Hello, my mac mini m4 It's getting too hot even when it's idle without any programs running. The only way to stop it from heating up is to log off the user. I've already taken it to an authorized Apple technical support center and they said everything is ok. Does anyone else have this problem? I've tried leaving it in 'low power' mode but the problem persists.
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Mac Mini getting too hot
- Thread starter crashwarez
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My M4 Pro is cool and silent all the time. Sometimes slightly warm but still silent. It hovers around 40C.
Please install monitoring program like istats or sensei and report the temperatures, check the running processes in Activity Monitor and post here.
Please install monitoring program like istats or sensei and report the temperatures, check the running processes in Activity Monitor and post here.
Something is not right if your Mac mini M4 is getting hot even when idle.
Have you checked Activity Monitor, to see if any background process might be running intensively, like spotlight indexing of newly copied over backup files or such?
Have you checked Activity Monitor, to see if any background process might be running intensively, like spotlight indexing of newly copied over backup files or such?
This is the app I use to show the temperature of my mini M4 pro: Hot
It does indeed hover around 40C/104F but I haven't run any apps that may cause more thermal pressure.
It does indeed hover around 40C/104F but I haven't run any apps that may cause more thermal pressure.
Have you tried flipping it upside down or on its side? Circulation should be better that way especially if set on edge.
That said, how hot is hot? Are you talking too hot to place your hand on it?
That said, how hot is hot? Are you talking too hot to place your hand on it?
yes, I put my hand on top and it's hot enough that I can't keep my hand on top for very long
I use iStat Menus. When I'm using it, CPU temperature is showing 50C
I've already tested when it's hot, unlocking it and quickly opening the active monitor to check usage, but it shows 98% idle on the processor.
Mine while using it, design work, listening to music and browsing, watching YouTube is solid 40c. the top case mostly it’s cold, sometimes slightly warm.
Does the issue persist if you create and log into a new user account?
50c isn't even hot enough to cook an egg.
Keep in mind that it is so little, it needs to dissipate with the body.
Reboot macOS, open activity monitor and see if something is using a lot of CPU after 5 minutes. If so what is the process/app taking CPU power?
Reboot macOS, open activity monitor and see if something is using a lot of CPU after 5 minutes. If so what is the process/app taking CPU power?
My guess is that it doesn’t have enough air circulation around it.
To help any gamers out there suggested when fans are whirring and lots of air flow and case it really hot to back down the graphic settings and experiment with the sweet spot to where the fans are noticeable but not full run and noisy.
The case will always be warm to touch that is the heatsink and the fan is removing the hot air around it.
I use my mini on its side and looking at it directly the left side the air goes up/exhaust power connection side.
The bottom half of fan cage is the air intake of the mini. So half air in and half air out. Wifi is on that side too/black cover.
The case will always be warm to touch that is the heatsink and the fan is removing the hot air around it.
I use my mini on its side and looking at it directly the left side the air goes up/exhaust power connection side.
The bottom half of fan cage is the air intake of the mini. So half air in and half air out. Wifi is on that side too/black cover.
How do you know it’s too hot? Is it showing error messages?
define hot? I mean mine is certainly pretty warm even when just left sleeping for days.
have you done a full reboot? not just logged out, or rebooted from menu, but shutdown, waited a bit, then hit the power to turn back on
is everything up to date OS wise?
what is it physically setting on?
directly on a hard flat surface? or something soft that might block airflow.
and it's free and clear of all obstuctions around it (2" or 5cm should be enough)
it's in a cool area of your home?
not sitting right next to another pice of electronics that's blowing out hot air. (or anything making heat), or in direct sunlight?
you say "when I log off, it cools down"
are you the only user account?
if there are others does it get hot for them also?
if you log on as a guest, does it still get warm? (may have to be enabled in users and groups in settings)
can you make a second user account, and see if it still happens?
my guess would be that you've got some weird process running, (as others have suggested, activity monitor will be your biggest help here).
is everything up to date OS wise?
what is it physically setting on?
directly on a hard flat surface? or something soft that might block airflow.
and it's free and clear of all obstuctions around it (2" or 5cm should be enough)
it's in a cool area of your home?
not sitting right next to another pice of electronics that's blowing out hot air. (or anything making heat), or in direct sunlight?
you say "when I log off, it cools down"
are you the only user account?
if there are others does it get hot for them also?
if you log on as a guest, does it still get warm? (may have to be enabled in users and groups in settings)
can you make a second user account, and see if it still happens?
my guess would be that you've got some weird process running, (as others have suggested, activity monitor will be your biggest help here).
OP is probably using the "hot" meaning wrong. If the istats shows 40C then it should be fine and the enclosure isn't "hot" but cold or a little bit warm...
You need to tell us what climate you're in, and what temperature is being reported by iStat Menu.
I have been tracking my m4 pro mini's temperature on both the die and the ssd and an external ssd, to get an impression of normal. I have to tell you 50 degrees C is not that hot. In usage spikes I see 66 degrees with just a few apps open. What I've observed is the machine's priority is to conserve energy, which includes how fast it spins the fan, which it prefers to let spin at idle 1000 rpm until it is really, really needed. Also be aware that under full load it will hover around 110 and under continued heavy use will reach 118 and peg itself there.
I've been using LLMs that fully load the GPU with work for long periods at a time, what's when I see 118, and the fans come up to full speed. I also have played several 3D games at 4K and 5K, when I see it then hover near 110 and engage the fans continuously at around 2500rpm.
My point is--this thing runs hotter than any Mac I've ever had--and it's also the fastest I've had by far. My only other M-series chips were M1 and M2 Air's that behaved entirely differently with regard to temperature.
Before you start saying something is *TOO* hot, you need to know what the engineering specs are for TJ Maximum, which is not published by Apple. You can also compare the temperatures we are seeing on M4 pros to other latest-generation silicon, which I have also learned runs far hotter than I am accustomed to.
Unless you are seeing performance throttling, I am willing to wager that your machine is operating normally. Or normal to Apple engineers, at least.
I've been using LLMs that fully load the GPU with work for long periods at a time, what's when I see 118, and the fans come up to full speed. I also have played several 3D games at 4K and 5K, when I see it then hover near 110 and engage the fans continuously at around 2500rpm.
My point is--this thing runs hotter than any Mac I've ever had--and it's also the fastest I've had by far. My only other M-series chips were M1 and M2 Air's that behaved entirely differently with regard to temperature.
Before you start saying something is *TOO* hot, you need to know what the engineering specs are for TJ Maximum, which is not published by Apple. You can also compare the temperatures we are seeing on M4 pros to other latest-generation silicon, which I have also learned runs far hotter than I am accustomed to.
Unless you are seeing performance throttling, I am willing to wager that your machine is operating normally. Or normal to Apple engineers, at least.
**example--I am sitting in a 73 degrees Fahrenheit room, with Safari open with 4 tabs (including this one) and Terminus and Apple Music in the background, and my processor usage is hovering at 12% and my temperature is a steady 60C. My idle is frequently 40-50 degrees C, but it is ALWAYS much warmer than my M1 or M2 Airs doing the exact same idle stuff and with zero fan. For that reason I believe this is normal M4 pro behavior
That’s not even remotely in any way hot for a modern cpu