Update July 2021 on the Kernel_task for newer Apple Macs! The kernel_task process is needed to assist with the thermal internal temperature of the Apple Mac computer. The Apple Mac OS operating system Kernel Task kernel_task process controls the Apple Mac intel microprocessor speed on your Apple Mac computer. Not ideal as sometimes the fans do need to be able to kick up automatically, but this was all due to not having a properly connected heatsensor on the new hard drive.Apple Kernel Task Mac CPU Support on Intel Macs! I ended up installing a free fan control software so that I could manually set the fan speed. As a result, the system fans would run at 100% all the time because it couldn't tell how hot the drive was getting. When i upgrded the HD in my iMAC using a non-apple HD, it did not include a heat sensor. Just curious, but did you upgrade the hard drive at any point. These posts have more info about this type of behavior with El Cap and may offer a solution for high CPU usage in generalġ0.11.6 is out now, maybe try upgrading as it may fix a possible issue with 10.11.5 on your system. There are many others complaining about similar issues with their Macs as well even with Finder maxing out CPU. I have upgraded a 2013 macbook air to El Cap and battery life cut in half and fan runs much more now - have reinstalled OS X from scratch with no change.

What year is your macbook pro? Is it officially supported for El Capitan? I have 2006 macbook pro's that seem to run it fine, but of course, Apple doesn't officially support it so could be issues on unsupported hardware With Acronis installed, run system monitor and verify yourself what is using the resources. I haven't heard anyone else report this so far. I have contacted Acronis about my problem but so far have not received a reply. I’m pretty mad that Acronis would release a program so flawed and not ready for prime time. As fast as I could I deleted Acronis all cores and fans dropped immediately dropped to normal. Returning home I started my computer and the cores all started as if they were under a high load and the fans started running even though my computer was cold. I made the appointment thinking my CPU was faulty but after Apple analyzed the trouble they said it was Acronis that was causing my trouble. All 4 cores were running between 85 to 95% all the time the minute I started my Mac. I just returned from an Apple Genius Bar appointment not being able to use my Mac for almost a week. That is why I jumped at the opportunity to run the Mac version. It has only gotten better over the years.

On my PC I have been using Acronis True Image for years as my backup software. I am using a MacBook Pro 2.8GHz running El Capitan 10.11.5.

Mac finder high cpu