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i5 - i7 noticable heat and fan noise thread. The concensous is >

jbouklas said:
Returned my 11" i7 a few hours ago. At least with my machine, it wasn't an issue with indexing, since my CPU usage was consistently under 10% while it was getting hot.

I think the reason there aren't more complaints about this is that not many people are getting the 11" with the i7 due to the cost, and it's only been out for like two days. But I expect more people to talk about it in the next week or two.
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Good to know, thanks.

Did you exchange it for something else?
 
macgrl said:
I'm looking at getting a i7 mba and am slightly worried now about the overheating. If there is an issue with the 13 inch i7 how long does it take for apple to fix this in the manufacturing process or if it is a Lion issue to release an update based on previous problems?
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Because of the 5 people claiming their machine is "too hot"? Without posting screenshots? And of course it better to ignore the people who post screenshots that it rubs quite fine? Yup, plenty to be worried about.
 
I have absolutely no problems with my 13" i7. Dead silent all the day, no heat.
 
entatlrg said:
Good to know, thanks.

Did you exchange it for something else?
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Today I'm going to order the 11" i5 with 256GB SSD as a replacement (unfortunately they don't have this one in the store). Don't want to have to worry about filling the 128GB when I use it.
 
If heat is a concern, why not put something under the laptop to solve that issue? Like a notepad? The battery life on the i7 is awesome now btw.
 
I have the 13" I7 and previously used a 2010 13". BOTH machines would get warm to the touch in the upper left right above the keyboard. The new machine is just as quiet as the 2010 machine - I haven't heard the fans at all yet.

My main interest between the I7 I have and the I5 is battery life - anyone have any idea what the effect on battery life might be?
 
Apple Expert said:
Ok guys I've got an update for you all. So all morning I've been testing the i7 and i5 that we have here. Here is what I found it. The i7 runs an average about 5-10 degrees warmer than the i5. I did the same exact test using the same exact app. When I opened all the apps at once, they opened at the same time. The only time where I noticed a difference in speed was when I was export high resolution wallpapers from iPhoto. The i7 was a tad faster by 1 image. Loading webpages say no difference. Copying large movie files, the same. Now keep in mind I'm judging by the human eye and I don't have a radar gun to tell me how fast they really real. Out of 4 reboots including cold starts they were the same expect once. The i7 just won by a tad. Maybe a second....maybe. There you go guys, hope this information helps you out. For those who think other wise, I've included a proof of both machines.
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:cool:.............:eek: Maybe I should just swap for an i5 then since I paid for the SSD upgrade that I don't really need just so I can have the i7 but this is going to make me second guess myself even more :(
 
i have a 13in i7 and over the past couple days this is my experience:

When i do normal web browsing with some downloading and file transferring my fan is off and my computer is cool. When i am watching video on the web browser my fan goes on slightly but is still cool and when i watch HD downloaded video for 30 min to an hour, my fan gets pretty loud but it is effective in keeping my computer cool which i like. Then shorty after turning off the video the fan goes back to being silent.
 
Obscurelight said:
:cool:.............:eek: Maybe I should just swap for an i5 then since I paid for the SSD upgrade that I don't really need just so I can have the i7 but this is going to make me second guess myself even more :(
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If you need the speed, then keep the i7. Like I said, it's a tad faster. But not that much faster. I've already boxed up the i7 and using her i5. I've yet to see any huge loss of speed. I did notice that PS on importing 50 high res photos, that the i7 wins be an easy 2-3 seconds.
 
Apple Expert said:
If you need the speed, then keep the i7. Like I said, it's a tad faster. But not that much faster. I've already boxed up the i7 and using her i5. I've yet to see any huge loss of speed. I did notice that PS on importing 50 high res photos, that the i7 wins be an easy 2-3 seconds.
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Did you buy both the i7 and i5 knowing you'd keep only one, or are you going to purchase a replacement i5 for yourself? On the 13", the Core i7 is much less of an issue even on CPU-intensive tasks because the 1.7GHz Core i5 has a higher turbo boost than the 1.6GHz on the 11".
 
