MacBook Pro noisy fan

[Krystyna Lagowski]

Hello all! Hope everyone is safe and well. I'm really worried about my MacBook Pro. The fan comes on, usually around dinner time, and it's really noisy. My laptop is very hot. I'm afraid I'm somehow overloading it! I've run Disk Utility and looked to see if I have an app that's eating up too much of the CPU, but nothing jumps out. It's a 13-inch mid 2012, Processor is 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, Memory 12 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB. Running Catalina 10.15.4.
Is it time for a new Mac? >shudders<
Thanks so much in advance.
Krystyna

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello.

I am good so far...hope you are as well.

There are several things that can cause that, but rest assured, it will simply power itself off if it gets too hot.

-Using it on a soft surface like a couch, bed, pillow, blanket, or even you lap
-Streaming video
-Leaving Safari or another browser open on a web page that has a lot of Flash/animations - it will tell you that the website is using significant energy
-Charging the battery
-Leaving a lot of applications running when you aren't using them - especially web browsers and the Mail app
-The ventilation slots/fans are blocked or clogged with dust/foreign material
-Low disk space - less than 20 GB or so
-Running older software that isn't fully compatible or needs updating/upgrading
-Background processes like MacKeeper, antivirus, Google Drive/Carbonite or other cloud-based backups, etc.

Check some of those and see if any ring true in your case.

C

 

[Krystyna Lagowski]

Okay, thanks! I just unplugged it and the fan turned off right away. I have a tendency to leave it plugged in all the time, as I rarely use it outside of my office. Is this a bad thing to do? When I do, I run out of battery very quickly.
So it looks like the battery is the culprit? I haven't been doing any of the other things you've suggested. It's always on a hard surface (my desk), I don't stream video much, or use anything with a lot of flash or animations. Don't think the ventilation slots are clogged, etc. A friend installed extra memory and a solid state hard drive about three years ago.
Gosh! Looks like I should just be running it without the battery unless I need to.
Thanks SOOOOO much!!!!

Krystyna

 

[Cory Cooper]

It could be the battery. You can check the status of the battery in  > About This Mac > System Report... > Power. Let us know what it says about the battery in the Health Information section - Cycle Count and Condition.

C

 

[Krystyna Lagowski]

Okay, I checked, and here's what it said.

Any cause for concern there? It does seem to be "normal."