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macbook + cinema display ----> need a quiet/fanless solution

J

jayo123456

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 29, 2010
213
0
Hi, I currently have an older macbook air with 24" ACD, and the fan goes crazy all the time.

Just upgraded to 2011 11" MBA i7 4gb 256ssd, and I can still hear the fan when Im running lots of stuff.


Normally I would have 3-4 windows open of firefox with 5-10 tabs each, Xcode, terminal, iTunes, word, excel, PDFs, etc. I normally have lots of stuff open when writing code.


which laptop should I get that can handle that, and produce no fan noise?


Just ordered a 2012 i5 macbook pro --> going to upgrade to 256ssd + 16gb ram. Will this do the job? (still has HD4000, driving lots of pixels, is that the reason for fan noise?)


Or should I return that too, what else is better for me? I need zero fan noise (>2000rpm).
 
If you want "zero" fan noise, you have to get an iMac, as other mobile computers will also starting to be audible under the load you are giving it.
 
a rmbp is probably going to be your best bet from a laptop stand point, has the new cooling design and ssd for less heat and noise.
 
blueroom said:
Adding RAM won't do anything to help with the noise.
Click to expand...

I believe part of the problem is too much things running/open, and therefore system is low on memory and using HD to cache etc.

when my mba has a few gigs ram free in system activity monitor, the fan doesn't spin up. When it's down to 200mb ram free, fan goes nuts.




Anyone have a 2012 13"mbp + 16gb ram , connected to ACD ........ that can run some tests?
 
jayo123456 said:
I believe part of the problem is too much things running/open, and therefore system is low on memory and using HD to cache etc.

when my mba has a few gigs ram free in system activity monitor, the fan doesn't spin up. When it's down to 200mb ram free, fan goes nuts.
Click to expand...

Open Activity Monitor and go to the System Memory* tab and look for Page Outs and Swap used and report back.
 
jayo123456 said:
I believe part of the problem is too much things running/open, and therefore system is low on memory and using HD to cache etc.

when my mba has a few gigs ram free in system activity monitor, the fan doesn't spin up. When it's down to 200mb ram free, fan goes nuts.
Click to expand...

That is probably just a coincidence. I can get the fans going full speed without maxing out my RAM, and I can max out my RAM without the fans audibly spinning up. Using virtual memory on the SSD may make a little extra heat, but nothing compared to what the CPU and GPU can put out under load.

Fan speed increases when the temperature goes up. If you're running lots of applications, the processor is working harder, the fan goes faster.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Open Activity Monitor and go to the System Memory* tab and look for Page Outs and Swap used and report back.
Click to expand...

62gb pg in
62gb pg out

I'm on my older MBA at the moment (2gb ram).

I'll post for new MBA i7 (4gb ram) later tonight.

----------
T5BRICK said:
That is probably just a coincidence. I can get the fans going full speed without maxing out my RAM, and I can max out my RAM without the fans audibly spinning up. Using virtual memory on the SSD may make a little extra heat, but nothing compared to what the CPU and GPU can put out under load.

Fan speed increases when the temperature goes up. If you're running lots of applications, the processor is working harder, the fan goes faster.
Click to expand...


I've been monitoring activity monitor alot lately.

most the time, my CPU usage does not exceed 45%.

And even sometimes, the fan is loud at 85% cpu idle, but maxed out ram.
 
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