Resolve your MacBook Temperature Problem

[amac4me]

Interesting ... when your MacBook is shipped, a piece of plastic is actually blocking a vent.

Be sure to check this out:
MacBook's Vent Blocked

Be sure to check out the photos. If you have a MacBook, you'll want to check if the plastic is blocking the vent. An interesting discovery.

[arn]

Update: Meanwhile, due to the controversy surrounding the excess Thermal Paste, MacDevCenter disassembled their MacBook Pro to see if reducing the Thermal Paste would indeed cause a significant change in the running temperature. Contrary to other anecdotal reports, they found there was only a 2 degree difference in temperatures before and after the extensive disassembly.

[thejadedmonkey]

Originally Posted by arn

Update: Meanwhile, despite the controversy surrounding the excess Thermal Paste, MacDevCenter disassembled their MacBook Pro to see if reducing the Thermal Paste would indeed cause a significant change in the running temperature. Contrary to other anecdotal reports, they found there was only a 2 degree difference in temperatures before and after the extensive disassembly.

So in conclusion, MacBooks just run hot....sorta like how my car's temp guage gets into the red when it's idiling on the freeway while I'm stuck in a traffic jam, the only difference being that MacBooks aren't supposed to come off as 14 year old pieces of crap

Seriously Apple, I sure hope you get all these heat/moo/whine/display issues figured out before I start looking to get a MacBook (pro) once Leapord is out.

[sparks9]

Am I the only one who would prefer a small, quiet, cool, slower laptop over a bulkier, noisy, hot, ultra-fast laptop?

[sillycybin]

Originally Posted by sparks9

Am I the only one who would prefer a small, quiet, cool, slower laptop over a bulkier, noisy, hot, ultra-fast laptop?

no

[wyrmintheapple]

Scraping the barrel in terms of "news" a bit aren't we? Some guy has a piece of plastic, and a mere handful of unverifiable posts on digg.com claim they have plastic too.....

And some guy who didn't even bother taking the actual temperature of the unit he "fixed" before he worked on it, compares two different units temperatures and then tell everone how his "results" dont match the findings of almost everyone else who seems to have don the paste mod.

And the x86 kernel closed/open with the update three days later just looked daft. Might not have had to backtrack if "news" was based on more than just one tech analysts blog and the pure speculation posted within.

At least make this crap page 2.

[Dr.Gargoyle]

Originally Posted by sparks9

Am I the only one who would prefer a small, quiet, cool, slower laptop over a bulkier, noisy, hot, ultra-fast laptop?

I bought the 12'' iBook as result even though I knew MB was around the corner. I would never buy a rev. A product from Apple, no matter how amazing they are. I use my hardware professionally (science), hence I am better off with a trusty tractor than unreliable racing car. If I have a need for massive computing power, I would never do it on a laptop, that is for sure.

[ClimbingTheLog]

Originally Posted by thejadedmonkey

So in conclusion, MacBooks just run hot....sorta like how my car's temp guage gets into the red when it's idiling on the freeway while I'm stuck in a traffic jam, the only difference being that MacBooks aren't supposed to come off as 14 year old pieces of crap

You might have a stuck thermostat. It's super-easy and cheap to change one out if you have a half-hour and a socket wrench:

http://www.automedia.com/Keep/Your/E...cr20041201th/1

Another option is to let your engine melt itself which is expensive.

Originally Posted by thejadedmonkey

Seriously Apple, I sure hope you get all these heat/moo/whine/display issues figured out before I start looking to get a MacBook (pro) once Leapord is out.

Oh, stop. We wouldn't want to buy a mature product from Apple when we can buy Rev. A. and bitch about it online! :wink:

[MrCrowbar]

Since this thread adresses the Macbook and it flaws...
I watched some old video on my Macbook (VLC Player). Then I plugged out my headphones so that "Alarm Clock 2" (great app btw) will wake me tomorrow. But at the moment I unplug the phones, I get this message asking me to restart my computer. And this happened twice. I know the Mac knows when phones are plugged in since when you mute the speakers and plug on eaphones, the phones are not muted. But there may be some shortage at the headphones jack and the Computer thinks it's safest to cut the power immediately...

