How is that volume of air moving across the bottom?
EDIT: Screw this, I'm taking the bottom off of mine and get a proper picture.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Extreme heat when gaming? Simple fix :)
- Thread starter Young Spade
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
How is that volume of air moving across the bottom?
EDIT: Screw this, I'm taking the bottom off of mine and get a proper picture.
If the bottom plate is not attached to the computer, then the internals are exposed to ambient air ... We are talking about the same thing here right?
Okay, back. See the attached picture. This is my 13" MBP. I believe the 15" and 17" have two fans instead of one. Please note you are seeing the bottom side of the MBP, please also note all the gaps around the different components. From the back, the bottom side is separate and appears to be airtight from the top.
It appears that the fan is used to create a negative air space in the bottom side of the motherboard and the rest of the components. By removing the cover you are potentially changing the focus of that negative air space. That means you are taking air flow out of design specs and potentially creating hotspots across different components.
Yes you might lower your CPU spec 10c, but what good does that do you if you now have created a dead air zone around your battery, and it's not moving nearly enough air past it?
This is all conjecture. I am merely guessing, but you know what. Apple didn't guess. They probably had a team of engineers who worked solely on just airflow.
It appears that the fan is used to create a negative air space in the bottom side of the motherboard and the rest of the components. By removing the cover you are potentially changing the focus of that negative air space. That means you are taking air flow out of design specs and potentially creating hotspots across different components.
Yes you might lower your CPU spec 10c, but what good does that do you if you now have created a dead air zone around your battery, and it's not moving nearly enough air past it?
This is all conjecture. I am merely guessing, but you know what. Apple didn't guess. They probably had a team of engineers who worked solely on just airflow.
Attachments
Question!
The MBP uses the entire chassis (it's made of aluminum, remember?) to act as a heatsink for the components that heat up. By taking the bottom plate off, you're reducing heat on the chassis, but you're also effectively making the heatsink smaller, prompting (at least theoretically) more problems with the CPU itself overheating.
The MBP uses the entire chassis (it's made of aluminum, remember?) to act as a heatsink for the components that heat up. By taking the bottom plate off, you're reducing heat on the chassis, but you're also effectively making the heatsink smaller, prompting (at least theoretically) more problems with the CPU itself overheating.
Contradiction bolded.
In any case, the point I was trying to make is ... Laptop will run cooler with the cover off, something you have acknowledged.
Now, about all this dead space nonsense ... What does it matter at all? You've got a lot more ambient air and so the heat dissipated by the heat sink and fan doesn't just circulate within the unibody enclosure searching for an exit. In other words, with the cover off, the hot air dissipated by the heat sink exits the system much quicker than with the cover on.
In any event, I think we all know that the current design is good enough. After all, like you said Apple's design team has thought about it already, this argument started when a couple of pseudo intellectuals called OP silly for stating the obvious. I'm just saying that OP's claims are in fact accurate.
----------
You guys are funny, you all make bold claims but then put your "theoretically" and "potentially" disclaimers in quotations ...
This is common sense, the more access to room temperature ambient air, the faster the laptop will cool down.
You won't need your bottom cover to act as a heat sink because your ambient air is cooling your computer ... Downside of course is you risk damaging it rather quickly.
All I can think of when I look at this picture is just how much space that optical drive takes up...
I said might, not that I actually know. However I am taking what do know and applying it. The thing is you don't know either, but the team at Apple who worked on this does know and I'm sure they took all of this into the equation. Just give it up. You are in way over your head
I was thinking about this mod it would be perfect to cut the holes with the correct power tools. Yet to see it in action. I only hav the 2.0GHz Early 2011 macbook pro.....not the best gamer so i don't even use it for gaming other then a few of them i got from the macapp store an my laptop doesn't over heat either.
Look, Macbook Pro without bottom cover cools better than Macbook Pro with bottom cover.
I don't need to work at Apple to know this. I don't need a degree in fluid mechanics to know this anymore than you need a degree in electronics to know that touching a bare wire plugged to an outlet will electrocute you.
Some things are common sense, and I am honestly surprised how many people thought OP was wrong about his initial statement.
if your laptop is sitting on something not elevated, then it's not even gonna have much more airflow... and it's gonna lose a significant part of its heatsink! ><
Sorry, I didn't feel the need to state the obvious.
Of course it's going to need to be elevated to get proper access to ambient air, now it just seems like you guys have given up and are nitpicking lol.
Proof? (And it better be a thermal image of running a MBP with the lid off, vs one w/ the lid on...)
I'm not going to carry out your test to win an internet argument. If you see this you having 'won' then more grease to your elbows I suppose.
So you need thermal images before the laws of thermodynamics make sense to you?
All things being equal, in the presence of more ambient air, how does an object not cool down faster? What is your background? Finance? Lol
Why do you say you have more ambient air without the lid than with? How do you know?
just because there's more air doesn't mean it'll cool down faster, you know. Remember, Apple put thousands of man-hours into the heat dissipation design of these computers. It is entirely possible that the heat dissipation is better with the lid on.
However, as I did before, I reiterate that I have no real experience in this field and that I am approaching it from a logic standpoint.
FYI, my background is computers. My first computer was a VIC-20, my first drive was a cassette tape. I'm an IT guy. Mostly doing network maintenance, systems infrastructure, user support. I've been doing it professionally since 1994. I also working with a great group of coding guys. A small group who do Ruby, then another who are predominantly Delphi programmers. I tinker but am not that good myself.
I am however fairly well versed in hardware design and had the pleasure of working with a colleague for a short time on the Cyrix heat issues. Their design was inherently flawed and he identified it a full year and a half prior to anyone else. My company settled a lawsuit for a large sum, which I am not allowed to discuss beyond that. That was 1997. How about you?
Last edited:
Well with that resume, I am surprised that you don't see this more clearly.
As for mine, I am an Electrical Engineer and currently work in cooling system controls for locomotives (mostly their radiators).
probably the most useless and crappiest thread Ive seen.
When I saw the title, I clicked with a curiosity.
Now I want that time back.
You know why there is a bottom plate right?
Its to protect the internals.
Thats basically like ripping half of crabs shell, wanting others to eat it.
Taking the bottom plate off and using it is just asking for trouble.
When I saw the title, I clicked with a curiosity.
Now I want that time back.
You know why there is a bottom plate right?
Its to protect the internals.
Thats basically like ripping half of crabs shell, wanting others to eat it.
Taking the bottom plate off and using it is just asking for trouble.
No one is saying it's a good idea to take it off.
We're arguing whether or not it cools the computer better. Completely different.