Warning: new macbook pro i7 gets hot and noisy

[McSad2]

Use iStat Pro and tell us what your temps are. It's easier to tell you if it's actually working within normal parameters, with the numbers. It's free, and is actually handy for other things besides temps But on the off chance something is wrong, it will help us tell you

Ok here goes: I played WoW on my girlfriends MBP and on my new MBP with the same videosettings here are the iStat numbers

MBP core 2 duo 2,66 GHz, 4 Mb RAM
Fan speed: 3700
CPU temp 82
GPU temp 65

MBP i7 2,2 GHz, 4 Mb RAM
Fan speed 6200
CPU temp 86
GPU temp 76

So doing the same job the GPU gets 10 degrees hotter and the fan spins 68% faster. Its the same task but the new computer gets warmer and makes more noise. Now, as a layman I would expect the new fancy sandy-bridge bla bla bla computer to be able to run WoW on low graphics settings without ever lifting an eyebrow. Instead it gets hot and noisy. And dont tell me it's because it has more power an bla bla bla. The task is no different from the one I challenge the old MBP with. But still the new one gets hotter.

 

[iZero]

Ok here goes: I played WoW on my girlfriends MBP and on my new MBP with the same videosettings here are the iStat numbers

MBP core 2 duo 2,66 GHz, 4 Mb RAM
Fan speed: 3700
CPU temp 82
GPU temp 65

MBP i7 2,2 GHz, 4 Mb RAM
Fan speed 6200
CPU temp 86
GPU temp 76

So doing the same job the GPU gets 10 degrees hotter and the fan spins 68% faster. Its the same task but the new computer gets warmer and makes more noise. Now, as a layman I would expect the new fancy sandy-bridge bla bla bla computer to be able to run WoW on low graphics settings without ever lifting an eyebrow. Instead it gets hot and noisy. And dont tell me it's because it has more power an bla bla bla. The task is no different from the one I challenge the old MBP with. But still the new one gets hotter.

Well, since you wanted to discount any factual reason with a blah blah blah and are seeking a "yes it's too hot and everyone should be warned", I won't bother. But suffice it to say for the tasks you did, your temps are normal, and perfectly safe. I know that's not what you're wanting to be told, so maybe someone else will give that incorrect, but more soothing answer for you

 

[mark28]

Ok here goes: I played WoW on my girlfriends MBP and on my new MBP with the same videosettings here are the iStat numbers

MBP core 2 duo 2,66 GHz, 4 Mb RAM
Fan speed: 3700
CPU temp 82
GPU temp 65

MBP i7 2,2 GHz, 4 Mb RAM
Fan speed 6200
CPU temp 86
GPU temp 76

So doing the same job the GPU gets 10 degrees hotter and the fan spins 68% faster. Its the same task but the new computer gets warmer and makes more noise. Now, as a layman I would expect the new fancy sandy-bridge bla bla bla computer to be able to run WoW on low graphics settings without ever lifting an eyebrow. Instead it gets hot and noisy. And dont tell me it's because it has more power an bla bla bla. The task is no different from the one I challenge the old MBP with. But still the new one gets hotter.

Maybe try to limit the FPS and see what the temps are then.

I suspect the ATI 6750 is running on maximum power still and putting out alot of FPS causing high temperatures ( and so the fans are spinning at maximum speed to keep the temperatures down )

edit: So maybe check the FPS in WoW. If it does 200 fps, then I'm pretty sure the problem is what I described and a simple fix is to limit the FPS to 30 or 60 for example.

 

[nebulos]

i don't always understand people's responses in these forums.

many are complaining about heat issues; i don't think its clear that its something inherent to quad-core laptops; i haven't researched the problem too much, but i have read that some 2011 MBP owners say their comps get hot, fans go crazy and computers crash; while others say their comps are fine with normal temps. (correct me if i'm wrong.) other heat complaints include the 2011 dual-core 13".

