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15" rMBP cooling

N

noiseordinance

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 12, 2012
249
8
I couldn't find this via search, so my apologies if this has been asked ad nauseum. I'm curious if anyone has trying a cooling pad / stand for the 15" rMBP? This thing gets mighty hot when playing games. Any thoughts?

PS - Haven't done the thermal paste swap, but I plan to.
 
Yeah, if you regularlly preform intensive tasks on your MacBook a laptop cooling pad is a worthwhile investment to cool it down significantly. They only cost about $30, so there's really not much to lose :)
 
Actually, still curious, as I'm seeing a thread or two that says Macbook coolers do absolutely nothing to decrease temp. I find that hard to believe though. Has anyone used any cooling solution on their rMBP and found positive results?
 
noiseordinance said:
Actually, still curious, as I'm seeing a thread or two that says Macbook coolers do absolutely nothing to decrease temp. I find that hard to believe though. Has anyone used any cooling solution on their rMBP and found positive results?
Click to expand...

Mac laptops vent through the hinge area, which is why most coolers do nearly nothing to help.

Most PC laptops the coolers are designed for have multiple vents on the underside, whereas your laptop does not.

Your mac can cool itself just fine, it simply feels hotter to the touch than most computers because the body of the laptop acts as a giant heatsink, that is all.
 
noiseordinance said:
Actually, still curious, as I'm seeing a thread or two that says Macbook coolers do absolutely nothing to decrease temp. I find that hard to believe though. Has anyone used any cooling solution on their rMBP and found positive results?
Click to expand...

The cooling pad itself allows for free air movement around the bottom of the laptop, and the fans suck the hot air away from the bottom of the laptop. Cooling Pads may not be quite as effective at cooling down MacBooks as they are Windows based laptops, however they still help to significantly decrease temps. Besides, you can buy some cooling pads that are designed specially for MacBooks. And the retina MBP does have vents on the bottom.
 
mrsir2009 said:
And the retina MBP does have vents on the bottom.
Click to expand...
DSC_7482.jpg


That looks more like the sides than the bottom to me, besides, most coolers have fans smack dab in the middle of them, where the retina MBP does not have vents, so my point still stands.
 
snaky69 said:
That looks more like the sides than the bottom to me, besides, most coolers have fans smack dab in the middle of them, where the retina MBP does not have vents, so my point still stands.
Click to expand...

I would argue that if there is heat being dissipated to the chassis of the computer that is detectable to the touch (and in the rMBP's case, a LOT of heat), then cooling said heat is effectively cooling the system, as mrsir2009 said. It's simple physics. For instance, if you have a hot cup of coffee, and you point a fan at the ceramic cup, it might not be the most direct way to cool the coffee, but it cools it nonetheless.

I'm just curious if anyone has had any experience with a cooler they were particularly fond of. I've found some great reviews, but people report their laptops sliding off, or not fitting, etc. Does anyone have any experience using a cooler for a 15" Macbook? Particularly the retina model.
 
noiseordinance said:
I couldn't find this via search, so my apologies if this has been asked ad nauseum. I'm curious if anyone has trying a cooling pad / stand for the 15" rMBP? This thing gets mighty hot when playing games. Any thoughts?

PS - Haven't done the thermal paste swap, but I plan to.
Click to expand...

This is the best cooling pad I have seen for a Classic Mac Book Pro laptops. Not sure if they have one for a Retina Mac Book Pro's. Check it out its called The Tilt!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/themadminds/the-tilt-multimedia-stand-for-the-macbook-pro

http://www.themadminds.com/
 
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best idea? get 2 120mm fans, put them standing up on the sides of your rmbp, make a cone of paper or whatever material you want and direct the flow to the rmbp side vents.

this is the best cooler for your rmbp.
 
noiseordinance said:
I would argue that if there is heat being dissipated to the chassis of the computer that is detectable to the touch (and in the rMBP's case, a LOT of heat), then cooling said heat is effectively cooling the system, as mrsir2009 said. It's simple physics. For instance, if you have a hot cup of coffee, and you point a fan at the ceramic cup, it might not be the most direct way to cool the coffee, but it cools it nonetheless.

I'm just curious if anyone has had any experience with a cooler they were particularly fond of. I've found some great reviews, but people report their laptops sliding off, or not fitting, etc. Does anyone have any experience using a cooler for a 15" Macbook? Particularly the retina model.
Click to expand...

For best convective heat removal, you want flow across the surface, not pointed straight towards it. It's simple physics.;) ( just poking fun)

Most coolers have a fan, straight into the middle, flowing air perpendicular to the surface, thus they are not very effective with a computer with no vents on the bottom.
 
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Mr MM said:
best idea? get 2 120mm fans, put them standing up on the sides of your rmbp, make a cone of paper or whatever material you want and direct the flow to the rmbp side vents.

this is the best cooler for your rmbp.
Click to expand...
I was thinking that before actually. Not sure how good it'll do though.
 
Mac-Tech said:
This is the best cooling pad I have seen for a Classic Mac Book Pro laptops. Not sure if they have one for a Retina Mac Book Pro's. Check it out its called The Tilt!
Click to expand...

This.

They recently created one for the Retina MBPs, but all of their stock is sold out at the moment. Here is the link to their website with more info.

Edit: They are creating one for the rMBP, and it will be available when their next iteration of the Tilt is released in 2013. Until then, the Tilt is not available for purchase.
 
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GNC9IQ/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001GNC9IQ&linkCode=as2&tag=overhmacsolut-20
noiseordinance said:
I'm just curious if anyone has had any experience with a cooler they were particularly fond of. I've found some great reviews, but people report their laptops sliding off, or not fitting, etc. Does anyone have any experience using a cooler for a 15" Macbook? Particularly the retina model.
Click to expand...

This cooling pad is a good, affordable option, in my experience. It has rubber grips on it to stop the laptop from sliding off, and it sucks air away from the laptop, rather than blowing it towards (this is more efficiant because the hinge vent blows air out, so you don't want the cooling pad blowing it back in.)
 
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Mine sits vertical in a bookarc in clamshell mode. It has plenty of air circulation in all planes. No problems...and minimum desktop space used.
 
Just for FYI, I was messing with CPU / GPU stress testing this morning and monitoring results with Coretemp and MSI Afterburner (in Windows 7). By simply elevating the backside of the laptop an inch, CPU temperatures were reduced by 5C, though GPU was fairly unaffected (1C decrease). Aiming a small fan in the general direction of the laptop dropped another 2C off the CPU. Obviously this isn't the most scientific approach, but it seems likely that any combination tilt / fan cooling option will help.

I'll reply to this once I got a cooler and do some tests.
 
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