M1 Temperature - What does yours run at?

[abhi182]

This is probably a bit OCD - but let me post it nonetheless

My M1 MBA CPU runs
- around 28-32C (80-90F) while undocked and with productivity apps
- Around 35-42C (95-110 F) while docked to a 4K monitor and other peripherals (productivity apps)
- Noticed that it's hitting 50-65C (130-150F) while docked and on a long VC on Teams

Normally I wouldn't have looked at 50-65C twice as it's still pretty cool for an Intel laptop - but was a little surprised to see the M1 at this range considering how cool it normally runs.
Again, it's probably nothing - but was just curious to know what are the temps you see on your system.

PS: TG Pro is a great app to monitor/ view temps (paid but low cost - and very neat looking)
So is Macs fan control (Free) and menu meters (free)

 

[anubis1980]

I don't have any temp tools installed, I did however have my first teams call today on it. When I finished and picked it up I noticed it was quite warm to the touch. The call was 2.5 hours long and tbf my works laptop would be roasting, but apart from using Zwift for an hour, nothing else gets my MBA warm. My flat is cold, I'm too tight to put the heating on and ambient temp is 14c so it will be interesting to see what summer brings.

I wouldn't worry about the temps, and that's partly why I don't install tools to monitor them etc cos I tend to obsess ha and I just need to remind myself of the tornado id have with my old Intel MBP when just turning it on haha.

 

[LED]

This is probably a bit OCD - but let me post it nonetheless

My M1 MBA CPU runs
- around 28-32C (80-90F) while undocked and with productivity apps
- Around 35-42C (95-110 F) while docked to a 4K monitor and other peripherals (productivity apps)
- Noticed that it's hitting 50-65C (130-150F) while docked and on a long VC on Teams

Normally I wouldn't have looked at 50-65C twice as it's still pretty cool for an Intel laptop - but was a little surprised to see the M1 at this range considering how cool it normally runs.
Again, it's probably nothing - but was just curious to know what are the temps you see on your system.

PS: TG Pro is a great app to monitor/ view temps (paid but low cost - and very neat looking)
So is Macs fan control (Free) and menu meters (free)

What you're seeing is pretty much spot on with what I see. Cisco Webex video calls get my temps to the mid 50's but when I had my early 2020 i5, I would see it hit 90c after more than 30 minutes of call time.

Currently I'm using Webex Teams messaging (not to be confused with MS Teams), Slack, Safari, Terminal, Messages, Remote Desktop, and Apollo, I'm running at 29c. I don't use an external monitor.

Edit: video on Webex adds a good 15-20c onto the temps. When I do calls without video, the temps run about 35-40c. I'm also hoping for an M1 optimized Webex app soon. That should help.

 

[bobcomer]

MBA M1, Idling, about 30C, working, 70-80C. My Mac Mini (intel, hits 100C.)

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

For a MBA, which has the lowest thermal capacity of all three M1 Macs, this is very encouraging.

 

[Apple_Robert]

My M1 MBA is usually 86 degrees.

 

[abhi182]

I don't have any temp tools installed, I did however have my first teams call today on it. When I finished and picked it up I noticed it was quite warm to the touch. The call was 2.5 hours long and tbf my works laptop would be roasting, but apart from using Zwift for an hour, nothing else gets my MBA warm. My flat is cold, I'm too tight to put the heating on and ambient temp is 14c so it will be interesting to see what summer brings.

I wouldn't worry about the temps, and that's partly why I don't install tools to monitor them etc cos I tend to obsess ha and I just need to remind myself of the tornado id have with my old Intel MBP when just turning it on haha.

summer should be fine I suppose.
As is, I am in the subtropics (Pune, IN) and this winter has been unusually warm.
My room is at 23C now and will peak out at around 29 in the summers.

TBH I never used to care about temps until my last MBP (2019 2TB Intel) - that started to get noticeably hot.. Hot enough to make me worry about premature failure - and a subsequent Applecare purchase .
Long story short , that ACP purchase turned out pointless (at least for me) as I disposed it about the 15 month mark 😅

I don't think this one would require any kind of ongoing monitoring given the early results.
However as this is an entirely new architecture etc, it's probably worthwhile to set an initial baseline that may help zero down on any possible problems in the future.

 

[uller6]

My M1 air idles at 21 C unplugged and 27 C plugged into power and monitor with peripherals. Zoom sessions and productivity apps only raise the temperature to 30-34 C. Slamming all the cores to the max eventually gets me up to max of 92 C after ~20 minutes. I have the 16/1T 8 core and have done the thermal pad mod.

 

[redcaptrickster]

Mine runs at "cold to the touch."

I've never understood the obsession with monitoring temperature.

 

[abhi182]

Mine runs at "cold to the touch."

I've never understood the obsession with monitoring temperature.

I had never bothered about it either for a long time- till I did
And now I won't go back.

Let me digress a bit:
Software has become increasingly more complex over the years - and it's not unusual for an app to get stuck in some sort of code trap in the background eating up CPU cycles and unnecessarily (and invisibly) slowing down your system and running down your battery.
Unless you are sitting in your bed or a sofa, you won't notice it either unless something else alerts you to it.


Here's an anecdote from today- I noticed a red prompt in the menubar on the M1 while working on a trivial worksheet that showed the CPU at 78C. This prompted me to open up activity monitor and guess what, the notes app (of all things!!) running in the background , for some weird reason was spiking up the CPU.
A simple cmd-Q fixed that - but it's not something I would have noticed otherwise.

Granted this is a bit unusual on a Mac - but I also use a windows system 30% of the time where these kind of issues are relatively regular.

Leaving a low maintenance temperature app in the menubar/taskbar is a relatively easy way to keep an eye on such rogue processes/threads that would otherwise escape your attention.

 

[redcaptrickster]

Here's an anecdotes from today- I noticed a red prompt in the menubar on the M1 while working on a trivial worksheet that showed the CPU at 78C. This prompted me to open up activity monitor and guess what, the notes app running in the background (of all things!!) , for some weird reason was spiking up the CPU.

I understand that, but why does it matter? Your machine isn't going to be damaged at 78°C so it's fine if it's running warm-ish. Now if the machine feels sluggish or it gets really hot, then you open the Activity Monitor and see what's going on. And if the machine gets too hot, it will shut itself down. Seems to me a temperature monitor it's just one more thing running in the background that's unnecessary. Apple keeps enough crap running in the background. It doesn't need any help from other apps.

 

[abhi182]

I understand that, but why does it matter? Your machine isn't going to be damaged at 78°C so it's fine if it's running warm-ish. Now if the machine feels sluggish or it gets really hot, then you open the Activity Monitor and see what's going on. And if the machine gets too hot, it will shut itself down. Seems to me a temperature monitor it's just one more thing running in the background that's unnecessary. Apple keeps enough crap running in the background. It doesn't need any help from other apps. ;-)

It's not about the machine being damaged .
The CPU will obviously throttle itself well before the point of damage.

However, it is kind of pointless to let your battery drain / stress components for no reason.
I can't think of a good analogy right now so let me settle for a pretty bad one 😂

It's kind of like how you wouldn't want your car to idle at 3000 rpm because of a bad throttle sensor or alike.
And you had an engine that was so silent that you would not notice it unless you car had a tachometer

Its not that the engine would be damaged coz it's idling at that speed - yet you would not want it to be that way.

PS: The average energy impact of well coded Temp monitoring apps like TG Pro/ Mac fans control is pretty negligible.
You can check the same after letting it run for a while in the energy tab of activity monitor