If you are concerned about heat/fan noise, go 2010 or wait for Ivy Bridge

[entatlrg]

Thanks. I don't know that there is a huge problem with heat, either--but I do know the fan speeds have been increased, that the TDP increased, and that Ivy Bridge will have a die shrink...so I thought some sensible, measured advice was in order.

There are people who clearly aren't having any issues, and everyone's tolerance/appetite for heat and fan noise is different--if you are happy with your 2011 MBP, I am delighted for you. Truly. And if you are posting about your results, and what you find in your instance is that your 2011 machine runs cool--that is also wonderful.

You've been very fair with your posts! I think some get a little jumpy, because around this time every year, the web gets chock full of posts that exist purely to scare people, telling new users that perfectly normal temps are "dangerously hot" and "failure is imminent" and their laptop will be "melting the ozone layer"... Your post was very fair. You talked about the noise of the fans IF it gets hot, and the actual, numerical rating changes that may or may not affect people. And you're correct, if those things will bother a prospective buyer, it's best they look elsewhere perhaps for their needs

All in all, yours is about the best thread regarding heat thus far. It's really the only fair one, I think. You never try to scare anyone, you simply inform them. And are open to others having different experiences. Good on you

+1, great post and good info on both your parts.

 

[jedics]

17 inch appears to run cooler vs 15

went into the store, they only had a stock 17 to test so I loaded smc and played a HD mp4 1280x544 1.4gig movie.

in a room in the low 20 c's
idle after 5 min was 33 c
movie playing after 10 min was 40 c
fans never over 2000rpm

My old 2.4 core2 idles at 50 c + I ran the same movie in the mid 70 c 's and fans up to 4000rpm.

Very impressive but does the 15 perform as well, in previous mbp's the 17 has larger fans and heat sync so the new ones are likely the same.

can anyone confirm the temp differences, not that Id ever buy a 17, to big to carry.

Noise is a HUGE issue for me as I do music and have been reading a heap about sandy bridge, only realized now that they use 10 watts more power, surprising as the cpu is 32nm and therefore more efficient.

 

[Exana]

• Core i7 Sandy Bridge (full 32 nm) in MacBook Pro 2011 : Quad Core.
• Core i7 Arrandale (32 nm CPU + 45 nm IGP/mem contoler) in MacBook Pro 2010 : Dual Core.

All have HyperTreading.

Center : Sandy Bridge all in one using 32 nm
Right : Arrandale (CPU is the smaller square part in 32 nm, big part is the HD Graphics and memory controler 45 nm)

 

[SpindianaJones]

Can someone please tell me if I'm ok.

 

[jj.maclean]

Can someone please tell me if I'm ok.

Mine seems to idle around the same, although my HD is a bit cooler. Do you have an SSD? That said it doesn't take much to get it to jump up to 50/60s, but that's seem normal enough right?

 

[mgartner0622]

Can someone please tell me if I'm ok.

Your CPU idle is lower than mine... I have an i5 2010.
All your other temps are perfectly fine.

 

[grahamnp]

I have a 2008 C2D that is running a Handbrake transcode now at 97 C. For the Sandy Bridge models to be so much more powerful and run cooler (excluding the ones with improperly applied thermal paste), seems like a decent deal. That's just my point of view I guess. My brother has a first gen i5 and that never breaks 75 C and the fans dont even run at full speed at that temperature so if you're coming from that, I can understand how the new temps are frustrating.

 

[wct097]

FYI, my temp is still idling between 35-40*C with my fans running right about 2k RPM in my 2011 2.2ghz MBP. Don't have a 2010 to compare to, but heat & fan speed really isn't an issue unless you're running it hard, in which case you probably need the speed more than you need a cool/quiet laptop.

 

[jedics]

FYI, my temp is still idling between 35-40*C with my fans running right about 2k RPM in my 2011 2.2ghz MBP. Don't have a 2010 to compare to, but heat & fan speed really isn't an issue unless you're running it hard, in which case you probably need the speed more than you need a cool/quiet laptop.

What are your ambient temps for that, not much use for reference without that info.

 

[dnakad]

Help, Ilva!

mbp 2011 15" idle at 39° and after 8hour of rendering with all core at 95-100% with Adobe After Effect, he went at 87°, got it 3 days ago and i never reboot the machine, i'm trying to use it a maximum on the refound periode (14 days in france)

Ilva!

I need to speak to you, I am also running After Effects renderings with new 2011 MBP 8gb ram, hi-res screen, 256GB SSD, but Im experiencing mad fan speed at 6200 rpm when just doing a simple 3 sec RAM preview inside of After Effects...

