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jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
HI everyone

After spending considerable time researching, just yesterday I bought a MBP 13" 2.4 ghz / 16gb/ 512gb model. Loved it for the first 90 seconds until it became uncomfortably hot under my hands.

With a single browsing window open and nothing else the surface temperature (taken with an infrared thermometer) rises immediately to about 35°C on the metal and 40°C over the keys. With say logic x r garageband running a decent -sized project (@ say 15% CPU usage so not pushing the system hard) the temperature immediately pushes to 40°C on the metal and 45-48°C over the keys and touch bar. It is summer here but these temperatures are not practical in daily use.

Unluckily where I am in Hong Kong I cannot return the machine to apple (as those in the states can...)and I'm worried that if these temperatures are deemed 'normal' according to apple I will be forced to sell at a considerable loss on the second hand market.

So my question: are these the sort of temperatures you all are getting with the 2019 13" machine? (Please tell me my machine is defective and how cool your macbooks are!) I have scheduled for apple to look at my machine but am not holding my breath for a positive outcome.

I read here that 'indexing' may be a factor in the initial overheating but I have nothing in the way of icloud/photos or backups so doubt that is spiking the temp. I have done the SMC reset which did nothing. The fans seem suspiciously quiet so i have some hope that they are not operating as expected.

Any feedback on surface temperatures or suggestions very gratefully received.

Thanks for reading.
Jeremy
 
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RyawesomeU13

macrumors member
Feb 24, 2011
36
46
install amphetamine on it and set to indefinitely and leave it on for a few days to index then it should be fine. Amphetamine forces it not to sleep or shutdown so it can go through the index process and not get interrupted by sleep cycles.
 
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jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
It's fresh out-of-the-box and working hard. Give it a few days and all should be well once the background stuff has finished.
I'll be singing in the shower if your right Robbie...thanks for this
[automerge]1569114257[/automerge]
install amphetamine on it and set to indefinitely and leave it on for a few days to index then it should be fine. Amphetamine forces it not to sleep or shutdown so it can go through the index process and not get interrupted by sleep cycles.
Just installed, thanks. Does the indexing take so much time though? Seems strange and I also wonder why the fan is not kicking in much at all — or two fans as I think it is with this model. Thanks so much for the tip.
 

whg

macrumors regular
Aug 2, 2012
236
153
Switzerland
Can anyone with a 2019 13" 2.4ghz confirm 'cool running'?...
I'm happy with my 2019 13" 2.4GHz 16GB 1TB, but I don't own an IR thermometer. I have iStat Munus installed and don't see unreasonable temperatures. Everything depends on the workload that is currently running, of course. With nothing but Safari open, my CPU temperature is normally below 50°C and I cannot feel any hot spots on and around the keyboard that would make it uncomfortable to use.
 
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jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
I'm happy with my 2019 13" 2.4GHz 16GB 1TB, but I don't own an IR thermometer. I have iStat Munus installed and don't see unreasonable temperatures. Everything depends on the workload that is currently running, of course. With nothing but Safari open, my CPU temperature is normally below 50°C and I cannot feel any hot spots on and around the keyboard that would make it uncomfortable to use.
Thanks for this — it's encouraging. Even though I don't have iStat menus below 40 on the CPU seems fine. Do you hear the fan at all in typical use?
 

whg

macrumors regular
Aug 2, 2012
236
153
Switzerland
Thanks for this — it's encouraging. Even though I don't have iStat menus below 40 on the CPU seems fine. Do you hear the fan at all in typical use?
No, most of the time the fans are off. If they come on at about 1300 rpm I don't hear them. The fans seem to kick in very late. I suppose that could be changed by special software such as "Macs fan control". This might help to keep the MacBook cooler at the cost of a little bit more noise. For my use, I didn't see any need for this yet.
 
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jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
No, most of the time the fans are off. If they come on at about 1300 rpm I don't hear them. The fans seem to kick in very late. I suppose that could be changed by special software such as "Macs fan control". This might help to keep the MacBook cooler at the cost of a little bit more noise. For my use, I didn't see any need for this yet.
Thanks. I am not hearing mine either. I'm hoping I won't need to install 3rd party software to kept the macbook cool. These aren't cheap machines after all, they should be set up for satisfactory performance out of the box. Still hoping the temp will settle — so like I say, it's encouraging to read your experience with it.
 

jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
Technical support figured there may have been an issue with my machine. I have returned with a view to exchange — perhaps to a 15". They were noticeably cooler in store given the same task.
 
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jerryk

macrumors 604
Nov 3, 2011
7,421
4,208
SF Bay Area
Technical support figured there may have been an issue with my machine. I have returned with a view to exchange — perhaps to a 15". They were noticeably cooler in store given the same task.

