MacBook airport card temperature?

[blulegend]

I accidentally posted the following in a reply on the MBP forum:

My Penryn 2.4 MacBook has an airport card that runs >70C at all times when enabled. I can just have the laptop idle and iStat will report a temp from 70-72C. Under heavy transfers it will only go up to maybe 73C. My wife's Penryn 2.1 MacBook which I got at the same time as mine has a card that idles in the mid 50s and then goes up to the 70s under stress. I don't get it. I've tried rebooting, checking processes, etc. Anyone have any ideas? The left side of my MB stays warm all the time because of it.

 

[blulegend]

Sorry to reply to my own thread, but I've discovered that the airport card will cool off when I unplug the MagSafe adapter. I've looked in the Power Saving preferences to look for anything that would keep the airport card running at full power when connected but I can't find anything. What's weird is that my wife's MB seems to be able to run with a cool airport card even when connected to external power.

 

[myuserid08]

When I use the airport the temperature is around 70-75, when turned off its around the 40-50 mark.
I would say your macbook airport is fine.

 

[blulegend]

I don't know what happened, but I disconnected the MagSafe and let the card cool down in to the 50s. Then when I plugged it back in, it stayed in the 50s until I started heavier wifi use. I would say that something made the card stay active when it isn't supposed to, even when connected to an external power source.

 

[archesdevil]

My Airport card runs in the high 60's (C) when web surfing and low 70's when streaming music to Airport Express... Seems to be the norm.

 

[probev]

Same here

Macbook Penryn 2.4 GHz. iStat Pro says 157 F/68 C. Constantly. On the other hand the bottom does not feel that hot. After I disconnect the adapter the temp goes down to 130 F/54 C in about 10 sec. So I wonder if a) something is wrong with the power inside the MB or b) the sensor is totally messing it up and iStat Pro is reading the wrong info. I don't believe the problem is with the Airport Card. I already replaced 2 MBs on my third one. Still the same thing...AppleCare has no idea why this is happening.

 

[rablat]

Macbook Penryn 2.4 GHz. iStat Pro says 157 F/68 C. Constantly. On the other hand the bottom does not feel that hot. After I disconnect the adapter the temp goes down to 130 F/54 C in about 10 sec. So I wonder if a) something is wrong with the power inside the MB or b) the sensor is totally messing it up and iStat Pro is reading the wrong info. I don't believe the problem is with the Airport Card. I already replaced 2 MBs on my third one. Still the same thing...AppleCare has no idea why this is happening.

The sensors are probably not all that accurate.
But to my knowledge when the power is disconnected and the MB goes into battery mode the processor steps the speed down to about 800Mhz.
I am new to Mac's but this was the case wit speedstep INTEL proc.
on PC's. I would imagine it being similar on a  Mac.

 

[mckyvlle]

To chip in for Santa Rosa Merom MacBooks: my AirPort runs around 65c doing normal web surfing, rising to around 71c when Bittorrent is running. All this over 5GHz draft-N. When running over Wifi B/G, it's much cooler, just under 60c.

 

[probev]

The sensors are probably not all that accurate.
But to my knowledge when the power is disconnected and the MB goes into battery mode the processor steps the speed down to about 800Mhz.
I am new to Mac's but this was the case wit speedstep INTEL proc.
on PC's. I would imagine it being similar on a  Mac.

I am sure it is the same. In my case I disconnect the power, and in a few seconds I connect the power again. Literally in a few seconds. With the power attached, the temperature drops more 20+ degrees F in a matter of seconds. That makes me thing that there is some relation b/w power/sensors and their accuracy. Thank you all.

 

[probev]

To chip in for Santa Rosa Merom MacBooks: my AirPort runs around 65c doing normal web surfing, rising to around 71c when Bittorrent is running. All this over 5GHz draft-N. When running over Wifi B/G, it's much cooler, just under 60c.

That's a great point. I used to run my "old" Santa Rosa MB over Wifi G and recently it runs on draft-N only. Will check to see the temp diff.

 

[probev]

That's a great point. I used to run my "old" Santa Rosa MB over Wifi G and recently it runs on draft-N only. Will check to see the temp diff.

When changed my "old" MB from Wifi G to draft-N I didn't see any spike on the temp. Still stays the same. So in my opinion we still my have some issue with 2.4 GHz Penryn MBs.

 

[Tvt5043]

I have the same problem, my airport card gets so hot that it make my fan speed max out at 6000rpm. but when my MBP is in a cold freezing area my airport card does not get so hot so my fan speed is a bit fine.
any solutions?

 

[mckyvlle]

I have the same problem, my airport card gets so hot that it make my fan speed max out at 6000rpm. but when my MBP is in a cold freezing area my airport card does not get so hot so my fan speed is a bit fine.
any solutions?

This is purely my observations: When the AirPort card is getting a good signal, it doesn't run as hot as when it is getting a bad signal. I'm supposing that the radio transmitter scales it output power automatically. Bad signal = higher power needed = more heat.

The solution is not all that intuitive, perhaps you could improve the Wifi signal coverage at your area. Try different Wifi router placements, and use 2.4GHz instead of 5GHz for better signal penetration through walls/solid objects.

 

[luftwaffle]

I just wanted to chime in here - I have a Penryn 2.4 Macbook (had it just over a week now) and installed iStat the other day. My Airport card consistently runs in the 70s... right now it's at 74 even though the CPU is only at 61.

I am connected to an 802.11g Wifi network with excellent signal strength. My router is just about 20 feet away on the other side of an interior wall. I am also leaving it plugged into AC power more or less 24/7... I'm running the macbook as a desktop replacement hooked up to an external monitor, keyboard, etc.

I may run it connected to an ethernet cable instead... 74 or 75 seems unbelievably warm for a wifi card. If that temp is accurate, it can't be good for the card longterm.

EDIT - And within 5 minutes of turning off the airport and plugging in my ethernet cable, the temp of the card has gone from 74 to 63. Hmm.

 

[mckyvlle]

Just to add, it also depends on what kind of network activity that's going on. Web browsing and e-mail -- low temps, run Bittorrent -- high temps.