iBook Help

What are you doing on the machine? Are you working it very hard? In particular, are you working the hard drive very much? Something like a file sharing app can make the temperatures rise as it constantly reads and writes to the hard disk.

Well, there's a hack you can install to use clamshell mode on an iBook but I strongly recommend you don't, particularly if you're finding the machine's running hot in normal mode. A lot of the iBook's heat is dissipated through the keyboard so the clamshell hack can sometimes cause the iBook to overheat.

Having said that, it can be perfectly safe if you don't do anything too intensive.

 

Another possible reason for your iBook heating up could be the surface you're using it on. If it's on your bed or some other "soft" surface this could be preventing it from cooling properly. That's at least the case with my PowerBook.

 

53 Degrees is completely normal for an ibook, right now mine is running at at 54 and I only have safari, ichat, and itunes open. The ibook (mine at least) works fine when I use it occasionally in clamshell mode, no overheating at all. If youre worried you can leave the ibook opened a crack, to let the air move through.Hot is in the 60's, I would only be worried if it got to High 60's and low 70's.
The ibooks CPU has thermal protection, so if it gets too hot it will go to sleep.

Edit: Also I wouldn't call it an "Emergency fan". The fan going on is completely normal

 

Also, for the majority of users, Virex is completely unnecessary.

 

Yeah, I found it eating 10-19% of my CPU too.

 

Another deciding factor is the number of peripheral devices on the USB and Firewire ports. When I have my FW audio interface, USB hard drive and keyboard going, the CPU averages high 50s, sometimes reaching the 62˚ish area where the fan kicks in if I'm running a many programmes or a big one like Max/MSP.

However, if I've got none or just the HD going, it'll stay around 51-53˚. The FW port is the most heat-generating, it would seem.

The bit about P2P is right, I had to turn Azureus off while I was ripping CDs just now, as the temperature reached the high 60s. Glad to hear there's some protection, smart Apple.