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The real deal on the Aluminum PB and heat

CaptainCaveMann

CaptainCaveMann

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2004
1,518
0
Whats the real deal with the heat "issues" in the current PB line? Is it a problem? Id like to know from the people who own PB's and anyone else who knows about the heat problems powerbooks have had in the past. Are these issues no more? Have they been resolved? :confused:
 
I have a 12" Rev C and it is fine. Yes, it definatly gets warm, but "warm" is the key word. It is not hot, it is not to the point where it can burn you or melt metal... It doesn't get any hotter than my dad's IBM Thinkpad. Sometimes when you have it on your lap you do work up a sweat, it is actually a bit bizarre. It is a great computer though, don't let heat issues bother you. The 12" is supposed to be the worst, and it really isn't any worse than most laptops out there.
 
My 15.2" PB G4 gets pretty toasty, not nearly as hot as a P4, but warmer than a Centrino processor.

It's enough to want to move it around on your lap on occasion, but definitely tolerable.

I was impressed with mine, it only warms up when pushing it, if you're just typing a document, or browsing the net, it's not bad at all.

The thing that blows me away is the total and complete silence with wich the new PB's operate....they're a thing of beauty.
 
yeah, the powerbooks got heat, enough to even slightly burn you in some cases, but thats really the only problem. the machine runs great other than that. lol, I actually got my finger slightly burned by my powerbook a few days ago, it was funny, I kept showing the burn mark off :p "hey look, my powerbook burned me!" :cool:

lol, anyway, the majority of the heat comes out the bottom and back, mainly around the area where the processor is located (back center), and as long as you are not sitting naked with the powerbook on your lap, its bareable, and sometimes nice during those cold nights. ;)
 
CaptainCaveMann said:
Yea but isnt heat a bad thing?
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The location of the heat is probably more important. I use Temp monitor with my 15" PB, and the processor rarely gets over 60 (Celcius). The aluminum conducts the heat, so yeah, the bottom of the PB gets hot, but actually this may be beneficial to the processor if it is acting to conduct the heat away.
 
The PB is basically designed as one big heat sink, so it does get hot but on the plus side it's a quiet little machine. There are internal sensors which monitor the temperature to make sure nothing overheats so I wouldn't worry about it too much, just know that there are fail safes in place. Just heed the warning about using the PB's on your lap for long periods of time if you want kids! ;) :p
 
Well what im thinking is.. Apple spends millions of dollars and a lot of time with very highly edjucated engineers designing a product such as the powerbook. So im sure if the pb gets hot its easily within tollerances.
 
CaptainCaveMann said:
Well what im thinking is.. Apple spends millions of dollars and a lot of time with very highly edjucated engineers designing a product such as the powerbook. So im sure if the pb gets hot its easily within tollerances.
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I agree 100% here. The fact that Apple is holding out on the powerbook G5s becuase they know they will not be able to be in a safe range on heat anytime soon just shows they take this seriously. The would rather lose the sales on a product than release something defective.
 
Westside guy said:
My 15" AlPB (1.25GHz) basically doesn't have any heat issues. It gets warm, but no where near any sort of discomfort level. When the house is cold, it actually feels kind of nice. :D
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I agree. It's like a cuddly teddy bear ;)
 
My 1st gen 17" pb gets so hot you can't touch the bottom with your hand... the fan kicks in when its been running on a confined surface. I think the newer models don't have such an issue, but if buying used its something to consider.
 
I have never gotten my 12" PB rev C hot enough to make me pull my hand back when I touch it (top or bottom). Then again, I grab and hold onto steel pipes that have been laying out in the sun (summer time). Now that is hot!
 
I have had too many P4's that are like cr2sh mentioned, hot enough to do serious damage, so my PB really isn't that bad.
The Centrino is one of Intels best inventions ever.

My power book gets warm, don't get me wrong, but nothing like the P4's.
I had one Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 laptop running a P4 2.0 that got hot enough to warp the bezel around the screen. That's scary if you ask me.....
 
my 15inch is not bad at all actually...ive heard people talk about them being hot but i dont think its really that hot personally :cool:
 
I have a brand new 15" powerbook. i'm typing on it right now. The machine does get hot but it takes a good hour or so of working on it with the bottom confined. If it were at its hottest and you had it on your bare lap it wouldn't burn you but it would make you sweat. I like to work on mine while I'm in bed and I usually have the covers between it and me so it is fine. Again, it is never painfully hot... I can always hold my hand on the hottest part without being in pain.
 
paul84043 said:
The thing that blows me away is the total and complete silence with wich the new PB's operate....they're a thing of beauty.
Click to expand...

That's good to hear, the fan noise of my 15" Ti powerbook is the only thing I don't like about it, that and sometimes the CD drive spins so loud I think the thing is going to fly off the desk!
 
My 17" gets warm, but it doesn't get hot. If you want something hot, buy an Acer. Their power bridges are on of the main causes of global warming.
 
Mine is not bad at all... a bit toasty if I'm doing serious work, but it's always been comfortable - and as someone else mentioned, sometimes kind of nice ;-)
 
i have the current 12" it gets warm but not hot. the only times that it gets hot was when i ran folding at home for the first time (never again) and when i play simcity4 with it sitting on the sofa rather than a table.
 
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