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Just something I've noticed

naco

naco

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 30, 2006
64
0
LA area
I just recently picked up a new 13" MBP to replace my late 2010 MBA. It was a great move as a lot of things have improved for me in my day to day use. One of the best things, is that it doesn't get insanely hot when watching Netflix or Youtube videos anymore. My old MBA would get close to 170 degrees (clean chassis and fan area, took it apart myself to verify) when trying to watch HD streaming videos and it always bugged the crap out of me that it was getting so hot. This new one however didn't get anywhere close to that. Maxing out about 110 tops on the memory board of all places.

Now on to the thing I've noticed. After about I'd say 3 weeks of owning the MBP, it's started to get warmer. Now there is hot to touch heat coming from the top left of the keyboard casing. And to me that is absolutely backwards of what should be happening.

It's no guess that manufacturers don't use the highest quality thermal paste when assembling a product but is the quality that Apple uses so bad that it actually gets worse after initial "bake in"? If so...it might be time for me to strip this sucker down and put in some work to keep this thing cool for years to come instead of just the first month.

Has anyone else had this experience too? It hasn't gotten to the point where the fans kick on to sonic speeds but if unattended to, it might be on the horizon, no?
 
naco said:
I just recently picked up a new 13" MBP to replace my late 2010 MBA. It was a great move as a lot of things have improved for me in my day to day use. One of the best things, is that it doesn't get insanely hot when watching Netflix or Youtube videos anymore. My old MBA would get close to 170 degrees (clean chassis and fan area, took it apart myself to verify) when trying to watch HD streaming videos and it always bugged the crap out of me that it was getting so hot. This new one however didn't get anywhere close to that. Maxing out about 110 tops on the memory board of all places.

Now on to the thing I've noticed. After about I'd say 3 weeks of owning the MBP, it's started to get warmer. Now there is hot to touch heat coming from the top left of the keyboard casing. And to me that is absolutely backwards of what should be happening.

It's no guess that manufacturers don't use the highest quality thermal paste when assembling a product but is the quality that Apple uses so bad that it actually gets worse after initial "bake in"? If so...it might be time for me to strip this sucker down and put in some work to keep this thing cool for years to come instead of just the first month.

Has anyone else had this experience too? It hasn't gotten to the point where the fans kick on to sonic speeds but if unattended to, it might be on the horizon, no?
Click to expand...

I will take it that you may be expressing your problem wrongly.

You said that the top left of the casing is getting hotter, that means that your perceived temperature of the shell of the machine has increased. Wouldn't this lead you to conclude that thermal conductivity is fine?

The thermal interface material slathered on the chip only transfers heat from the chip to the heatsink and has nothing to do with further dissipating it around the case. So if your case feels hot, it will feel hot regardless of whether the thermal paste serves its function.

If your hardware monitoring application is showing okay temperatures I am sure nothing is wrong.
 
The top left of the keyboard ( specifically under the 'E' key) is where the CPU is, which is why it is the hottest part. When I use Netflix/Youtube, I just put the fans up a bit to about 3000rpm, which seems to keep the temperature stable at around 60-70 degrees.

I've played SimCity for several hours with the fans on full and the temps at 85-90 the whole time with no ill effects, so you should be fine. The CPU shuts down if it gets to 105 degrees anyway to let it cool down.

Thermal paste be re-done, here's a disassembly guide for it.
 
OP, if you are worried about heat issues on your new toy while playing SimCity or watching NetFlex movies, I suggest you to buy a Microsoft Xbox One. :apple:
 
My MCP 15" 2011 had a logic board + graphics failure recently. Applecare took care of the problem and the machine runs a lot cooler now even with heavy work task (50~75max).

I suspect factory thermal paste wasn't apply properly and the machine temperature was always on the high side, around 80 ~ 95 degree. I always thought it was normal until the failure. You should have someone to look at it. Hope you have applecare coverage :)
 
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