i5 - i7 noticable heat and fan noise thread. The concensous is >

entatlrg · Jul 22, 2011

There's conflicting posts spread among numerous threads.

Can we conclude yet there is noticeable difference in heat and fan noise comparing an i5 to an i7 mba?

From what I've read so far I think so.

askrib · Jul 22, 2011

i really want to know. Im going to pick mine up today and still cant tell if I should get the i5 or i7 256ssd.

Dont want extra eat and fan noise if you cant even tell the difference. But if you can i do want a faster computer

Typswif2fingers · Jul 22, 2011

Only person I know of that has both is Apple... err.. what was his name.. Apple master.. ah yes. Apple expert...

I guess he can compare them...

I don't have an i5 so I can't say.. I managed to pump the fans today on i7... but I opened all of my apps and utilities... The fan was on about 5000 rpms...

It also worked (i.e. was heard... I had to turn the tv off) on Rome total war that I tried... but so does on my iMac and MBP...

So... I got no clue what to say...

Apple Expert · Jul 22, 2011

I have both 13" models and the i5 is better in my opinion. That's my wife's computer. I have the i7 which is hotter and nosier. I'm probably going to exchange for the i5. The extra heat is not worth it. Besides I've yet to see a difference in speed between the two. I'd rather save the money and go with the i5.

KPOM · Jul 22, 2011

Typswif2fingers said:
Only person I know of that has both is Apple... err.. what was his name.. Apple master.. ah yes. Apple expert...

I guess he can compare them...

He did on another thread and said he couldn't tell the difference in terms of speed.

bp1000 · Jul 22, 2011

I've used mine for 2 full days now, doing everything bar video encoding

I've watched avchd movies and youtube and other flash and html 5 videos, the only time the fan came on was during x code install which is a pile of rubbish anyway and I got rid of it.

Its ran as cold as turn on at all other times

13" i5

Apple Expert · Jul 22, 2011

bp1000 said:
I've used mine for 2 full days now, doing everything bar video encoding

I've watched avchd movies and youtube and other flash and html 5 videos, the only time the fan came on was during x code install which is a pile of rubbish anyway and I got rid of it.

Its ran as cold as turn on at all other times

Which model do you own?

Geetarpicker · Jul 22, 2011

bp1000 said:
I've used mine for 2 full days now, doing everything bar video encoding

I've watched avchd movies and youtube and other flash and html 5 videos, the only time the fan came on was during x code install which is a pile of rubbish anyway and I got rid of it.

Its ran as cold as turn on at all other times

"mine" being an i7? 11 or 13?

(I actually bought a 11" Ultimate yesterday but still haven't even opened the box, as my Apple receipt says 14 day returns should be unopened, short of a 10% restock fee.)

entatlrg · Jul 22, 2011

Apple Expert said:
I have both 13" models and the i5 is better in my opinion. That's my wife's computer. I have the i7 which is hotter and nosier. I'm probably going to exchange for the i5. The extra heat is not worth it. Besides I've yet to see a difference in speed between the two. I'd rather save the money and go with the i5.

Thank you. That helps a lot. I have my i7 on order to arrive next week, think I'm going to make a drive to the Apple Store shortly and pick up an i5, get 'er set up and never look back

If it's noticeable in the 13's, maybe even more so in the 11's?

theSeb · Jul 22, 2011

entatlrg said:
There's conflicting posts spread among numerous threads.

Can we conclude yet there is noticeable difference in heat and fan noise comparing an i5 to an i7 mba?

From what I've read so far I think so.

My 13" i7 stays cool to the touch and is comfortable to use on my lap even when the CPU is up to 80 C. It also stays silent until I encode a movie or do another similar CPU intensive task. I cannot fathom the commotion about this.

Apple Expert · Jul 22, 2011

entatlrg said:
Thank you. That helps a lot. I have my i7 on order to arrive next week, think I'm going to make a drive to the Apple Store shortly and pick up an i5, get 'er set up and never look back

Your welcome. I'm just trying to help. But of course everyone will have their opinion. But I'll be exchanging mine for the i5. To bad too, because this one has no dead pixels and both the display and ssd are Samsung.

AbeFroman77 · Jul 22, 2011

If I return my 11" i7 for a i5, do I boot into the restore image and reinstall Lion?

SpiffyChee · Jul 22, 2011

So the only people with i7's who think their heat and noise is low enough are people with the 13" airs. Has anyone heard of someone with an 11" air i7 who thought the heat was low enough?

jeffg819 · Jul 22, 2011

FWIW, I'm in the process of using Migration Assistant to move from my 2010 13" MBA Ultimate to the new 2011 MBA i7 via a Ethernet cable. The heat coming off both keyboards feels about the same but the fans on the 2010 model are definitely running faster. By how much, I can't tell since the only Migration Assistant can be running on each machine during the process.

Cynicalone · Jul 22, 2011

I'm plugged in and charging right now and the i7 is still very cool and quite.

iStat Menus for the curious...

Screen Shot 2011-07-22 at 3.10.53 PM.png

Apple Expert · Jul 22, 2011

Here's mine as of this moment.

jbouklas · Jul 23, 2011

I bought the 11" i7, mainly because I wanted the 256GB SSD and didn't want to wait to get it shipped. One of the main reasons I bought the Air is because I've read reviews of the previous generation that said they didn't get hot (and my 13" MBP can sear my thighs off).

