Quest for a cooler Macbook

My typical workload on my Macbook is mostly computation on Python Jupyter Notebooks, building analytics and monitoring systems on PyCharm or building apps on Android Studio. Almost all my ML/AI work loads are on either Paperspace or Sagemaker. And reading and listening to a lot of technical articles and videos to keep me updated on the latest tech, as it relates to my company’s future and present. My preferred layout is a multiple monitor setup, 3x in my case, a mechanical keyboard, a non apple mouse and an apple trackpad. (* I have become more ambidextrous since my shoulder accident riding my road bike an year ago, i use both my hands to move the pointer)

As one would expect a typical Macbook Pro 15 should not be heating up under these work loads, but it remains warm to the touch even its sleeping. I tried many ways to reduce the heat and at the end was successful in reducing the temps on my Mac. This is how I did it:

Uninstall Chrome. Chrome sucks power. For a while, I switched to Apple Safari. As limited as Safari’s experience is compared to Chrome, it did cool my mac significantly and its energy saving features are something to learn from. Safari has its own quirks, so I switched to Brave browser. It is based on Chromium and is not google flavored and just as fast if not faster. This was the best compromise I reached. I had the Chrome look and feel and less power draw and added security and the entire Chrome Extensions and Apps. Best of both worlds I think.

Multi-Monitor setup will draw power even when not in use. I read in the apple threads that when you connect an external monitor to the mac it connects it directly to the high performance GPU. Which increases the heat production in side the mac. If you can avoid it, do it, but i couldn't avoid it but the above steps reduced the heat enough to let my monitors stay connected. I wonder what will happen if I switch from 1080i to 4K monitors. I know for sure my eye will be shot first before the any damage to mac will take place with the heat :)

Results, I got it come down almost 15–20*C from the 70’s to the 50*C with just the above. If it dont stay there, then next steps will be a bit more extreme :)

Other extreme ideas I have considered or am considering but didn’t get myself to do it yet:

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