M1 Mac mini, kernel task going from 160% to 20% and swap ram going from 10gb to 2gb - how to

[p0ck]

Just achieved that by simply removing my wallet (real physical wallet with money and cards in it) and my phillips hue hub from being on top of my mac mini to beside it. Apparently they were causing heat accumulation issues which significantly slowed the computer..!

 

[Ben J.]

I'm sceptical…
Did you put the items back to double check?
Macs can often go from high processor loads to less load because of background processes. Like lots of tasks being performed after startup f.ex.

 

[p0ck]

Yes, and it's kernel task was at around 160% for weeks before. I finally googled what was up with that and it said kernel task would take more processor when it was trying to regulate the cpu temperature, I figured it must have been too hot for some reason and then removed my wallet and Hue hub from on top of it, and within seconds it went to around 20% cpu usage and the swap memory significantly came down too after a few more seconds.

 

[Ben J.]

Yes, and it's kernel task was at around 160% for weeks before. I finally googled what was up with that and it said kernel task would take more processor when it was trying to regulate the cpu temperature, I figured it must have been too hot for some reason and then removed my wallet and Hue hub from on top of it, and within seconds it went to around 20% cpu usage and the swap memory significantly came down too after a few more seconds.

You shouldn't believe everything people put on the web.

Again:
Did you put the items back to double check?
I'm just saying it's possible that the Activity monitor readings might have changed for a different reason.

 

[p0ck]

Like I said Yes, and you shouldn't necessarily think that whatever crosses your mind or break you model of reality is not true