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How should I take care of my Macbook?

V

vikdane

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 26, 2016
8
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Hey there, Chris from Denmark here, pardon my English in advance...

Not long ago I purchased a brand new Macbook Pro (2015 model, 13', retina, 128 Gb, 8 GB Ram DDR3 etc). And I wonder how I should take best care of it.

A couple of questions...

1) Since the ventilation doesn't happen under it, is it OK to let it rest on your lab when using it? It can get quite hot..

2) I bought it for studies, but some gaming is fun! I can play a game such as Total War: Rome II on high settings without lag, but generally my mac gets quite hot and "noisy". Does playing games on my Mac drain its "youth" rather quickly compared to if I did not play games?

Any tips to keep my Mac staying fresh and fast and generally prolong its life will be appreciated.

Thanks

Sincerely

Chris aka vikdane
 
Just use it as you want. You have warranty now.

BTW, ventilation does happen under it. Intake slots on sides and exhaust by the screen blowing down and up. Try to keep these open.
 
Ventilation is now on the bottom at the sides so try to keep these clear.

Playing games will tax your system but should not cause any real problems, but if it's getting very hot maybe turn down some settings or cap the FPS to keep it a little cooler. one thing it will do is run down the batteryfast if playing without being plugged in, this can mean your battery dies a bit sooner with more cycles over a short period of time so game with it plugged in when you can.
 
yeah. try to keep those open but don't worry about the vents too much. Only if the fan goes loud to keep both top and bottom in the "air" until it cools down.
 
For general care of you rMBP use the microfiber cloth and a dap of water to clean screen and keyboard.
You should never use any cleaning solutions on the display.

As for you 1st question, its ok to have it on your lap, just dont block the air intake to much.
IF you use you mac in bed, have a book or something else with a good steady surface under so that the air intake will not be blocked by the duvet or anything else.

For the 2nd question, have fun, and if you are worried turn settings down.
I use some rubber blocks to raise my mac a little to provide a little better airflow when i game, not sure how much i helps but i feel better doing it:)
 
vikdane said:
Hey there, Chris from Denmark here, pardon my English in advance...

Not long ago I purchased a brand new Macbook Pro (2015 model, 13', retina, 128 Gb, 8 GB Ram DDR3 etc). And I wonder how I should take best care of it.

A couple of questions...

1) Since the ventilation doesn't happen under it, is it OK to let it rest on your lab when using it? It can get quite hot..

2) I bought it for studies, but some gaming is fun! I can play a game such as Total War: Rome II on high settings without lag, but generally my mac gets quite hot and "noisy". Does playing games on my Mac drain its "youth" rather quickly compared to if I did not play games?

Any tips to keep my Mac staying fresh and fast and generally prolong its life will be appreciated.

Thanks

Sincerely

Chris aka vikdane
Click to expand...
1)Yes.

2)No.

Your computer does not need any particular care. It's a machine, a tool, that is programmed to take care of itself better than you ever could. Just use it.
 
Thanks for your replies, guys!

Ok, so what I get from your answers; don't worry too much about the mac, it is designed to take care of itself. Be sure not to block the ventilations, maybe use a hard surface to raise the bottom up a bit when gaming so the vent can work 100%. Let it be locked into a powersource when gaming since it drains the battery rather quickly otherwise and thereby the number of cycles will get lower.

Now, one thing is what I feel as hot, another thing is how hot it really is. So another question:

1) is there a way to monitor the temperature of my MBP?

2) is there a limit for how high temperatures it can work under for a longer period of time before taking damage in the long run? F.ex. if I play games and it runs on lets say 85 degrees celcius for one hour - dangerous?

Thanks again!
 
vikdane said:
1) is there a way to monitor the temperature of my MBP?
Click to expand...
There is lots of ways, 2 i have used in the past is Istats Menus and SMCFanControl
Istats Menus allows you to see lots of stats about you system https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/
SMCFanControl allows you to see basic temperatures and set a fan speed https://www.eidac.de
I have used SMCFanControl to ramp up the fans before doing heavy task too cool the mac a little extra.

vikdane said:
2) is there a limit for how high temperatures it can work under for a longer period of time before taking damage in the long run? F.ex. if I play games and it runs on lets say 85 degrees celcius for one hour - dangerous?
Click to expand...
To my knowledge the mac can handle up to 105 degrees over a period of time, it is not recommended to run it that high all the time but it should not take any damaged from hitting it a little.
You will be perfectly fine within 85-90 degrees.

My advice will be to have a can of compressed air to blow dust out of the fans every 3 months or so (make sure you system is of while doing so)
 
vikdane said:
1) is there a way to monitor the temperature of my MBP?

2) is there a limit for how high temperatures it can work under for a longer period of time before taking damage in the long run? F.ex. if I play games and it runs on lets say 85 degrees celcius for one hour - dangerous?
Click to expand...

There are ways to monitor the temperature, but I suggest you don't worry about it too much.

The computer is designed to run rather hot when the CPU is taxed, so as long as it doesn't go over, say, 95 °C, it's completely normal and there isn't much you can do. It WILL get hot.

If you know you'll want to play games for longer periods of time, I'd suggest you get a stand or a cooling pad for your own comfort and peace of mind. Personally, I use Macs Fan Control and have my own rule set up - if the GPU gets hotter than 55°C, start ramping up the fan and hit max RPM at 85°C. Both feel a bit lower than default.
 