Most of the people commenting are not actually using all the cores as we do, therefore they never stress the CPU enough, but for people like us, working within the VFX industry, rendering is all we do, and yes, I do own a Mac Pro, but for remote work the macbook pro is a must. On the 2008/2010 models the fans never went wild, it got hot, yes, really hot, but the fans... they didnt bother me at all.

I believe this has to do with the TurboBoost & Hyperthreading, surely there must be a way to turn it off, no fun working with a vaccum cleaner..

I have ordered a replacement, will get it by Friday, I really hope its a hardware issue, but Im almost certain its not...

Ilva, please tell me your situation!

 

[wct097]

What are your ambient temps for that, not much use for reference without that info.

68-72*F. Was running VMWare Fusion today so I could run Visual Studio under Windows 7. Heated up a bit there to ~60*C, but the fans never spun up enough for me to notice. I think I saw them still turning at 2krpm at that time.

 

[iZero]

Ilva!

I need to speak to you, I am also running After Effects renderings with new 2011 MBP 8gb ram, hi-res screen, 256GB SSD, but Im experiencing mad fan speed at 6200 rpm when just doing a simple 3 sec RAM preview inside of After Effects...

Most of the people commenting are not actually using all the cores as we do, therefore they never stress the CPU enough, but for people like us, working within the VFX industry, rendering is all we do, and yes, I do own a Mac Pro, but for remote work the macbook pro is a must. On the 2008/2010 models the fans never went wild, it got hot, yes, really hot, but the fans... they didnt bother me at all.

I believe this has to do with the TurboBoost & Hyperthreading, surely there must be a way to turn it off, no fun working with a vaccum cleaner..

I have ordered a replacement, will get it by Friday, I really hope its a hardware issue, but Im almost certain its not...

Ilva, please tell me your situation!

Just out of curiosity, what size is your MBP? I work in a different industry, though with the same program, and a few others that are rather CPU intensive. I utilize all the cores on my 17inch when I use it for work, and it never gets hot/loud, as I've posted earlier. I also posted a comparison with my 2010 17 inch, doing the same tasks side by side, they stay within 4-5 degrees of each other, and the fans never get loud or anywhere near max RPM. I'm very curious lately as someone else posted similar comparisons between their 15 inch 2010 and 15 inch 2011 side by side, getting the same result as me, they are 100% identical more or less, under the same loads as far as temps and fans. Do you by chance use a 13 inch?

If you use a 15 or 17 inch, perhaps you just have a hardware issue and the replacement will address it Because for some of us, we're not experiencing the issues at all, even at long periods at 100% cpu usage!

 

[psychedelia]

MBP, 2011, 4GB RAM, 2.3GHZ.

With Google Chrome (13 tabs open (yeh, yeh)), Mail, Skype and Finder open, the CPU temperature is 65C, fan's running at about 3000RPM.

I don't know if this is 'normal' or not.

Furthermore, i have experienced freezing when using Pro Tools (about 40 tracks, some mono, some stereo, lots of waves plugins, virtual instruments, etc) with Reason (3-4 modules open). Basically the computer would crash, but the audio would continue playing. I think the CPU was about 90 degrees and fans running at 6200RPM.

 

[dnakad]

Just out of curiosity, what size is your MBP? I work in a different industry, though with the same program, and a few others that are rather CPU intensive. I utilize all the cores on my 17inch when I use it for work, and it never gets hot/loud, as I've posted earlier. I also posted a comparison with my 2010 17 inch, doing the same tasks side by side, they stay within 4-5 degrees of each other, and the fans never get loud or anywhere near max RPM. I'm very curious lately as someone else posted similar comparisons between their 15 inch 2010 and 15 inch 2011 side by side, getting the same result as me, they are 100% identical more or less, under the same loads as far as temps and fans. Do you by chance use a 13 inch?

If you use a 15 or 17 inch, perhaps you just have a hardware issue and the replacement will address it Because for some of us, we're not experiencing the issues at all, even at long periods at 100% cpu usage!

iZero, thanks you for your helpful insight, I actually own the 15 inch,
2,2 ghz, 8gb RAM, Hi-Res Screen, 256GB SSD.

Your post really gives me hope that this might in fact be a hardware issue, I have been quite active at the Apple forum and there are many of us whom are experiencing the exact same issues. Your post is the first one I have seen where After Effects runs "normal" during heavy CPU load.

I did however order my MBP within minutes from the launch on the Apple site, so it might be an early hardware issue...

I will keep you posted on the progress.

/d

 

[iZero]

iZero, thanks you for your helpful insight, I actually own the 15 inch,
2,2 ghz, 8gb RAM, Hi-Res Screen, 256GB SSD.

Your post really gives me hope that this might in fact be a hardware issue, I have been quite active at the Apple forum and there are many of us whom are experiencing the exact same issues. Your post is the first one I have seen where After Effects runs "normal" during heavy CPU load.

