High ambient temperatures not only affect users, computers also need an appropriate difference from the ambient temperature in order to react quickly and correctly. Apple has prepared hardware and software to optimally complete the tasks entrusted to it, even under rather adverse circumstances. It is the user’s responsibility to give them a little help – and, above all, not to get in the way of the integrated protective mechanisms. Computing activity generates waste heat. Computing, graphics and neural cores, RAM and SSD become warmer the more activity unfolds on them. Depending on what type of computer it is, different elements of the hardware design are intended for heat dissipation. The high thermal conductivity of the metal housing supports passive cooling. Desktop Macs and MacBook Pros support this with integrated fans that suck in (as possible) cool air and blow it out again when it is warmed up.
Set up airy
The best tip to heed on hot days: make it easier for heat to dissipate. Depending on the device, there are a few tips:
- Leave space around the Mac so that warm air can diffuse freely.
- Optimize the footprint for cooling: Solid surfaces with good thermal conductivity are best, soft fabrics or cushions are the worst.
- If the Mac uses built-in fans: Clear the air intake and exhaust vents from dust accumulation. If that doesn’t help: unscrew the computer (have it done) and free the rotating elements themselves from blockages.
- Place additional heat sources, such as power supplies or external storage media, as far away as possible.
- Do not place the device in the sun, but always operate it in the shade.
If you like, you can make cooling your portable Mac easier with a metal frame. The gaming laptop manufacturer Razer, for example, offers some laptop stands, some of which are also suitable for Macs. The classic mStand is now also available with an integrated turntable.
Observe activity
To see what’s currently busy on a Mac, macOS comes with the Activity Monitor utility. However, this does not present the temperatures inside a Mac, even though it integrates several thermal sensors. Programs such as Stats or iStat Menus can help. If you feel comfortable using the command line and have macOS 26 Tahoe installed, you can install the stylish BTOP++ visualizer via Homebrew. All three indicate which component is causing excessive heat.
Programs such as Stats, iStat nano and btop (pictured) display current temperature values.
Energy mode: little effect
Users with an M3 Ultra, M4 Pro or newer in their Mac may be tempted to switch to “Reduce Performance” under Settings/Battery (or Power on desktop Macs). However, this should not have a significant impact on the temperature development, explains Howard Oakley on his blog – this setting is aimed more at energy consumption in order to minimize fan noise, among other things. macOS automatically adjusts the cooling to the required performance, which is why “Automatic” probably already provides optimal settings. In the event of overheating, you could consider activating “high performance mode” temporarily, as this option may increase the fans to particularly high speeds. If you prefer to control the integrated fans yourself, you can try out the Macs Fan Control program.
High Performance Mode could help with quick cooling in an emergency (if your Mac supports it).
End programs (not processes!)
If you discover excessively active processes in one of the system monitors, you may be inclined to want to terminate it immediately. It’s better to switch to Finder instead and close one resource-hungry program after another. With browsers it is often enough to close hyperactive tabs. Under no circumstances should you terminate the “kernel_task” process. This has (among other things) the task of reserving computing cores using idle processes when they overheat. If you end kernel_task, you will inadvertently even increase overheating.
