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New MBP - Heat Concerns

M

MrAndy1369

Guest
Original poster
Nov 27, 2011
36
0
Hey, everyone,

I'm an Apple newbie (obviously, haha), and I have just bought my very first MBP, 13" i7 (with 750GB HD). I opened the laptop this morning, and I am a bit concerned already. The bottom of the laptop constantly feels hot, as in the screws feeling very hot to the touch. I'm not sure if this is normal (Spotlight isn't indexing), and the use is minimal (iPhoto, DVD Player, and web browsing at the same time - but light usage of each) ... and even without those apps running, it still feels very warm to the touch. I know the i7 is pretty high-end for such a smallish laptop, but if Apple was selling i7's in their 13" lines, one would assume they have already designed the laptops to keep cool despite the high processing power.

I'm concerned about this because I have a DELL Studio that has a 500GB 7200 RPM hard drive, 4GB of memory, is an i5, and is ALWAYS cool to the touch, even when running intensive applications. I can feel the warmth of the MBP through my thick pajama bottoms.

Thanks for any replies ... I hope someone can give me some insight. Happy Holidays, BTW :)

Andrew
 
Metal conducts heat better than plastic, thus the MBP feels warmer.
But as mentioned above:

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

i am an apple newbie too! I think I have the same laptop as you, I got it for Christmas (the Mac) and it doesn't feel too warm. It may be just yours... I'm not sure. How did you post a question???
 
MrAndy1369 said:
I'm an Apple newbie (obviously, haha), and I have just bought my very first MBP, 13" i7 (with 750GB HD). I opened the laptop this morning, and I am a bit concerned already. The bottom of the laptop constantly feels hot, as in the screws feeling very hot to the touch. I'm not sure if this is normal
Click to expand...
It's quite normal. Your Mac is not overheating. The Intel processors used in Macs are designed to automatically shut down to prevent damage if they truly overheat (around 100C/212F - 105C/221F, depending on your processor). iStat Pro will give you accurate readings of your temps and fan speeds, among other things.

Unless there is a rare defect in a Mac, most temps are well within the normal operating range, considering the workload being put on it. Websites with Flash content, games and other multimedia apps will put higher demand on the CPU/GPU, generating more heat. This is normal. If you're constantly putting high demands on your system, such as gaming or other multimedia tasks, expect temps to rise and fans to spin up accordingly. It's just your Mac doing its job to maintain temps within the normal range.

Your fans are always on when your Mac is on, spinning at a minimum of 2000 rpm (for MBPs) or 1800 rpm (for MBAs, MBs and minis). They will spin faster as needed to keep temps at a safe level. If they're spinning up without increased heat, try resetting the SMC. PRAM/NVRAM has nothing to do with these issues, so resetting it will not help. Also, make sure you don't block the vents, which are located at the rear, near the hinge.

Learn about the fans in your Mac
Apple Portables: Operating temperature
 
Marinsky said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

i am an apple newbie too! I think I have the same laptop as you, I got it for Christmas (the Mac) and it doesn't feel too warm. It may be just yours... I'm not sure. How did you post a question???
Click to expand...

NEW THREAD at the top right corner.
 
i like the copy paste answer :D but whats about the throthling to 800mhz when using big apps/games !!! ive never knew that before buying !! its could be considered like False advertising !!!
 
Going by how something feels isn't very scientific. Obviously it affects comfort levels if the machine is kept on your lap, and I would be hesitant to leave it on fine furniture given the heat levels at times. Have you used a temperature checking application on the Dell or Macbook? I'm wondering what temperatures were like on each. Macbook pros shouldn't idle terribly hot even though they become quite hot under load. I would suggest opening activity monitor, setting it to all processes, and sorting by cpu usage. Heavy cpu use isn't the only thing that can run up temperatures, but it is one of them. I'd just like to know what the temps are like.
 
The aluminum body of the Macbook Pro is a giant heat-sink, of course it is gonna feel warm. I, too, thought i had a problem when I first got mine. But after speaking with many Mac peoples on this forum and in the Apple store I learned that this thing just feels to run hotter than most machines. I wouldn't worry about it. Just don't use it in you lap as sometimes when running high graphic tasks, it will get very hot to the touch.
 
It's an undocumented feature. Helps on those cold nights when Googling without any pants.
 
metal conducts heat much better than plastic, thus a aluminum computer will be warmer through the touch. Think of it as a feature: a giant metal heatsink the size of your laptop! haha
 
Mine sometimes gets really warm when I'm using AirPlay. The fans kick in and do their job helping to quickly disperse the heat. It's normal, as others have said, check iStat to monitor your temperature and fan speeds to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary.
 
I'm usually more concerned when I can't feel the heat from a computer. The last thing I want is to have all the heat trapped inside.
 
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