Heat from the Mac Mini

[iabm]

Hi all,

Has anyone else noticed the heat of the actual body of their MacMini when it's a warm day and you've been in Zoom/Teams meeting? My aluminium body was hot to the touch today (I have been in a MS Teams meeting all day). I use the app 'Fanny' and seen that my CPU is 64.8% and my GPU is 66% with the fan (s) at 1703.

Just wondered really if anyone else has had the same thing happen? Or, I'm thinking it could be due to the room I'm in being warm and the sun through the window. I have my MacMni on a bracket on the back of my monitor. Could be that too.

Just curious to see if anyone else has had this. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about - I've moved it off the back of the monitor and it's cooled down but is warm. To note even when it was hot hot, nothing was wrong and it was still working fine.

 

[Boyd01]

The body was designed to be a heat sink, so it's supposed to get hot. There are some third party fans you can sit the Mini on to force more air through it, and there are also stands to mount it vertically to allow more airflow. My Mini also gets pretty warm when doing intensive things, such as running Windows in a virtual machine. Not too concerned about it, but others here feel that these third party solutions are needed.

 

[Cookie18]

I don’t really like how hot mine gets. I had the i3 Mini but switched it for the i5. The i3 would never get hot at all but my i5 Mini is red hot for the entire time I am using it. I don’t think it’s ever not really hot besides when it is sleeping or when it has just been woken up.

It isn’t really a problem because it was designed to do that but it was a little disconcerting for me after having the i3 which never even got warm.

 

[Boyd01]

I have the i7 and it is usually pretty warm to the touch. Honestly, that isn't much different from my 2012 quad i7 Mini. Anything that causes a lot of SSD access with make it get hot quickly, such as backing up/copying files. Also, if you only have 8gb RAM, virtual memory will probably swap data to the SSD a lot and that could make it run hot.

 

[Cookie18]

I have the i7 and it is usually pretty warm to the touch. Honestly, that isn't much different from my 2012 quad i7 Mini. Anything that causes a lot of SSD access with make it get hot quickly, such as backing up/copying files. Also, if you only have 8gb RAM, virtual memory will probably swap data to the SSD a lot and that could make it run hot.

I have 16GB of RAM but my workflow requires quite a few browsers, open video calls, documents etc all at the same time. I’m not too sure what it is that is causing it but I think I’ll monitor it while working tomorrow.

 

[MIKX]

This 'may' help. My M.M ( same as the OP is running much cooler now.)

Post #7

Cool the Late 2012 (Core i5 ) Mac Mini

Last week here in Japan I managed to buy a cheap, in good condition Late 2012 Core i5 Mac Mini. Since then I have upgraded it to . . . 1. 16gb RAM 2. 500gb SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD 3. Mojave 10.14.6 it runs very well but is quite hot, getting up to 70°C under light load. My cooling...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[jayducharme]

That's a pretty clunky way to cool it. You could probably get one of those laptop coolers and it would help. The top of my mini is currently at 114.8 degrees (F). In the summer, it predictably gets hotter when my room temperature is warmer. In the winter, it stays relatively cool. But I guess it all depends on what you're using it for. I do lots of media work, so I expect it to run a bit hot.

 

[ashleykaryl]

This is something I've given quite a bit of thought, since it did concern me seeing such high temperatures at times. The old Mac Pro has been running beautifully now for 10 years and rarely goes much above 50C even when running 24/7 on intensive tasks like exports from Maya, so the obvious conclusion seemed to be that the mini is flawed.

There are definitely certain situations that cause the mini to run hotter than others. For example, I found Dropbox activity seemed to be strangely demanding whenever changes were made and I had been moving more towards iCloud for sometime, so I ended up uninstalling Dropbox after many years.

The mini runs hot with anything like Skype or FaceTime. When those are running the CPU temperature stays high over a prolonged period and the case temperature becomes very hot to the touch, yet the fans never pick up significantly, so I have to assume Apple has crunched the numbers and decided it's within safe tolerance. When exporting video the case doesn't become quite so hot, because the fans work harder as the CPU maxes out.

In stark contrast I was working on a file in Affinity publisher recently with 100 layers of high res images destined for an A1 sized exhibition print and I was rather amazed at just how cool and unflustered it remained. Temperatures were down in the low 50s centigrade with zero lag and that was the point I began to relax a little regarding the mini's capabilities. The case design clearly creates challenges, however Apple seems to have this largely figured out. If you can drag yourself away from the Youtube reviews about the graphics limitations it's also a powerful little beast.

