Does your MacBook ever overheat? When your MacBook starts to ventilate very loudly and gets hot, it can help to take a look at your Activities View. Do you see that a so-called ‘kernel_task’ consumes a lot of energy for your MacBook processor? You can do this.
Move the charger when your MacBook overheats
When your MacBook is overheated, the device is overloaded. The cause of overload varies, but it may be worth taking a look at the Activities View. Here you can see all tasks and programs that are running in the background. You often see ‘kernel_task’ in the list.
This is there regularly and that is in principle no problem. It means that small other tasks are performed in the background. But when it turns out that it takes up a lot of percentage of your processor (% CPU) and your MacBook overheats, there’s more to it.
This does not mean that the temperature of your MacBook is directly related to this ‘kernel_task’: causes of a high temperature differ, but when the ‘kernel_task’ consumes a lot of energy, it may be an indication that one of the two usb-c ports is overloaded.
Charging on the right
If your MacBook takes a lot of energy to run ‘kernel_task’, it may be due to the high temperature of your MacBook. It could be that your MacBook is overheating because of the place where your charger is plugged in. Strange but true: the high temperature may be due to the charging via the left port of your MacBook.
It is not good for a MacBook to connect all external devices and cables to one end. If your MacBook has a USB-C input on the right, it can therefore pay to plug in your charger on the right. It is important that you do not move all your other plugged-in cables to the right side as well: it is good to distribute it.
Unfortunately, not all MacBook models have a USB-C input on the right. This only applies to the models with four USB-C ports (also known as Thunderbolt 3 ports). Under ‘About this Mac’ in the Apple menu you can see how many ports your MacBook has. In any case, only MacBooks from 2016 or later have these Thunderbolt 3 ports.
Also read: Which MacBook do I have? This is how you check it in 3 steps
Disconnect external accessories
Is the battery not completely full yet? Then it is also wise to disconnect other accessories that are connected if your MacBook is overheated. Think of a second screen, keyboard or an external hard drive. Can’t you disconnect it for a while? Then take your charger out for so long.
The above test performed on StackExchange showed that when you have a charger, USB cable and HDMI cable connected to the left USB-C port at the same time, the temperature rises very quickly. The ‘kernel_task’ starts to demand considerably more energy from your processor and your MacBook overheats.
When the charger was then moved to the right USB-C port, the temperature dropped back to a normal level within a few minutes. The ‘kernel_task’ will then also no longer require any energy within about 15 seconds. The test shows that when you move the charger back to the left port, the temperature rises again. After a few minutes it drops again when the charger is plugged back in on the right.
More MacBook tips
If your MacBook is overheating, but you don’t see a ‘kernel_task’, it could be something else. Then take a look at our other tip about preventing your MacBook from overloading. Is your MacBook running slow? Then your disk space may be full. Then read our tips to save space on your MacBook.