MacBook Air M1 heats up when connected to an external display and is not used

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12 points

MacBook Air M1 heats up when connected to an external display and is not used

Hello,

When I use my 2020 MacBook Air M1 base model (it's my school laptop: I browse, write, watch videos etc), the M1 SOC die average temperature - measured with iStats v. 6.60 - is around 28-30 degrees Celsius.

When I am home, I keep it plugged in to a power source and connected to an external external FHD display, using a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter and I noticed it was warm every morning when I disconnected it; I have checked the temperature and it over 50 degrees C (52-53 to be exact).

I noticed that a few minutes after I stop using the MacBook, the temperature starts to rise and it reaches 50 degrees in 15-20 min.

I looked at CPU and noticed a 12-15% system usage with top processes WindowServer and kernel_task being the first 2.

If I disconnect the Mac from the external display, everything is ok - 28-30 degrees all the time, even with the charger pugged in.

If I disconnect from the charger but keep it connected to the external display, the temperature rises to 40 degrees within an hour.

Is this normal behaviour or do I have a problem?

I post some screenshots:

Temperature (M1 SOC die Average)

CPU:

CPU (load average):

Posted on Mar 19, 2022 5:05 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 20, 2022 7:55 AM in response to Leonard MC

Hi Leonard MC,

"If your Mac notebook gets warm even when it isn’t doing tasks that require intensive calculations, or if it has fans that run for a long time, use Activity Monitor to check CPU activity. Look for malfunctioning processes that can put a significant load on the CPU and check for unexpected fan use." You can find this information and other helpful details here: Keep your Mac notebook within acceptable operating temperatures

You can also check processes using Activity Monitor with the help of the guide page here: View information about Mac processes in Activity Monitor

If you have any additional questions after following the directions in Keep your Mac notebook within acceptable operating temperatures, reach out to Apple Support directly to further assist.

Contact Apple Support

Best!

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Answer 2

Apr 1, 2022 8:34 AM in response to Leonard MC

Apple released a Software Update earlier this morning that might help. 

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Answer 3

Leonard MC Author

Level 1

12 points

Apr 1, 2022 8:27 AM in response to OrigamiFan1

Hi,

I have posted the CPU activity during the time that it's not being used ("I looked at CPU and noticed a 12-15% system usage with top processes WindowServer and kernel_task being the first 2").

I've seen that some problems with external displays were fixed by macOS v12.3.1; I've also seen that after update the M1 SOC die average temperature during idle time is 40 degrees Celsius (10-15 degrees lower than with 12.3) but I still think it's unusual and I would like to at least find out why.

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MacBook Air M1 heats up when connected to an external display and is not used

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