It happened when unplugging the first 2 milimeters of the headphones jack. The Macbook speaker do a little "puff" when switching audio back to the internal speakers. I guess that's the moment it crashes. I was not able to reproduce the behavior on purpose... anyone with similar problems?

[faintember]

^^^Arn's post about the guys over at MacDevCenter is an interesting one. Nothing like taking an external temperature reading after running both cores at 100%. Either way, my MB idles at 56° and hits 80° under 100% CPU load for 10 mins. Seems quite acceptable. I plan on doing a comparison of the temp readings i am getting today vs. tomorrow after i get my 7200rpm HD installed.

Also no plastic covering the vents on mine, which is a good thing!

Edit: Link to the MacDevCenter MBP thermal paste test

[Core Trio]

What were all those posts about people getting 'amazing results' after applying their own layer of artic silver?

Either these 'amazing results' are utter bs, or whoever did the test from this post did almost as bad a job as apple.

[JamSandwich]

Originally Posted by Core Trio

What were all those posts about people getting 'amazing results' after applying their own layer of artic silver?

Either these 'amazing results' are utter bs, or whoever did the test from this post did almost as bad a job as apple.

I don't know how "bad" the thermal paste really is. I think my MacBook runs warmer than I'd like, but I'm on the lower end of the temp spectrum, it seems.

It's something I might have considered, but based on the anecdotal evidence I've seen, it seems like the difference is generally no more than 5C. At that point, you can probably attribute a couple of degrees of heat to Arctic Silver's better formulation and a couple to less-than-ideal application.

Of course, this is outside of those horror-show MacBook Pros that look like an ice cream sundae.

[trmptr4484]

Just to ask if anyone has thought of this. From my years of PC building I've realized that the type of thermal paste used affects the temperature a lot (4-10 degrees F). For everyone that has re-applied thermal paste and seem lower temps could the temp decrease be because you are using a higher grade of thermal paste and not that there is excessive paste. Again from experience Artic Silver is the best paste I've ever used; and it has always dropped the temps from other types of thermal paste.

[plinden]

Originally Posted by faintember

^^^Arn's post about the guys over at MacDevCenter is an interesting one. Nothing like taking an external temperature reading after running both cores at 100%. Either way, my MB idles at 56° and hits 80° under 100% CPU load for 10 mins. Seems quite acceptable. I plan on doing a comparison of the temp readings i am getting today vs. tomorrow after i get my 7200rpm HD installed.

I just tested my wife's MacBook. There's no plastic blocking the vents. It measures 50˚C at idle, 65˚C playing a DVD, 84˚C at 100% load (doing 60 openssl calculations simulaneously - which really stresses the CPU)

The fans came on at 82˚C and the temperature never went above 84˚C. The temperature came down to 60˚C after a couple of minutes and is still dropping.

Even at 84˚C the case wasn't excessively hot.

[faintember]

Good to hear it plinden. I should have said in my original post that the 80°C under full load was the temp after a total of 10mins, not the peak. I believe it peaked at 87°C before coming back down, but stabilized around 79°C-81°C and finally settled at 80°C.

[brbubba]

Originally Posted by plinden

I just tested my wife's MacBook. There's no plastic blocking the vents. It measures 50˚C at idle, 65˚C playing a DVD, 84˚C at 100% load (doing 60 openssl calculations simulaneously - which really stresses the CPU)

The fans came on at 82˚C and the temperature never went above 84˚C. The temperature came down to 60˚C after a couple of minutes and is still dropping.

Even at 84˚C the case wasn't excessively hot.

Mine after an hour of running Boinc is at 83 Celsius. I have some artic silver ceramique which is also white, if I crack open the case and apply that is there really anyway for them to tell I have voided the warranty?

