MBP 13" 2017 - Always too warm to put it on lap.

[jas5279]

My non-touchbar MBP 13" 2017 is always too warm to put it on lap since I got it brand new. I always use a laptop tray and can never put the MBP on the lap, even on jeans, without feeling uncomfortably too warm. Is this normal?

According to Intel Power Gadget, temperatures are always between 40C to 60C, and occasionally spiking when some app takes a lot of power/energy.

My normal regular usage does not involve using any apps besides browsing on Safari/Chrome, MS Office and VLC player.

 

[mikethebigo]

Something's funky. Mine has 2 more cores and runs 30-40 C with similar usage.

 

[mcaswell]

2018 13" base model, my "light use" temp is about 40-45C. However, I would describe the bottom surface of the computer as being just barely warm, certainly very tolerable even on bare legs when I'm just wearing boxers. Still, I use a "lap desk" platform thingie anyway most of the time, because I sometimes have a blanket on and am worried that it is blocking the intake vents (and/or is causing fuzz to be sucked up in there if I start doing some CPU-heavy tasks).

 

[Painter2002]

My MBP 13" 2017 is always too warm to put it on lap since I got it brand new. I always use a laptop tray and can never put the MBP on the lap, even on jeans, without feeling uncomfortably too warm. Is this normal?

According to Intel Power Gadget, temperatures are always between 40C to 60C, and occasionally spiking when some app takes a lot of power/energy.

My normal regular usage does not involve using any apps besides browsing on Safari/Chrome, MS Office and VLC player.

Question first, do you have the Touch Bar or Non-TouchBar version of the 2017 MBP? This is important because the Non-Touchbar version only has one fan versus the two fans on the version with Touchbar. This could result in higher temps for the Non-Touchbar.

On my 2017 13" MBP with Touchbar, I average 30-40C on a glass desk under light use (measured using iStat Menus). Under light use on my lap it runs warmer, 38-45C on average. This is with several tabs open in Safari, light youtube use, Apple Music going. It can get warm on my lap but never too hot.

You did comment that you use Chrome and MS office, which likely will heat up your machine. Chrome especially will burn through battery and likely heat up the CPU more than is comfortable. Also, I am guessing if you are using Intel Power Gadget you might be speaking of high heat when running Windows in Bootcamp, if this is the case do you have the same issue running in native MacOS? If not it could be an issue with the Drivers in bootcamp.

 

[boylerman]

My 2018 13" MBP (2.3 GHz) with TouchBar idles in the mid to high 30s. Under light use - browsing Safari with a Netflix windows playing in a PIP window, it runs in the low 40s. Strangely enough, both fans are at 0 RPM.

 

[jas5279]

Question first, do you have the Touch Bar or Non-TouchBar version of the 2017 MBP? This is important because the Non-Touchbar version only has one fan versus the two fans on the version with Touchbar. This could result in higher temps for the Non-Touchbar.

On my 2017 13" MBP with Touchbar, I average 30-40C on a glass desk under light use (measured using iStat Menus). Under light use on my lap it runs warmer, 38-45C on average. This is with several tabs open in Safari, light youtube use, Apple Music going. It can get warm on my lap but never too hot.

You did comment that you use Chrome and MS office, which likely will heat up your machine. Chrome especially will burn through battery and likely heat up the CPU more than is comfortable. Also, I am guessing if you are using Intel Power Gadget you might be speaking of high heat when running Windows in Bootcamp, if this is the case do you have the same issue running in native MacOS? If not it could be an issue with the Drivers in bootcamp.

Its a non-touch bar.

Current temp shows at 65C and I'm sitting in an aircon room. No, I'm not running bootcamp or Windows at the moment. Intel Power Gadget I have is a MacOS app. I do SOMETIMES use Windows using Fusion, and those are the times when it does take up a lot of energy and that's understandable too. But the high temp I'm complaining about is of the time when I'm only using MacOS with Chrome etc.

