Overheating with external displays
That problem is most likely because you do use VGA, and not DVI or HDMI I would imagine? You don't have an option to use either of those?
I notice that 10.9 is eating up a lot of gpu memory when using external monitor tb -> hdmi, and there is a noticeable performance difference between doing so, and just having the laptop alone. Now this is not the case under windows (technically there still is, but not in comparison).
I am wondering if others have similar issues, or if its tb - hdmi related
Yes I am definitely having this same issue, and it is the only issue I'm having, I live in hope that a Mavericks update will fix it because I have an external monitor I just can't use.
I currently have my 2012 rMBP plugged into an Apple Thunderbolt Display, and a 1080 monitor plugged into the macbook HDMI port. The Macbook is closed, so I just have the 2 external displays active.
Everything runs perfectly ( I need to close down photoshop every few hours, and MonoDevelop, but if I'm not running those Apps there are no slow down issues, and the macbook hardly ever gets rebooted )
...BUT.... If I open the Macbook then everything starts to heat up quickly, in about 2 minutes the fans are on full speed, and CPU throttling slows the machine down, the dock becomes unresponsive ( like wait 1 or 2 seconds for a click to register ) and when I run a temperature tool everything is super hot. Like 100 C
I've tried so many different options, like changing resolutions, using DVI/VGA Thunderbolt adaptors, a non reflective dock, even that new Thunderbolt HUB with its own HDMI port. Nothing makes any difference at all.
I've made a clean install of Mavericks onto a thunderbolt SSD, still the same problem.
I took the machine in to the Apple Store twice, they did some diagnostics and said the fans were all in order, but offered no solutions. They told me to try reinstalling OSX, so now I have done that I guess I'll go back to the Apple Store again.
Ideally, I want to use 3 external monitors and keep my macbook closed. I can buy another Apple Thunderbolt Display and daisy chain that if it will work, but I have no reason to expect it will work.
..can anyone confirm that they are able 2 use 3 external displays ( or 2 displays and the macbook screen ) for more than a few minutes?