Thunderbolt Port Overheats

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Level 1

12 points

Thunderbolt Port Overheats

Dear Community,

I have a 2018 13" MacBook Pro, since I bought an external Display and I connect it via USB-C cable, so no need for adapters, I experienced that my port gets very warm, around 55-60º C.

This high temperature is constant, and once I disconnect the cable it drops to the normal 25-30º C.

This is the case on every port, not just the "known" warm left side.

My question is, if with the time this higher average temperature is damaging the MacBook Pro,

and if there are known solutions.

Thanks in advance.

Marco

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 13, 2020 2:32 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

mingoslkd

Community Specialist

Nov 19, 2020 12:09 PM in response to marco_ienna

Howdy marco_ienna,

It’s great to have you in the Apple Support Community! We gather that you're having issues with the temperature of your Mac. We're happy to help out with that.

First, we highly recommend reviewing and trying the troubleshooting steps related to the fans in this article: About fans and fan noise in your Apple product

Based on the details you provided, the temperatures you reported seem a bit on the high side. Although your Mac can get warm during normal use, are you using it where the ambient temperature is between 10° and 35° C? What are you using to detect the temperatures? Please review this article related to acceptable operating temperatures: Keep your Mac notebook within acceptable operating temperatures

You'll also find some references in that article to the fans and steps you can take to reduce high temperatures.

Wishing you the best!

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Answer 2

marco_ienna Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 20, 2020 12:36 AM in response to mingoslkd

Hello mingoslkd,

first of all thank you for your kind reply!

Like you advised I checked the fan openings and they were all ok.

I use my MacBook exclusively inside, so temperature is all time around 20º C.

I used several apps to detect the higher temperature, everyone showed me the same temperature, the one on the screenshot

is called iStat Menus.

I followed several times all guides for keeping the Macs optimal temperature, but it doesn't chance anything on that thunderbolt port temperature, which sits constant at around that 55-60º C.

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

56,192 points

Nov 20, 2020 1:20 PM in response to marco_ienna

I think that is just normal operating temperature for the Thunderbolt chipset especially if it happens to ports on both sides of the laptop. I believe I looked at the temps on the 2016+ models, but I was focused more on CPU temps than on the other items so I cannot be certain. FYI, for SSDs the chip temperatures are usually allowed to go up to 65C or 70C (I think it is the latter although some brands may differ) before the SSDs are throtted to protect the SSD from overheating so I think 65C to 70C is where chip temperatures become more of a concern. I would say if the max temp on the Thunderbolt chip is 60C you are Ok and should be considered normal. If I can remember I can check one of our organization's laptops to compare it.

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Thunderbolt Port Overheats

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