I am working from a MacBook, clean it regularly, have plenty of space available, close all applications and delete my history every 2 weeks, but my laptop gets really, really hot during live lessons. It never heats up when I am just working or when making video calls to my family. I hope any of the tech people out there have a solution to my problem? Have other tutors and students experienced the same? I have bought an external fan, which I use as a last resort. Could it have to do with the video resolution?
Looking forward to your input.
1 Like
What are your Macbook’s Specs?
Thank you for asking. I have a Macbook 12-inch from 2015, Processor 1,1GHz Dual-Core IntelCore M, 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Memory. I am on Version 10.15.3 macOS Catalina. I hope my laptop is not too old for Chatterbug’s requirements. Looking forward to your answer. Many thanks, much appreciated. Dagmar
Sorry for the late reply. I’m sorry to break it to you, but according to your CPU benchmarks, your Macbook doesn’t meet the requirements to teach online through live lessons…Please refer to the following:
I have been an Online Teacher for 6 years now, and, based on my experience working in various companies, you need a Passmark CPU Mark of, at least, 3000 to teach online through live lessons. However, your processor only gets up to 2782. This is the reason why your macbook gets really really hot during the live lessons. It can’t keep up with them. Also, macOs Catalina doesn’t help, it just makes it worse…I used to conduct my live lessons on my Macbook, but I began having problems when I updated my macOS to Catalina. If you decide to get a new laptop, I recommend you get this one:
The Acer Swift 3 is a recommended budget laptop to teach online. With a 14-inch Full HD IPS display and a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, it will surely get you all set to conduct live lessons.
Best Regards,
Manuel Meza
1 Like
Hey @Dagmar, thanks for reporting it!
We’ve upgraded our video provider library, which added some minor performance improvements. We hope that this is enough to take the load off of your computer. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and we’ll let you know if we find anything else.
That said we recommend upgrading your memory, since 8GB is probably not efficient enough, you could try closing all the other applications on your computer whilst giving a Live Lesson.
Cheers,
Lisa
2 Likes
Hi all, I am really touched by all the responses to my problem. Thank you so so much. I have everything closed, not even one tab open during my lessons. I am using Chrome as recommended by Chatterbug. I also think that MacOS Catalina might be a problem. I have an appointment with the Istore next week and will enquire if an upgrade will be possible, otherwise i will buy an entry level Acer Swift as recommended by Manuel Meza, with the recommended CPU and dedicate it to lessons only. 
Chatterbug is really an amazing company and community. Thank you again, for helping with my problem.
3 Likes
You’re very welcome! I hope you can get an upgrade! If not, well, I hope the Acer Swift solves all of your problems regarding the live lessons here in Chatterbug hahaha. I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavours!
1 Like
Hi Lisa, I have just had 3 lessons and my Laptop did not heat up. Whatever you did on your side has solved my problem for now. What a relief. I can also navigate again between pages, without the “Maintenance” page appearing. Many thanks.
4 Likes
Manuel, I’m a bit confused by your statement. According to you, Dagmar’s benchmark score is 2782, but she stated that her processor is 1,1GHz, and all of the 1.1GHz processors on your list are over 3000, as recommended. Could you clarify?
I teach online for many companies and 8GB is always well within the recommended specs. In fact, I teach 5 hours/day with probably 20 tabs open, and I have 8GB RAM with no issues. One video session should not require anywhere near that much RAM.
1 Like
Now that you mention it, it seems I had gotten the processor’s name wrong. According to Google, her Macbook had an Intel Core M-5Y31. However, I checked again on another site and her actual processor is an Intel Core M-5Y51 @ 1.10GHz. Unfortunately, according to the list this processor is even worse 
Now, if you take a quick look to the list, you can also see the processor I had mentioned before. However, now it’s lower than 2782. It’s 1,972 now. Thus, it seems that this list is updated every few months. Older models get a lower benchmark score as time goes on. As such, I do not recommend using this list anymore. It’s too confusing. Many Online Teaching Companies I work for do like to use this list for hiring new teachers. They make teachers have a computer with a benchmark score of over 3,000 to make sure their computer will run their online teaching platform smoothly. Now, I have become a teacher trainer in some companies and I also have my own coaching business for people who want to become online teachers. I still use this list for reference, but I recommend people who want to be professional online teachers to get a computer with a powerful and recent processor (An Intel Core i7 8th Generation+ is what I recommend. However, you could also get a computer with one of the latest Intel Core i5 10th generation processors and you will be fine).
PS. I work for an online teaching company where if you don’t have a powerful computer or if you don’t update your computer every few years they fire you. That’s why having a powerful computer is important to me and the people I train. I don’t want them to be fired or to be told to change their recently bought computer for a better one.
8GB of RAM is good enough to teach online. The RAM is not the problem. The problem is the processor, especially if it’s a 5 year old processor
The part about the RAM was directed at Lisa, who said it should be upgraded.
Thank you for the clarification on the list