Apple Expert said:
If you need the speed, then keep the i7. Like I said, it's a tad faster. But not that much faster. I've already boxed up the i7 and using her i5. I've yet to see any huge loss of speed. I did notice that PS on importing 50 high res photos, that the i7 wins be an easy 2-3 seconds.
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Yeah if it's only a tiny bit faster I don't think I can justify the $400 markup, after all even running a bit hotter will consume more electricity and if the speed isn't all that much different, I'll be the i5 will save a bit more electricity and I'll have $400 back in my pocket. I don't really do any hardcore computing but I originally thought maybe since the i7 is better there will be less stress on the processor, heat and battery overall but now that I see that there is barely any difference it seems like a much less attractive option. I'm not much of a data hog either, I have 950gb free in my 1TB iMac
 
KPOM said:
Did you buy both the i7 and i5 knowing you'd keep only one, or are you going to purchase a replacement i5 for yourself? On the 13", the Core i7 is much less of an issue even on CPU-intensive tasks because the 1.7GHz Core i5 has a higher turbo boost than the 1.6GHz on the 11".
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I bought the i5 for my wife and the i7 for myself. I originally went to the apple store to buy both i5. However me always wanting the maxed out version, i went i7 knowing that it can run hotter and battery drain faster. Kind of regret it now. So I boxed up the i7 set to exchange it for the i5. I don't do any heavy processing task. Photo editing will be the most, and I'm sure the i5 can handle it easily. It appears to at least.
 
Thanks Apple Expert and jbouklas. Think you saved me some time and grief. 5 - 10 degree's cooler is enough to make me want the i5.

Going to be a 13" i5/4/256 and 11" i5/4/256 for this household.

This time for fun I'm going to try and make the 11" my 'main machine' along with a 27" ACD. i5 should be quite capable running Fusion/win7 too.

Always have my Mac Pro at the office but right now my office of choice is sitting in my backyard on the coast of Georgian Bay, MacBook Air excels there :)
 
Apple Expert said:
I bought the i5 for my wife and the i7 for myself. I originally went to the apple store to buy both i5. However me always wanting the maxed out version, i went i7 knowing that it can run hotter and battery drain faster. Kind of regret it now. So I boxed up the i7 set to exchange it for the i5. I don't do any heavy processing task. Photo editing will be the most, and I'm sure the i5 can handle it easily. It appears to at least.
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Do you think you'd be charged a restocking fee for the exchange of an open box?
 
Apple Expert said:
I bought the i5 for my wife and the i7 for myself. I originally went to the apple store to buy both i5. However me always wanting the maxed out version, i went i7 knowing that it can run hotter and battery drain faster. Kind of regret it now. So I boxed up the i7 set to exchange it for the i5. I don't do any heavy processing task. Photo editing will be the most, and I'm sure the i5 can handle it easily. It appears to at least.
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By the way, did you notice any difference in battery duration between the two?
 
what sort of fan speeds are you guys getting when they are "loud" without there being any great cpu use but there is heat
 
It sounds more like people are buying the i7 without actually needing the i7 in the first place. Anyone needing the extra performance will buy it regardless of any extra heat. No matter what CPU you use it will always generate huge amounts of heat in the Airs when under load. Most people using their Airs are using it as an expensive netbook anyway.

Gamers will most likely get the i7 for the higher GPU clocks regardless.
 
macgrl said:
what sort of fan speeds are you guys getting when they are "loud" without there being any great cpu use but there is heat
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With Safari, Mail, iTunes and iCal i was about 150 degrees. Fan would be about 4k rpm. I had the i5 and i7 open with 4 Safari tabs. Two yahoo home pages, man and you tube. Each website loaded the exact same time on both computer. While idling the i7 always ran about 10-15 warmer.
 
Apple Expert said:
With Safari, Mail, iTunes and iCal i was about 150 degrees. Fan would be about 4k rpm. I had the i5 and i7 open with 4 Safari tabs. Two yahoo home pages, man and you tube. Each website loaded the exact same time on both computer. While idling the i7 always ran about 10-15 warmer.
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Forgive my ignorance but is that hot for what you were doing? sounds hot to me

What are "normal" temps for doing such things?
 
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