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cooling between old and new macbooks

MacBH928

MacBH928

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 17, 2008
9,167
4,193
I have a 2008 macbook core2dou which runs hot probably running anything at all, loke crazy hot with fans going nuts.

I used my friend's macbook pro which he bought few months ago and while I was watching a 20 min flash video on gamespot I noticed it was much cooler than my macbook. in fact it seemed just as cool( or hot) as my macbook being idle.


did they fix the heat issue on new models or what?
Any one care to comment?
 
kingmohd84 said:
I have a 2008 macbook core2dou which runs hot probably running anything at all, loke crazy hot with fans going nuts.

I used my friend's macbook pro which he bought few months ago and while I was watching a 20 min flash video on gamespot I noticed it was much cooler than my macbook. in fact it seemed just as cool( or hot) as my macbook being idle.


did they fix the heat issue on new models or what?
Any one care to comment?
Click to expand...

You can get duds or individual machines with too much thermal paste applied. Aside from that, provided that the machines are unibody, their cooling system remains exactly the same between generations.

Of course, if your computer gradually became a heat monster, it could be that you have some detritus or dust clogging your air intake pipes. Worst case scenario is that one of your fans is broken, making the other one work extra hard.

Check the design of the unibody's cooling system here.
 
but where is the air intake?
I know it blows out air from behind behind/bottom of the screen, but thats about it.

And how would I know if 1 of my fans is broken?
I think there is more than meets the eye, maybe his processor is cooler?
 
Like you say I reckon your processor/graphics card probably has to go harder than his to display a youtube video which leads to the heat

edit: meant flash video
 
You are sure it was Flash? Maybe you watched an HTML5 embedded h264 video stream which has better options to be accelerated by the GPU. And decoding a video by the GPU causes less heat than letting the CPU do the work.
 
If you haven't done it recently (or ever:eek:), your computer would almost certainly benefit from a good clean-out. Dust collected in the fans and around your heat-generating components can make things extra toasty. But you can only get so far. Playing a 720P flash video on my macbook is giving it all it can handle.

My 2008 aluminum Macbook CPU temp hovers around 140-150F under light duty, while my 2011 15" MBP will stay in the 100-110F range doing the same stuff.
 
Most of this is due to the newer processor being able to do more with less work. The harder your processor is working the hotter it will get.Another thing to look into are the giant threads about thermal paste.
 
Your machine is over four years old and likely the cooling system needs a good clean out as dust tends to clog the heat-sync `s over time I have just replaced both fans and cleaned up my own Early 2008 15" MBP and the temperature and fan rpm`s have dropped.

Also the newer machine does not have to work so hard to deliver the same result, my own 2011 2.4 i7 will hardly break sweat, while it`s older sibling from 08 will be literally boiling trying to perform the same task, newer machines are far more powerful, have cooler running CPU`s, and are in general far better engineered to deal with high temps.
 
Apple has had a problem for years with sloppy assembly when it comes to application of thermal paste. They haven't done anything but deny this issue and print acceptable temps far higher than other laptop brands. Their backup, is software written to shut down the machine when temps get hot.

Any laptop built as thin as the unibody MBP, with little room to circulate air, and minimal venting is bound to run very warm to hot.

Here's but just a few, of the many examples (only from this forum) including pictures. Many people like myself have re-done the job the way it's supposed to be.

Each time the temps are lowered successfully and heat, the enemy of electronics is greatly reduced.

We pay a premium price but get below premium assembly quality. Only Apple can get away with this.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1105643/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1040296/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/199840/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1124320/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/953343/
 
Not worth the hassle; The impact will be negligible at best say in the region of 5C and this is debatable as has been previously discussed. The thermal compound is definitely a key component of the cooling system, however the real life difference between various compounds is minimal at best, just adding up to a few degrees one way or the other.

Those that report a significant reduction in operating temperatures are likely seeing the vast majority of the benefit from the removal of dust from the cooling system; fans, heat-sync `s etc, more care in the application sealing tapes from the fan bodies to the heat sync `s etc. This in general is never brought to the table as most are simply excited by the perceived transformation in temperature of their Mac, due to the reapplication of the thermal paste.

I recently had to replace both fans in my Early 2008 15" 2.5Ghz Penryn MBP, this and cleaning out the heat-sync`s has brought the machines temperature and fan RPM`s down. Especially with older Mac`s unless for some reason you have monitored, documented the operating temperature and range from new it`s clearly difficult to benchmark any change accurately several years down the line, as you can see it can be very easy to asume that by replacing the thermal paste a tremendous difference can be obtained in operating temperatures.
 
bozz2006 said:
If you haven't done it recently (or ever:eek:), your computer would almost certainly benefit from a good clean-out. Dust collected in the fans and around your heat-generating components can make things extra toasty. But you can only get so far. Playing a 720P flash video on my macbook is giving it all it can handle.

My 2008 aluminum Macbook CPU temp hovers around 140-150F under light duty, while my 2011 15" MBP will stay in the 100-110F range doing the same stuff.
Click to expand...

well, I am not going to replace the thermal paste as it looks too dangerous , but I will try the cleaning the fans thing .

I will also get one of those cooling usb boards, most people agree it works
 
So I did clean the fans which had something like a thin layer of sand on them.

Fans got quoted a bit, it's not crazy loud , heat looks the same but the fans run lower.

For example I used to get 75c with fans like 5200rpm
now I still get 75c but fans are like 3414rpm ... so quitter fans but not cooler cpu

I guess a cooling board is necessary
 
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