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15" base considerably cooler than high end?

X

xas

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2011
15
9
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I'm about buying the 2011 15" Macbook Pro (my first Mac). I would like to get the 2.2 quad with better GPU, but i fear the GPU heats up Macbook considerably more than the base model - thus more fan noise. I would trade a bit less power for a more quiet Macbook. When doing normal things (web, office, watching movies, photoshop etc.) i need a quiet computer (the fan
speed should stay at 2000 rpm). Of course, gaming and rendering videos is a different thing. Can anyone tell me, if there's a difference between the base and high end 15" in fan speed (noise), when doing normal things or if the base 15" is consideraby quieter? Thanks!
 
sadly you can't get a bit less, the GPU in the 2.0Ghz is significantly less powerful then the GPU in the 2.2GHz
 
You can always turn off the fancy GPU in the high-end model, and use the same motherboard graphics as the low-end model, with this software. That's what I do, as I do not game or do anything else that needs the discreet GPU.

I am not saying that will affect the temperature much, though. It does save battery.
 
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Sorry for the double postings, my mistake.

Does the fan speed stays in the 15" 2.2 Ghz at 2000rpm when doing normal things? Or does it goes up and down?
 
xas said:
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Sorry for the double postings, my mistake.

Does the fan speed stays in the 15" 2.2 Ghz at 2000rpm when doing normal things? Or does it goes up and down?
Click to expand...

It stays at 2000rpm.
I also live in the tropics where the outside temp is ~28-38C so for people in cooler climates it should be even cooler.
 
I have the 2.2 - it's very quiet under normal office use and the heat is low.. However, when the fans kick in to cool the GFX card the laptop becomes too hot for use on skin and very loud.
 
Thanks! It seems that i will go for the high-end 2.2 Ghz Macbook Pro (and probably Hi-Res AG).

When watching video (VLC Player, Movist), is only the HD3000 GPU in use?
Any experience, if the fan at 2000 rpm is just as quiet as on previous Macbooks? (I know the late 2010 13" 2,4 Ghz Macbook Pro of my girlfriend, i love how quiet it is at 2000 rpm)
 
xas said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; de-de) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm about buying the 2011 15" Macbook Pro (my first Mac). I would like to get the 2.2 quad with better GPU, but i fear the GPU heats up Macbook considerably more than the base model - thus more fan noise. I would trade a bit less power for a more quiet Macbook. When doing normal things (web, office, watching movies, photoshop etc.) i need a quiet computer (the fan
speed should stay at 2000 rpm). Of course, gaming and rendering videos is a different thing. Can anyone tell me, if there's a difference between the base and high end 15" in fan speed (noise), when doing normal things or if the base 15" is consideraby quieter? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Fan speeds and noise levels are similar across all MBPs. The intel hd 3000 is quite cool compared to the 320m though in last years 13", but anything intensive will still ramp the speeds up. Normal use will always result in 2000rpm speeds, on any model, unless you lower it with smc.
 
shot2bits said:
I have the 2.2 - it's very quiet under normal office use and the heat is low.. However, when the fans kick in to cool the GFX card the laptop becomes too hot for use on skin and very loud.
Click to expand...

how noisy is the fan? does it bother you? i am strongly considering the 2.2 model, etc.
 
mdh95070 said:
how noisy is the fan? does it bother you? i am strongly considering the 2.2 model, etc.
Click to expand...

The 2.2 is my first mbp and I found it to be much quieter than I expected. It's damn near silent most of the time but when the fans kick in when I use iMovie or Lightroom it isn't too bad.

I also have a core2duo white macbook and the fans on that thing are constantly kicking in even during web browsing or when time machine is backing up and it sounds like a damn jet engine, much louder than this mbp.
 
mdh95070 said:
how noisy is the fan? does it bother you? i am strongly considering the 2.2 model, etc.
Click to expand...

As I say, under normal use the laptop is quiet and warm (but not hot).

But yeah, if I'm honest it does bother me.. For example, sitting next to my wife when she's reading and I'm playing Civ or more recently Portal 2 it's very noticeable indeed.

Depends on your tolerance for this type of noise - I replaced our XBOX to the quiet version because the background noise did bother me..
 
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