[matticus008]

Originally Posted by brbubba

Mine after an hour of running Boinc is at 83 Celsius. I have some artic silver ceramique which is also white, if I crack open the case and apply that is there really anyway for them to tell I have voided the warranty?

83 isn't a terrible temperature. What's your case temp like? If you have one of the "normal" MacBooks, you might see very little to no improvement. There are lots of subtle ways to tell you've been inside a computer, from mild screw stripping to fingerprints, and most obviously, your thermal material application. If you apply it in the "hobbyist" style, they'll know immediately that it wasn't done by a manufacturing process.

[tny]

My MacBook doesn't have the plastic on it. It runs very hot, but not too much hotter than my old iBook. I've heard the mooing a couple of times - it's the fan turning on and off as the temperature hovers around the fan-activation temperature, and it sounds much like my cellphone sounds when it is set to vibrate and sitting on a desk on the far side of a room: quiet, but audible. I have also heard a CD-ROM click that seems to be associated with using Parallels and Windows.

The keyboard is much better than a "chicklet" keyboard, about as good as the iBook keyboard, though very different: the indentations on the keys are barely noticeable, and the keys feel lighter, but travel more (I'm a touch typist, and have had little trouble adjusting to the new keyboard). The home key doesn't always register, I think that may just be a positioning issue rather than a hard ware problem. I haven't heard a whine at all, though my hearing is not what it used to be. The screen looks good, and reflections haven't been a problem so far. It feels strange in comparison to my iBook - feels much too thin, and a little bit big, but no heavier (I know it's marginally heavier, but it's not noticeable to me). Main annoyance is that I didn't get a 120 GB hard drive; if I had been more patient, and less stingy, I would be happier.

[bit density]

Originally Posted by arn

Update: Meanwhile, despite the controversy surrounding the excess Thermal Paste, MacDevCenter disassembled their MacBook Pro to see if reducing the Thermal Paste would indeed cause a significant change in the running temperature. Contrary to other anecdotal reports, they found there was only a 2 degree difference in temperatures before and after the extensive disassembly.

How about...

Instead of the the word despite, more correct would be "because of". (They did the test BECAUSE there was a controversy, NOT despite of the controversy).

And their anecdotal report does not necessarily change the validity of any other anecdotal report, it is just another data point.

And last, this is a thread about the MB, not the MBP, and their anecdote may have nothing to do with MB heat issues.

[Leondunkleyc]

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[sam10685]

what is thermal paste? what does it do? is it just some random form of goo that is put onto processors?

[Mindfield]

Originally Posted by sam10685

what is thermal paste? what does it do? is it just some random form of goo that is put onto processors?

It's paste that is designed to help conduct heat off from the processor's core and away through some other cooling device like a cooling fan. Usually thermal paste is some gooey form of copper or silver, because they conduct heat most efficiently.

[sam10685]

Originally Posted by Mindfield

It's paste that is designed to help conduct heat off from the processor's core and away through some other cooling device like a cooling fan. Usually thermal paste is some gooey form of copper or silver, because they conduct heat most efficiently.

ahh. so why would too much of it be doing bad stuff?

[GooMan]

No plastic blocking the vents on my black MacBook. I've had it since Saturday and it has never gotten really hot. It gets a little warm but doesn't seem any warmer than my wife's Dell Inspiron 6000 to the touch. I haven't really monitored the temps internally or externally because I don't want to start obsessing over them. The laptop works great (I put 2GB mem in yesterday) and seems fine so I'm happy to leave it at that.

[Mindfield]

Originally Posted by sam10685

ahh. so why would too much of it be doing bad stuff?

Too much of it would start insulating the heat even if it's Arctic Silver 5. There needs to be a a very small drop on the core that barely covers the area for it to work as efficiently as possible. But like others have already said, I too recommend not trying it out without extensive knowledge of the task and the risks involved.