Is this abnormal? I noticed that kernel_task was constantly around 30%, before I closed a ton of memory hungry processes. So now it's hovering at around 3-4% with some occassional +- 5 variation. Should it drop to zero at some point for a normally functioning mbp?
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kernel_task constantly between 3-10%
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kernel_task is the process that contains all kernel operations. This includes all drivers and other basic core functions. Transferring data over network is enough to get kernel_task CPU usage go up, because the NIC driver (which runs inside kernel_task) then has to process data. And with "go up" I mean above up to 200% or even higher. Depending on CPU and network driver.
3-4% is nothing and totally fine.
3-4% is nothing and totally fine.
