13 Inch Macbook Pro - How Hot is Too Hot?

[HappyDude20]

I've had my unibody 13inch Macbook Pro for close to 2 weeks now and for the first time it's getting really hot.

I've been running SmcFanControl, currently I think at the maximum at 6200 RPM and my Macbook Pro is at 176*F. It's very warm on the bottom and unlike the whitebook I used to have, the aluminum seems to easily transfer the temp. to even where my palms rest while I'm typing. It's not hot where I type, but warm, yes.

How hot is too hot?

Is the fact i'm blasting the fans at full speed contributing to the temperature?
Maybe back off the high fan speed? 4000 RPM at the highest or something?

 

[Shaduu]

I'm not sure what temperature would be considered overly hot, but I've noticed the temps on the CPU and heatsinks peaking at 97°C.

What you have to remember about the unibody design is that not only is it intended to be strong and sturdy, but also to aid heat dissipation, hence why the bottom case and palm rest will occasionally get a bit toasty.

In regards to fans, if I'm doing something graphics- or CPU-intensive then I've seen the fans up at 4200RPM without the aid of SMC. Also, the only effect of having the fans up that fast would be that the computer stays cooler, not hotter.

My advice would be to disable SMC and do the things you normally would when you see these temps while running Activity Monitor. If you see a certain process hogging all the CPU, that'll probably be one of the contributing factors to your temps.