Try charging on the right and not on the left

[causi]

high CPU usage by kernel_task is caused by high Thunderbolt Left Proximity temperature, which is caused by charging and having normal peripherals plugged in at the same time.

Did anyone ever figure out why exactly the temperature sensor was making kernel_task go crazy?

[mkl]

The comment by jksoegaard may explain it: "the purpose of the thread is to force idleness". I guess it uses up all the CPU without actually making the CPU do anything, so other processes can't use the CPU and produce more heat than it can handle.

[xgbi]

This doesn't make sense, and I'm a bit worried: I "cheaped" out and have a "left side only USB-C" MBPro from 2019.

Should I understand that having any kind of load on the measly 2 ports I have on my 1600€ computer will lead to abysmal performance? Like, attaching a USB hub to add basic necessity like HDMI or USB A?

[discardable_dan]

I have a 2019 MBP that runs hot because it's supporting an external monitor. The year before every laptop became a WFH desktop, Apple decided that running an external monitor could be a massive heat issue and nobody would care. It's literally burning out my work laptop, and soon I'll have to ask IT for a new one. Apple doesn't care, though: they already got paid.

As I understand it, though, most of the thermal issues are to do with the north bridge and the video card. Basically, Intel's power model for USB is built around performance, not thermals. GamersNexus actually has some interesting videos about this, but at the end of the day Intel shit the bed on northbridge performance while developing USB-4 support.

I wildly speculate that this is a massive part of why Apple moved to their own silicon: to get away from Intel, who is clearly losing every competition they're in. (I don't know why Apple didn't go toward AMD, but I expect GPU hang-ups were part of it.)

[nikanj]

Yes. But the computer is very, very, very thin. Which sells more computers than actual performance under load.

Benchmarks show the MB having decent performance, as they start cold and don’t have external devices attached either. Thermal throttling only shows up once you’ve already bought

[WA]

Attach an LG Ultrafine 5K and you can fry an egg on your €3,300 laptop and use the white noise from the fan to sleep well.

[egypturnash]

Yes, my 13” 2016 Pro has this problem and only has two left side ports. It chews through batteries about once every 18 months. It’s been really annoying.

Maybe they fixed this issue in the time between 2016 and 2019.

[cwoolfe]

I noticed my 2019 MacBook Pro physically hot to touch even after being idle for 8 hours at night. Now I unplug my USB-C monitor and USB-C-to-USB-A adapter at the end of the day and that has solved the problem. Now when I come to the machine in the morning, it is nice and cool, and I plug-in my peripherals again. It seems Apple has noticed this sub-par pro performance and moved back to the MagSafe charger in the latest pro models. Also, for the cynical among us, I would like to point out that each issue I've had with a MacBook, Apple has fixed for free. Don't assume they wont fix it until you take it to the Apple Store and ask.

[counternotions]

Was there an Apple Store response for the overheating / overnight-charging problem?

[jjav]

> I noticed my 2019 MacBook Pro physically hot to touch even after being idle for 8 hours at night.

My late-2020 MacBook Pro also stays warm (even hot, sometimes) while supposedly sleeping. It can also no longer charge on the right side, that just stopped working. Had to rearrange my desk to satisfy the power bugs on the laptop.

Quality has gone way down, I don't quite see myself ever getting a Mac laptop again, after being on OSX laptops ever since OSX 10.0 came out.

[millzlane]

Strange. The proprietary software you run after you perform a repair has a specific port requirement and you can only use the left side ports. I always wondered what was so special about these ports.

[kuu]

How does something like this happen without QA knowing and Apple fixing it?

I mean, it's happening cause charging it, that's something all users will do :S

Sounds a lot like the antennagate

[whywhywhywhy]

They spotted it and made the trade off that it wasn’t worth fixing

[19h]

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28733467

Also why is that submission now marked as a dupe? It doesn't even point to the one that it is supposed to be a dupe of.

[Pelam]

I have set up several macs to spin up the fans more aggressively. Subjectively this seems to help a lot.

And the noise is not much worse, because eventually they spin at full blast anyway; just a bit too late when presumably thermal throttling is already hitting.

[officeplant]

yep, started using smcfancontrol in 2008 due to Jobs insistence on silent horrible stock fan curves. Only stopped due to M1 Mini's not needing my input on fan speed.

[somedude895]

Before I found this solution, my MBP would basically hang up with the fan going crazy whenever I'd have an MS Teams call. It still feels ridiculous when it happens and I switch plugs. It feels like such a strange thing to have to do on a pricey device like this.

[CRConrad]

And here I thought this was about charging electric cars: "Audi thoughtfully put charging points in both fenders, but only the right one is suitable for high-speed use." -- https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/reviews/2022-audi-rs-e-tron-gt... (Picture caption, about pic #4 from the top.)

[telesilla]

Earlier this year, suddenly had my 2017 MacBook pro freak out and freeze on using the camera or screenshare: fans would go nuts and cpu meters were completely loaded. After reinstalling and upgrading the OS with no luck it occurred to me to check for dust. Indeed, there was much dust and after a good proper clean all is normal again. I used compressed air for best results.

[mzzter]

Non-obvious debugging involving a mental model of the physical world reminds me somewhat of “the case of the 500 mile email” [0]

[0] https://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html

[lewisjoe]

This is the reason I have a couple of monitors lying uselessly on my table.

Everytime I connect an external monitor, it makes the GPU go crazy and overheats the Macbook enough to summon this kernel_task demon.

Couldn't comprehend why one of the best laptops on the planet cannot handle one external monitor.

[Tagbert]

When you attach an external monitor, that switches from using the Intel integrated GPU to the AMD discrete GPU which uses a lot more power.

[YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo]

On my HP Envy x360 (2020 - AMD Ryzen) I got the same problem if the power is going through a USB-C Hub. My thermals are 10 degrees higher while charging through USB-C than when charging through the barrel connector.

[hammock]

I run a displayport hub connected to a M1 MacBook pro and i noticed it crashes sometimes when in the back port. So i have to keep it in the front port.

[thrower123]

At least Apple realized USB-C only was a stupid idea after a couple of years and reverted...

[millzlane]

I could imagine like 5 ways.

[ordiel]

Apple hardware quality and the design decisions have gone to shit since jobs died. The folks thet were feed up with the hype of his return to a diying company (and with a good reason, since the company really improved) are the ones keeping the company alive... In my opinion unless something changes it wont take long for it to be the dying company they use to be... They have a grat "body" but they lack the "heart" (and apparently the brain also)

[drclau]

Yeah, Apple hardware may be worse than it used to be. But as far as I can tell, it's still at the top. Can you point out a company that consistently makes better hardware than Apple does?