Macbook Pro 13" i5 2011 full load temperature

[mjepson]

Hi,

I've upgraded from the 2010 MBP C2D to 2011 i5 and notice it getting hotter on normal use.

Yesterday I took it apart and reapplied the thermal paste using Arctic Silver and the guide from ifixit.com. I removed the paste from CPU and heat sink, and only applied it to the CPU as per ifixit instructions.

I don't see any change in temps after this though and was wondering if someone with same machine can post some temp stats for comparison. My idle temp is around 52 degrees with no programs running. Normal use has temp between 60-70 degrees.

If I run 4 terminal processes with

yes > /dev/null

i get the fan to go to 6200rpm and the temp stabilizes at 91-92 degrees:

I tried with only 2 terminal processes (using 50% cpu) and still get around 91 degrees.

Can someone post their stats to compare if my machine is running hotter than normal under full load?

 

[brentsg]

Something wrong with all the existing threads about this?

 

[mjepson]

Something wrong with all the existing threads about this?

Couldn't find any threads that compare full load temps on 2011 13" i5.

Sorry if I missed them...

 

[imaginex20]

I just did this test, with two tabs opened it also went up to 91 degrees celcius. I then opened 4 tabs total but the temps remained at around 86-89 with the fans running full speed.

I'm not too worried about the high temps as the processor can handle temps up to 105 degrees.

 

[NikFinn]

I ran this test as well. My idle temperature before starting was around 39C with chrome (7 tabs), twitter, and one pages document open. I left the 4 terminal processes running for 5 minutes (in addition to everything that was open before) and the high temperature I saw was 84C, and my fans peaked at 4783 according to smcfancontrol.

 

[GGJstudios]

My idle temp is around 52 degrees with no programs running. Normal use has temp between 60-70 degrees.

Your temps are perfectly normal, as searching the forum with Google will reveal:

Macbook Pro Heat Dissipation
2010 Macbook Pro 17" i7 heat question
Heat on my i7 Macbook Pro 15"
Macbook overheating?
My Macbook Pro reached 106 degrees !
Macbook pro heat problem
MacBook Pro Over Heat Issue
Heat on my i7 Macbook Pro 15"
Macbook pro Hot after 10.6.3. Update
Macbook Pro too HOT!!!
My Macbook Pro Runs Hot
Macbook Pro gets really hot when running windows 7
How hot should my macbook be getting?
Macbook Boiling Hot!
Hot 15" i5 MBP!
MacBook Pro Overheating or That's What I Think It Is?
Macbook pro temperature
MacBook Pro heat causing pain in hands
Alu Macbook vs. 13" Macbook pro: Heat & Battery Life
Etc., etc., etc.

 

[mjepson]

I ran this test as well. My idle temperature before starting was around 39C with chrome (7 tabs), twitter, and one pages document open. I left the 4 terminal processes running for 5 minutes (in addition to everything that was open before) and the high temperature I saw was 84C, and my fans peaked at 4783 according to smcfancontrol.

Considerably lower than mine then, and fan sped at 4783 is way better than my 6200, which is the main irritation I'm having while surfing flash websites or viewing videos.

 

[NikFinn]

Considerably lower than mine then, and fan sped at 4783 is way better than my 6200, which is the main irritation I'm having while surfing flash websites or viewing videos.

I seem to have a pretty "cool" i5. I never understood all the threads on heat problems. Currently have my MBP driving a 1080p monitor, with chrome open with 8 tabs, iTunes playing and a pages document open and I'm around 42-44C with fans at the regular 2000 rpm. Can't say I'm complaining in the least bit.

 

[adztaylor]

I seem to have a pretty "cool" i5. I never understood all the threads on heat problems. Currently have my MBP driving a 1080p monitor, with chrome open with 8 tabs, iTunes playing and a pages document open and I'm around 42-44C with fans at the regular 2000 rpm. Can't say I'm complaining in the least bit.

