Macbook pro and handbrake

[KevinRightWing]

I am having a lot of trouble trying to decide about buying a new mbp or the new imac. Currently, Handbrake is something that stresses the heck out of my 2.16 Core 2 duo macbook pro and that I use a lot. My mbp gets really hot when decoding. Question is: for those who have a current 2.66 or 2.8 unibody mbp, do the fans come on and the laptop get real hot whenever you use handbrake to rip a dvd?

Thanks!

 

[snaky69]

I am having a lot of trouble trying to decide about buying a new mbp or the new imac. Currently, Handbrake is something that stresses the heck out of my 2.16 Core 2 duo macbook pro and that I use a lot. My mbp gets really hot when decoding. Question is: for those who have a current 2.66 or 2.8 unibody mbp, do the fans come on and the laptop get real hot whenever you use handbrake to rip a dvd?

Thanks!

Normally, the newer macbook pro's should run a few degrees cooler, at best, using handbrake. It's a processor intensive process that requires both cores, whatever computer you use will generate heat, and a lot of it.

The fans can and will come on, they're there so your machine doesn't fry itself into oblivion.

 

[1rottenapple]

my 2.53 ghz 13in gets hot but like the above poster said handbrake is processor intensive. i know my old 15 inch nonunibody pro used to get hot but it was always like hot for what ever reason. amazing how the unibody macs don't have a lot of visible vents yet they are cooler than the old generation but more power

 

[Kirbdog]

I run HandBrake alot and was having the same debate as to whether or not to upgrade my iMac (I primarily ran HB on my iMac). My MBP and iMac both had Santa Rosa chipset in them. I upgraded my iMac to a 27" i7.
The difference is staggering. Re-encodes that took an hour are handled by the i7 in 15 minutes! It is an hefty price for the i7 but the power is worth it.

 

[ayeying]

My Core Duo doesn't get hot while running HandBrake. CPU never hits over 70 deg C even at 100% processor load and the fans never hit over 5000 of 6000 RPMs either.

 

[Pax]

If you are running a 2.16 C2D Macbook Pro (from 2006) the new ones are night and day in terms of temperature and fan noise.

The older MBPs used to get red hot, and the fans would be like a jet engine. The new ones run 10-15 C cooler and the fans, even at 4000+ rpm are really quiet.

So the whole handbrake experience feels much less stressful. You're hardly aware it's going on. Of course the CPU die is still pretty hot, but that would be the case with a super i7 or whatever, it would just be hot for less time!

 

[plasticphyte]

I am having a lot of trouble trying to decide about buying a new mbp or the new imac. Currently, Handbrake is something that stresses the heck out of my 2.16 Core 2 duo macbook pro and that I use a lot. My mbp gets really hot when decoding. Question is: for those who have a current 2.66 or 2.8 unibody mbp, do the fans come on and the laptop get real hot whenever you use handbrake to rip a dvd?

Thanks!

You're using an arbitrary term 'gets real hot'. Find out exactly what temps the computer is getting to when using Handbrake, and post back. You will probably find that the temps are normal.

Plenty of apps on the net that will monitor the temps for you. Check out iStat for a start.

 

[1rottenapple]

ruuning handbrake and the fan is at 1999 rpm, and the temp on cpu is 97 degrees

 

[gwsat]

ruuning handbrake and the fan is at 1999 rpm, and the temp on cpu is 97 degrees

Are you sure that the 97 degrees temp you saw was not the hard drive? According to iStat my 2.4Ghz MBP's hard drive temp is 97 degrees but the CPU's is 131 degrees. That's pretty standard on my machine. My fans almost always operate at a few RPM above or below 2,000. I have never checked the temps while running Handbrake but subjectively the machine did seem to get hotter than it does during less intensive operations. I am, however, running VMware Fusion 3 and Windows 7 in Unity mode. That's requires a lot of memory but I haven't been able to see any extra stress on the CPU.

 

[ayeying]

Are you sure that the 97 degrees temp you saw was not the hard drive? According to iStat my 2.4Ghz MBP's hard drive temp is 97 degrees but the CPU's is 131 degrees. That's pretty standard on my machine. My fans almost always operate at a few RPM above or below 2,000. I have never checked the temps while running Handbrake but subjectively the machine did seem to get hotter than it does during less intensive operations. I am, however, running VMware Fusion 3 and Windows 7 in Unity mode. That's requires a lot of memory but I haven't been able to see any extra stress on the CPU.

