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2017 running very hot in my bag?

anthony13

anthony13

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 1, 2012
1,087
1,248
2017, 15", 2.8 Quad core. I've noticed my laptop is getting hot, sometimes very hot, in transit. It's sometimes hot enough that I can feel it through my bag and jacket on my back. I've occasionally noticed the fans running high while this happens. I do often leave a lot of app's open, but didn't think that should be a problem? Is this somehow network related? Thoughts? I'm on Catalina now but this problem predates that. Another issue that may or may not be related is that I feel like despite what the system says, I need to restart occasionally to engage the discreet graphics card over the Intel embedded one. I use Vectorworks a lot (drafting program), affinity photo, and spread sheet programs.
 
I have experienced the same thing a couple of times on my 2016. I believe it is some app that prevents the MBP from going to sleep. Then of course the MBP becomes very hot, because the cooling will not work well in your backpack.

Best thing is to check that the computer really goes to sleep before stopping it in the backpack. I sometimes use the "apple" menu to make sure.
 
And, you may have some issue that is somehow preventing sleep, which could be a hardware fault. One choice that you might make is to NOT trust your MBPro to continue sleeping, so you could shut down (power OFF) before traveling.
 
Best of all is to shut down your MacBook before traveling. With SSD it not makes sense to sleep your pc , booting only takes few seconds.
 
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It's annoying; sometimes some applications stop sleep. Wish there was a clearer way of showing this, such as a flashing red icon in the menubar...

You can use the Activity Monitor > Energy tab > Preventing Sleep column

This happened to my new 16". Turned out to be Time machine stopping sleep. Doesn't do it now it's completed a backup.
 
Yes including many other issues. Also, tried fresh install many times. I have found every bug I have to be happening to others as well by doing some google searches and such
 
Complete agreement with pippox above.

Shut it down.
Then pack it up.
That way, you'll have NO worries about overheating or programs or processes "running wild" [literally] "behind your back" while traveling.

A solution as easy at it gets.

And... one other thing:
Do not EVER EVER EVER put a water bottle or ANYTHING "liquid" in your pack with the MacBook. NEVER!
There have been posts here from folks whose MB got damaged when their water somehow "got loose on them".
(But you already knew this... right?)
 
Fishrrman said:
Complete agreement with pippox above.

Shut it down.
Then pack it up.
That way, you'll have NO worries about overheating or programs or processes "running wild" [literally] "behind your back" while traveling.

A solution as easy at it gets.

And... one other thing:
Do not EVER EVER EVER put a water bottle or ANYTHING "liquid" in your pack with the MacBook. NEVER!
There have been posts here from folks whose MB got damaged when their water somehow "got loose on them".
(But you already knew this... right?)
Click to expand...
haha thanks, and yes. I've got an ever goods CPL24 backpack, with a separate laptop compartment. its like the perfect setup for mobile office. I'll start shutting down on the go, but wish the solution was a bit more elegant.
 
You could do this the right way, and try to discover what is preventing your MBPro from sleeping when the lid is closed. Could be the magnetic switch that is the "sleep" switch, used when you close the lid.
It could also be something in software, forcing a system wake.
You would want to do some testing, such as closing the lid (without packing it in your bag), just to see if it wakes just sitting on your desk, while the lid is still closed. If it does, then you can check the system.log in the console, which might show what caused the system wake.
Maybe you will have some luck, and the problem will be apparent, like a failed/loose magnetic sleep sensor.
The "elegant" part is that a simple shutdown prevents the wake up (it can't wake up while you have it shut down.) It doesn't get more simple than that. And, boot up is only a few seconds away.
 
Turning the system off is a good workaround if you can't figure out what's causing this problem, but depending on what you're doing, shutting down is inconvenient enough that I don't really consider it to be a "solution" to the problem. I would try and get to the bottom of it.
 
Turn it off and on again. Great.

The reason we pay a fortune for these laptops is we expect the things to work as described and not get in the way. If we want sub-standard, half-baked, unreliable software we'd simply use Microsoft.

This is a major pain. Again this morning I found the MBP was warm overnight in my bag.
 
pippox0 said:
Best of all is to shut down your MacBook before traveling. With SSD it not makes sense to sleep your pc , booting only takes few seconds.
Click to expand...
Yup. Unless you need a specific browser tab or something open, sleep is mostly irrelevant in SSD equipped computers. Shut down a carry on.
 
maflynn said:
This has occurred to me, with Macs and PCs alike. So much so, when my laptop goes into the bag, it gets shutdown.
Click to expand...

When this happens, it's bad. Thermal stress for the battery, and risk of permanent damage to the CPU/GPU. Every laptop I own will get this problem randomly, sometime during its life. Maybe because I installed a new app, or because of an update. It only takes one or two incidences to cause permanent damage.

I always shut down completely when it's going in the bag for an extended period of time. Of course, if it's waking up the cause should be determined.
 
I was having this problem too. In fact, my Mac was in sleep mode when they keys melted.
 
This is annoying problem. Few useful observations which may help:
1 do no leave your BT mouse on. It will wake the computer when you carry/move tha bag.
2 After you close the lid, WAIT until fans power down before storing. If they keep running, you will create runaway heat problem and damage possibly computer.
Also, if fans power down, system is sleeping and cool enough.
This does not help when system wakes up later, of course.
 
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