Hot MacBook Pro!

[Chiuy]

My MacBook Pro 13" 2011 gets pretty hot, up to 85°C while doing normal stuff. Such as surfing, ichat, skype im, and picture view.
I assume the fan will spin faster as the laptop gets hotter? But I guess not, even at like 190°F, the fans still spin at 2000RPM.
Then I downloaded SMCFan and crank it up to 5000RPM.
It dropped 50 degrees cooler.

Shouldn't the MBP original fan detector or whatever be able to detect whether the MBP is getting too hot so it turns on the fan faster? But I have to download a program to manually tell the comp i want the fans to spin faster.
And is this normal to go up to 85°C while doing normal stuff?
Laptop was on my wooden desk table. Room temperature is around 70°F with AC on. It's understandable if it gets up to 85°C if room temperature was like 110°F outside, but this wasn't outside. hmm...

Just wondering if this is normal or not.

 

[th3goob]

mines the same way, mine got so bad that i was getting nonstop kernel panics. mine at one point reached 197F then i got smcfancontrol cranked it up to 6200rpm and now my computer is super cool

 

[trent0n]

My MacBook Pro 13" 2011 gets pretty hot, up to 85°C while doing normal stuff. Such as surfing, ichat, skype im, and picture view.
I assume the fan will spin faster as the laptop gets hotter? But I guess not, even at like 190°F, the fans still spin at 2000RPM.
Then I downloaded SMCFan and crank it up to 5000RPM.
It dropped 50 degrees cooler.

Shouldn't the MBP original fan detector or whatever be able to detect whether the MBP is getting too hot so it turns on the fan faster? But I have to download a program to manually tell the comp i want the fans to spin faster.
And is this normal to go up to 85°C while doing normal stuff?
Laptop was on my wooden desk table. Room temperature is around 70°F with AC on. It's understandable if it gets up to 85°C if room temperature was like 110°F outside, but this wasn't outside. hmm...

Just wondering if this is normal or not.

I dont use any fan control apps and mine works just fine...sounds like a damn swamp cooler though. I have the same laptop

did your fans ever kick on high before you downloaded SMC?
I would think that problem would have started AFTER you started using it.

 

[GGJstudios]

My MacBook Pro 13" 2011 gets pretty hot, up to 85°C while doing normal stuff. Such as surfing, ichat, skype im, and picture view.
I assume the fan will spin faster as the laptop gets hotter? But I guess not, even at like 190°F, the fans still spin at 2000RPM.
Then I downloaded SMCFan and crank it up to 5000RPM.
It dropped 50 degrees cooler.

Shouldn't the MBP original fan detector or whatever be able to detect whether the MBP is getting too hot so it turns on the fan faster? But I have to download a program to manually tell the comp i want the fans to spin faster.
And is this normal to go up to 85°C while doing normal stuff?
Laptop was on my wooden desk table. Room temperature is around 70°F with AC on. It's understandable if it gets up to 85°C if room temperature was like 110°F outside, but this wasn't outside. hmm...

Just wondering if this is normal or not.

Your Mac is not overheating. The Intel processors used in Macs are designed to automatically shut down to prevent damage if they truly overheat (around 100C/212F - 105C/221F, depending on your processor). iStat Pro will give you accurate readings of your temps, among other things.

Unless there is a rare defect in your Mac, your temps are well within the normal operating range, considering the workload you're putting on it. Websites with Flash content, games and other multimedia apps will put higher demand on the CPU/GPU, generating more heat. This is normal. If you're constantly putting high demands on your system, such as gaming or other multimedia tasks, expect temps to rise and fans to spin up accordingly. It's just your Mac doing its job to maintain temps within the normal range.

Your fans are always on when your Mac is on, spinning at a minimum of 2000 rpm (for MBPs) or 1800 rpm (for MBAs). They will spin faster as needed to keep temps at a safe level. They won't spin up if you have spikes of high temps, but will if high temps are sustained for an extended period of time. If they don't spin faster, it's because sustained temps haven't yet reached the point where the system determines faster fans are necessary. If fans are spinning up without increased heat, try resetting the SMC. Also, make sure you don't block the vents, which are located at the rear, near the hinge.

 

[Rectified^]

Your Mac is not overheating. The Intel processors used in Macs are designed to automatically shut down to prevent damage if they truly overheat (around 100C/212F - 105C/221F, depending on your processor). iStat Pro will give you accurate readings of your temps, among other things.

Unless there is a rare defect in your Mac, your temps are well within the normal operating range, considering the workload you're putting on it. Websites with Flash content, games and other multimedia apps will put higher demand on the CPU/GPU, generating more heat. This is normal. If you're constantly putting high demands on your system, such as gaming or other multimedia tasks, expect temps to rise and fans to spin up accordingly. It's just your Mac doing its job to maintain temps within the normal range.