Toutou said:
There are ways to monitor the temperature, but I suggest you don't worry about it too much.

The computer is designed to run rather hot when the CPU is taxed, so as long as it doesn't go over, say, 95 °C, it's completely normal and there isn't much you can do. It WILL get hot.

If you know you'll want to play games for longer periods of time, I'd suggest you get a stand or a cooling pad for your own comfort and peace of mind. Personally, I use Macs Fan Control and have my own rule set up - if the GPU gets hotter than 55°C, start ramping up the fan and hit max RPM at 85°C. Both feel a bit lower than default.
Click to expand...

Cool I'll try the program (Macs Fan Control), could also solve some of the noise it makes when it is taxed. From where you recoment I download it from? Not a big fan of malware or other stuff
 
vikdane said:
Cool I'll try the program (Macs Fan Control), could also solve some of the noise it makes when it is taxed. From where you recoment I download it from? Not a big fan of malware or other stuff
Click to expand...

Don't try to control the fan speed. The fan is there to protect your hardware with software control. If you reckon your knowledge is better than Apple's engineer then go ahead and control the fan speed. The fan is noisy because you are stressing the machine! If you turn it down manually then you may be damaging the hardware.
 
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gngan said:
Don't try to control the fan speed. The fan is there to protect your hardware with software control. If you reckon your knowledge is better than Apple's engineer then go ahead and control the fan speed. The fan is noisy because you are stressing the machine! If you turn it down manually then you may be damaging the hardware.
Click to expand...
As far as i know you are not able to keep the fan speed below what the system wants to run it at, but you can set i higher.
i do not now if you can with Mac Fan Control, but so far i have not done it with SMCFanControl
 
- Careful carrying it around
- Careful where you set it down
- EXTRA CAREFUL when you have liquids around it. Don't keep liquids on the same surface, if possible. When drinking, keep the glass either to the left or right of yourself, turn to drink from it.
- Use a padded case to carry it around (even if the padded case is bulkier, one drop or bang is all it takes!).
- Careful when others are around. They may not exercise the same level of caution that you do!

My mid-2010 MBPro is still doing fine after 6+ years -- no dents, no scratches, no liquid damage!
 
vikdane said:
Hey there, Chris from Denmark here, pardon my English in advance...

Not long ago I purchased a brand new Macbook Pro (2015 model, 13', retina, 128 Gb, 8 GB Ram DDR3 etc). And I wonder how I should take best care of it.

A couple of questions...

1) Since the ventilation doesn't happen under it, is it OK to let it rest on your lab when using it? It can get quite hot..
Click to expand...

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the scrotal sack conundrum yet! :p

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-laptops-fertility-idUSTRE6A70G720101108

It's a 'maybe' on the 'does a laptop reduce a man's fertility when placed on the lap' question.

'Chris' can be a man's or woman's name so I don't know if this is relevant to you.
 
vikdane said:
1) Since the ventilation doesn't happen under it, is it OK to let it rest on your lab when using it? It can get quite hot..
Click to expand...
- Perfectly okay for general use. If you're going to be taxing it a lot like in games, keeping the fans on max and temperatures high, I would probably keep it on a table to ensure proper cooling and so as to not burn your thighs.

vikdane said:
2) I bought it for studies, but some gaming is fun! I can play a game such as Total War: Rome II on high settings without lag, but generally my mac gets quite hot and "noisy". Does playing games on my Mac drain its "youth" rather quickly compared to if I did not play games?
Click to expand...
- In theory, yes. In practice it won't matter much, and you should just use the machine for whatever you feel like.
 
Here's some tips to take care of your MacBook:

* Never wipe the screen with water or any cleaning liquids, just use the cloth that came with your MacBook until all residue gets clean off the screen.
* When wiping the aluminum body- use a damp paper towel (water) to wipe around the surfaces and make sure to not get any water in between cracks due to cloth being too damp.
* Keep your MacBook in a thick padding sleeve case and place the MacBook sitting in its closed form on top of a table. Never leave your MacBook standing in a slant word position for long periods of time.
* Never drink any open drinks near your MacBook, only drink liquids disclosed with bottle caps. Don't put drinks anywhere near your MacBook.
* Keep your MacBook plugged in as much as possible when convenient. This slows down the battery cycle count and keeps your battery life usage at its minimum.
* When carrying your MacBook in a backpack make sure no added weight is on your MacBook unibody, this causes the laptop to squeeze it's screen display and keyboard together thus leading to potential staingate issues. L
* Never leave your MacBook in too hot/cold of room temperature.

That's all the precautions I take with my bad boy. Cheers
 
What do you guys recommend for overnight? close lid and put it to sleep or shut down completely? Ive been mostly putting my macbook to sleep for years rarely turning it off.
 
x-evil-x said:
What do you guys recommend for overnight? close lid and put it to sleep or shut down completely? Ive been mostly putting my macbook to sleep for years rarely turning it off.
Click to expand...

If you're using it every day I would just put it to sleep. I power off when I don't think I will be using my MacBook for several weeks, just so the battery lasts as long as possible so when I open it up again it still has some juice left in it.

I never power my iMac down unless I have a problem.
 
I'd like to ask a different question. What do you guys so to keep your MacBooks software "clean"? Do you use a particular programme and run it every now and then?
 
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