I did however order my MBP within minutes from the launch on the Apple site, so it might be an early hardware issue...

I will keep you posted on the progress.

/d

No problem!!! It's really tricky to understand the situation. There are untold numbers of people that have bought these machines, and as with any product, you hear more negative than positive things, because unhappy people seek solutions for a problem/place to vent their disappointment. So one has to take into account the vast number of people who don't have a problem, then try to guess how many actually "work" these machines, and how many just email and watch movies.

There is hope Now, I'm not sure that the other individual I mentioned tried After Effects specifically, but I do know he was getting similar temps under identical loads. But I'm hoping that the trouble cropping up for people, is a hardware issue that is being resolved. Especially for the 13 inch users... I don't know if it's more common than the 15/17's, but there are sure a large number more posts about trouble than the bigger MBP's... It's always crazy around release time, but things seem to die down

 

[Affirmed]

...Seems a little hot, but ok...

2011 MacBook Pro 2.2 Ghz Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 500Gb Seagate Momentus Hybrid Drive

Here are my temps (celsius) under average workload:

Battery: 30
CPU1: 60
CPU2: 61
Enclosure: 33
GPU: 48
Hard Drive: 36

These seem fairly normal to me. I've seen up to the 70s during an FCP render. Any reason to be worried?

 

[iZero]

2011 MacBook Pro 2.2 Ghz Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 500Gb Seagate Momentus Hybrid Drive

Here are my temps (celsius) under average workload:

Battery: 30
CPU1: 60
CPU2: 61
Enclosure: 33
GPU: 48
Hard Drive: 36

These seem fairly normal to me. I've seen up to the 70s during an FCP render. Any reason to be worried?

Your temps are perfectly fine

 

[propower]

Another noise sensitive pro audio guy weighing in here......

I own a 13.3 2011 i7 and have just ordered a 2010 15 2.4 i5 refurb...... (apple store refurb way cheaper than used on CL here.... go figure)......

Yes, my 2011 is pretty much silent if I am just doing mail and light surfing (lets say under 5% or maybe even 8% load). But..... I am in that <1% of people (so it seems) that routinely run their machines at like 20% CPU load (pro audio) AND the resulting 6Krpm+ fan on the 2011 actually does bother me. I love the speed of the 2011 but I need to know if for a small speed sacrifice (2010 i5 is no slouch) I can run relatively silent at my normal loads.....

Will post results after the new machine arrives. Have a little overlap (before return deadline) so I can go head to head..........

-Lee

 

[jedics]

Another noise sensitive pro audio guy weighing in here......

Will post results after the new machine arrives. Have a little overlap (before return deadline) so I can go head to head..........

-Lee

Im interested to hear what you find as ableton live will be my primary use for a new 15 inch and noise is always an issue for recording especially and for sanity generally, not to mention breaking into a sweat cause my hands and forearms are resting on a 50 c + surface. Id be pissed if I bought yet another laptop that did this, I expect tech to have improve in the 4 years since I last bought one as speed is not the only thing that apple should be improving.

Especially now where a laptop can be faster than some semi recent towers. A place where the human hand goes should never get even close to this hot, nothing justifys such impractical design choices, especially not speed bumps to sell next years model.

 

[psychedelia]

Im interested to hear what you find as ableton live will be my primary use for a new 15 inch and noise is always an issue for recording especially and for sanity generally, not to mention breaking into a sweat cause my hands and forearms are resting on a 50 c + surface.

All I can say is that I get temperatures maxing out at 91 degrees, 6200 RPM on heavy Pro Tools sessions. The temperature will at usually be between 66Cish and 90C degrees depending on the size of your project - at least on my computer. (MBP 2011, 2.3GHZ, 4GB RAM)

 

[greytmom]

So far my 2011 is MUCH quieter and cooler than my 2007. I've been downloading, installing, transferring, had several processes open all night, and both CPU and GPU have yet to rise out of the 40s. Fans have been right at 2000.

 

[darkeartg]

I guess mine is pretty good...

 

[cap7ainclu7ch]

Mine idles around 50c and gets around 60c just surfing and word processing. Hits around 75c playing high quality video and soars to 85+ instantly playing portal maxed out. Not sure what to do when I see people here idling around 35c.

 

[propower]

deleted

 

[adrian1480]

Mine idles around 50c and gets around 60c just surfing and word processing. Hits around 75c playing high quality video and soars to 85+ instantly playing portal maxed out. Not sure what to do when I see people here idling around 35c.

you do nothing. my 2010 posted those same numbers. so does my 2011. neither has ever given me trouble. you've nothing to worry about. though I would like to know if these people with systems relaxing in the 40s are doing.

maybe they have some sort of cooling surface they're sitting it on.