MacBook Pro, Hot Hot Hot

L

lynd

Registered
MacBook Pro is getting really hot, so hot that no way could you put it on your knee! When it has been on some time it is so hot you can just manage to carry it, Is this normal????

Sorry for all the questions but you people are so knowledgable and helpful to us new to Mac people.

Lynda
 
Ok, I have downloaded the Core Duo temp thing and at present with no real programmes running it fluctuates between 75 - 78 C. Is this ok or do I need to go back to the shop?
 
It may be considered "normal", currently, for Core Duos, but I'd say that it's NOT ok. Apple may very well consider 75-78 C within normal operating temps; I don't know. I'd keep pressing this issue with Apple.
Try running your MacBook under full load and see if it gets even hotter, then.
The higher the internal temps, the greater the stress on internal parts and higher likelyhood of MacBook failure at some point, in my humble opinion.
 
Forget about pushing Apple. Many have tried to push Apple to do something about hot notebooks ever since the original Titanium PowerBook G4/400 and G4/500. But notebooks got even hotter later on. So... I guess there's not much they want to do about it.
 
It's going to take an old lady spilling a MacBook on her lap to make Apple do anything.

Is the new / upcoming chip supposed to run cooler?

Lynd, did you set power management to prioritize battery life? My 1.83GHz MacBook started running much cooler after I did this.
 
No, Merom won't be cooler. It'll have better performance at the same energy level, but I guess Apple will choose the performance, not make it the same speed as the old MBPs and lower the temperature. But that's what *I'm* asking Apple: Why not give users a choice! I'd want to run my 1.83 GHz MB at 1.5 or 1.33 or 1.0 GHz sometimes...
 
I wish they would just run the fan a little more than they do even if it's slightly louder. They can run it at a low speed more often instead and it'd be much cooler. Too bad no one has figured out how to control the fans with a 3rd party application yet.
 
Well there's one thing you can do — take it to an Apple store and get them to fix up the mess Apple made with the MacBook Pro's thermal paste which'll no doubt be smeared all over the place. Too much thermal paste reduces its effectiveness when transferring heat, meaning it'll run hotter. It won't make THAT much of a difference, but it will run slightly cooler.

This why the word 'laptop' is now void — they're getting too hot to sit on laps, therefore the term 'notebook' is being used more often.

The only other thing I can suggest is to get a cloth for your lap, like a thick beach towel or something, fold it up and put it on that.
 
is there not something under the system preferences for power management? like Reduced Power settings? i have that on my dual G5, and it's wonderful for shutting up the noisy fans for the 80% of the time when i don't need all that power.
 
"something" like that is there, but it doesn't really let you control that much. The processor only automatically scales, but doesn't seem to go to its lowest (1 GHz) much, doesn't shut down one core and seems to think it needs maximum performance basically whenever you actually do something. I want to be in control of that.
 
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