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Can we get one thing clear?

ThirtyThr33

ThirtyThr33

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 13, 2011
278
1
Boulder, Colorado
Dear MacRumors,

It seems almost every single post I read people say MacBook Pros have an overheating problem. Can we please establish that "overheating" and "getting hot" are two different things? Overheating is when the Mac gets hotter than it can handle and will immediately shut down. The MBPs do get hot but they were built to get hot. You can't have a ice cold powerhouse laptop being air cooled in such a thin design. Don't get mad at Apple, get mad at physics.

Thank you
 
There really should be a sticky that says "READ THIS BEFORE POSTING ABOUT OVERHEATING" or something along those lines. I know that between all the members with true knowledge we could solve this in one sticky.
 
zwodubber said:
There really should be a sticky that says "READ THIS BEFORE POSTING ABOUT OVERHEATING" or something along those lines. I know that between all the members with true knowledge we could solve this in one sticky.
Click to expand...
Absolutely, yes! My 2010 MBP doesn't get hot very often. But then again, it's dual core, not quad core.

While this may be off topic, we could use a SSD buying guide sticky. Half the threads in this section of the forum are "What SSD should I buy?" Stickies on heat and SSDs would make life a little bit easier.
 
I think the confusion comes from the temps that other older laptops used to run at. For example, I have a Pentium M Dell that does nothing but crunch for Einstein@home. It is set for 100% CPU utilization and it never goes about 75c. It's usually around 68-69c.

It has been under load 100% of the time for the last 2 weeks.

To top it off, it's a 12" ultra portable.
 
I got my new 15" MBP yesterday and, although, I have not pushed it very hard yet mine doesn't get that hot. My idle temperatures are about 50c and overall, thus far, it feels cooler than the 2007 13" MacBook it replaces.

I was afraid it would always be really hot after reading so many threads on it but that's not the case for me at least.
 
I've never said that mine overheats, hot yes (rare) but never ever ever has my 2011 mbp 2.2ghz hr anti-glare gotten overheated. Yes I know grammatical errors.
 
OP you are 100% correct...

The only thing that would have improved this thread though is if you had made your title clear so there was a chance someone coming here about over heating issues might have actually read this thread.
 
A lot of people also forget that if your laptop is getting uncomfortably hot you probably shouldn't have it sitting on something like your lap, a blanket or a carpet. There are also cooling pads you can get that will blow cool air onto your laptop while you're using it (even if you're using it on the couch). They are a viable solution and that's why I have three of them in my house.

Anything using a lot of power will get hot. Well said OP.
 
Instead of having to buy 3 cooling pads, why don't they just design them to be a little thicker or with better ventilation but not get too hot to use on the lap?
 
tdurden12 said:
Instead of having to buy 3 cooling pads, why don't they just design them to be a little thicker or with better ventilation but not get too hot to use on the lap?
Click to expand...

Because the design team wants everything thinner and lighter, I'm sure the engernrring team wanted it a quarter inch thicker for more room inside. Same reason cell phones don't have bigger batteries.

If you have a C2D, download CoolBook and undervolt your CPU. Lower temps and longer battery life; it's the only software I've ever paid for, so that should say something about how much I like it. I also got a second license for my girl friend's MBP; it's worth much more than the $10 the guy charges for it. I have a 13" and most of the time my temps are below 50*(47*-48* is average) with Chrome Canary, Transmission, iTunes, Word/Pages, and all my background apps open.
 
DWBurke811 said:
Because the design team wants everything thinner and lighter, I'm sure the engernrring team wanted it a quarter inch thicker for more room inside. Same reason cell phones don't have bigger batteries.

If you have a C2D, download CoolBook and undervolt your CPU. Lower temps and longer battery life; it's the only software I've ever paid for, so that should say something about how much I like it. I also got a second license for my girl friend's MBP; it's worth much more than the $10 the guy charges for it. I have a 13" and most of the time my temps are below 50*(47*-48* is average) with Chrome Canary, Transmission, iTunes, Word/Pages, and all my background apps open.
Click to expand...

This.

Also, because we use multiple laptops and I never want to use a laptop without one. It increases performance by a lot. It's just like apple to care more about aesthetics than functionality. That's why we love them so much, but it comes at a price.
 
sporadicMotion said:
I think the confusion comes from the temps that other older laptops used to run at. For example, I have a Pentium M Dell that does nothing but crunch for Einstein@home. It is set for 100% CPU utilization and it never goes about 75c. It's usually around 68-69c.

It has been under load 100% of the time for the last 2 weeks.

To top it off, it's a 12" ultra portable.
Click to expand...

Part of the confusion is people unwilling to read/search posts with similar issues, creating hysterical "My MB/MBP is overheating......" without taking the due diligence to properly research the cause.
 
Apple 26.2 said:
Part of the confusion is people unwilling to read/search posts with similar issues, creating hysterical "My MB/MBP is overheating......" without taking the due diligence to properly research the cause.
Click to expand...

That too. I don't think I'm part of any forum where this isn't an issue though.

Asking questions is good. Reading is even better. People, they can go hand in hand! :D
 
"built to get hot"? what are you saying?

like they sat down and try to achieve ridiculous temperatures that come close to shutting the system down when designing the unit?

they're built the way they are for other reasons and get hot as a result of that, they aren't built to get hot.
 
To be fair sometimes there are issues that some of us new to Mac guys don't understand and we start a post in a panic. Two examples: 1) after the 10.6.8 update my MBP jumped to 190 deg and my fans were screaming, I didn't start a post about over heating but a few did so I had a "fix" in a matter of minutes.

2) After I updated my Thunderbolt firmware I had the same issues, the login window was using 100 percent of the CPU and it got hot and fans were blasting, as usual someone else posted about it and had my fix in minutes again.

I can see where the OP is coming from, a quick scan of the forums will get you just about any answer you need.
 
I don't know why people just don't take it to the Genius Bar, call AppleCare, or (as many have said) go to the discussion forums and "ask" if something is normal rather than just assume otherwise.
 
my 15'' over heats mostly in the incase hard case, when its on my lap for excess amounts of time. Or when I am running photo shop and final cut and using flash.

but for basic web never ever!
 
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