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1115576/
(heat) http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2764570&tstart=0
(heat/crash) http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2768351&start=0&tstart=0

on the other hand, there are threads on this, and it is annoying to many to see users skip the search feature to start a new thread, which creates a lot of clutter.

in any case, one of the purposes of these forums is to share information; research anything on any forum and you'll see how difficult it is because many comment without really knowing for sure, which is fine, only as long as you say you're speculating, etc.

if i'm wrong on this particular thread, let me know. i'm just not sure why this guy was dismissed/attacked so quickly; the right question, which was finally asked was: What are your temps? When doing what? but before this was asked, people were already slamming this post. i don't get it.

on the other hand, he still hasn't posted his temps. ???

EDIT: temps posted! thanks.

 

[iZero]

if i'm wrong on this particular thread, let me know. i'm just not sure why this guy was dismissed/attacked so quickly; the right question, which was finally asked was: What are your temps? When doing what? but before this was asked, people were already slamming this post. i don't get it.

on the other hand, he still hasn't posted his temps. ???

EDIT: temps posted! thanks.

You're not wrong. When I originally asked what his temps were in order to assist better, I genuinely wanted to help. I never meant to be offensive or come off as attacking the OP in any way personally. Things just sometimes get a little heated when others (not the OP) get involved and start trying to say that a laptop working as it was designed to work/at temps it was designed to work at, hinted at inferior quality, thereby misinforming and misleading others, including the OP who might seek/want answers.

I'd love to give the OP a more detailed and full answer regarding his temps, but with the blah blah blah reasoning and not wanting to hear why or how the quad cores get warmer doing similar tasks, just that they are warm and thus problematic automatically, I suppose it's not necessary to spend the time helping. But if I mistook that signal, I'd be happy to help, as would others, explain how and why, the quad core and new GPU get warmer doing the same/similar tasks.

 

[brentsg]

So doing the same job the GPU gets 10 degrees hotter and the fan spins 68% faster. Its the same task but the new computer gets warmer and makes more noise. Now, as a layman I would expect the new fancy sandy-bridge bla bla bla computer to be able to run WoW on low graphics settings without ever lifting an eyebrow. Instead it gets hot and noisy. And dont tell me it's because it has more power an bla bla bla. The task is no different from the one I challenge the old MBP with. But still the new one gets hotter.

As someone else posted, the 2 machines are not doing the same thing . As-is the faster machine will render the same scenes in game at a much higher framerate simply because it can. It's doing much more work.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Here is the real issue be it they are running hotter than previous models well they should you simply have a much bigger engine in the body. Regardless of that they real issue here is there is no base line with stuff hanging off the sides of these things. What is not being reported is what do you have ATTACHED to it. Mine stripped down to laptop ONLY my idles is about 46C. Now as soon as i connect my NEC 30 inch monitor , 2 Firewire hard drives and USB and USB port plus audio than my numbers go higher to 60 C to be exact. This is NORMAL all this stuff attached generates heat just put your hand on the port side of your MBP it is very warm. All that current creates heat. The problem we hear is no one is saying what is attached to there MBP when reporting temps. Just my monitor alone is creating a 10C rise in temp.

I contend we have to be real careful on what numbers we are reporting without mentioning what is attached. I had a 2010 I7 core bought last year and YES it was cooler in temp 45C with all the same stuff attached. This is a COMPLETELY different machine. Its twice as fast and speed creates heat.

No doubt maybe some units are above the base line or running very warm but fans are designed to cool and they will kick on and stay on until the temps recede . This is NOT laptop anymore this is basically a desktop in a different package and with a smaller package it will create heat. My believe is if you are in the lower than 60 at idle no matter what you have attached you are within spec, some will run cooler than that because of less heat generating hardware to the unit.

These units are designed under load to ramp up with heat but more important ramp up the fan speed to keep it from getting to hot , so seeing 6500 rpm fan speeds is normal for a time until the unit settles back down the temps. Now if it is NOT doing that than you have a issue but it will run full bore fan speeds until it drops down in load and heat . Thats what the fans are there for. End of the day or bottom line this is no longer a laptop but a desktop replacement. This thing is beating up some MacPros with speed, with that comes heat.

 

[edever]

I fail to see ...

