2020 Macbook Pro overheating

On a serious note, I often wonder what percentage of any particular model has a problem. I guess the length of each thread shows the importance of a problem relative to other issues. Hard to know when you are about to buy. I decided to probably wait for the Apple Silicon Macs for the reasons given earlier in this thread.

Apple sold about 20 million Macs last year. If you figure 50 production weeks in a year, that means that on average, they shipped 20,000,000 ÷ 50 = 400,000 per week. Most of those were MacBooks of different flavors, but the MacBook Pro is very popular. If they work 7 days a week that is over 57,000 Macs a DAY.

The number that show up with reports of issues here is, as Apple usually says, a very small number of systems.

It has been a year since Catalina came out so it’s the problem with the entire machine.

I would not say it’s a problem just a discomfort and the fans don’t kick in right on time which makes the chassis warm/hot.

Yeah that’s the problem they trap us in Apple ecosystem and now they are forcing us to use their apps.

they never replaced my MacBook refused to return money only doing repairs. Due to covid I could not go in for repairs I wasted 3k sgd in this terrible machine.

So if 20 million Macs are sold worldwide.

40% in the US = 8 million Macs

25% of Mac sales = Mac Book Pro 13 inch (exclude iMac, Mac Book Air, Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro 16) = 2 million Mac Book Pro 13"

If only 1% of that figure were broken, that would amount to 20,000 overheating models

If 60% of customers are willing to put up with this heating, the remaining 40% = 8,000

If 90% of these 8,000 look elsewhere for solutions (Genius Bar, other forums) or just read this forum without posting, the remaining 10% is just 800 people posting in this thread and other Apple Discussion threads.

That is not impossible to imagine when including other Apple Discussion threads on the same topic over time; I remember such a number for GPS issues on the iPhone.

These assumptions are just very very very rough guesses, but I hope you get my drift: The number that show up with reports of issues in these Apple Discussion threads is WAY smaller than the real number of Macs with problems.

On the other hand, 1% would be a low risk for some buyers. But MacBook Pros aren't cheap - it is a lot of money to waste on a product you are not happy with.

Edit:

Besides all that, the percentages are probably higher when you read posts by random people replacing their new Macs at the Apple Store several times and still having problems. You can find such reports in this thread and in the old iPhone GPS threads.

If the ones with overheating represent such a small number, why wouldn't Apple just honour their warranty and replace them with one that doesn't overheat?

Why do they ask us to take a brand new one in for repair rather than just replace it?

I talked with two computer repair people both of whom told me they wouldn't repair a brand new laptop, the company should replace them.

Exactly! In my case I was 16 days after I got it when I made my formal complaint, so they weren't willing to exchange the computer, but to only take it for repair since their policy to exchange is only within the first 14 days after purchasing it...but WHY would we need to repair a brand new computer?

Some people was saying that Big Sur might help with this overheating issue, but I believe that the issue is just a bad design of the computer.

Slightly disappointed about how Apple is managing this situation.. but oh well!!

@AlexaBm23, how was the quality of the repair last though? I mean did u have repeat issues?

I guess they would repair only in cases where the hardware fix was possible. I mean if it was a soldering issue on the motherboard or something like that - that is in the scary territory cos manual soldering will never beat machine soldering.

I have same issue! I fully spec'd a 13" macbook pro and it came in at the end of June. I was using it an noticed it a little abnormal but I figured it was the apps and video editing I was doing. Then I noticed it just browsing web and other small tasks so I called. They said I was passed the 14 days so they could not help. but told me a supervisor would call me 8 days later, about 10 days later they called and they authorized a replacement. Shipped in my replacement, except my current has lpddr4x ram and the one they sent me has lpddr4 and right out of the box its overheating.. I had it on just running on the desktop with no apps running and it was running realy warm. Tried calling back twice. On hold yesterday 30 mins, couldnt wait any longer, hung up. Currently on hold 43 mins and still no answer.. This is crazy..

I have exactly the same issue. The Mac is just 1 day old and nothing intense running it on. Even the keyboard is hot as I type. Am using that ridiculous charger on the right side approach as well. Really a pity because shows they have fallen far from their previous quality. I have been using a MBA for 10 years and needed a Mac replacement. Might stick to PCs as my wife's new Dell XPS run super silent and cold, even when watching movies!

Will observe for a couple more days and then return this hot potato!! 🥔

I encounter the same overheating issue as many people mentioned above. I bought this MacBook Pro 13" several days ago. It becomes hot after I start using it within 20 minutes. The fan is very aloud. I have another Macbook Air and another Macbook Pro bought several years ago working nearby on the same desk. They don't get the same hot as this new Pro.

More problems.

I have the two-port 13inch 2020 MBP.

The power cord needs one port, and that leaves you with only one port for peripherals. So I got a Satechi hub from Apple at the same time I got the laptop. But although the hub had several ports, it would not let me plug in both my monitor and my LaCie backup; if I did, no signal would go to the monitor. I noticed the hub got hot and asked the people at Staples about this. They said that if the laptop was hot, that might be heating the hub as well - and the heat was what was keeping the hub from working. They suggested I try a J5 hub that snaps into the side of the laptop and therefore could sit on top of the cooling pad I have to put the laptop on top of.

The J5 hub is $120 CDN, so before I bought it I called Apple Support to ask if this would solve the problem. I told them about needing to have both my monitor and LaCie backup plugged in. I also asked them if they would give me a full refund and put it towards another MBP that could get around these problems. After being transferred from person to person, my call was disconnected. They didn't call me back.

So I got the J5 hub, and it gets even hotter than the Satechi did. If I forget to turn on the cooling pad fans, I lose power to my monitor. Even with the cooling pad fans going, the J5 hub still gets warm and will cause my monitor screen to start flickering, and then to intermittently go black (no signal).

To throw more good money after bad, I went out and got a new HDMI cable in case that would help, but it didn't.

When I call Apple, they ask how hot my laptop gets, and I can only tell them that it's hotter than body temperature by the feel of it. So I thought that perhaps if I could get a true thermal reading on it, that would help me put my case before them. So I bought a laser thermal reader - but the thing doesn't work. At least I can take that back and get a refund.

So in addition to the considerable cost of the laptop, I've also bought two hubs, a cooling pad, a wall USB plug to power the cooling pad, an HDMI cable, and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. And I still don't have a system that meets my needs.

Trust me MBP is a piece of junk. I have been chasing Apple for my MBP 2019 13” all they say we can’t replace or refund. They already repaired the device twice but the heat still collects all over it and if I connect extra peripherals don’t even ask how hot it gets.

How long you have it for the company becoming 2 trillion dollars still can’t make better MacBook.

I feel chetead.

For me they never accepted there was a issue in the first place. I asked why did you do 2 repairs then they justified not to hurt the customer sentiments.

Now I am back where it all began system passed the diagnostics no more repairs they added every customer perceives heat differently.

According to Apple Store Orchard Road Singapore my MacBook is perfectly fine even it’s hot as oven.