13" Macbook Pro Feels Slightly Warm Next Morning

[A1MB1G]

I leave my Macbook plugged into the charger over night. It was my first night with this new 2020 Macbook Pro and I'm loving it but I did notice that it's every so slightly warm on both sides near the ports. Is this normal? My energy saving settings are as follows:

Enabled/Checked:
- Put hard disks to sleep when possible
- Wake for Wi-Fi network access
- Enable power nap while plugged into a power adapter

I do like the power nap feature so that some things are updating in the background when necessary but starting to wonder if I should disable it. Should there be any concern that it's slightly warm on both sides when it's been closed for the night?

 

[lobo1978]

Uncheck Find my Mac and see if this helps.

 

[Analias]

If it was unplugged and off then it would be a concern, but in general, anything that draws an electrical current and is not 100% efficient is going to put off heat. And nothing is 100% efficient. Heat is also generally proportional to how much current is being drawn, so the harder it works the hotter it gets. Hot would be a concern, but not warm.

 

[A1MB1G]

If it was unplugged and off then it would be a concern, but in general, anything that draws an electrical current and is not 100% efficient is going to put off heat. And nothing is 100% efficient. Heat is also generally proportional to how much current is being drawn, so the harder it works the hotter it gets. Hot would be a concern, but not warm.

I guess my concern about it is that my older Macbook Air which I've replaced with this laptop was never warm to the touch the next morning when it was closed and charging over night.
[automerge]1590153352[/automerge]

Uncheck Find my Mac and see if this helps.

Will give it a shot, thanks.

 

[Analias]

The air was obviously drawing less current, or was doing its thing more efficiently hence producing less heat. Either way, if it's doing something, it will be drawing current and consequently generating heat. If the heat concerns you you need to figure out what it's doing to draw that current and stop it.

 

[A1MB1G]

The air was obviously drawing less current, or was doing its thing more efficiently hence producing less heat. Either way, if it's doing something, it will be drawing current and consequently generating heat. If the heat concerns you you need to figure out what it's doing to draw that current and stop it.

Any suggestions on tools I can use to determine which apps are drawing the power when the laptop is in sleep mode?

 

[A1MB1G]

Uncheck Find my Mac and see if this helps.

This might have worked. I left my macbook sleeping this morning for an hour after changing that setting, came back and it's no longer warm. Weird that just having that option would cause that. I'll continue to monitor it but so far so good. Thanks!

 

[lobo1978]

Great to hear it helped. Honestly I have had similar issue. Only this helped. Even using terminal to find what causes dark wake-ups is not helpful.

 

[A1MB1G]

I'm back to having this issue again. Noticed the past few days the laptop is warm when I wake up in the morning to go use my laptop. I've been leaving it plugged into the charger but wondering if I should stop doing this as i'm not sure why it's drawing heat when it should be in sleep mode.

 

[Fishrrman]

I would not leave it charging all night. This could be a good way to end up with a "swelled up" battery.

At night (whether you power down the laptop or just let it sleep), UNPLUG the charger from the wall. Plug it back in, in the morning. Or connect it to a power strip and each night flip off the power strip.

Also... do not leave the MPB plugged into the charger all the time during the day.
3 or 4 times a week, take it OFF CHARGE and let the battery run down to about 35-40%, then reconnect it to the charger.
This "exercises" the battery.

My opinion only.
Others will disagree.
Some will disagree vehemently.

 

[A1MB1G]

Also... do not leave the MPB plugged into the charger all the time during the day.
3 or 4 times a week, take it OFF CHARGE and let the battery run down to about 35-40%, then reconnect it to the charger.
This "exercises" the battery.

Wouldn't this lead to more battery cycles? I keep getting conflicting advice on this. I do normally leave it plugged in at work all day and then when I come home, I use it on the battery until it gets down to about 60% and then plug it back in. Should I be doing it differently then?

 

[jerryk]

Wouldn't this lead to more battery cycles? I keep getting conflicting advice on this. I do normally leave it plugged in at work all day and then when I come home, I use it on the battery until it gets down to about 60% and then plug it back in. Should I be doing it differently then?

And current flowing in your system is going to generate heat. However, the CPU and other major components have an upper tempeture limit of 90C (194F) or higher.

Also, it is not surprising that a new MBP generates more heat than an older Air given the higher performance components.

I would just use the system, enjoy the higher performance, and accept that things a little different from the Air.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Wouldn't this lead to more battery cycles?"

More cycles... yes.
But... better battery health and a longer life.

 

[A1MB1G]

"Wouldn't this lead to more battery cycles?"

More cycles... yes.
But... better battery health and a longer life.

Interesting. I always thought the more cycles you use the worse the battery health over time.

 

[pommephone]

Any suggestions on tools I can use to determine which apps are drawing the power when the laptop is in sleep mode?

I also have a 2020 MBP. I also leave it plugged in overnight, lid closed, but I use AlDente to limit the charge to 78%. Some mornings it's stone-cold, some mornings it's warm. I too would like to know what's going on while sleeping to make it so warm. Notice the drop in CPU% after I opened the lid around 9:20 A.M.