97 deg C not F..

 

[Pax]

If you are talking about CPU temperature, whatever portable Mac you buy today, the CPU will run at 90+C for CPU intensive tasks. Any Core2Duo and almost certainly and i3, i5, i7 in the future. Apple designs its fan control algorithm to keep the CPU at this kind of temperature. Apple and Intel are happy with that temperature, the CPU is rated up to 105 C. If you don't like it you'll have to buy a different computer, or download SMCfancontrol.

If you are talking about case temperature, the newer Macs are much cooler to the touch than the older MBPs even under heavy load. I think Apple used to use the case as part of the cooling system, but it doesn't any more.

I can handbrake with my 13 MBP on my lap, it gets warm to the touch but not unpleasantly so. CPU at about 95 C, fans at about 3000 rpm in a 20 C room.

 

[gwsat]

97 deg C not F..

97 degrees C converts to nearly 207 degrees F. As noted below, I have never noticed any component on my MBP gettting anywhere near that hot.

If you are talking about CPU temperature, whatever portable Mac you buy today, the CPU will run at 90+C for CPU intensive tasks. Any Core2Duo and almost certainly and i3, i5, i7 in the future. Apple designs its fan control algorithm to keep the CPU at this kind of temperature. Apple and Intel are happy with that temperature, the CPU is rated up to 105 C. If you don't like it you'll have to buy a different computer, or download SMCfancontrol.

105C converts to 221F, which is hot enough to boil water. Yikes! I have never seen the temp of any component on my MBP to get hotter than about 175F and never seen either fan run much faster than 2,000 RPM. That said, I confess I have never checked the MBP's temps while ripping and converting a DVD with HandBrake. I'll try to remember to do that the next time I use HandBrake.

 

[ayeying]

97 degrees C converts to nearly 207 degrees F. As noted below, I have never noticed any component on my MBP gettting anywhere near that hot.

105C converts to 221F, which is hot enough to boil water. Yikes! I have never seen the temp of any component on my MBP to get hotter than about 175F and never seen either fan run much faster than 2,000 RPM. That said, I confess I have never checked the MBP's temps while ripping and converting a DVD with HandBrake. I'll try to remember to do that the next time I use HandBrake.

That's fine. The Processor has a core temp of 105 deg C for shutdown. ~160 deg C is when internal damage occurs.

 

[Pax]

97 degrees C converts to nearly 207 degrees F. As noted below, I have never noticed any component on my MBP gettting anywhere near that hot.

105C converts to 221F, which is hot enough to boil water.... I'll try to remember to do that the next time I use HandBrake.

don't start looking at it, you'll only worry about it and join the "OMG my Mac is sooo hot" threads, and gradually go mad

Yes, 105C is hot enough to boil water, but it's not hot enough to damage the materials the CPU is made from. Temperature changes the transistors' electrical properties which is where the potential problems come from. It's more about the transistors misbehaving than the die being damaged.

The CPU in a car's engine management unit gets MUCH hotter than that (possibly up to 150 C). And sits there for hours and hours over decades. And none of us ever gives it a second thought.

Seriously, my advice is to delete any temperature measuring widgets and just enjoy your Mac, and try not to think about what's happening inside it! You'll only have sleepless nights.

 

[polaris20]

I was actually encoding to A-TV format last night from a DVD image, and my MBP13 was running 91c @ 3400rpm for the fans. Running SMCFanControl @ 4000rpm, the temp dropped 10 degrees. So I may end up doing that; running the fan higher when I'm doing Handbrake.

Other than that, the CPU never really gets that hot, and the fans never really need to spool up too terribly fast, even for Fusion, iMovie, or GB running multiple AU instruments.

 

[gwsat]

don't start looking at it, you'll only worry about it and join the "OMG my Mac is sooo hot" threads, and gradually go mad

You are preaching to the choir. I have run Apple gear for 7 years and every single piece of it has run from hot to very hot. Those who worry about such things should stay from the Apple brand. I agree with you that the Apple support forums, particularly, are filled with whining about why one Apple product or another runs hot.