I'm returning it. I setup Mail, played with Safari, and started customizing it, and within 30 minutes or less, it was very warm to the touch, in the upper left hand corner. Fifteen minutes after that, half the laptop's bottom was hot. I'm returning today, will order the 11" i5 with the 256GB SSD- heat isn't worth the speed increase, which I probably won't even notice anyway.

mac jones · Jul 23, 2011

jbouklas said:
I bought the 11" i7, mainly because I wanted the 256GB SSD and didn't want to wait to get it shipped. One of the main reasons I bought the Air is because I've read reviews of the previous generation that said they didn't get hot (and my 13" MBP can sear my thighs off).

I'm returning it. I setup Mail, played with Safari, and started customizing it, and within 30 minutes or less, it was very warm to the touch, in the upper left hand corner. Fifteen minutes after that, half the laptop's bottom was hot. I'm returning today, will order the 11" i5 with the 256GB SSD- heat isn't worth the speed increase, which I probably won't even notice anyway.

Sigh... your making a mistake, you should perhaps google this to get some info. Spotlight causes these to get very hot for up to an hour when they first are used. Spotlight is the drive indexing, and it jacks the cpu WAY up.

I wonder how many people jump to this conclusion? Certainly it's an issue and Apple should perhaps warn people as it's costing them a lot of money in returns.

(you need a cpu meter installed to see what's going on. I use iStat. )

aristobrat · Jul 23, 2011

I agree. Use your new Air for at least 3-4 days before returning it.

There are more and more posts from folks who are having it run cooler after all of the startup/migration housekeeping is out of the way.

Apple Expert · Jul 23, 2011

mac jones said:
Sigh... your making a mistake, you should perhaps google this to get some info. Spotlight causes these to get very hot for up to an hour when they first are used. Spotlight is the drive indexing, and it jacks the cpu WAY up.

I wonder how many people jump to this conclusion? Certainly it's an issue and Apple should perhaps warn people as it's costing them a lot of money in returns.

(you need a cpu meter installed to see what's going on. I use iStat. )

I've installed istat and still get that heat. No indexing going on either. I'm going to use it till next week. Then will see.

jbouklas · Jul 23, 2011

mac jones said:
Sigh... your making a mistake, you should perhaps google this to get some info. Spotlight causes these to get very hot for up to an hour when they first are used. Spotlight is the drive indexing, and it jacks the cpu WAY up.

I wonder how many people jump to this conclusion? Certainly it's an issue and Apple should perhaps warn people as it's costing them a lot of money in returns.

(you need a cpu meter installed to see what's going on. I use iStat. )

I considered that, and that's a valid point. But, it's a little disappointing that when the CPU gets taxed, it gets hot instead of putting the fans on (if they were on, I didn't hear them). I will give it today, though, and see what it does. Thanks for the advice.

johnc22 · Jul 23, 2011

This is my first Mac and while I have a dedicated Windows 7 laptop, I don't plan on migrating a lot of stuff over (at least not yet). My 13" i7 has been cool and quiet except while installing Xcode the fans were loud, but not inconsistent with what any normal laptop does under a heavy workload. I expect the fans to work when the CPU works hard especially on such a small machine with very little space for airflow. Simple physics.

FWIW my 15.5" Asus gaming laptop with C2D spits out warm air just sitting there doing nothing.

jbouklas · Jul 23, 2011

Just turned it on, installed iStat, and saw CPU utilization fluctuated between 1 and 7 percent. Heated up right away, and CPU got to 83 degrees C. Did some light browsing for a few minutes, whole bottom got noticeably warm, and a small part of it was getting hot. I'm not impressed.

But before I exchange it, can somebody with an 11" i5 post to report that they run cool? Most of the posts are from 13" users (which has more room internally for heat management, I'm assuming). Even though I really like the 11" form factor, I'll go up to 13" for heat considerations if it's an issue.

mac jones · Jul 23, 2011

jbouklas said:
I considered that, and that's a valid point. But, it's a little disappointing that when the CPU gets taxed, it gets hot instead of putting the fans on (if they were on, I didn't hear them). I will give it today, though, and see what it does. Thanks for the advice.

You need a fan meter to see if it's possible you have a defective fan. iStat also has this.

iSat (or similar) is essential. It should come standard, eah folks?

note: I mean, i'm constantly monitoring the Air's state with the iStat task bar icons.
I must glance at them 3% to 5% of the time i'm using the machine!. It's like a gas gauge on your car. You unconsciously check it at regular intervals. ( You do this after you run out a couple of times.)

Cynicalone · Jul 23, 2011

mac jones said:
You need a fan meter to see if it's possible you have a defective fan. iStat also has this.

iSat (or similar) is essential. It should come standard, eah folks?

note: I mean, i'm constantly monitoring the Air's state with the iStat task bar icons.
I must glance at them 3% to 5% of the time i'm using the machine!. It's like a gas gauge on your car. You unconsciously check it at regular intervals. ( You do this after you run out a couple of times.)

iStat is one of the first apps I install on a new Mac. Simply one of the best system monitoring apps available.

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