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MacBook Pro Overheating [FIXED]?

I think i found a solution and the reason to why the macbooks are overheating. The cause? The CPU is doing all the work.


I watched the cpu and gpu temeratures. My GPU never got too hot(50 c at max?), basically just the heat from everything else heating it up. Meanwhile, my CPU will be up at 80-90 degrees celcius.


System Preferences > Energy Saver > Uncheck Automatic Graphics Switching.


What happens (from my understanding) is that to conserve power, it uses the CPU to do the work of the graphics card, and of course is rediculous when running HD flash vides and such. Unchecking it will force it to always use the GPU. Which, takes a heavy chunk off that CPUs load.


Try it out, see for yourself. All it is is a simple box to check or uncheck if it doesnt do you any good.


For me - It seems to be a lot cooler now that I unchecked that.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), 2.66 GHz i7 (1st gen) 4 GB RAM +SSD

Posted on Aug 21, 2011 9:38 AM

Reply
89 replies

Jul 18, 2014 11:10 AM in response to JaiJethani

That is normal for those machines because the 13inch MBPs are not designed for gaming, so they heat up more than other Windows machines that are built for gaming. The 13inch machines and some 15inch machines only come with an integrated GPU, which isn't made to play games, it is used mainly to save battery life.

Aug 25, 2014 8:24 AM in response to MaryKayMan

I started running Fan Control (free from lobotomo.com) and restored Automatic Graphics Switching (Default) for Energy Saver in System Preferences on my MacBook Pro (early 2011). Speed is greatly improved for computer tasks and the overheating stopped. When streaming videos, I put the MacBook on a Laptop/Notebook Cool Pad w/ 3 Fans (<$10) which keeps it nice and cool. The tiles are a great suggestion since the Cool Pad can only be used on a hard surface.

Jul 6, 2015 4:24 PM in response to CodyDaMan

Thank you for the wonderful info!! Your advice re the Activity Monitor showed my HP printer was using 44.7% of the CPU. (Hopefully, I used the correct term!)

I turned the printer off and within 15 minutes my laptop no longer feels even the least bit warm. I now have the Activity Monitor on the Dock and will have the printer turned on only when I need to use it. Last year, I took my laptop to the Genius Bar (have Apple Care) and was told nothing was wrong. Of course not--the printer wasn't connected!! I asked what should I do if my laptop heats up again and was told it was normal to heat up........ So, I am very grateful for YOUR advice!!

Aug 23, 2015 7:37 PM in response to MaryKayMan

I bought a older macbook pro 2008 just for recording music because the drivers for the usb audio interfaces are more stable on osx, but when it comes to hardware Apple really dropped the ball. their laptops have an exhaust port on the back to blow hot air out, but totally overlooked the fact that you need a port on the bottom to bring in fresh cool air to dissipate heat. pretty bad design in general. i bought my macbook on ebay and when it gets here the first thing i will probably do it reapply thermal paste hoping i can get it cool enough to be usable? if not maybe i will opt for a used mac pro desktop?

Oct 18, 2015 12:21 AM in response to Thenecron

Hi guys,


I have the same problems as you described. more than that realized we are not alone !


I have recently bought MacBook Pro (15-inch Retina Mid 2014) - Intel Core i7-4870HQ. Gradually, realized the CPUs temperature seem higher that I expected. Exactly the same as the situation you had / have.

this is more than a year when you started this discussion, I wondering if you could give us an update about your MPB. Do you still have it ?

In the near future, is it going to cause a serious failure for my MBP ?

Feb 10, 2016 8:32 PM in response to Thenecron

If blocked fan vents and SMC resets don't fix it, it might be software related.

If you go to Console utility you might find the culprit. You might have to disable "system integrity protection" in El Cap. Mine was a location tracker utility that was constantly failing and respawning and overtaxing the system. Look for "launch.apple.xpc.launchd" and what comes after it.

Apr 3, 2016 7:24 PM in response to Thenecron

I went to settings and did exactly what you said and saw pictures of where the button is and it is not on my computer. I also went where apple said if you don't see it go to about this mac and system report I did that too but all that happened was this showed up and I see graphics and displays but there is nothing to change on it. Anyone else have a solution or experiencing the same thing?

User uploaded file

Apr 23, 2016 10:33 PM in response to Thenecron

For just the past few days, I've had the overheating and the fan working overtime as well. I thought I'd add my two cents here. I have recently added a couple of third party applications, one of which is Avast! antivirus. I looked at all the suggestions about hardware and thought I'd try a safe boot first to see if it was one of the bits of software I'd added. As soon as I safe booted, the fan stopped and the computer instantly started cooling down. I uninstalled Avast! and all is quiet and cool now.


I'm on a MacBook Pro early 2011 running Mavericks. So, just an FYI for those of you who might come here trying to find out what's wrong and may have loaded some new software that's causing your issues.


Hope it helps.

Jun 3, 2016 11:27 AM in response to Thenecron

the fix in the OP brought my fan revolutions from 5000 to 4000 on average (using iStat to monitor temp and rpm)


my 2011 macbook pro gets taxed by running multiple tracks in Ableton Live (audio recording software)


honestly i didn't think unchecking "Automatic graphics" would do anything.. but it did, and it's so easy to change... thanks for the info!

MacBook Pro Overheating [FIXED]?

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