Hot battery compartment in MacBook Pro

[canoecrafter]

When operating with the charger on, my MacBook Pro (mid-2009) laptop is very hot on the underside in the upper left section. Even the connector terminal runs hot. It's hot enough to be uncomfortable to hold your hand on the battery area and charging connecrtor.

Is this normal? The Power preference shows the battery is still good even though it's 9 years old. However, the operating time on the battery has gotten significantly shorter.

I just received a new battery online. Should I install it?

 

[pigoo3]

When operating with the charger on, my MacBook Pro (mid-2009) laptop is very hot on the underside in the upper left section.

"Upper left section" is not the location of the battery. Battery is usually located below/underneath the trackpad.

The heat you're feeling is very very likely from the CPU or GPU...and is very normal when doing demanding things. Since this is a 10 year old portable computer...probably wouldn't hurt to open it up...and give it a good inspection/cleaning for dirt/fuzz which may be reducing the cooling efficiency.

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. Thread moved to better area (not a macOS topic).