Apple’s silicon—including the M1 and new M2 chips—has a reputation for staying cool even under intense workloads. Intel Macs, on the other hand, run very hot. They’re still capable computers, but they heat up quickly, which in turn slows things down. If you own an Intel-based Mac, you’ve probably experienced this computing heatwave yourself. Instead of guessing how hot your computer is getting, however, there’s a hidden monitor built into every Intel-based Mac that lets you know exactly what the internal temperature is.
Why Your Mac Is Overheating (And Why It’s Bad)
I’ve talked about this topic before when I focused mostly on laptops. Whether you have a MacBook or an iMac, however, the general principle is the same: You don’t want your machine to overheat. Computers heat up because the internal components, namely the CPU and GPU, generate heat as they work. Depending on your computer, you may not notice this while performing light tasks. Once you start pushing the machine, however, you’ll feel the temperature rise. It’s not like this heat will damage or break your computer. I mean, sure it could, but the manufacturers make sure that never happens. A little heat is fine. components are designed to function normally over a wide temperature range. However, when the chips start to get too hot—typically around 90 degrees Fahrenheit—your computer will slow down its processing speed to cool things down, a process referred to as “throttling.” G/O Media may receive a commission 70% discount. Jachs NY Summer Shorts Sale Exclusive sale on summer styles In patterned, plain, twill and chino, these classic 7-9″ inseam shorts tell a story—you’re a guy on vacation, maybe on a boat. Throttling sucks because it means you’re not getting the performance you expect from your machine. It’s true that a slow machine is better than a burnt and broken one, but avoiding the overheating problem can help prevent throttling before it starts and push your Mac to its full potential. While there are many ways to combat overheating, one is to monitor your Mac’s temperature. And if you have an Intel Mac, you already have a display built right into macOS.
hidden macOS temperature monitors for Intel Macs
You won’t find these temperature screens by searching through the apps installed on your Mac. You won’t even find them in Activity Monitor, as useful as it is. Instead, your Mac’s temperature monitor is in Terminal. Using Terminal probably seems intimidating to many users because it allows you to control your Mac using only text-based commands. But you don’t actually need to memorize any of these commands to use Terminal. a copy and paste command works just as well. There are many useful terminal commands that anyone can use (we’ve covered many of them in this piece), but this time we’re focusing on temperature monitors. There are two commands you can use here. The first allows you to see temperature statistics for your Mac’s CPU. Copy and paste the following command exactly as it is into a new Terminal window (quotes and all): sudo powermetrics —samplers smc |grep -i “CPU die temperature” If done correctly, Terminal will ask for your password. Enter it (you won’t be able to see what you’re typing, unfortunately) and then hit return. After a while, you’ll start seeing temperature readings, which are updated about every five seconds. The temperatures are written in degrees Celsius, so you’ll need to convert to Fahrenheit yourself, but, after a while, you start to work out which temperatures are cool, warm, hot and very hot. Speaking of which, you’ll also have access to one of my favorite data points in macOS: When things start getting too hot and your Mac decides it needs to cool things down, you’ll see (fan) written next to the temperatures (if your Mac has fans, that is). This tells you that the fans are starting to work harder to remove hot air from your machine. Fans are obviously a good tool for cooling computers, but they’re not perfect: If your CPU continues to heat up to unsafe levels—typically 98 degrees Fahrenheit, in my experience in Terminal—you’ll start to see (power) . When this indicator appears, it means macOS is throttling your CPU to keep it from overheating. You can also check GPU temperatures with the following command: sudo powermetrics —samplers smc |grep -i “GPU measurement temperature” Note that you will not see (fan) or (power) displayed in this terminal window, only temperature readings.
Apple Silicon Options
While Apple’s suite of silicon chips doesn’t experience as many heat ramps as Intel-based Macs, they can still overheat and overheat like any other chip. Unfortunately, this built-in Terminal command will not work on M1 and newer, as these chips are designed differently than Intel chips in the way they handle heat. The only constant temperature display for Apple’s silicon currently available is the TG Pro, which comes at a cost. It’s normally $20, although at the time of this writing, it’s on sale for $10. If you’re looking for a temporary solution, the app offers a two-week free trial so you can monitor your temperatures on an M1, M2, or any other Apple silicon variant for 14 days for free. Hopefully, as Apple’s silicon is adopted by more Mac users, developers will write more temperature monitoring apps for the platform. Hey, maybe Apple will make their own — for free.
