My 5-ish year old Macbook Pro Retina running High Sierra runs very hot. I know the battery needs replacing, but I'm trying to work out if it makes sense to do this or if my Macbook is on the way out and I need a new laptop. The EtreCheck report is here: https://pastebin.com/VRaKknrF
The CPU temperature routinely runs above 65, and goes up to 75-80.
I'd be so grateful for any advice.
Best Answer
80 Celsius is well within normal CPU temperature for an MBP.
If it is working too hard, then I would look at all those third-party software listed in the EtreCheck report, and make sure they are necessary and up-to-date. If not, uninstall them.
I would definitely get rid of the Western Digital helper software. Some versions caused major problems with some OS versions.
Do you need VideoGuard? Flash? Silverlight? (MS killed that years ago.)
Some versions of Chrome have been known to install Google software update agents that run wild with CPU resources.
You're also running some fan control program: might that be limiting the cooling? Try it without.
You've got Monolingual from 2014. Loads of other stuff that I have no idea what it is. 'Freedom' doesn't seem to have been updated by the developer since 2014.
Your Mac might also be slow because you're running out of disk storage.
I have a 2014 MBP, and just got a new battery from Apple, and it runs like a charm.