P.S. I have now started to think Chrome is the real culprit here. Chrome seems to be sucking most of the energy and causes high temp. Activity Monitor also shows highest energy impact of Chrome.

I'm not comfortable with Safari. Is there any way I can have Mac and Chrome be friendly with each other?
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Something's funky. Mine has 2 more cores and runs 30-40 C with similar usage.

2018 13" base model, my "light use" temp is about 40-45C. However, I would describe the bottom surface of the computer as being just barely warm, certainly very tolerable even on bare legs when I'm just wearing boxers. Still, I use a "lap desk" platform thingie anyway most of the time, because I sometimes have a blanket on and am worried that it is blocking the intake vents (and/or is causing fuzz to be sucked up in there if I start doing some CPU-heavy tasks).

My 2018 13" MBP (2.3 GHz) with TouchBar idles in the mid to high 30s. Under light use - browsing Safari with a Netflix windows playing in a PIP window, it runs in the low 40s. Strangely enough, both fans are at 0 RPM.

What app do you guys use to check the temp?
I'll compare it with the temp shown in the Intel Power Gadget app I use too see if the results match up.

 

[Painter2002]

Its a non-touch bar.

Current temp shows at 65C and I'm sitting in an aircon room. No, I'm not running bootcamp or Windows at the moment. Intel Power Gadget I have is a MacOS app. I do SOMETIMES use Windows using Fusion, and those are the times when it does take up a lot of energy and that's understandable too. But the high temp I'm complaining about is of the time when I'm only using MacOS with Chrome etc.

P.S. I have now started to think Chrome is the real culprit here. Chrome seems to be sucking most of the energy and causes high temp. Activity Monitor also shows highest energy impact of Chrome.

I'm not comfortable with Safari. Is there any way I can have Mac and Chrome be friendly with each other?
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What app do you guys use to check the temp?
I'll compare it with the temp shown in the Intel Power Gadget app I use too see if the results match up.

It is possible that you have the non-touchbar model it may run slightly warmer than some of us since your machine has only one fan. In fact I think there were other threads out there regarding the fact that the non-touchbar struggles with heat more because of this, and many users (myself included) bought the Touch Bar variant partly for the reason that it has two cooling fans. Still not sure why Apple didn't put two fans in the non-touchbar model.

Unfortunately I don't think there is a way to make Chrome more "friendly" to the MacOS, you may want to try a different browser. Personally I have never liked Chrome though, so there may be another user out there how has more input on how to make it work more efficiently on your system.

On my Macbook Pro, I use the iStat Menus app, which shows the active temp in the menu bar of my machine. Right now I am using it on my lap with just safari open and it is running at 31-34C.

 

[Miltz]

My non-touchbar MBP 13" 2017 is always too warm to put it on lap since I got it brand new. I always use a laptop tray and can never put the MBP on the lap, even on jeans, without feeling uncomfortably too warm. Is this normal?

According to Intel Power Gadget, temperatures are always between 40C to 60C, and occasionally spiking when some app takes a lot of power/energy.

My normal regular usage does not involve using any apps besides browsing on Safari/Chrome, MS Office and VLC player.

You probably shouldn't be using it on your lap anyway. Having the laptop so close to your vital organs for a prolonged period of time can have side effects.

 

[mcaswell]

What app do you guys use to check the temp?
I'll compare it with the temp shown in the Intel Power Gadget app I use too see if the results match up.

I use iStat Menus, but when I posted earlier I was looking at Power Gadget just to make sure I was comparing the same location as you (there's like 20 different temperature points!).

 

[jas5279]

You probably shouldn't be using it on your lap anyway. Having the laptop so close to your vital organs for a prolonged period of time can have side effects.

Yep, I understand that. As long as the laptop isn't too warm, it shouldn't be an issue. 8 out of 10 times, I do use the tray. But for the remaining 2 times, I don't want to feel like I'm burning up when I'm using it.

I use iStat Menus, but when I posted earlier I was looking at Power Gadget just to make sure I was comparing the same location as you (there's like 20 different temperature points!).