The i3 will never become as hot because you don't have turbo boost, which also applies to my cool running Mac Pro. I guess the i5 or i7 will always become hotter for that reason. Expect Apple to make a big deal about how cool the ARM processors run and yes it's a good thing, but it doesn't mean your current mini is about to die if it works as it was designed to do and Intel calculated that the CPU can run safely up to 100c.

 

[Cookie18]

I monitored my Mini while working this morning. I had a WebRTC video call open in Edge, sharing a screen from Safari, a separate Safari browser open, Pages open, old school RuneScape and a couple of things like iMessage in the background.

Memory pressure was “low”, I was using almost all my 16GB but 4-5GB was in the cache.

CPU usage was hovering at 45-55%.

SSD memory usage was virtually nothing.

The Mini was hot enough that I couldn’t touch it for more than a couple of seconds.

As I said before, it seems concerning but I’m sure it is all within the planned tolerances. I don’t think I would bother with any additional cooling, I have only heard the fans once or twice in the 4-5 months since I switched to the i5 model.

Edit: Forgot to mention this is on a 4K/60HZ output and a 1080P/120HZ output.

 

[ashleykaryl]

I am surprised your CPU temperature was so low.

 

[Cookie18]

I am surprised your CPU temperature was so low.

45-55% usage, not temp. I didn’t have anything downloaded to check the temp today, I just felt the top of the Mini.

That’s my everyday workflow though so I’m not sure what else to do lol.

 

[ashleykaryl]

Arguably I suppose it's a good thing that the case becomes hot if it is drawing heat away from where it could do damage, but I think most of us find it a little disconcerting. I doubt the microwave becomes that hot even when cooking a meal.

 

[Cookie18]

Arguably I suppose it's a good thing that the case becomes hot if it is drawing heat away from where it could do damage, but I think most of us find it a little disconcerting. I doubt the microwave becomes that hot even when cooking a meal.

Exactly, I know Apple also doesn’t like using the fans unless absolutely necessary but I think I’d kind of prefer it instead of it giving the impression that it is just cooking itself everyday.

Do the older ones heat up this much too? I suppose if they do that would show that it really isn’t doing damage because so many are still in use today.

 

[ashleykaryl]

One thing worth remembering is that whenever you remove the bottom plate, as some do to increase ventilation or artificially increase the fans this is also potentially sucking in more dust that could create heat in places where you don't want it. A hot case may simply be the best solution.

No doubt others could provide you with better answers on the older minis. I have a 2012 mini here that was my father's old computer but it's so slow I've barely touched it. I'll try to run it later with Skype or FaceTime to see how hot it becomes. I am actually surprised at how many old minis are still in regular operation and we can only hope the new ones will prove as reliable.

 

[Cookie18]

One thing worth remembering is that whenever you remove the bottom plate, as some do to increase ventilation or artificially increase the fans this is also potentially sucking in more dust that could create heat in places where you don't want it. A hot case may simply be the best solution.

No doubt others could provide you with better answers on the older minis. I have a 2012 mini here that was my father's old computer but it's so slow I've barely touched it. I'll try to run it later with Skype or FaceTime to see how hot it becomes. I am actually surprised at how many old minis are still in regular operation and we can only hope the new ones will prove as reliable.

That’s what I’m hoping too since the design is essentially unchanged. I don’t know how long I plan to keep my Mini but if Apple gives us a massive drought on good updates again it might be awhile, so I want it to be able to last a long time.

 

[Boyd01]

Do the older ones heat up this much too?

As I posted above, "Honestly, it isn't much different from my 2012 quad i7 Mini."

 

[ashleykaryl]

My current assumption on this is that any computer purchased today will only be viable for 5-7 years at most due to the switch in architecture to ARM. The plan at the moment is to use this mini as my main computer for the next 3-4 years then buy a second or third generation ARM computer when most of the bugs have been sorted out. The current mini will then become the backup for as long as it remains viable.

Obviously this falls well short of the lifespan I have seen with the Mac Pro, but more realistically I just have to look at it as a work expense. If you are using a computer on these terms productivity becomes a factor in all of this.

 

[Cookie18]

As I posted above, "Honestly, it isn't much different from my 2012 quad i7 Mini."

Awesome.

 

[Cookie18]

My current assumption on this is that any computer purchased today will only be viable for 5-7 years at most due to the switch in architecture to ARM. The plan at the moment is to use this mini as my main computer for the next 3-4 years then buy a second or third generation ARM computer when most of the bugs have been sorted out. The current mini will then become the backup for as long as it remains viable.

