Chosen Solution
This problem has been going on for I think since 2017. The kernel_task process usually goes up to 500% cpu usage when I push it to it’s limits. This gets worse and happens quicker if the laptop is connected to the power socket. Before 2017, the performance on this laptop was far more better, and kernel_task never risen to a high cpu usage. The charger also didn’t get extremely hot to the point where you can’t even touch it, and was rather warm. When this issue first started to occur, I was still on Mavericks which came preinstalled with the laptop. It seems to my knowledge that CPU throttling was introduced in Sierra so that can’t be why. For the hot charger issue, I think it also started to happen in 2017. The charger became unbearably hot. I am not sure if this is because of the DC-in board inside the machine, or because of the charger itself. I think this is the machine heating the charger, as from experience before I once brung a Magsafe 2 charger to someone’s house. A member in the house used my charger for their mac, and my charger didn’t seem to get hot at all while it was connected to their mac. A few days ago the charger seemed to get hotter. I do not know if it was because I cleaned off the charger ports using alcohol swab or because I put more tape around the exposed wires. My charger seemed to get faultier today and I can now smell heat in the charger, but i’m sure this is an issue with the charger itself so I can just buy a new charger. Is there any solution to these problems? I really don’t want to replace the entire laptop or look inside the machine.
