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I just did this on my 2010 MPB and it made a HUGE difference along with cleaning out the dust that you don't see by just removing the lid. The factory paste job was absolutely terrible and I had a good piece of dust/hair stuck between the fan and heatsink. Before I was idling around 130-140*F, typing this I'm sitting at 105*F. I can't even get the fan to go above idle even under high CPU load.

Yeah i am surprised how high the temps go, I'm confident that with a proper paste and application they will improve. Awesome to hear you good results
 
Yeah i am surprised how high the temps go, I'm confident that with a proper paste and application they will improve. Awesome to hear you good results

If you do it be careful when removing the paste from the GPU. With the 320M there are very small caps/resistors on the top surface of the chip, they used so much paste that it had squeezed out and completely encased them. You don't want to start scraping paste off an accidentally knock a cap/resistor off.
 
Could you suggest a screwdriver to open the back lid for macbook mid 2014 15'?

I am using a case (the one you always keep attached to both sides which is rigid).
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Does this make worse the dust accumulation or it helps to prevent it?
 
If you do it be careful when removing the paste from the GPU. With the 320M there are very small caps/resistors on the top surface of the chip, they used so much paste that it had squeezed out and completely encased them. You don't want to start scraping paste off an accidentally knock a cap/resistor off.

Cheers mate, appreciate the advice.
 
I guess a lot of users regularly use their Macs in dust storms. I opened a MBP after more than 5 years of heavy use and travel in a variety of environments. There was a very slight frosting of dust on the fan blades, nothing more. It wouldn't have been worth it to open it just for dusting.
 
I guess a lot of users regularly use their Macs in dust storms. I opened a MBP after more than 5 years of heavy use and travel in a variety of environments. There was a very slight frosting of dust on the fan blades, nothing more. It wouldn't have been worth it to open it just for dusting.

I suspect the OP's performance "boost" came from the restart, not from clearing out the dust. I'm not aware of any gradual temp throttling that could apply - and to have that amount of dust after a year???

Never mind, even placebos make you feel better :)
 
I suspect the OP's performance "boost" came from the restart, not from clearing out the dust. I'm not aware of any gradual temp throttling that could apply - and to have that amount of dust after a year???
That's true. Having dust accumulation would have zero impact on performance, unless temps were being driven up to a point that throttling would occur, and the fans would be spinning like crazy before that happened. Based on some of the OP's posting history, I don't take their assumptions or recommendations seriously.
 
Could you suggest a screwdriver to open the back lid for macbook mid 2014 15'?

I am using a case (the one you always keep attached to both sides which is rigid).
Image
Does this make worse the dust accumulation or it helps to prevent it?

Pentalobe P5. iFixit has economy and pro grade, get the better one made by Moody - it is a better fit but be very careful with the screws.

See also these posts of mine:

Make sure you have the correct driver and be aware that those screws are very easily stripped - I don't mean the threads, I mean the pentalobe recess in the heads. There are also two different screws used - keep track of which came from where and DO NOT lose them - replacements are very expensive.

"Snug." Hard to define. It is really easy to overighten small fasteners. For myself, I would say "tight," but most people would have stripped the head before they said "tight." How's this: firm contact of the head with the bottom and then a little more. It's hard to describe.

I do't know if order matters but I have been a gear head for ~45 years and with something like this I instinctively start in the center and work out. In this case, the two inner screws on each of the long sides, then the single center screw on each of the short sides, then the four corner screws.

And to prove I'm really obsessive about things like this, I'll add that I did that in that order only till each was just barely screwed down, then went around again in the same order to snug them down. I'm sure that's overkill but it improves the odds of a piece like that going down evenly all around.
 
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Would you mind elaborating a little? Is it because of blowing dust further into the machine or due to static discharge?


Hairdryer blows hot, low pressure air? The best is use of compressed air, where you get air strong enough to clean the spot right out.
 
Hairdryer blows hot, low pressure air? The best is use of compressed air, where you get air strong enough to clean the spot right out.

I was talking about using it on the cold setting but yeah, guess it would probably be a bit too gentle to be effective
 
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