I looked it up. Too bad it costs $10. Don't want to spend that just to check if the temp shown on my Intel app is accurate.

It is possible that you have the non-touchbar model it may run slightly warmer than some of us since your machine has only one fan. In fact I think there were other threads out there regarding the fact that the non-touchbar struggles with heat more because of this, and many users (myself included) bought the Touch Bar variant partly for the reason that it has two cooling fans. Still not sure why Apple didn't put two fans in the non-touchbar model.

Unfortunately I don't think there is a way to make Chrome more "friendly" to the MacOS, you may want to try a different browser. Personally I have never liked Chrome though, so there may be another user out there how has more input on how to make it work more efficiently on your system.

On my Macbook Pro, I use the iStat Menus app, which shows the active temp in the menu bar of my machine. Right now I am using it on my lap with just safari open and it is running at 31-34C.

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I see. I didn't know the non-touchbar had a single fan when I bought it. Most likely wouldn't have affected by decision even if I knew. Touchbar was out of my range and I don't even want a touchbar. And I guess you're right, there's no way to make Chrome friendly except to just ditch it. I'm going to work on moving to Safari. I guess I'm jut kind of used to of Chrome as I've been using it for more than a decade I guess (as long as I can remember). And I use cTrader (forex trading browser app) and for some reason it doesn't work on Safari. I'll try it on Firefox now.

 

[mcaswell]

I looked it up. Too bad it costs $10. Don't want to spend that just to check if the temp shown on my Intel app is accurate.

It's actually quite useful beyond just CPU temperature... it's pretty much the first thing I install whenever I get a new computer. In addition to temperature in numerous locations, it'll also show CPU, network, and storage activity, as well as memory usage, fan speed, and some other stuff that lets you keep an eye on how things are running.

<Tim Allen grunt> "hmmm, looks like the Platform Controller Hub Die is running a bit warm tonight."

Of course, not everyone is into that kind of thing, but it's still nice to be able to easily see if a rogue process is consuming excess CPU, or if a big file is being downloaded in the background.

 

[CreeptoLoser]

You never put a PowerBook G4 400Mhz on your lap. You kids have it too easy these days ;p

 

[Painter2002]

It's actually quite useful beyond just CPU temperature... it's pretty much the first thing I install whenever I get a new computer. In addition to temperature in numerous locations, it'll also show CPU, network, and storage activity, as well as memory usage, fan speed, and some other stuff that lets you keep an eye on how things are running.

<Tim Allen grunt> "hmmm, looks like the Platform Controller Hub Die is running a bit warm tonight."

Of course, not everyone is into that kind of thing, but it's still nice to be able to easily see if a rogue process is consuming excess CPU, or if a big file is being downloaded in the background.

I second this, this app is one of my favorites and well worth spending the $10. I use it to keep an eye on both my heat and CPU/RAM usage, and I can quickly tell if an app is drawing more resources than I can spare.
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I see. I didn't know the non-touchbar had a single fan when I bought it. Most likely wouldn't have affected by decision even if I knew. Touchbar was out of my range and I don't even want a touchbar. And I guess you're right, there's no way to make Chrome friendly except to just ditch it. I'm going to work on moving to Safari. I guess I'm jut kind of used to of Chrome as I've been using it for more than a decade I guess (as long as I can remember). And I use cTrader (forex trading browser app) and for some reason it doesn't work on Safari. I'll try it on Firefox now.

Once you get used to the Safari, its not so bad. I personally like it because of the builtin secure password management and the overall look of it (yes I know there are password managers out there, but I trust Safari more than a third party app). If I had to choose a different app, I would use Firefox as well. Hopefully that will fix your heat issue and keep you cool!

 

[Miltz]

Yep, I understand that. As long as the laptop isn't too warm, it shouldn't be an issue. 8 out of 10 times, I do use the tray. But for the remaining 2 times, I don't want to feel like I'm burning up when I'm using it.

I didn't mean heat wise.... I mean electronic radiation wise.