why does my MacBook Pro run hot with Thunderbolt Display?

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why does my MacBook Pro run hot with Thunderbolt Display?

I have owned my Thunderbolt Display (TBD) now for about 2.5 months, and run it off of my Early 2011 MacBook Pro. Now the first thing I noticed was that the fan is always on once you connect it to the monitor, the second thing is that the TB cable at the TB Port on the MacBook Pro is extremely hot as is around the surrounding area. Because I've had a project to complete I've just put it on the backburner for the last while until it was finished.

Now I've noticed that the MBP is running slow, slow to respond, and copying files that are on hard drives connected to the display are slow to react and read/write to/from (one of the drives is a 6 TB Thunderbolt drive). I was initially thinking that the TB Display was at fault (still do kind of), but I think there is something up with the actual MacBook Pro. However, when I unplug the TB Display, it appears that the MacBook reacts normally.

I need some help and if anyone is experiencing this...

Thank you.

Arlen

MacBook Pro i7 2.4 GHz w/16Gb of RAM

PS. the fan runs all the time full blast once you plug in the display

Message was edited by: fabmedia I also found out that even with 16 Gb of RAM, that the Disk Activity READS IN/WRITESOUT are disproportionate. As in the WRITES OUT is doubled. I've done RAM checking with TechTool Pro and let it run overnight and it found no errors with the RAM.

Posted on Aug 12, 2013 5:43 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 13, 2013 12:00 AM in response to fabmedia

My MacBook Pro runs hot when the TB Display is connected, too. Fans are usually constant at 6000rpms (although I barely hear them). But I do run a lot of GPU/CPU intensive apps concurrently, so I've just learned to live with the high temps/fan speeds. I have 2 LaCie connected first in my daisy-chain; a 4TB 2big and a 8TB 2big. But copy speeds are as expected and both drives have the second drive (I un-RAIDed them) as Time Machine devices.

However...

I've not noticed any slowness whatsoever. I also have 16GB of RAM and, although I sometimes run up against the RAM brick wall (likely because I have 6GB of RAM being used for Windows 7 running under Parallels) I don't notice anything strange about RAM usage.

So... I expect that temps/fans speeds will be high with TB display attached. The 'slowness' that you're having is the only thing that I would find unusual... does Activity Monitor show anything strange?

Clinton

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Answer 2

fabmedia Author

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Aug 13, 2013 12:42 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Interesting. My fan runs all the time all the displays connected regardless if there's any IBCP you you said you're not and you can hear the fan all the time just constant whirling. I'm so surprised that it runs as hot as it does. I'm afraid that something is going to pop. I can't keep my hand on the MacBook while typing for any period.

I'm thinking there is something wrong with the monitor and its drawing too much from they MacBook pro

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Answer 3

fabmedia Author

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Sep 1, 2013 11:34 AM in response to fabmedia

I'm still having huge issues with this, can anyone from Apple Support please Chime in on this...?

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Answer 4

fabmedia Author

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Sep 1, 2013 4:26 PM in response to fabmedia

The Kernel_task is taking up most of the processing power. Anywhere between 320-380%. And it doesn't matter how much RAM there is... I've done exhaustive hardware tests and there are no problems with the hardware.

Frustrating.

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