2 Concerns - Heat and 1280x800 Resolution

supremus · Jun 21, 2007

Its been almost 3 days I have moved to MAC from Windows world, and I am quite frankly not very impressed yet, by two issues - the hardware heating problem and software. I wanted to post this question in the forums and ask other MBP owners if they were facing the same issues, and what were the resolutions they took to correct the problem.

FYI: I got the brand new MBP with SR, 2.4Ghz, LED blah blah... stock model.

1) HEAT ISSUE

This laptop gets freaking HOT after like 15 minutes of use of almost any application. A Laptop is supposed to be used on "Lap" I guess, but after 15 minutes this thing gets so hot that I have to move it to a table and keep it there. Also I noticed that it feels unusually hot on the left side of the machine, even near the keyboard and around. The bottom part is almost hot enough to cook an egg

I wanted to know if other users are facing this problem - by far, amongst all the laptops that I have worked (I have worked with a lot!!), this has to be the most "heat friendly" beast I have owned

. Is there any way around it, or should I talk to Apple tech support on this one?

2) 1280X800 RESOLUTION

The default native resolution doesnt cut it for me - blame my poor eyes, but 1400x900 resolution is simply too small and painful for my eyes. So I changed the display resolution to 1280x800 - however at this resolution almost every damn font look blurry and washed out! I am not a big fan of OS X fonts, but I could live with 1280x800 if the fonts did not appear SO blurry and washed out! It gives me a headache reading those fonts in 1280x800 mode. My question is - is there a way around this - I do want to use the 1280x800 only if fonts remained a little crispier and easier to read. The washed out and blurry effect is just painful. Could this be a problem with my MBP by any chance? I did use SILK software tool to disable every fancy thing that MBP does to its font, but it has been no help so far.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Cheers.

Fuzzy Orange · Jun 21, 2007

As far as heat goes, it sounds to be normal... What Applications are you using? If it is something like PS or Illustrator, then it does get hot. If it is just Safari, then it MIGHT be a problem. My MBP runs pretty hot just by being on.
And about the resolution... maybe you should have gotten a MB. That has a 1200x800 screen... and make sure you NEVER get a HD 17'' MBP.

Jestered · Jun 21, 2007

I just got the same computer, but the 2.2GHz model...

As far as the heat, they get pretty hot and have for awhile now. They are no longer called "laptops" because of this. This is not just an Apple issue though. I think all manufacturers have stopped calling them laptops and are now called portables.

The blurry issue I noticed on mine too. I don't really care because I like the native resolution, but... It was not like that on my soon to be sold PowerBook G4. I know that the drivers for the new video cards that we have in our Santa Rosa's have not been updated or tweaked and because of this some games don't work. I am guessing that when the video drivers are updated that maybe they will fix the resolution blurriness, but we won't know until that happens.

jdechko · Jun 21, 2007

1200x800 will always look fuzzy on an MBP because it's not the native resolution of the screen. As far as I know, there is a way to increase the system font size and the size of the icons, though I'm not sure of the exact steps required to make said changes. That should at least aleviate that problem.

Trepex · Jun 21, 2007

Your resolution complaint has NOTHING to do with macs or PCs for that matter. If you can't hack the resolution, there's simply not a lot you can do. It's the reality of LCDs.

supremus · Jun 21, 2007

Mmmh - i dont think that calling a laptop as portable gets away from the problem - I have a Dell E1505 that I got just 4 months back as a stop gap solution before buying the new MBP with SR, and that runs a hell of a lot cooler than this one. The Dell 1505 has a 2.0 Ghz Core 2 duo (and save for HDD and SR, almost every other spec are reasonably similar), but I wouldnt imagine a .40 Mhz speed bump would cause insane heat issues. I can actually "work" on the Dell on my lap for an hour or two - in my 3 days of owning an MBR, I can't say I have managed to go beyond even half an hour for making something as simple as a Podcast.

