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Does your mac ever get so hot you can't touch it?

M

Macaroooon

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 9, 2012
378
3
Right, I am curious.

Several times my mac has got very very hot performing fairly normal tasks.

One night it got to so hot it physically hurt to touch it and I had to switch it off and leave it for the night as I worried about the damage it could cause.

Is this normal?

When I went into the mac store they tested it's temperature and said it had never seemed to get dangerously hot, but I was shocked by the temperature.
 
Download and use iStat Menus, that handy app which has a trial period provides actual temps.

As for being too hot, that doesn't seem right but hot his subjective so knowing the actual temps will help determine if something is wrong or not. For me, I've used my rMBP on my lap a number of times. While it does get warm, I've not thought it was too hot
 
maflynn said:
Download and use iStat Menus, that handy app which has a trial period provides actual temps.

As for being too hot, that doesn't seem right but hot his subjective so knowing the actual temps will help determine if something is wrong or not. For me, I've used my rMBP on my lap a number of times. While it does get warm, I've not thought it was too hot
Click to expand...

Thanks, will do :)

I asked my mum if she thought it was hot as she was shocked.
 
My MBP will get quite warm if I happen to play the (rare) game, like Civ V or if I'm AirPlay Mirroring from it, but it's never been so hot where it's painful to touch. I think I've seen it close to 190F during those CPU intensive activities like I mentioned.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
My MBP will get quite warm if I happen to play the (rare) game, like Civ V or if I'm AirPlay Mirroring from it, but it's never been so hot where it's painful to touch. I think I've seen it close to 190F during those CPU intensive activities like I mentioned.
Click to expand...

Mm, yeah, when I say hot I mean literally (IMO) burning hot. I winced when touching it.
 
At the very least you can make an appointment with an apple genius stating that its over heating. As I mentioned however getting some clear hard numbers will only help your case.

Right now my rMBP is running at 37c and it rarely goes into the 70s
 
maflynn said:
At the very least you can make an appointment with an apple genius stating that its over heating. As I mentioned however getting some clear hard numbers will only help your case.

Right now my rMBP is running at 37c and it rarely goes into the 70s
Click to expand...

I have done, they checked the temp history and said it seemed normal, I csn't really argue, but I was concerned as the following day my mac got to it's hottest point, I found the screen completely cracked and I'm pretty sure since then the optical drive has stopped working.
 
Macaroooon said:
several times my mac has got very very hot performing fairly normal tasks.
Click to expand...

What is "performing fairly normal tasks."

If it is something like normal browsing, writing email and the like it should not get hot, if it does open Activity Monitor, click on show All processes and the CPU tab to have the most active ones at top, if a process is using too many recourses while doing these normal task you should make a screenshot and report here.
 
justperry said:
What is "performing fairly normal tasks."

If it is something like normal browsing, writing email and the like it should not get hot, if it does open Activity Monitor, click on show All processes and the CPU tab to have the most active ones at top, if a process is using too many recourses while doing these normal task you should make a screenshot and report here.
Click to expand...

Erm, I only use it for safari browsing, itunes and iMovie.
 
Macaroooon said:
I have done, they checked the temp history and said it seemed normal, I csn't really argue, but I was concerned as the following day my mac got to it's hottest point, I found the screen completely cracked and I'm pretty sure since then the optical drive has stopped working.
Click to expand...

Screen cracked from heat ?

I call ******** on this.
 
My MacBook Pro gets REALLY hot within the first 5-10 minutes. It always has. It also takes several hours to become normal again after its been turned off.

----------
Macaroooon said:
I have done, they checked the temp history and said it seemed normal, I csn't really argue, but I was concerned as the following day my mac got to it's hottest point, I found the screen completely cracked and I'm pretty sure since then the optical drive has stopped working.
Click to expand...

I've heard of someone with a Mac that got too hot the screen cracked.
 
silvetti said:
Screen cracked from heat ?