Obviously this falls well short of the lifespan I have seen with the Mac Pro, but more realistically I just have to look at it as a work expense. If you are using a computer on these terms productivity becomes a factor in all of this.

Exactly, I never have an issue upgrading or changing if necessary because it pays the bills. 100% of my work is done from my computer and at home, even pre-covid. My plan when purchasing this Mini was to keep it for quite a few years but if Apple comes out with an awesome ARM Mini this year or next year I may bite depending on the specs/price. If it isn't to my liking then I am happy to keep my current one until the transition is over.

My wife and I are debating right now whether or not to switch our 21.5" 4K iMac for a current 27" and then just switch again after the transition period. The 21.5" just isn't really big enough anymore.

 

[N9JIG]

My 2018 Mini also runs exceedingly hot, especially so when watching videos. Driving 3 screens certainly can't help.

I downloaded Macs Fan Control to force the Mini's fans to run at full speed all the time. While this increases the noise level the only time I notice it is when everything else in the room is off. It immediately cools the case to barely warm to the touch.

If you are OK with added fan noise this is a great way to keep the computer cool. It would certainly reduce thermal throttling and perhaps even extend the life of the computer.

 

[weaztek]

Here's the thing. You can question Apple about a lot of stuff, but please leave worrying about heat to them. They have huge teams working on the machines to balance heat-dissipation, performance and fan noise. I use iStat menus to monitor the temps of my Mini and as soon as it gets hot (~100ºC) the fans kick in and the processor starts throttling. They 100% know what they're doing.

As soon as I offloaded my gpu to an external enclosure I realized how important that is to do. It puts the gpu in it's own box (with a fan) and lets the Mini focus on processing without the additional heat from the gpu. So it's kind of a double bonus.

 

[ashleykaryl]

@weaztek I am also wary about artificially messing with the fan controls, not least because it could likely be stressing other components within the the machine. Like you I now run iStat menus and have found it interesting to monitor these things. I picked up this mini a couple months ago and at first it seemed all wrong after using the Mac Pro, but as time goes by I am progressively more relaxed about how the mini operates. It's just different from what I was used to.

 

[weaztek]

@weaztek I am also wary about artificially messing with the fan controls, not least because it could likely be stressing other components within the the machine. Like you I now run iStat menus and have found it interesting to monitor these things. I picked up this mini a couple months ago and at first it seemed all wrong after using the Mac Pro, but as time goes by I am progressively more relaxed about how the mini operates. It's just different from what I was used to.

Yes, I understand. I would not mess with the fan controls either. Leave that stuff to the experts who designed the hardware in the first place. Plus, Macs are already tuned to run conservatively because they design around keeping Macs quiet. So when I see people speculating about how loud upcoming Macs are I sort of roll my eyes and think "yeah, the engineers probably already thought of that." 😀

 

[Fozziebear40]

I don’t really like how hot mine gets. I had the i3 Mini but switched it for the i5. The i3 would never get hot at all but my i5 Mini is red hot for the entire time I am using it. I don’t think it’s ever not really hot besides when it is sleeping or when it has just been woken up.

It isn’t really a problem because it was designed to do that but it was a little disconcerting for me after having the i3 which never even got warm.

I've replaced my 2014 Mini (super quiet) with an i3 2018 Mini. Love it how it idles around the 30-35 degree C (super quiet as well), browsing etc not tasking.

I needed a second Mini for the office, waited for refurbs to come up. I knew i7 were fan spinners so I found an i5 with 16gb ram. This idles at 50-55 degree C and if I do anything out of the ordinary the fans spin up and it's in the 95's degree C. I don't think I need the extra grunt so thinking of swapping it for another i3.

 

[Cookie18]

I've replaced my 2014 Mini (super quiet) with an i3 2018 Mini. Love it how it idles around the 30-35 degree C (super quiet as well), browsing etc not tasking.

I needed a second Mini for the office, waited for refurbs to come up. I knew i7 were fan spinners so I found an i5 with 16gb ram. This idles at 50-55 degree C and if I do anything out of the ordinary the fans spin up and it's in the 95's degree C. I don't think I need the extra grunt so thinking of swapping it for another i3.

The i3 is really perfect for that, it didn’t have enough power for my needs though. I don’t regret switching it for the i5, although it gets hot I’ve only heard the fan a couple of times in the 6 months or so that I’ve had it.