MacBook Pro aluminium body hot

[0n3Appl3]

Hi,

I have a MacBook Pro 13" Early 2015, and recently, I played Rocket League on it for the first time for 1 hour. I noticed that the aluminium body near the hinges was hot, so I stopped playing and waited for it to cool down. I checked after 1-2 hours, and it is still hot. The fan didn't kick in because the CPU was operating at normal state at 51-57% (using regular applications: Chrome and Discord.) I'm worried that I may have damaged some fragile internals. I have used other resource-intensive applications/games like Minecraft, and Final Cut Pro X (sometimes simultaneously) and the Mac cool down just fine. I even touched it, and I can confirm that it was not as hot as it is at the moment.

I hope you can help me find a solution and the reason why my Mac is behaving like this.

Thanks,
0n3Appl3

EDIT: No, I don't use this machine primarily for gaming if you're gonna state that in your reply. I use this laptop for video editing, programming in Java, server management, and browsing.

 

[leman]

You are worrying too much. Doing resource-intensive stuff will produce heat and aluminium is a good heat conductor. It gets especially hot near the hinges since thats where the hot air is being used out. As long as the internal/external temperature is within operating parameters (and they are surprisingly high, e.g. 100 C for the CPU), you are perfectly safe.

 

[buran-energia]

If something constantly uses half of your CPU, of course it will stay warm.

If you want it to cool down, shut it down and wait. Then don't use any CPU intensive tasks, switch to Safari instead of Chrome if you can (it's more efficient for cpu and battery).

MBP prefers low fan noise, high CPU temperature and therefore warm body. There are also programs that allow you to control the fan if you want to change that... I'm happy with this. Most of the time while working with Safari and MS Word, the fan never turns on and the laptop is slightly warm. I love it being silent.

 

[William Payne]

Aluminium will suck heat out of anything, it gets hot fast. If you ever want to cool something down relatively quickly without water put it on a big block of aluminium, the ali will suck the heat out of it.

Also computer internals can actually run damn hot.

I have an HP laptop that could roast marshmallows.

 

[0n3Appl3]

Learning new things every day. Thanks, guys!

 

[William Payne]

It may be helpful to know what you define as hot? Are you meaning burn yourself hot, can't touch this hot, or warm hot?

 

[0n3Appl3]

It may be helpful to know what you define as hot? Are you meaning burn yourself hot, can't touch this hot, or warm hot?

It's in between burning-yourself hot and can't-touch-this hot. But yeah, today is just one of those days as a first time Mac user when I went paranoid and stressed about something that isn't a big deal. Maybe it will help to buy AppleCare+ Protection Plan just in case something else goes wrong because my 1 Year Warranty was recently expired.

 

[William Payne]

It's in between burning-yourself hot and can't-touch-this hot. But yeah, today is just one of those days as a first time Mac user when I went paranoid and stressed about something that isn't a big deal. Maybe it will help to buy AppleCare+ Protection Plan just in case something else goes wrong because my 1 Year Warranty was recently expired.

Maybe other 13" MacBook users can chime in here to give an opinion. Could you have perhaps been blocking any vents?

 

[0n3Appl3]

Maybe other 13" MacBook users can chime in here to give an opinion. Could you have perhaps been blocking any vents?

I had a close inspection around the laptop, and nothing is blocking the vents. I don't have a laptop stand.

 

[evec]

A MacBook Pro with more that dozen sensors to monitor the whole parts of temperature.
The system will keep enclosure within reasonable temperature without harm you skins in short term,
and the MacBook is a metal enclosure which mean a good heat conductive, which keep internal cool,
The MacBook system will control the fan
intelligently, which may not cool it down too fast for following reason:

1. Best Electronic temperature of the system is about 40-50C and battery temperature on about 30C which provide some heat for reduce internal humidity and keep the chemical / MOSFET good running.

2. MacBook tend to control the fan speed change (upward and downward) slowly and as low as possible to reduce suddenly and consistent noise, it also help reduce internal dust and prevent the board temperature raise or fall too rapid (temperature expansion too quick is the main reason for electronic failure).

So, Macbook Pro control the fan and temperature more clever that many people thing, and i suggest prevent use of any manual fan control.

 

[William Payne]

Does macsfancontrol work on MacBooks? I just thought you could use it to check temps. I say as long as the components are running at acceptable temperatures then I wouldn't worry too much. If you electronics start roasting then I would worry.

 

[Beachguy]

I have an HP laptop that could roast marshmallows.

I have an HP that roasted itself. Warped the plastic casing badly.