15" have more powerful processors so can do more in less time. Also, the fans on a 15" are always running at 2000 rpm or so, so they have a constant flow of cooling air.

The fans are very quiet and you won't hear them unless you are doing something that generates a lot of heat. Then the fans will spin up and get a bit noisy. But as soon as that activity stops, the system will cool down and the fans will return to slow speed and generate very little noise.
 
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jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
15" have more powerful processors so can do more in less time. Also, the fans on a 15" are always running at 2000 rpm or so, so they have a constant flow of cooling air.

The fans are very quiet and you won't hear them unless you are doing something that generates a lot of heat. Then the fans will spin up and get a bit noisy. But as soon as that activity stops, the system will cool down and the fans will return to slow speed and generate very little noise.
Yes, makes sense. I couldn't switch to 15" so I'm waiting for another 13". Hopefully this one is fine...
 

jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
You could install intel power gadget to see real temperature.

Thanks. Downloaded and showing cpu temp at around 55-60 degrees c. Just got safari open. Keyboard is approaching 40 degrees so hot to the touch. These 2.4ghz machines seem to run hot...like the previous one. Been out of the box (on the whole time) 36 hours so hoping that it cools after a couple of days as someone mentioned. Can't believe that others haven't had similar experiences...could be just bad luck...but two units?
 

ghanwani

macrumors 601
Dec 8, 2008
4,824
6,148
I've had a 2.4, then a 1.4, and now an Air. The Air runs the coolest of them. Both the 2.4 and the 1.4 would get hot when viewing videos and when using zoom for conference calls.
 
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jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
I've had a 2.4, then a 1.4, and now an Air. The Air runs the coolest of them. Both the 2.4 and the 1.4 would get hot when viewing videos and when using zoom for conference calls.
Very interesting....the CPU on the 2.4ghz doesn't seem to be getting too hot but the surface doesn't seem to be protected from heat changes within. I would have thought the air would have been the hottest...this surprises me
 

Muyfa666

macrumors regular
Feb 5, 2019
147
104
Sweden
Thanks. Downloaded and showing cpu temp at around 55-60 degrees c. Just got safari open. Keyboard is approaching 40 degrees so hot to the touch. These 2.4ghz machines seem to run hot...like the previous one. Been out of the box (on the whole time) 36 hours so hoping that it cools after a couple of days as someone mentioned. Can't believe that others haven't had similar experiences...could be just bad luck...but two units?
For what it's worth - My unit sits at about 40-42C, web browser open, email app open, etc standard stuff. The keyboard is not hot to the touch at all.
 
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getheo

macrumors regular
Jul 3, 2011
107
19
My 15" 2019 i7, with safari opened and youtube playing, the cpu temp is arround 50 C but between the keyboard keys, the metal is hot.
 
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jjmmuir

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 21, 2019
14
1
My 15" 2019 i7, with safari opened and youtube playing, the cpu temp is arround 50 C but between the keyboard keys, the metal is hot.
But perhaps the palm rest is cooler?

Was speaking with a sales guy in the apple store today who specialised in music applications (logic/garageband) he was saying that all his personal macbook pros run hot to the touch and that he also considers it a 'problem'.
 

getheo

macrumors regular
Jul 3, 2011
107
19
But perhaps the palm rest is cooler?

Was speaking with a sales guy in the apple store today who specialised in music applications (logic/garageband) he was saying that all his personal macbook pros run hot to the touch and that he also considers it a 'problem'.

Yes, the palm rest is definitely cooler.
 

Model T

macrumors newbie
Sep 16, 2019
9
6
It's just the nature of Apple's MacBook design. I really wish they would take a note from Razer's thermal design on their laptops. They use conservative power limits to maintain most of the performance, without thermal throttling. Not to mention the fans that blow through the heatsink and the keyboard to keep them both cool, really clever.
 
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leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,504
19,636
With say logic x r garageband running a decent -sized project (@ say 15% CPU usage so not pushing the system hard) the temperature immediately pushes to 40°C on the metal and 45-48°C over the keys and touch bar.

15% CPU usage could very well mean 100% utilization of a single core (you have 8 logical CPU cores, so 100% refers to all 8 cores being loaded up). What is important is not the overall CPU utilization but what your activity monitor says for the individual apps. Also, you can download the Intel power Gadget and check the real CPU stats.

I would bet that you are pushing your machine harder than you might think
 

adnan645

macrumors newbie
Oct 1, 2019
25
3
I bought 13 inches few days back and same thing happened with me.. my legs started to burn and I was worried. But next days it was fine.. and till going fine. didn't heat up again.
 
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