I call ******** on this.
Click to expand...

?

I may be wrong, but I am only assuming it is this as when I looked ay my mac the following day it was cracked, and I hadn't dropped it, put anything on it etc, so it made me suspicious.

I also did a bit of research on this and it doesn't seem unheard of, just very rare.
 
Macaroooon said:
Erm, I only use it for safari browsing, itunes and iMovie.
Click to expand...

Even a 1080p video stream can really get your MacBook boiling. You can probably blame Flash for that.

Also when you're running hot open up your Activity Monitor and look for the processes that are high on CPU usage.

EDIT: Oops just realized justperry already posted this.
 
My original intel core duo 15" mbp was an oven. Would actually legitimately uncomfortable to sit on your lap with shorts even during light use, and other than going through a battery that machine ran flawless for 5+ years till it was sold.
 
Macaroooon said:
Right, I am curious.

Several times my mac has got very very hot performing fairly normal tasks.

One night it got to so hot it physically hurt to touch it and I had to switch it off and leave it for the night as I worried about the damage it could cause.

Is this normal?

When I went into the mac store they tested it's temperature and said it had never seemed to get dangerously hot, but I was shocked by the temperature.
Click to expand...

"Too hot to touch" is a pretty subjective state. Everyone has their own tolerances of what is "too hot."

That said, keep in mind your computer is a chunk of aluminum, which by its very nature is an excellent heat conductor. I got my first MBP a couple of months ago and for the first few days, the heat that would come off of it when I was playing a game, using Photoshop, or (don't judge me) using Windows was a bit alarming.

If your computer does get too hot or a component starts to overheat, the sensors will trip and the computer will shut down. If that happens, then you have reason to worry.
 
Hi everyone - my mac once again is getting ridiculously hot:

I've made threads on this before and visited apple who've done tests and said it's fine but it's become a huge problem now.

Within 15 minutes of using my macbook, especially when watching video's (youtube) the left side of my MBP gets extremely hot. And yes, I mean almost burning to the touch. The mouse begins to move slowly and playback is poor. Bare in mind this is when I am using it on a table and I often have to end up propping it up to cool down as I'm worried about the heat.

I no longer hear the fan either.

I'm concerned when I take it to apple (I have an app) once again they'll say nothing is wrong but this is horrendous for a £1000 laptop and I am far from happy.
 
Thanks, I'll download that now.

When you say how many times, do you mean how often does it get so hot I can't touch it? - every time I use it. It hasn't yet powered off, but right now if I touch the left side of the laptop, both on the top of the keyboard and the underside it's boiling, not just hot as I'd expect, boiling.

I know that the graphs processor temperature diode (whether that's important I don't know) is going between 80 - 93 degrees.

Battery (and battery positions 2 & 3) are in the 40 degrees range.
 
iStats does not work on the new rmbps.

All my macbooks get so hot that its not possible to hold them.
 
swerve147 said:
Certain normal tasks, like streaming HD movies at full screen and playing Flash games like Candy Crush on Facebook will make your MBP hot.

For the forum to help you you need to provide the actual temps you're experiencing and what you're actually doing with the MBP when it's getting hot.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see.

Okay the temps I see on stat are:
pho0Xn3.png


What I'm doing with the MPB: Just browsing FB, Macrumours and one youtube tab open. Also open is iMessage.

Other times it's gotten hot are when streaming a non HD movie/ tv program - or inlayer on SD. It gets both hot and payback begins to stop and start etc.
 
Mine gets very hot but it's within limits... Usually after a solid 6hr gaming session though, and it cools down quickly afterwards.
 
SCOLANATOR said:
Mine gets very hot but it's within limits... Usually after a solid 6hr gaming session though, and it cools down quickly afterwards.
Click to expand...

I know Macs being made of metal or whatever will get hot, and I would expect like you say after a long gaming period.. but this is within 15 - 20 minutes of what I would say very light usage.
 
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