iBook and Powerbook thermal issues.

The G3 in the iBook runs pretty cool. In fact, I have never even had my fan come on when running my iBook hard. My iMac DV 400 does not even have a fan, all convection cooling. I am betting the G3 is the coolest running processor in a laptop computer. Now I don't own a Powerbook, but I know the G4 runs much warmer, but I have never heard of any issues with meltdowns. I don't know a site where this information is, but both laptops I am sure are tested and designed to handle high workloads and not overheat.

Any laptop is built to stay cool enough when you use it. The iBook stays pretty cool. The powerbook does get really toasty. My 1ghz TiBook has both fans come on regularly. If you use it on a table or flat surface, then powerbook is meant to take it. You cannot leave it sitting on a bed or pillow, since no cool air can get under the powerbook.

There are also products to help cool laptops which let more air get under them.

the iBooks run cool. the powerbooks run very very hot. my brother has a 12" PB and it is o hot you could probably heat up a pizza pie on it at some times.

interesting info

this site has charts of average mac temperatures going up to the g4 500 powerbook:

http://www.kezer.net/temperatures/temperatures.html

worth taking a look. surprisingly, powerbook temperatures don't seem to have changed too much over the years -- each seems to fall into the 140 - 180 range. i imagine the percevied temperature of the laptop has more to do with the casing (plastic case g3 vs. aluminum g4) than the actual internal temperature of the laptop..

the 15" tibook can run pretty warm, but not scalding hot or anything. the 17" albook, i have heard, runs really cool, the fan almost never coming on. but i think the 12" albook runs REALLY hot. it's a small package. as to the iBook, i don't think you'll have any problems. the 12" runs pretty cool, even at 900 MHz.

the reason for that is plastic isn't a conductive as aluminum the iBooks have had a lot of revisions to fix the heat issues that it could have ad, while the powerbooks (12 and 17) haven't even had their first revision yet.

I've got a 900 mhz ibook and it stays pretty cool. Ive only had the fans come on a couple of times . . . the left wrist area gets comfortably warm while the computer is un use and the underneath is even warmer, but no big deal. I've used it on my lap without any discomfort - I had a 1.7 ghz toshiba that got extremely hot so compared to that this is like an ice cube.

Originally posted by dbally
I've got a 900 mhz ibook and it stays pretty cool. Ive only had the fans come on a couple of times . . .

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i have a friend who just switched to mac with an iBook900, 12". hah, the fan came on once, for a really long time. i spent a whole afternoon importing her CD library of about 50 CDs (the ibook wouldn't have done it alone in that time, i did a bunch of them on my powerbook and then moved them over to her iBook)... that thing was frying hot; but technically that was full CPU usage for 5 hours straight.

Originally posted by shadowfax
i have a friend who just switched to mac with an iBook900, 12". hah, the fan came on once, for a really long time. i spent a whole afternoon importing her CD library of about 50 CDs (the ibook wouldn't have done it alone in that time, i did a bunch of them on my powerbook and then moved them over to her iBook)... that thing was frying hot; but technically that was full CPU usage for 5 hours straight.

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i'm sure the poowerbook was getting hot too. The only time i ever really had my fan come on when i had the ibook was also cd ripping and installing new operation systems sometimes. Cd ripping is a good way to drain the battery too if your reseting the limits

i had a 667 TiBook and that got the hottest when i was playing WC III, but nothing to be worried about.

as long as you keep using it in a room that is below the max. operating temp mentioned in the tech specs, then you shouldn't have any problems. the only time i was worried about heat was when i was playing WC III and it was summer over here. it was about 32-35 degrees celsius in the room and only then was i actually worried about my TiBook overheating, so i gave it a rest for a while, but everything was fine.

My 17" peaks at 141ºF when I have as many things going as possible, just doing normal stuff it hovers around 120ºF. It cools down real fast if you put it to sleep or have any air moving over it at all like a ceiling fan