How hot is too hot?

[greghearle]

I've had my alu macbook for just over a week now, and at the moment i'm handbraking a DVD...

i noticing that the fans are actually making a noise for once and near the exhaust outlet (ie the back) it's quite hot (but not burn-your-legs-PC-hot)... so i downloaded SMCfancontrol to see what the temperature and fan speed were like... the temperature was hovering around 81 degrees C (about 177.8 degrees F)...i decided to rest it on my lap rather than my desk to ventilate the bottom better and put the min fan speed on full... its dropped to about 68 degrees C.

Is this ok? How hot is too hot? Do i need a laptop stand or is that an unnecessary accessory?

Greg

 

[Italchef]

It sounds ok to me. I have a white macbook and sometimes when I'm converting or downloading the fan kicks in and it does run a bit warm on the bottom. I think you're within normal parameters but remember to try to keep the airflow open. Apparently the intake is through the keys so if you have a silicon cover on the keyboard it might cause problems but I don't think so.
Mick