MacBook overheating: Causes, fixes, and prevention tips

MacBook overheating? You need to act fast. Sometimes it happens after a Chrome tab party, sometimes midway through a Lightroom export, sometimes for no obvious reason at all. The good news is that most heat spikes are software or environmental, not hardware failures. And they are fixable.

In this guide, I'll show the exact flow I use to calm things down fast, then keep them that way.

Why is my MacBook overheating 

When your MacBook Pro is overheating, you first need to figure out if it's a normal heat spike or a chronic pattern.

For example, if I export a 4K video or batch-edit in Lightroom, heat is expected, and it should fall a few minutes after the task ends. If I am browsing a recipe and the fans roar anyway, that is a pattern worth fixing.

Almost every case I see falls into five buckets:

• Heavy apps chew CPU or GPU. Final Cut, Lightroom, Adobe Media Encoder, big spreadsheets, Xcode builds.

• Browser creep. Chrome, Edge, or apps with too many tabs or extensions. Memory balloons, the system swaps, temps rise.

• Airflow problems. Vents packed with dust, the Mac sitting on a blanket, or direct sun. Air cannot move, and heat piles up.

• Software gone weird. A sync agent stuck in a loop, Photos indexing forever, a runaway tab at 100% CPU even when idle.

• Unwanted processes. Not common, but cryptomining or shady background tools will keep fans busy all day.

This list should help you figure out your underlying issue. Hardware failure is rare in my experience. Most overheating on modern MacBooks is software or environmental.

Immediate fix: Use Activity Monitor to identify CPU hogs

When heat builds for no reason, it's almost always one process running wild. Two minutes in Activity Monitor usually tells the story, and can quickly stop your MacBook Air from overheating.

1. Open Activity Monitor from Finder > Applications > Utilities.

2. Click the CPU tab and click the % tab to sort highest first.

3. Anything above 80-100% for more than a minute is your heater (common: Chrome Helper, Photos, Adobe apps, heavy Electron tools).

4. To stop the process, select it and click the X button to end it instantly.

I always keep the CleanMyMac’s Menu App in the menu bar for faster triage. It shows top CPU consumers live and lets me quit an app in one click. If you haven't already installed it, you can test the app for 7 days (get your free trial here).

How to stop MacBook from overheating: Browser management

Browsers are the quiet heat makers. Chrome and Firefox can spawn dozens of processes, and one runaway tab will keep fans busy.

Chrome

1. Go to Window > Task Manager.

2. Click CPU or Memory Footprint to sort highest first.

3. Select the offending Tab or Extension > End Task.

Firefox

1. Type about:performance in the address bar.

2. End the items with high CPU Impact.

Safari

1. Go to Safari > Settings > Extensions.

2. Temporarily disable add-ons. If the heat drops, re-enable one by one.

A few extra tips

• Use a lighter browser on heavy days: Prefer Safari for long research or streaming; it’s usually easiest on macOS.

• Trim extensions: Keep only weekly-use add-ons; disable overlap (multiple blockers, downloaders, tab suspenders) that fight each other.

• Tame streaming: 4K and high-FPS video runs media engines hot. Drop quality a notch, put it in a separate window, or pause streams during exports.

Clean up startup apps & background processes

Heat that starts right after login usually means too many launches at once. Here's how to trim your login items:

1. System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions.

2. Under Open at Login, select apps you don't need and click on the - button.

3. Under Allow in the Background, turn Off anything you don't recognize or rarely use.

You can also adjust your battery and visuals to reduce load; here's how:

1. System Settings > Battery: consider Low Power Mode when you're on the go or rendering long jobs on a warm day.

2. System Settings > Accessibility > Display.

3. Enable Reduce transparency and Reduce motion if WindowServer.

4. spikes while you multitask.

Another way to handle your login items is with the app I mentioned earlier, CleanMyMac. It shows you exactly which apps load at boot time and lets you disable them with one click. No need to navigate through multiple system settings; here's how:

1. Open the app and select Performance > Scan.

2. Click View All Tasks > Login Items.

3. Also, check out the Background Items whilst you're here.

4. Remove what you don't need.

Same outcome as System Settings, but quicker and all in one place.

Physical cleaning & environmental fixes

When it comes to MacBook overheating and fan noise, it's important to check your environment and do some physical cleaning. Follow these steps carefully.

Clean your Mac vents safely

1. Power down and unplug.

2. Use a soft antistatic brush to loosen dust around the hinge and side vents.

3. If you use compressed air, keep the can upright, shoot short, angled bursts, and don't blast directly into a vent for more than a second. The goal is to lift dust, not spin fans like turbines.

Extra tips

• Avoid hot setups: Skip duvets, couches, and sun-lit desks; soft surfaces block vents. If the room’s warm, move to shade or cool it down.

• Elevate for airflow: Use a stand (or two books) to tilt the rear edge and improve convection.

• Cooling pads (optional): A quiet pad can help during long renders, especially on older Intel models or in hot rooms.

• Check fans: Under load, you should hear Intel fans. If they never spin or roar nonstop, run Apple Diagnostics and note any codes before contacting support.

Whatever you do, no matter how tempting, never use water, solvents, or vacuum nozzles near your vents.

Advanced fixes

If you're still asking why my MacBook keeps overheating, then it's time for some more advanced fixes.

1. Clear system junk

Run CleanMyMac > Smart Care > Scan > then run tasks. It clears old caches, temp files, and leftovers that can keep background processes busy. I see a lot of overheating issues vanish after this, plus a restart, no low-level reset needed.

2. Update and restart

Go to System Settings > General > Software Update and install what's pending. Update heavy apps too. Then Restart. Simple, underrated, effective.

3. If heat persists, reset SMC

Your SMC controls fans, sensors, and power. A reset can fix idle heat or weird fan behaviour.

• Apple silicon (M-series): Fully Shut Down, wait 15 seconds, Power On. That's the SMC equivalent.

• Intel with T2 (2018+): Shut down > hold Control - Option (left) - Shift (right) for 7 sec > keep holding and press Power for 7 sec more > release > wait a few seconds > power on.

• Older Intel (no T2): Shut down > hold Shift - Control - Option (left) - Power for 10 sec > release > power on.

If fans roar at idle after all of this, then it's time to contact Apple Support.

So, now you know why your MacBook is overheating, how to fix it, and how to prevent it.