I will keep a lookout on those drivers

- Its reassuring to know that someone else also had a problem, and it wasn't a problem before

- Hopefully there's a fix around the corner for this blurry issue

. Thanks a lot for your response.

icecone · Jun 21, 2007

The second one is a typical problem for all LCDs, they work good only in native resolution, and blurry in others. I suggest you increasing the font size.
(get Leopard in October and enjoy resolution independence

)
Some 15.4" are even 1680x1050

supremus · Jun 21, 2007

Trepex said:
Your resolution complaint has NOTHING to do with macs or PCs for that matter. If you can't hack the resolution, there's simply not a lot you can do. It's the reality of LCDs.

I am not sure of that

- I can adjust the fonts, font size and the look effortlessly on a Vista/XP machine whenever I change the resolution. I wouldnt think it would be that difficult on OS X (Heck, I did imagine it to be a lot more simpler than Windows infact hehe!!).

But as someone else noted, I have a feeling its a video card driver issue more than anything else.

supremus · Jun 21, 2007

icecone said:
The second one is a typical problem for all LCDs, they work good only in native resolution, and blurry in others. I suggest you increasing the font size.
(get Leopard in October and enjoy resolution independence )
Some 15.4" are even 1680x1050

Any idea on how I should increase the font size? I did try to use tinker tool, but I can't see any visible difference yet - maybe the tool itself is not functioning. Any other tool that you could suggest perhaps? Thanks

wyatt23 · Jun 21, 2007

i beleive leopard will be resolution independent, so i think that will fix your problem if you can last the wait.

Jestered · Jun 21, 2007

About the blurriness...

I know what he is talking about and it is not because it is not he native resolution. I have had portables for the last 6 years and yes, if you run at a non-native resolution, it does look grainy and does not look as good as in native resolution, but grainy and blurry is two different things.

My PowerBook G4 looked grainy at non-native resolutions, but not at all blurry. My MBP set at non-native resolution looks very blurry. Two totally different issues and causes.

odinsride · Jun 21, 2007

I got the High Res 17" MBP and found the need to increase font size in some programs because it was just too small. You can usually do this in the preferences for most apps.

For the heat issue, it sounds normal. If you're using it on your lap, there is something they make called an iLap, designed to sit between your legs and the notebook, so you don't get burned. Google it.

Infinity · Jun 21, 2007

If you didn't find this/know about it already and since no one has suggested it yet...

For Finder, click View > Show View Options. Thats for finder only though.

Change your font size there.

Oh Welcome to the Mac.

uicandrew · Jun 21, 2007

as much as i love my macbook pro (hi-res and glossy)

i would have to agree that non-native resolution looks better in XP than in Tiger.

when i first had bootcamp, the resolution of the screen was 1680x1050, and i didn't think anything of it (since my last mac was a 20" intel imac) but when i switched it to 1920x1200, it's like someone cleaned a window (no pun intended) and it looked crisp.

non-native resolution does look blurry on the mac

uicandrew · Jun 21, 2007

unless you need the computing/graphics power of the macbook pro, i heavily suggest the macbook, for heat issues and screen resolution

check out barefeats.com and see their benchmarks. maybe what you thought was GPU dependent could be CPU dependent. i was really surprised that video encoding used cpu and not so much gpu. i mean, VIDEO and gpu seems to go hand in hand, but apparently not.

i also previously had a macbook and heat was never a real issue for me.

dells are thicker and largely made of plastic. there is more room for heat to disappate.

bohrsatom · Jun 21, 2007

Nobody has mentioned this yet - download and install smcFanControl (http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/page5/page5.html) and up the base speed of the cooling fans on your mac. Play around with the values so that you can increase the RPM without being able to hear it (I can do 3000 on my MB without hearing it) and you will have a cooler laptop on your lap

It will also tell you the temperature of your CPU (note that this is the CPU and not the temperature of your case, which will be a bit cooler) - my macbook idles at around 55-60c with normal fan speeds and between 48 and 53 with them set to 3000rpm.

hth

supremus · Jun 21, 2007

bohrsatom said:
Nobody has mentioned this yet - download and install smcFanControl (http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/page5/page5.html) and up the base speed of the cooling fans on your mac. Play around with the values so that you can increase the RPM without being able to hear it (I can do 3000 on my MB without hearing it) and you will have a cooler laptop on your lap

