Imac M1 temperature problems anyone ?

[burniel]

Hi all,

I would like to hear from your experience with M1 iMacs, as I've had this one for a month and a half and the temperature I was able to monitor due to a problem rose last week. I4ve had to incidents where it rose big time and the fans started to be very loud although nothing much was going on.

I mean , I got my old 2017 entry level iMac standing next to it on the same desk, more "third party apps" are open on it than on the M1 and the 2017 one is not any warm, except if you touch the screen, the M1 iMac is too warm to my taste if you touch it around the exhaust fan, I'd like to know if it sounds alright to other iMac M1 users and it's like those are just less good than the previous generations, or if they think there's a problem. If you ask me I've tried getting more precise about what causes what but without any app running it's already too hot to me (45°C after a fresh reboot with caches/launch agents emptied).

As the apple guys offered to take care of it in case the problem, if it is considered one, continues, I would really like to hear from your own experiences, because the info I have found elsewhere on the internet is close to spam and won't let me think clearly about it. Or maybe it could be an issue caused by the recent Monterey update and some of you know about it...?

Thank you in advance

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

45 Celsius is well within typical operating temperatures and considered normal.

Feeling heat from the device is also normal and actually a good thing, since the aluminium enclosure effectively operates as one large heat sink.

With regard to the fan, you haven’t stated which iMac model you have (base or higher tier). Keep in mind that the base 8/256gb model has only one fan, whereas the other models have two. L

To be frank, none of the M1 iMacs have as good sustained performance as the Mac mini, but owners are commenting that the base model does need the fan more. Not that this is a bad thing or poor design - I often wonder how many people have forgotten the noise and heat coming from PCs even 20 years ago…

 

[leman]

Chip temperature of 45C in idle is absolutely normal. There is nothing wrong with your machine based on your description. The base M1 iMac getting a bit loud under load is something that has been widely documented - the reason is Apple including only a single fan (a questionable design decision).

 

[burniel]

thank you

Chip temperature of 45C in idle is absolutely normal. There is nothing wrong with your machine based on your description. The base M1 iMac getting a bit loud under load is something that has been widely documented - the reason is Apple including only a single fan (a questionable design decision).

thank you for your sharp reply Leman (r u French too ?). I have the other iMac with two fans and 16Go ram and got amazed by the fact my 5 years old iMac was much cooler. If someone he'd told me it's not normal I would have gotten rid of it quickly

One day it started reaching 80°C with no reason I FREAKED OUT about the design hoax it all is, like is it only possible to use it during summer, you know.

 

[leman]

thank you for your sharp reply Leman (r u French too ?).

No, not French Why do people keep asking me that?

I have the other iMac with two fans and 16Go ram and got amazed by the fact my 5 years old iMac was much cooler. If someone he'd told me it's not normal I would have gotten rid of it quickly

I would be surprised if your old Mac was much cooler. Maybe cooler to the touch (it does have a much beefier cooling system). But the new iMac generates much les heat overall, but it is also much thinner.

One day it started reaching 80°C with no reason I FREAKED OUT about the design hoax it all is, like is it only possible to use it during summer, you know.

There is always a reason, even if it might not be immediately apparent. The system was likely doing something fairly intensive at the moment and required more power. There is nothing wrong with these chips reaching 80C or even 100C under load, it will not affect your machine in any negative way.

 

[burniel]

No, not French Why do people keep asking me that?



I would be surprised if your old Mac was much cooler. Maybe cooler to the touch (it does have a much beefier cooling system). But the new iMac generates much les heat overall, but it is also much thinner.



There is always a reason, even if it might not be immediately apparent. The system was likely doing something fairly intensive at the moment and required more power. There is nothing wrong with these chips reaching 80C or even 100C under load, it will not affect your machine in any negative way.

Because weird French guys like to call themselves "the man" with the French pronoun "Le" which means "the" ....

Thank you again

Yeah the old iMac is just cold and it's running many more third-party apps at the same time, it is the cheapest iMac from 2017 and it's been running non-stop since then. IT is just cold, like perfect , you know. And next to it I have the NEW Imac, the M1, not the cheapest at all and well for myself I just consider the design is way less good than it used to be because it's hot and it keeps me worried. Apple and people are so evasive about the subject I freaked out and spent another day reinstalling the OS and all...By providing me your answer sir you allowed me to dodge a huge hassle.

But no, nothing intensive was going on it was about firefox being open with the developer tools on, a webdav connection and a code editor, and the music playing, and I was like...my old iMac handles it all without the trouble, wth ? Hopefully they'll fix the management for their own M1 based products really soon in MacOs because Monterey on that old iMac is flawless for that part.

Thank you so much !

 

[Toutou]

Chip temperature of 45C in idle is absolutely normal.

It's definitely a very low temperature, but my M1 Air's cores idle at 26 °C, sitting on my desk in my 21 °C bedroom.

Any idea what makes the iMac run that much warmer?

 

[CASMAS]

If it's hot, then blame its cooling design. It's literally a fan-less.

 

[Toutou]

If it's hot, then blame its cooling design. It's literally a fan-less.

Except it literally isn't. Only the Air is fanless.

 

[jasoncarle]

Except it literally isn't. Only the Air is fanless.

fan-less...

meaning, one fan less than the upper tier iMac models... At least this is what I think the person meant.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

It's definitely a very low temperature, but my M1 Air's cores idle at 26 °C, sitting on my desk in my 21 °C bedroom.

Any idea what makes the iMac run that much warmer?

There could be several factors, including the fact that the temperature sensor - although located near the die - may also be picking up the ambient temperature of the enclosure that includes the screen.

The heat spreader on the Air is also much larger than that of the iMac, which means that it can quite literally 'spread' (conduct) the heat across the surface area quicker than on the iMac - which by comparison has much a smaller spreader and a single fan.

 

[CASMAS]

Except it literally isn't. Only the Air is fanless.

Wrong. 24inch iMac has case fans, not CPU fans. Literally, it's fan-less. They only have heatsinks. Those fans in 24 inch iMac are useless. Such a stupid design.