2020 Macbook Pro overheating

I have the same issue. My 2020 13 inch Macbook Pro got hot the first day I took it out of the box and set it up. I've had three calls to Apple Support over my first three days of having it. They have had me try various permutations of restarts, but nothing they tried has worked to prevent the heating.

One representative also suggested taking it in to a repair place, but I didn't want to do this with a brand new laptop. I would take it to my local Apple store and return it, but they are still all closed down because of the pandemic.

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.

Alright so just arrived. Out of the box, I went ahead and ran the software update to make sure that's the first thing I did. Catalina 10.15.5 is on now. When it was restarting the fans did whirr a little, nothing to be alarmed of. I've just used the internet and setup a few things, so far no overheating or loud whirring.

Thanks for all the helpful replies. After the last update to Catalina 10.15.5 I did notice that it is not getting nearly as hot anymore. Before it would be very hot after printing a document, now it is just very warm near the ports. It does get very warm when I am doing a lot of work on it, but not hot.

As an aside, I have had trouble with my old Logitech bluetooth mouse with this laptop - throughout the day, the mouse cursor would randomly become a "wild mouse" cursor that's hard to position and control. I have an old Magic Mouse that had been "wild" with my old MacBook Pro, but it works really well with this new 2020 MacBook Pro.

I spoke too soon about the update 10.15.5 working. I was using my laptop later with 3 windows open - Keynote, WORD, and a screenshot - and my laptop got hot again. Also, tonight I was using it with Zoom and doing a share-screen, showing how to use Maps - and my laptop got hot again.

I am effectively on my third. First one overheating, fan running like crazy. Second one better but then the screen died and I could not get into anything at all (only 7 weeks old at the time). Do not know if that was connected. Forced to run it to an Apple Store during lockdown where they basically replaced everything except the keyboard. It is still running hot though, so I live in hourly expectation of another meltdown. Apple's standards are definitely slipping (including their customer service).

Instructions provided by leroydouglas actually worked for me. 2 days OOTB MBP and it was really hot ~70 Celsius. I couldn't hear the fans so I downloaded the app BDAqua mentioned and pushed the fans to max. Temps lowered to ~35 Celsius. Followed the SMC restart steps, and now seems to be working way better. I'll keep monitoring for the next week. Thank you guys for this solution👌, you are saving Apple some thousands bucks. (I believe someone at the factory is missing a step which is causing this issue, can Apple look into this?)

I honestly thought I was reading a post I could have written when I read your post. I bought my MacBook Pro in November 2019 and still cannot use it because it is too hot on my palms. I measure it with a laser each time and after 10 minutes it hovers around 33 to 34 degrees on the palm rest and on the hinge. I simply cannot use it. I then check the temperature on my five year old MacBook Air and it is between 24 and 28 degrees after a good seven to 10 hour day. I have been in contact with Apple multiple times and we are now up to the hardware check as I've erased and reinstalled the software. Each time I phone they ask me about the battery and fan; I can never use it long enough to know if the battery lasts and the fan only seldom makes a noise. I am now thinking there is something seriously wrong with this computer but they cannot tell us about the problem. Let me know how you go. My device is still in the 12 month defective warranty (Australian consumer law) so I may need to change the computer for a Macbook Air or another Apple that doesn't overheat. It looks like the new MacBook Air also overheats (reading comments).

Yes, that's also true in my case. It's a MacBook Pro (16 Zoll, 2019) 2,4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 64 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

Yesterday i've to stop a zoom-Meeting because of the noisy van - it disturbs the whole meeting. For me, it seems that the Mac as System had problems. It's running into these thermic problems despite the fact, that the activity-Monitor tells it's just running more than 90% idle. If i would do some heavy load stuff - like rendering vids ...

Same issue. Purchased three days ago, had a memory issue. Called it in, fixed and few hours later with only Chrome open (5tabs) I noticed the area above the Touch Bar was very hot. Support told me to do an SMC reset which I did. The fan started whirring very loudly for 5 mins and stopped. But same area continued to get hot. Called it in and said I should just return and get a new one. Just did that, and before even migrating my data, noticed the second MBP is also getting hot.

Seriously wondering if it’s a model issue.

I usually keep mine on a stand which has ridges to raise the laptop up, but it still got very warm above the Touch Bar area.I have purchased a laptop stand for my Mac which contains a USB powered fan underneath with holes in the surface. It is keeping the laptop beautifully cool so I think the issue is the location of the fans which I believe ar at the back and underneath. It is obviously a design fault.

Yes, it appears to be a problem with this model. Even if you switch it for another one, you are likely to encounter the same heat problem again. Someone mentioned above that Apple needs to investigate and resolve this issue; the PC environment is rapidly increasing in user-friendly devices and my hunch is many people will start switching brands.

Did you return it and exchange for a new one? I have the same problem with mine. I've only been using it for a couple days and it starts overheating very quick. I already try the SMC reset and it didn't help.

The SMC reset didn't work; neither did other procedures Apple tried; and software updates didn't stop it either. The only thing that helps is keeping it on top of a cake cooling rack.

So I think One Green Bottle must be right when he says he thinks the problem is a design flaw in the hardware itself. That being the case, then all other 2020 MacBook Pro laptops will have the same flaw. So, if I return it and exchange it for a new one, I will have the same problem with the new one.

I'm glad that the Apple stores were closed in my city because of the Pandemic, so I wasn't able to bring it in to them to try and fix it. Now I realize the problem cannot be fixed, just mitigated by the use of devices to cool the laptop from underneath it - whether passive ones, such as my cake cooling rack, or active interventions such as the laptop stand with built in fans used to cool the laptop.

I have this same question also, I bought a 13' inch 512 GB SSD MacBook Pro and whenever I use Chrome the fans become outrageously loud to the point where I can still hear them even when using noise cancelling on my AirPods Pro, also to mention that the bottom also becomes very hot. Another thing to point out, is it normal for only the left fan to not work at times?