Fan and battery issue?

[techguy15]

First the details about my MacBook Pro: it's a late 2011, i5 processor, 16gb RAM.

Not sure how to explain the issues with my Mac but I made a small list

I'm assuming I have the original battery in here. It shows 244 cycles though. The battery seems like it drains quick and I'm not doing anything major on here most times except use Chrome browser. I was simply going on the forums here and also watched some YouTube. I don't have any apps running in the background. The battery has gone from 88% down to 70% and continues to drop quickly. This is in about 30 minutes.

Second thing is the fan kicks in while I'm using Chrome. I'm using it on a flat surface where there's some foam padding but I have a small paintbrush to prop it up from the back so the fan isn't being blocked. The fan still kicks in at times while I'm just using Chrome browsing or watching YouTube. I'm literally not doing anything else. It gets really warm too to the point where I can't rest my palms and type. The only other time the fans kick in is when I use XCode or VirtualBox (I'm assuming these are taxing programs that can cause my fan to kick in?)

I understand the laptop has aged but I wanted to ask if maybe a fan and new battery would help things out? Is there anything else I can do to help these issues? I tried a full OS reinstallation and then I reset the SMC as I saw online. Both of these haven't helped anything. Any advice you guys have and prices would help. Thanks

 

[Audit13]

Chrome uses the Radeon you while Safari does not.

The Radeon chip is known to develop problems over time due to heat.

 

[techguy15]

Hmm I've never heard of Radeon. Now that you mention it when I use Safari I don't get the fans kicking in. The only reason I use Chrome is because I use Allo for web and Safari won't support Allo.

 

[Audit13]

https://www.apple.com/ca/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

 

[techguy15]

Oh I forgot to mention mines the 13 inch

 

[Audit13]

Oh I forgot to mention mines the 13 inch

That makes a bit of difference lol.

Use activity monitor to see what happens when you just Chrome vs Safari. Since the MacBook doesn't have a discrete gpu, the cpu may be taking up when using Chrome

 

[techguy15]

What's your take on battery? Do you think I should change it? 244 cycles only but definitely doesn't last long. And do you think the fan should kick in when using a particular program like VirtualBox?

 

[Audit13]

The fan spins faster when the cpu temperature rises.

Could it be dusty inside the MacBook?

Install the coconut battery app to find out is maximum charge. Number of charge cycles and time will determine a battery's health.

 

[techguy15]

I opened it up and dusted it out since that's the first thing I thought of. I don't know if I need a new fan or new battery. I'd really like to make upgrades to this Mac.

 

[Audit13]

Use the coconut battery app to give you information about the battery. It's quite good.

You could also try replacing the cpu heatsink compound and a new fan at the same time.

 

[techguy15]

I'll try that. Do you think its worth doing the hardware upgrades on an older machine like this?
[doublepost=1532932459][/doublepost]I downloaded that app and it says the battery health is good. battery temp is 29.1 degrees Celsius, design capacity is 94.2%. is there any other info I should include from that app? I found it very useful by the way. Thanks!
[doublepost=1532932679][/doublepost]Here's a screenshot of my Activity Monitor as it stands currently. I uninstalled Chrome. Safari is better anyway in my opinion lol

 

[Audit13]

That's great for the battery.

There is very little happening. It's best to monitor the activity over a period of time as opposed to a snapshot.

Upgrades would definitely improve your Macbook. I used to have a mid-2012 MBP 13" and I replaced the mechanical drive with a 256 GB SSD and replaced the optical drive with the mechanical drive using a suitable drive caddy.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Old laptops are a good way to demonstrate how power hungry Chrome can be. I have a 2008 MacBook, maxed out RAM and SSD, and using Chrome would lead one to believe the computer is worthless. Safari is much better on it.

Streaming full-screen video is another thing. Even Safari can't handle it and the machine heats up with fans full blast.

I'm running the unsupported version of Sierra on it and discovered that the Maxthon browser, for some reason, works quite well with full-screen video. Not a great browser otherwise, however.