Your lack of vision is your problem. How many of the devices in question have been sold/are in use? And how many of the people who own them post on meesageboards bitching about "build quality"? And how many of them are actual issues and not attention whores?

Why don't you come on here and present some quantifiable "build quality" scale that relates heat dissipation and noise generation to cost, instead of the same tired subjective claptrap? Show me where it says "laptops costing more than X dollars should only generate X dB of noise, or the build quality suxx0rs."

Seriously, if someone isn't happy with the device they bought, they should just return it.

 

[nebulos]

note: i was writing my response as the OP was posting his temps, and so on.

@iZero: i thought you asked exactly the right question: What are your temps? When? that's what i was saying. i can also understand then not wanting to help someone that is blah, blah, blah-ing you preemptively. ... at the same time, people were being writing him off initially, which is maybe why.

@McSad: (see above) ... after a rocky start, people are now trying to help you. mark28, brentsg offer some good insights. it sounds like, given your temps, and their comments, your machine might be normal. (though i dont know games.) since i yelled at other people about forum-quality control, i hope you'll take their advice seriously and maybe settle this question for the record. ... they are also right in saying that starting a thread with this title, based only on your machine, is destructive to forum quality.

i really need a life.

 

[iZero]

i really need a life.

No, you're really being helpful After so many of these identical threads, people who post and hang around here a lot start to just... have them run together. While this may be new for the OP, others of us have seen it time and time again, so rather than realize the OP is new to it, we just naturally react sometimes. No one means to be offensive, of that I have no doubt.

Good on you for keeping things on track

 

[daneoni]

Ok here goes: I played WoW on my girlfriends MBP and on my new MBP with the same videosettings here are the iStat numbers

MBP core 2 duo 2,66 GHz, 4 Mb RAM
Fan speed: 3700
CPU temp 82
GPU temp 65

MBP i7 2,2 GHz, 4 Mb RAM
Fan speed 6200
CPU temp 86
GPU temp 76

So doing the same job the GPU gets 10 degrees hotter and the fan spins 68% faster. Its the same task but the new computer gets warmer and makes more noise. Now, as a layman I would expect the new fancy sandy-bridge bla bla bla computer to be able to run WoW on low graphics settings without ever lifting an eyebrow. Instead it gets hot and noisy. And dont tell me it's because it has more power an bla bla bla. The task is no different from the one I challenge the old MBP with. But still the new one gets hotter.

Two completely different architectures with different power draws. How they go about handling tasks will NOT be the same. You must also remember that the CPU and integrated GPU are on the same die in one of the machines therefore as CPU temps go up so will the GPU (even if you're only using the discrete card) and vice versa.

 

[Al Coholic]

naturally, your MBP will make more heat,

Why should this be a "natural" assumption?

 

[iMacDragon]

I've been able to consistently get my 15" macbook to freeze solidly in os x, if I run a handbrake encode and then play portal at same this, this seems to overload the system.

BUT, doing even worse under windows, does not cause it to lockup, instead the CPU starts throttling itself heavily down, so I suspect something in OS X is not currently coping properly, or stopping the CPU throttling itself.

 

[McSad]

Maybe try to limit the FPS and see what the temps are then.

I suspect the ATI 6750 is running on maximum power still and putting out alot of FPS causing high temperatures ( and so the fans are spinning at maximum speed to keep the temperatures down )

edit: So maybe check the FPS in WoW. If it does 200 fps, then I'm pretty sure the problem is what I described and a simple fix is to limit the FPS to 30 or 60 for example.

Actually the FPS wasnt higher than 60 at max.

The title of the thread is actually something I thought about before choosing to be provocative. I think it's important that ppl know that buying a new expensive computer doesn't automatically mean that you can run your old games in stealth mode. I would have thought so, but experienced otherwise - and from looking at different forums I can see I'm not the only one.

Somebody said: return the computer. I dont know the rules of purchase in you country, but in mine you cant just return stuff and get your money back - sadly.

Since I can't stand the noise I have decided to sell my new MBP. If this thread can help other ppl to decide whether to buy a new MBP, then I'm glad. I wish I had seen a thread like this one before I spent all that money.

