Do the fans & MBP itself react to outside/room temperatures?

[MowingDevil]

So granted its a fairly hot day today (37-40 degrees) in Australia...and my home doesn't have air...but why are my fans just screamin' at 6200rpm each? The computer itself even feels very hot below the keyboard on both sides of the trackpad and naturally that strip area above the kybrd....however according to iStat nothing really seems hot at all, yet the fans are pretty much maxed out. I switched over to the 9400 when I realized it was on the 96 and it didn't make a difference. All I was doing was surfing the net and watching a few YouTube vids, nothing to intensive.

So why would the fans be going so fast if the CPU or GPU aren't showing up as running hot? Is it just the environment temperature? ...and why would the computer's metal body feel so hot and not have anything on iStat show up as hot? Is the battery going to explode or something?

 

[kolax]

It'll be hot air that it is taking in - I've had the heating on when it has been really cold outside and the room temperature been at 25'C and I noticed my MBP was warmer than usual. But I'm surprised that the room temperature for you will cause that much of a difference - the max operating temperature for the MacBook Pro is 50'C.

What is the CPU load? YouTube (Flash) is CPU intensive, and in a hot environment I can see that causing the fans to speed up, but I'd expect them to be no more than 3500rpm.

I bet there is a process that is using 100% CPU load - whack up Activity Monitor and 'Show All Processes' and see what is what.

Also, make sure you aren't covering the air vents at the back (i.e. lying the MBP on your bed).

 

[MowingDevil]

Oops, I meant to upload this picture. It was weird, the computer being hot to the touch....iStat saying the internal temps were fine...the fans thinking otherwise. A very very hot day.

I was concerned about the air vents as there is a cloth table cloth that the comp in on....so I put the laptop up on a book to give it room for circulation and it didn't make a difference. A restart didn't seem to help but as the evening came & the temperature came down (coinciding w/ a bit of a tropical storm) the MBP returned to normal. Either it was some bizarre glitch or more likely it was the immense environmental heat yesterday. Damn global warming! ; )

 

[rukus]

move up here to canada.

 

[kousuke18]

Have you tried resetting the SMC?

 

[Ploki]

huh.
mine just spin up to 3,6K after one hour at 70 degrees?
and now its at 60 and its 2k again.

wierd.

 

[cherry su]

the max operating temperature for the MacBook Pro is 50'C.

Explain this to me:

199*F is around 92.8*C

This happened on the MBP in my sig

 

[Techguy172]

It'll be hot air that it is taking in - I've had the heating on when it has been really cold outside and the room temperature been at 25'C and I noticed my MBP was warmer than usual. But I'm surprised that the room temperature for you will cause that much of a difference - the max operating temperature for the MacBook Pro is 50'C.

What is the CPU load? YouTube (Flash) is CPU intensive, and in a hot environment I can see that causing the fans to speed up, but I'd expect them to be no more than 3500rpm.

I bet there is a process that is using 100% CPU load - whack up Activity Monitor and 'Show All Processes' and see what is what.

Also, make sure you aren't covering the air vents at the back (i.e. lying the MBP on your bed).

Yeah the max operating temperature is not 50 Degrees, I have my MacBook running above that constantly.

OP, Yes room temperature does make a difference, if it's taking in hot air how will it cool down?

 

[kolax]

Yeah the max operating temperature is not 50 Degrees, I have my MacBook running above that constantly.

Explain this to me:

199*F is around 92.8*C

Are you guys just trying to be smart asses?

Isn't it obvious I'm talking about room temperature and not the actual temperature of the internal chips? The maximum operating temperature must not exceed 50'C.

I thought it was obvious enough - since the OP was talking about really high air temperatures. But I guess we aren't all that bright...

 

[GGJstudios]

The maximum operating temperature must not exceed 50'C.

Link to that information from Apple? Here's all the Apple site says, indicating a recommended range, but nothing said about "maximum".

 

[kolax]

Link to that information from Apple? Here's all the Apple site says, indicating a recommended range, but nothing said about "maximum".

Well, my understanding of this would be:

Operating temperature:
Recommended: 10° to 35° C

Do you really think it would be wise to use a computer in an environment where temperatures will exceed 50'C?

 

[GGJstudios]

Do you really think it would be wise to use a computer in an environment where temperatures will exceed 50'C?

I'm not recommending running a MBP in such high temps. I'm simply trying to find the source of the statement:

"the max operating temperature for the MacBook Pro is 50'C."

Apparently you, not Apple, are the source.

 

[kolax]

I'm not recommending running a MBP in such high temps. I'm simply trying to find the source of the statement:

Apparently you, not Apple, are the source.

I remember reading it somewhere and can't find a source, but that "claim" is irrelevant in the discussion of this topic since I was originally suggesting that the room temperature he is using it in his pretty high, if not close to the maximum temperature (the questionable 50'C).

I'll do some digging, see if I can find any articles that actually bluntly spell out what the maximum operating temperature is.