It will also tell you the temperature of your CPU (note that this is the CPU and not the temperature of your case, which will be a bit cooler) - my macbook idles at around 55-60c with normal fan speeds and between 48 and 53 with them set to 3000rpm.

hth

Hey - thanks a lot for the info. I shall try that out tonight and see if that made a difference...

supremus · Jun 21, 2007

uicandrew said:
unless you need the computing/graphics power of the macbook pro, i heavily suggest the macbook, for heat issues and screen resolution

check out barefeats.com and see their benchmarks. maybe what you thought was GPU dependent could be CPU dependent. i was really surprised that video encoding used cpu and not so much gpu. i mean, VIDEO and gpu seems to go hand in hand, but apparently not.

i also previously had a macbook and heat was never a real issue for me.

dells are thicker and largely made of plastic. there is more room for heat to disappate.

I did initially plan to buy a macbook, but I wanted to use parallels and Vista in conjuction with OS X. I thought perhaps the underpowerd Graphics card on Macbook would probably not cut it for paralles and virtualization together.

Any thoughts on it - if macbook could support windows vista and parallels, in parallel to OS X - I wouldnt mind exchaning mine with it

. Thanks for your response.

uicandrew · Jun 21, 2007

supremus said:
I did initially plan to buy a macbook, but I wanted to use parallels and Vista in conjuction with OS X. I thought perhaps the underpowerd Graphics card on Macbook would probably not cut it for paralles and virtualization together.

Any thoughts on it - if macbook could support windows vista and parallels, in parallel to OS X - I wouldnt mind exchaning mine with it . Thanks for your response.

i had vista installed on my 13" for a while, but then i removed it.

i really dislike vista for the following reason:

Vista is a resource hog. there is a standard widget built-into vista that measures cpu and ram usage. With nothing else going on the background (except for solitaire), there was significant cpu and ram usage. as a result, the fans were always going (at relatively low speeds, but they were still audible)

This annoys me because Windows XP Pro SP2 does not have all that overhead sucking up resources. To me, Vista is window dressing, and it isn't even good window dressing. yes, they have their widgets, but it takes up valuable screen space. Yes, they have aero (which works fine with a macbook) but when you scroll through the programs, you're only looking at one window at a time. To me, that is no different from alt-tabbing through everything. (whereas with expose, you can see all the windows in one view)

is there a reason why you want vista? if it is simply for bragging rights among friends, then that's ok, but in terms of functionality, i think XP is superior.

the time i did try parallels on my 13" macbook, my windows partition got screwed up, but it probably my fault because it was my first time using parallels. I really like vmware as an alternative. it is easier to use (in my opinion)

trying googling for parallels and vista. i KNOW people have done it before.

good luck

CrackedButter · Jun 21, 2007

Remember you are still in your grace period, you could return it and get the MB instead if you prefer the 1200X 800 resolution.

Veritus · Jun 23, 2007

I'm in a similar situation as I find the native resolution produces a font way too small for my liking. Granted, I don't have the best eyesight, but I never experienced anything near this sort of eye strain on any Windows screen. Changing the resolution is a fuzzy disaster. Enlarging the font in every app is a pain in the butt, and the font still doesn't look as crisp as what I'm used to with Windows.

Leopard's independent resolution fix sounds hopeful, but not sure if I want to hold out that long. Are there any assurances Leopard will actually solve the issue?

Kevo · Jun 23, 2007

I think there will be a certain amount of blur on any system due to the fact that any non-native resolution will have to map more than one screen pixel to one image pixel. However, some displays do this well and some don't. Add to that the sub-pixel rendering that OS X does to fonts, and the anti-aliasing choice for font smoothing, and you can get things out of whack so it looks worse than it should. On my powerbook, I actually use the CRT setting for font smoothing in the appearance system pref, and it looks pretty decent at lower resolutions. On your machine it may be different.

What you have to do is open an app with some text for testing in it. Maybe a text edit document. Then open the System pref for appearance and change the font smoothing. You will need to close and reopen the text edit doc to see the change. You may find a setting that is better than what you've seen so far.

2 Concerns - Heat and 1280x800 Resolution

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