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My Macbook pro reach 88 celcius when using google chrome and discord.

Hello, I've have been using Macbook about 2 years now and recently I notice that my mac temperature have been increase recently. I've noticed that the temperature reach 89 celcius when I used both google chrome and discord. Is this normal ? should I sent my macbook to icare for fixing ? Down below is my spec for the macbook

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Sep 1, 2021 9:04 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 2, 2021 8:05 AM

That isn’t high for that processor.


If the processor detects a temperature too high, it’ll shut down hard. For an upper-range temperature, the processor (and the integrated graphics, in this case) will throttle. Will slow. Which’ll run cooler. Otherwise, the cooling provided by the airflow and the conduction is sufficient.


Throttling is why you want to look at the Intel base clock rate when buying and not at the boost “turbo” clock rate, as you’re going to get base clock and only get the boost rate when thermals allow.


Now… do you want to know more about this; to better understand this stuff? If so, look up the specific Intel x86-64 processor itself (i5-8279u), then go to the Intel website, and locate the data sheet for that processor, or that processor family (Kaby Lake), and start reading. Put slightly differently, if you don’t want to learn about how to look up the processor and then the processor type and to then find and read the Intel specs, then ask yourself why you’re looking at data you don’t understand. If you do want to look this up and do want to look this up, you’ll find that this temperature (88°C) is within the acceptable running range for Intel i5-8279u. (Which is certainly also very strongly implied by the “it’s up and running, and has not shut down hard”, which is what happens when a processor reaches its limits.)


It’s in the upper end of the range, but then you’re also running Google apps and Electron-based apps. These among the Adobe Flash why-is-my-laptop-running-so-hot apps of this era.


If you want to compare thermal efficiency and which can mean better battery life and cooler running temperatures, the Apple M1 processor does quite well.


ps: KBL U/Y i5-8279u upper TDP is 100°C. That’s ~when it’ll be running active cooling on blast, throttling, and will drop out hard.

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 2, 2021 8:05 AM in response to Proxxx

That isn’t high for that processor.


If the processor detects a temperature too high, it’ll shut down hard. For an upper-range temperature, the processor (and the integrated graphics, in this case) will throttle. Will slow. Which’ll run cooler. Otherwise, the cooling provided by the airflow and the conduction is sufficient.


Throttling is why you want to look at the Intel base clock rate when buying and not at the boost “turbo” clock rate, as you’re going to get base clock and only get the boost rate when thermals allow.


Now… do you want to know more about this; to better understand this stuff? If so, look up the specific Intel x86-64 processor itself (i5-8279u), then go to the Intel website, and locate the data sheet for that processor, or that processor family (Kaby Lake), and start reading. Put slightly differently, if you don’t want to learn about how to look up the processor and then the processor type and to then find and read the Intel specs, then ask yourself why you’re looking at data you don’t understand. If you do want to look this up and do want to look this up, you’ll find that this temperature (88°C) is within the acceptable running range for Intel i5-8279u. (Which is certainly also very strongly implied by the “it’s up and running, and has not shut down hard”, which is what happens when a processor reaches its limits.)


It’s in the upper end of the range, but then you’re also running Google apps and Electron-based apps. These among the Adobe Flash why-is-my-laptop-running-so-hot apps of this era.


If you want to compare thermal efficiency and which can mean better battery life and cooler running temperatures, the Apple M1 processor does quite well.


ps: KBL U/Y i5-8279u upper TDP is 100°C. That’s ~when it’ll be running active cooling on blast, throttling, and will drop out hard.

Sep 2, 2021 6:30 AM in response to Proxxx

Unfortunately the Intel-based MacBook Pros (especially in recent years) do not handle performance very well. The Intel CPU is very power hungry and hot, and your MBP isn't built properly to cool the CPU enough.


If you're fine with only having two Thunderbolt ports and only being able to connect to one external display at a time, I would immediately upgrade to the M1 MacBook Air (yes, that's an upgrade; the M1 chip is that good). Both the M1 Air and Pro stay very cool, and the Air doesn't even have fans!

Sep 2, 2021 8:21 AM in response to Proxxx

Your Hardware is not defective.


Its not normal for a User who sees sloppily-crafted software that beats the pudding out of their Computer for NO added benefit to continue to use it -- especially when there are far less resource-intensive solutions available.


If that notoriously resource-intensive software is what you insist on using, that is the performance you will obtain.

My Macbook pro reach 88 celcius when using google chrome and discord.

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