Your fans are always on when your Mac is on, spinning at a minimum of 2000 rpm (for MBPs) or 1800 rpm (for MBAs). They will spin faster as needed to keep temps at a safe level. They won't spin up if you have spikes of high temps, but will if high temps are sustained for an extended period of time. If they don't spin faster, it's because sustained temps haven't yet reached the point where the system determines faster fans are necessary. If fans are spinning up without increased heat, try resetting the SMC. Also, make sure you don't block the vents, which are located at the rear, near the hinge.

While this may be true, it is definitely not nominal behavior. While the 80C temps may not cause an emergency shutdown the fans should definitely be revved up to help lower the temp. A laptop with a core at 80C is sizzling hot, to the point where using the keyboard even when it's on the desk is unpleasant.

Honestly it's probably just a software bug. If smcFanControl works just use that. You can instruct it to use different fan speeds for different temperature thresholds.

As for the cause, Skyping and web camming in general tend to chew up significant CPU, and that may be why it is heating up in the first place.

 

[GGJstudios]

While this may be true, it is definitely not nominal behavior. While the 80C temps may not cause an emergency shutdown the fans should definitely be revved up to help lower the temp. A laptop with a core at 80C is sizzling hot, to the point where using the keyboard even when it's on the desk is unpleasant.

Honestly it's probably just a software bug. If smcFanControl works just use that. You can instruct it to use different fan speeds for different temperature thresholds.

As for the cause, Skyping and web camming in general tend to chew up significant CPU, and that may be why it is heating up in the first place.

It's not a bug. Temps of 80C are quite normal, given the apps that the poster is running. Websites with Flash content and multimedia apps will drive temps higher, and 80C is well within the normal operating range, even if it may feel uncomfortable to some.

 

[windowstomac]

My new MacBook Pro gets pretty warm, but not as hot as the creaky Windows PC it replaces, and the only time I have heard the fan is, for some reason, when using iPhoto (strange as more intensive apps like iMovie don't seem to phase it. Where I live (Portugal) it is getting up to nearly 40degC right now, so it is doing rather well I think!

 

[Nails1]

While this may be true, it is definitely not nominal behavior. While the 80C temps may not cause an emergency shutdown the fans should definitely be revved up to help lower the temp. A laptop with a core at 80C is sizzling hot, to the point where using the keyboard even when it's on the desk is unpleasant.

Honestly it's probably just a software bug. If smcFanControl works just use that. You can instruct it to use different fan speeds for different temperature thresholds.
As for the cause, Skyping and web camming in general tend to chew up significant CPU, and that may be why it is heating up in the first place.

Dumb question: how do you set smcfancontrol to automatically adjust fan speed for different temp thresholds? I have never seen that option. I would love to be able to set the fan speeds to auto depending on temps.

 

[8CoreWhore]

I run SMC Fan Control at minimum 2500RPM... then if the temp is crawling up, I set the RPM higher... always staying ahead so the temp never gets too hot.

OS X keeps the RPM's too low, then the temp get's out of control.

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

 

[fattire357]

well I just officially burned my chest by watching a movie with my MBP on my chest.

Not that I really care, it feels more like a sunburn than anything else, but honestly, the idea that 80C is a normal temperature for watching movies is just nuts.

 

[dsio]

well I just officially burned my chest by watching a movie with my MBP on my chest.

Not that I really care, it feels more like a sunburn than anything else, but honestly, the idea that 80C is a normal temperature for watching movies is just nuts.

Not really, check the temps normal desktop high end GPUs run, 100+ C is quite common on load.

I'm playing games at 90c with it on my lap, underside is only 36c. The logic board and heatsink are isolated to a reasonable degree from the chassis. If you're getting burns, it is likely that either the thermal interface between the CPU and heatspreader is not great, or that the heatsink is not effective, which could mean it's being blocked or is caked with muck and dust.

 

[Blondie :)]

keep in mind that he said he is using ichat. If he is doing video calls on a regular basis, I can definitely see his computer getting that warm. Whenever I use skype, my computer always heats up rapidly until the fans turn on at 80-85C

 

[RyeMN]

My computer gets very warm when watching netflix and such, the fans go crazy but it's bearable.

It's normal though for it to get that hot, like said before if it's really bad the computer will shut off.

 

[vipergts2207]

OP, try resetting the SMC. I previously noticed my computer getting hotter than usual. I would only be running safari and it would be at 75 C. After resetting the SMC my temps were back to normal. It's at 57C now.