anyway, I think Apple should strengthen their quality control to make sure meeting the same standard as in the past. You might try to give them a call and see what happens. Good luck!

mcg_pr Said:

"[...]They told me i could send it to repair which i responded that I am not confortable with that, not understanding why my brand new computer needs technical repair 2 days out of the box.[...]"

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Why Risk a Faulty Device?:

From all that you've mentioned, it seems like a faulty device. So, getting this serviced seems the way best way to go from here.

You captured Activity Monitor while it was set to "My Processes." You need it set to "All Processes" to get a real picture of what is happening. To change, use AM's "View" menu:

That is the view required to see the worst of the troublemakers. AM uses a dynamic display so you cans see wha tis hapening but screenshots of the display don't usually help much.

However, in the view you posted I can see why I never recommend Google Chrome!

I used mine on a stand with its own fan. I was using the laptop in exactly the same way as I do when it is on its usual stand but it stayed totally cool. I think that either the internal fans are wrongly calibrated so that they do not kick in early enough or (more likely in my view) they are badly positioned and simply cannot do the job. I have the 13 inch, 4 port 16GB Pro. It is my third one. My first one overheated and the fans were so noisy that they sent a replacement. That one also overheated and died. They refused to replace it. The repair basically gave me a new laptop anyway as they had to replace practically everything. So I paid for a brand new one and now have effectively a refurbished one with all new parts. It still overheats. Something has gone wrong with the production of these machines and it is about time Apple dealt with it instead of us running around trying to find ways to work around it. I have now purchased a small, more portable, cooling stand because in normal times my job involves a lot of travelling around and using my laptop on my lap or random work surfaces. I would probably end up burning my thighs or melting the machine if I tried it with this one. So disappointed with Apple, which I have loved since I got my first computer in 1986. Still couldn't contemplate moving over to Windows as the Apple operating system is still far superior (and I am fully integrated across a number of devices. Let's hope they get on top of this and sort it out for the next generation of laptops.

Have you tried backing your MacBook up to Carbon Copy Cloner on an external drive, then doing a factory reset? That would allow you to rule out problems due to bugs carried over, or created, when you transitioned to your new MacBook.

Question- in activity monitor, what is using up most of your cycles when it is running so hot? It used to be that spotlight would index right after migration and sometimes kind of run away with the space cycles.

Hey. these are the settings that seem to be saving my computer. So far no issues still:

Change it to custom, and then make each fan (assuming you have the model with 2 fans) reflect these settings

Sensor-based value: CPU Proximity

Temperature start: 35 degrees C

Maximum temperature: 80 degrees C.

You can tweak the temperatures lower if you want the fans to spool up quicker, but I think this is a good balance as it prevents overheating in the first place.

As far as Safari goes, idk, I use Chrome (which apparently is more stressful on the CPU) but I would recommend turning down quality of video, 4K videos use a lot more CPU than lower quality videos.

Let me know if the fan control app works for you.

Another Update:

I gave my MBP some moderately heavy workload (1 terminal session, 3-4 VS Code tabs, 7+ safari tabs with one of tabs having high RAM usage and some finder windows opened up) for a full day. All this and my MBP 13 2020 only got warm (i.e. normal temperature). This is a drastic improvement from reaching 65 degree C with a few browser tabs open, to being mildly warm with the above mentioned workload.

I strongly suggest updating the OS (if you haven’t yet) and testing.

MBP Config: 13 inch 2020, 2 thunderbolt, i5, 16 gb, 256 ssd.

Just as mentioned somewhere else in a different post ...

i installed Turbo Boost Switcher Pro for Mac. Cost me 10 euro.

Works.

The reason for the problem is discussed on https://youtu.be/EkmdHVfk4XE

As it seems reasonable for me, so i give it a try, it works.

i have bought a couple of laptop stands with fans. One lightweight for travelling and one with adjustable legs for when I am wanting to work on the sofa or in bed. They both work off USB leads. Laptop stays completely cool with no problems at all. Doesn’t fix the underlying problem, but does stop the effect.

I'd return it, that is dangerous.

Keeps us updated. I solve it out with a work around disabling i7 turbo boost. Is not ideal but it dropped down from 65/100 to 45/65 Celsius.