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Mid 2012 MacBook Pro Temperatures

E

Evil Spoonman

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 21, 2011
330
171
California
Folks,

I am currently spending a lot of time evaluating these new 2012 MacBook Pros. Have been waiting for Ivy Bridge and Kepler for some time, and am quite pleased that Apple has included them so promptly.

There are a few outstanding questions which I have not been able to find answers to in reviews. Thus I am appealing to the forums here to see if I can crowdsource some data.

Some context:
  • Currently, the price of NAND is such that 256GB drives are reasonable (about $1/GB), while 512GB drives are prohibitively expensive (about $1.40/GB). This will change soon as the price of MLC NAND continues to fall. For the moment, 256GB is the sweet spot and the size I would prefer to buy.
  • The 2.3GHz i7-3615QM is not that much slower than the 2.6GHz i7-3720QM. Single threaded applications see a roughly 8% difference, heavily threaded tasks are more around 4%. This is inconsequential for most tasks.
  • Apple has played silly games with their models. It is impossible to get the 2.6GHz Retina MBP with a 256GB SSD for… some reason. You can however, get the non-retina 2.6GHz MBP with the 256GB SSD.


The questions:
  • Does the 2.3GHz Retina MBP run cooler than the 2.6GHz model?
  • Does the 2.6GHz non-Retina MBP run cooler than the 2.6GHz Retina model?


The theory:
  • Perhaps the slower CPU produces less heat. MacBooks and PowerBooks have gotten very toasty ever since they became metal many years ago. Even shaving 8 degrees of of this max temp would be quite welcome.
  • Does the thicker form factor of the old-style Unibody MacBook Pro allow these internal components run cooler? I'm skeptical of this one, but it is worth testing.


To test, you will need three pieces of software. All are free, and commonly known.


The procedure is simply to get it as hot as you are comfortable with.
  • Note that some of this software may not work properly on the new machines. They are generally quite similar to the previous generation notebooks, most things should work.
  • Install and launch Temperature Monitor, it will ask you for your admin password to install some additional sensor drivers. This is optional, although useful. The preferred sensors to monitor are CPU A Temperature Diode and Graphics Processor Temperature Diode.
  • Install and launch smcFanControl and set up a preset for maximum speed. This should be around 6,000RPM for most MacBook Pros. This software may also ask for an admin password, once again it is harmless.
  • Duplicate the Cinebench R11.5 application within its folder, run both instances.
  • In the first instance of Cinebench run the CPU test. In the second, run the GPU test.
  • Loop these tests until you see a stable temperature in Temp Monitor for the CPU diode. On an Intel i5-520M I got to 100C before it stabilised.


I look forward to responses, with data if you're able, or anecdotal experience if you're not.


Cheers,
Julian
 
S

shambo79

macrumors newbie
Jun 18, 2012
6
1
MB Non-retina

I have had an early 2011 and late 2011 MB Pro. Both very fast and powerful but both ran super hot and the fan kicked in a lot. I run a lot of audio apps and VM wares. The new 2012 2.6 with 8GB is a delight. Cool as. Even when extracting or rendering it gets warm, but the fans just run as normal. I think the key here is the Graphics cards. Nvidia + HD4000 I am getting 4-5 hrs on Battery, no chance of 7. On the 2011 2-3 max. So big thumbs up. I very much am in the non-ret brigade :)
 
B

Ben8472

macrumors member
Mar 22, 2008
42
0
shambo79 said:
I have had an early 2011 and late 2011 MB Pro. Both very fast and powerful but both ran super hot and the fan kicked in a lot. I run a lot of audio apps and VM wares. The new 2012 2.6 with 8GB is a delight. Cool as. Even when extracting or rendering it gets warm, but the fans just run as normal. I think the key here is the Graphics cards. Nvidia + HD4000 I am getting 4-5 hrs on Battery, no chance of 7. On the 2011 2-3 max. So big thumbs up. I very much am in the non-ret brigade :)
Click to expand...

thank you!! this is exactly the information i was looking for since last week's announcement!!
 
L

lorenkjr

macrumors newbie
Jul 31, 2008
1
0
Macbook Pro Temps

I have a Macbook Pro 13 mid 2010 that also runs hot most of the time. I use SMCfan, plus Temperature Gauge for cooling and monitoring temperatures. I also bought a Targus coolpad for further cooling. My curiousity however, makes me wonder why some temperature maximums are not adequately written about or at least I never seen them anywhere. Such as certain parts of the Northbridge where I have seen temps exceeding 80% Celsius. It would be nice if that information was around. At least we probably would be more informed than we are now. I run my internal fan at half it's total rpm maximum all the time. Whether, this is good or bad I don't know. But, my reasoning is this. I can replace a fan a lot cheaper then other parts that might go bad, from excessive heat. Oh, I forgot one other thing I should mention. I have heard that the fan or fans inside the Macbook Pro turn up the cooling automatically. This I have never observed on my Macbook Pro.
 
T

theBostonian

Suspended
Apr 15, 2012
317
238
I have a mid 2012 2.6GHz 15" cMBP and it runs incredibly cool. just surfing the net and word processing the temp stays at 30-35c. When I'm exporting video in iMovie it gets up to 60-70 but immediately cools down when it's finished.

I force it to stay on the integrated GPU when not doing anything graphically intensive so maybe that's why but it's much cooler than my 2.2GHz early 2011 MBP was.
 
M

MacBookProzak

macrumors regular
Nov 16, 2011
131
0
I am pushing large videos through FCPX to Compressor 4. This 2012 runs way cooler and I have been running about 53-55c with the fan barely kissing 3000 rpm, whereas my 2011 MBP was always running at 6000 rpm and alot hotter under the same load.

The 2012 cMBP I have with the specs you see in my signature line gets abused well over 10 hours a day with video editing and the temps are alot cooler than the 2011 machines.
 
M

mysterkarl

macrumors newbie
Sep 27, 2012
7
0
Very Cool...

I have a Mid 2012 15" 2.7 GHz i7 macbook Pro - my first lap top. I have been wondering about the temperatures the MB Pro is showing and if they're normal which led me here. I have a 7200 rpm hard drive which should add to the heat but I really am surprised that this computer is actually running cooler than previous models.
I bought the non-retina display because it uses the CPU's resources when I need all of my MB Pro's resources for my audio applications plus I have a 27" Thunderbolt display to stay with the iMac formula (I finally upgraded from my 2006 iMac) but with the versatility of a laptop - the best decision I ever made. Anyway, I run Logic Pro 9 with lots of third party plug-in synths, sample libraries and effects - I often run video in sync for score writing as well.

The MB Pro did get a bit unstable above 65 C with mountain Lion V 10.8.0 but it no longer does this with the latest version. When I run it hard temperatures range from 60 ~ 72 degrees C (140 ~ 161 F) then when I stop playback it cools down very quickly, around 15 degrees in a minute, meanwhile the fans just tick away at around 2450rpm. I have yet to see temperatures above 75 C (167 F) however, it is only just coming into spring in Australia and I might expect to see higher temps in the coming months.
 
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