I understand there is a technical explanation to the difference in temperature. As a layman I just didn't foresee that such a problem could arise, when I chose to pay that extra cash to get a more powerful computer.

Sadly, I bought the extra power in order to prevent having problems with noise.

 

[vincenz]

You can't have everything. Muscle cars aren't known to be quiet and cool...

 

[iZero]

Somebody said: return the computer. I dont know the rules of purchase in you country, but in mine you cant just return stuff and get your money back - sadly.

Where are you from? If you've made up your mind to get rid of it because of noise, that's perfectly fine But if it's less than 14 days old, you can return it to Apple, no questions asked, and with no restocking fee. (at least in the U.S., but I have heard in other places too...)

 

[LunaC]

When I run e.g. world of warcraft on my new 2011 macbook pro 15" with 2,2 GHz i7 processor the computer gets VERY hot and the fan becomes VERY noisy.

So does my 09' C2D 2.8, that is to be expected to maintain the temps. Small package, big power = cooling problem

 

[brentsg]

Sadly, I bought the extra power in order to prevent having problems with noise.

That's backward logic. More power is largely the result of far more transistors, plus the new turbo mode that tries to convert any thermal/energy envelope that's available into additional work.

The result of all this is going to generate additional heat.

 

[Coburn]

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If youre running WoW on the lowest settings to reduce noise, have you tried forcing the 3000 on while you play (with gfxcardstatus, etc)?
This night just make the CPU even hotter, though but at least you wouldnt be using the dGPU.

 

[Manacit]

oh so now it's fair to compare a $500 laptop to a $2000 one? What happened to Apple's "fantastic" build quality
hmmm interesting

You completely miss my point. The Asus is a tenth as powerful (1000 geekbench), but gets just as hot, if not hotter. If that's not build quality on apple's side, I don't know what is.


Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

 

[chrono1081]

Then return it and buy an older MBP. Its getting a little tiresome to see these threads every day. There's a tradeoff between power and heat, naturally, your MBP will make more heat, and thus the fans will spin faster. If you can't handle that, just return it.

+1 These threads are getting extremely old.

-New computers = faster processors
-Fast processors = more heat
-More heat = more fan speed to cool the processor down

This means everything is working FINE. If your macbook pro was overheating, which its not, it would shut down.

Honestly all of these "overheating" threads should go straight to the wasteland.

 

[CraiginPA215]

Just wondering how people are defending the thousand dollars their mac costs now since build quality is obviously out as a factor

Cognative dissonance? People, without realizing it, want to justify their purchases to themselves even if alternatives have become less different than prices.

 

[neteng101]

Honestly all of these "overheating" threads should go straight to the wasteland.

Agreed - but it certainly would help a ton if Apple did use premium heatsink compound and implemented much better QA to ensure proper application of thermal paste. As in the temperatures can be improved somewhat by better manufacturing standards. Hopefully someone from Apple is out there listening and taking notes.

 

[blue22]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_6 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E200 Safari/6533.18.5)

If youre running WoW on the lowest settings to reduce noise, have you tried forcing the 3000 on while you play (with gfxcardstatus, etc)?
This night just make the CPU even hotter, though but at least you wouldnt be using the dGPU.

Yeah, for the OP, have you tried running WoW with the dGPU turned off to see if that helps at all?

Agreed - but it certainly would help a ton if Apple did use premium heatsink compound and implemented much better QA to ensure proper application of thermal paste. As in the temperatures can be improved somewhat by better manufacturing standards. Hopefully someone from Apple is out there listening and taking notes.

+1; are you listening Apple?!

Also, for the adventurous/gutsy, one might want to take a look at this weblink if they want to investigate and address any potentially excessive thermal paste applied to their MBP's:

(Credit to Fr4c for this teardown thread image posted above)

 

[DarwinOSX]

Is it really so much to expect a laptop that costs $2000+ dollars to actually function without melting through your table?

Hyperbole much?

The laws of physics still apply.

The thermal paste on Macs is fine. People going on and on about that don't know what they are talking about. Or they want to sound like they do. or they want attention. Take your pick.