Macbook Pro getting warm

Hi, I recently acquired a 2017 baseline Macbook Pro.

I've been using Safari for most of my browser needs but sometimes when I go to Youtube I like to watch my videos in a higher resolution. I know that Safari doesn't support it for some reason right now (I wish Google and Apple got along). So I used my favorite browser from Windows, Opera. For some reason whenever I watch any video through Opera it gets significantly warmer.

Is this an issue for my Mac or is it Opera?

Tsuar21 said:

Is this an issue for my Mac or is it Opera?

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When you ask your computer to do more work..it gets warm. Watching high resolution videos can be one of the more demanding things to ask a computer to do. My guess is this is the reason your MacBook Pro is getting warmer.

If you feel it could be a browser related issue...some different options to try:

- Safari
- Chrome
- Firefox
- Opera
- Maxthon

HTH,

- Nick

Yea I was starting to think it was the browser. Sorry I'm new around here, and this is my first Mac.

Welcome to our Forums, Tsuar21 and thank you for your post.

Admin pigoo3 may smile or grimace when I ask you this question:

As you only experience the heating issue when you watch HiRes Videos (irrespective of Browser I would suggest) and it is recognised that this generates a lot of heat -

Do you have your MacBook Pro on your lap, on a cushion, on the bedclothes - or is it placed flat on a table?

Silly question you might very reasonably think; but the Mac you have is a Notebook and is so-called because it is designed to be used on a flat surface such as a table because the heat vents are on the underside of the Mac and ideally require free space below the Mac to allow the heat to dissipate.

You may inadvertently be blocking those.

If it turns out that you do rest the Notebook on your knees, a cushion or bedclothes, try an experiment. Place the Mac on a table, view your HiRes Video and see if the heat diminishes.

Sorry, Nick. Got to ask;D

Ian

IWT said:

Do you have your MacBook Pro on your lap, on a cushion, on the bedclothes - or is it placed flat on a table?

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Another important question might be (which I was going to ask in my previous post)...how "warm" are we talking?

I know we've had members be concerned about "warmth" when the actual computer temp was only around 110°F (about 12°F higher than average human body temp)...certainly nothing to be concerned about.

Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to quantify what sort of warth we're talking.

- Nick

There has been lots of discussion about normal operating temps for MacBooks but it seems to me that acceptable temps are higher than I would have expected. That doesn't mean we should limit or hinder the device's ability to cool down by blocking the exhaust vents or ignoring a noisy or overactive fan. I always use a "Stable Table" type tray on the bed or my knees for that reason.
If you are interested in CPU temp you can have CPU temps (there more than one) displayed on your menu bar using the great iStat Pro app (free) or iStat Menus which will also display CPU activity. You will quickly see that the two are closely linked. It is not unusual or a problem for my MBP to reach temps in excess of 52C.
The Intel processors in the MBP will shut down at close to 100C but you wouldn't want that to happen.
You can also look at the Memory Pressure graph in the CPU tab of the Activity Monitor (in Utilities) in your Applications folder. It will show you in a simple way how hard your CPU is working while running a You Tube clip as opposed to say, writing a document.
Suffice to say a MBP can get too hot to sit comfortably on your lap without doing any damage to the device but the more you can do to keep it cool the better.

Thank you everyone that replied!
Thankfully it only gets hot on the underside and exhaust area of my MBP. The temps sit anywhere from 60-80-ish C. This depends on the resolution video. The reason why I asked about the browser is because I know some browsers are more cpu hungry than others. I typically use my MBP on my table or on my knees. Since my Mac is only a dual core I didn't want to push it hard, however, I didn't think that high res videos would could warm it up that heavily. If y'all think that the temps are fine for the computer and the workload then I guess its fine. I did purchase this second hand though so I don't know if that has anything to do with it?

Tsuar21 said:

The temps sit anywhere from 60-80-ish C. If y'all think that the temps are fine for the computer and the workload then I guess its fine.

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That is "warm...but not super out of the ordinary.

Tsuar21 said:

I did purchase this second hand though so I don't know if that has anything to do with it?

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Doesn't really matter. As long as everything is functioning...and it's not dirty inside...then new vs. used really not any different.

Nick

HHJStudios reply on this page is pretty good. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/optimum-temperatures-for-macbook-pro-retina-display-13.1563218/

Macbook Pros have a fan. It's positioned to vent the hot air up across the front of the screen. Sometimes older MBP, may just have dust built up on the fan and in the vanes of the heatsink. So, try blasting some compressed air into the fan and keep at it until no more dust comes out.