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How to cool down Macbook

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itsme92

Guest
Original poster
Hi,

I recently bought a 20" Samsung LCD for my Macbook and I've got it all hooked up and all, but what I'm noticing is that the fans often spin up a lot when I use it in clamshell mode, but even opening it up doesn't help much. Before I got this screen, it would only spin up if I was encoding video or something, now it spins up when I print a document in Word. Should I buy an Elevator or CoolPad? Is there anything else I can do so that it doesn't spin up all the time?
 
E

eyebeaz

macrumors 6502
Oct 22, 2006
250
1
I would definitely look into an iCurve or Elevator. There are also applications you can download that give you control over the fans in your computer, although I don't have any links right now, you might want to search the forum for this.
 
P

polevault139

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2006
342
0
Illinois
An Elevator or iCurve is always a good idea, it helps air flow all around the notebook. If you don't feel like spending money anything that will put the notebook in the air as to facilitate air flow will work. Try downloading SMC Fan Control, it lets you control the minimum fan speed. I usually keep mine around 3500 rpm and I can barely hear it. It helps any Macbook run at around 110 F.
 
D

docc

macrumors 6502
Jun 19, 2007
256
18
Miami
polevault139 said:
An Elevator or iCurve is always a good idea, it helps air flow all around the notebook. If you don't feel like spending money anything that will put the notebook in the air as to facilitate air flow will work. Try downloading SMC Fan Control, it lets you control the minimum fan speed. I usually keep mine around 3500 rpm and I can barely hear it. It helps any Macbook run at around 110 F.
Click to expand...

Most of the time my fan is running at 1800 RPM (since thats set to default) and temperature is always around 144 F +/- 5. Is it supposed to be this high? Should i try setting it to 4000 RPM to dissipate the heat quicker?
 
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polevault139

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2006
342
0
Illinois
That seems high to me since I have never seen mine go over 130. That was when I was watching some videos and burning a CD at the same time. Putting the minimum speed up around 3500-4000 does help a lot more than you would expect.
 
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itsme92

Guest
Original poster
Sorry, let me rephrase this. I'm not trying to cool it down, I'm trying to slow down the fan speed as it is on a desk, and I'm wondering if putting it up in the air on an Elevator or CoolPad would help improve airflow, which would cool it down, which would stop the fans from spinning.
 
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itsme92

Guest
Original poster
Thanks everybody. Looks like I'll be getting an Elevator.
 
U

uicandrew

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2006
555
3
this week, circuit city has a sale on a usb laptop cooler (2 fans). (made by antec)

$10 after rebate (i think it is $40 before mail in rebates)

cooling the macbook and decreasing the fan speeds go hand in hand.

an icurve/elevator is good for passive cooling. active cooling (usb cooler) takes it one step further

be careful with an elevator. amazon.com reviews show that people have seen their macbooks slide off after a couple months use. i have one and haven't had a problem yet.
 
P

polevault139

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2006
342
0
Illinois
The only reason a laptop would slide off is that the two surfaces are dirty. The whole reason the notebook stas on in the first place is that the coefficient of friction is high, once the two items are dirty the coefficient rises and the notebook falls off. So the moral of the story is to keep your notebook and stand clean.
 
C

chackers

macrumors newbie
May 22, 2010
1
0
docc said:
Most of the time my fan is running at 1800 RPM (since thats set to default) and temperature is always around 144 F +/- 5. Is it supposed to be this high? Should i try setting it to 4000 RPM to dissipate the heat quicker?
Click to expand...

Mines currently running at 174F...... how worried should I be?
 
I'mAMac

I'mAMac

macrumors 6502a
Aug 28, 2006
786
0
In a Mac box
If you need a fan program for windows SpeedFan is pretty handy. Although in Win7 I can't find a way to manually control the fans. When I go to the tab to change the speeds nothing comes up. Anybody know how to control them in Win7?
 
T

tatical

macrumors member
Jun 7, 2009
43
0
If you're good a building PCs & are comfortable with taking you MBP apart, you could reapply the thermal paste. Assuming you do it right, you can have a noticeably cooler machine. I did it to my Mid '09 2.8Ghz MBP and my 100% load temperature dropped about 20 degrees (from 105 to 83).

Proceed with caution...
 
S

swish2351

macrumors 6502
Feb 28, 2010
354
2
Michigan
itsme92 said:
Hi,

I recently bought a 20" Samsung LCD for my Macbook and I've got it all hooked up and all, but what I'm noticing is that the fans often spin up a lot when I use it in clamshell mode, but even opening it up doesn't help much. Before I got this screen, it would only spin up if I was encoding video or something, now it spins up when I print a document in Word. Should I buy an Elevator or CoolPad? Is there anything else I can do so that it doesn't spin up all the time?
Click to expand...

I don't know. I have a MacBook Pro, not a MacBook. Maybe try their forums? They might know.

Buy a coolpad.
 
Ollie N

Ollie N

macrumors regular
Jan 4, 2009
147
0
I took a cooling fan and held over my macbook for like 3 mins then it as as cool as a cucumber
 
nunes013

nunes013

macrumors 65816
May 24, 2010
1,284
185
Connecticut
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

Sorry this is kind of off topic but how do you connect it to a display when the top is closed. Is there a setting. I just noticed people doing this yesterday in another thread but my mbp is currently in an apple repair center getting a new CPU so I can't experiment.
 
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RT2020

macrumors regular
Feb 18, 2010
236
0
If you rest a small magnet on the palm rest above the kensington lock area, it will activate the switch for the screen.

You can then use the computer as if it were in clam shell mode but with the lid open (i.e. this will allow heat dissipation and proper air movement, neither of which occur when the computer is in clamshell mode - good job apple engineers!).

P.S. Use at your own risk, but I've been doing this for about a year now and my hard drive is still fine.
 
Last edited:
B

Bumflake

macrumors member
Aug 1, 2010
31
0
The Netherlands
I'mAMac said:
If you need a fan program for windows SpeedFan is pretty handy. Although in Win7 I can't find a way to manually control the fans. When I go to the tab to change the speeds nothing comes up. Anybody know how to control them in Win7?
Click to expand...

I don't know of any tool that can control them in win7, but you can adjust the fan speed with SMC Fan Control in OSX and reboot to windows. Your Mac will remember the adjustment you made in OSX.
 
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