Why do imacs run hot

Usually, a Mac that overheats will crash or shut down by itself. This issue is not a light one and you wouldn't want to ignore it. You have to remember though that it is actually normal for Mac devices or any other device to heat up when it is working heavily and using up many resources. However, crashing and shutting down because of heat is not a normal scenario. Consistent overheating of your Mac device during times of regular use is probably a sign that you have an issue at hand.

If you notice that your iMac is heating up, you might be curious about how to check the temperature of your iMac. The iMac has built-in temperature sensors for various components, but it does not provide users with a native application that displays temperature readings, so you need to obtain a third-party application like iStat Pro, Temperature Monitor or other apps.

How do I cool down my iMac? Then we'll show you methods to help you fix iMac overheating:. We will go with the easiest solutions first. You have to use your Mac device and place them on flat surfaces.

This allows your device to dissipate heat easily. Aside from that, you have to ensure that vents are not covered. If you want to use your device on your lap or the bed, minimize the way vents are blocked. Your device might be suffocating because the vents are blocked. Next, avoid using your Mac under the sun. Direct sunlight is very hot and of course, it will lead to overheating. Finally, you have to clean up the dust from your Mac device.

You can use a vacuum cleaner to remove dust built up on your Mac. This dust prevents your Mac from keeping itself cool. If you think you are not using your Mac device to perform a heavy task and it still heats up, you have to check out the top right corner of your desktop and look at the magnifying glass icon. If a pulsating dot appears within the magnifying glass it actually shows that Spotlight Indexing of data is happening.

For more information, check this article on how to use Apple Diagnostics to fix your Mac's hardware. When you do this, you cover the air vents and stop the fans from cooling down the processor. So the easiest way to prevent overheating is to use your MacBook on a hard, flat surface, giving it plenty of ventilation. A desk or a table will do far better than your lap.

Viruses might hijack your Mac's resources and use them for crypto mining, attacking other computers, and performing other operations that could cause your MacBook to overheat. For instance, if you have already installed MacKeeper, you can use the Mac adware cleaner feature for this purpose. Yes, overheating can damage sensitive internal parts of your MacBook. However, many built-in safeguards will slow down or shut off your Mac before it overheats.

Yes, exposing your MacBook to direct sunlight will raise its temperature and cause it to overheat quicker. Most Macs are likely to warm up or even feel hot to the touch during specific resource-consuming processes. These are some basic steps you can take to stop your MacBook from overheating. Hopefully, one of them offered the solution you were looking for, but remember you can also avoid overheating your MacBook by keeping the hard disk clean and removing unnecessary background processes with MacKeeper.

With over 5 years of supporting Mac users, Ruslana lives and breathes everything Mac. Tech expert, Apple lover, and well, a cutie. Say hi on LinkedIn! Oops, something went wrong. Mac heating up? We use cookies to create the best online experience. Check our Cookie Policy for details.

Look at the top of your iMac, where there's a long vent that runs the length of the machine. If it's filled with dust, use a vacuum cleaner or a dust brush to remove it. Make a regular routine of vacuuming or cleaning the exterior of your computer -- dust is bad for both external and internal parts.

Feel the back side of your iMac when you start to notice signs that it's overheating. If it feels warm to the touch, try placing a small -- or even a large -- fan at the back of the computer.

This can be a big help in cooling off the aluminum portions of your machine, which in turn could cool down its inner workings. After you've had a fan blowing on the back of it for a while, touch it again; you should feel a marked decrease in heat. Which is pretty much the way I remember my summer holidays in India being: hot as hell and the only thing we had were those ceiling fans to keep us cool. If the air is still then yeah, the air con is on for sure.

According to my mom, in Dubai every where is air-conditioned and people just pop out from a building to a air-conditioned car, and then pop back in to another building, rarely ever being out during the day and afternoon. I could never live in that kind of perpetually air-cooled environment. The air-cons play havoc with my sinuses. I sometimes flog my system with video games new deus ex under Winif that won't make things hot nothing will, except perhaps Handbrake encoding. Same problem with mine.

The power supply is fan-less, and it looks like it is on the receiving end of the CPU exhaust. The CPU heatsink has the cooler right next to it, so that would help with heat dissipation down there. I never worry about it on my 27" iMac that I bought this year.

The iMacs don't use laptop parts anymore. Laptop chipsets don't allow 4 DRAM slots. Partly correct. It was 4 years old, but still I think that's unacceptable and wrote off Apple AIO until they redesign them. Of course they do. We have numerous laptops here with 4 DIMM slots.

Quote: Of course they do. Yeah, I was just going to say Two slots is a uniquely Apple limitation well, and to be fair, a lot consumer class PC laptops are limited to two slots, too. I've opened it a number of times to clean the fans and have a spring clean, which has reduced the operating temps down by several degrees, but I am not so sure I'd be brave enough to conduct that kind of maintenance on one of the glorious newer ones.

THanks for the further input. I tend to think of 4 years or more as a good lifespan for a Mac although I did keep a G4 powerbook going for I have 2 30" Apple Cinema Displays right now, bought about 2. The older is a bit over 4 years old. The backlight clearly fades with time. I did expect to get a lot more time out of the 30" than 4 years, and if I didn't have two I would not notice the brightness shift in the older one anyway.

Meanwhile, I pulled the trigger and ordered a 27" i7 iMac. It has shipped; hopefully it will arrive this century. I plan to sell my Mac Pro and both monitors; eventually, I will buy the 27" thunderbolt monitor as my second monitor, but for now I guess I will work with just one. It will be a bit of a pain, but I do have an old 18" NEC LCD state of the art, and very expensive when I bought it 15 years ago, now a dinosaur that I can use as my second monitor for a while.

Bixmen wrote: my Core 2 iMac died a painful death with graphics card overheating.