+1. I'm not driving a monitor but my temperatures reflect yours. Only time I can ramp up the fan speeds and temp is when I am running Handbrake or playing some games which are of course understandable. Even then though I don't think the fan speed is overly loud or annoying.

 

[Mik3F]

I ran this test as well. My idle temperature before starting was around 39C with chrome (7 tabs), twitter, and one pages document open. I left the 4 terminal processes running for 5 minutes (in addition to everything that was open before) and the high temperature I saw was 84C, and my fans peaked at 4783 according to smcfancontrol.

Pretty much identical to mine when I ran the test

 

[coolbanana]

Hi all,

Does anyone know if there is likely to be a software fix from apple for this or should i return my laptop? I wonder if anyone who has installed Windows 7 on their 2011 13" Macbook Pro gets this problem.

I have a standard 13" i5 and running pretty much any program with video-worthy framerates involved brings the CPU temp up to the 85-95 degree C range and 6200rpm fan speed. Plugging in my Dell U2711 gets even more toasty.

For reference my ambient temp is about 21 degrees. The Mac is sitting on a desk and running on mains power. OSX is on 10.6.7 (Build 10J3250)

@the people with decent temps: what build of osx are you running?

@Apple: bring back Nvdia.

 

[JBTX]

Here is what I have noticed on mine. Normal usage after start up I hover around low to mid 40's with a fan RPM of about 2000. If I crank up handbrake or some other intensive program I run at 88-90 with the fan a little over 6000 rpm. Then when I turn off handbrake the temps drop to around 50 and the fan goes back to 2000 rpm, but temps stay around 50.

My guess is the fan is slowing down as fast as it can when the cpu temps start dropping. If the fan stayed at a little higher RPM for longer I bet temps would drop further and could be maintained at lower levels. My guess is Apple may have decided to drop the fan speed down quickly to either save battery or make the machine quieter, or maybe both. So a software up date to adjust how quickly the fan spins down would probably fix this, but since 50 is well with in spec they may not bother.

 

[rmitchell248]

Your temps are perfectly normal, as searching the forum with MRoogle will reveal:

Macbook Pro Heat Dissipation
2010 Macbook Pro 17" i7 heat question
Heat on my i7 Macbook Pro 15"
Macbook overheating?
My Macbook Pro reached 106 degrees !
Macbook pro heat problem
MacBook Pro Over Heat Issue
Heat on my i7 Macbook Pro 15"
Macbook pro Hot after 10.6.3. Update
Macbook Pro too HOT!!!
My Macbook Pro Runs Hot
Macbook Pro gets really hot when running windows 7
How hot should my macbook be getting?
Macbook Boiling Hot!
Hot 15" i5 MBP!
MacBook Pro Overheating or That's What I Think It Is?
Macbook pro temperature
MacBook Pro heat causing pain in hands
Alu Macbook vs. 13" Macbook pro: Heat & Battery Life
Etc., etc., etc.

As I have found quite often with your MROOGLE posts, they do not particularly reflect what the OP was asking. Good if you want to know 2010 temps or 2009 temps. But he is in particular asking about 2011 temps with the i5 processor. Why? Because they seem to be a lot higher than the 2.4 cd2 processors. I found his post informative as a cd2 running at 100% will not get entirely too hot. I have had my wifes 13 2.4 cd2 up to 82* max while my 15'' 2.2 quad hits 99* all the time and the fans kick in when using safari. Its a joke.

So what was I thinking? I figured I would get an i5 13" and loose the 15" 2.2quad core as I cant stand the noise.

Well with this post and these questions and answers I now know that I may not want that machine either as I cant stand to sit there and listen to the fans while I work on an excel spread sheet.

Bottom line, I read through the links you posted and found none of them to support this particular topic. Now throw the link to this thread in there so you can throw it at the next person that asks a question on here

 

[rossmadden]

Mine only went to a 82, which has always been the highest it goes to. My fans were at 2300-2400 rpm looking on smcFanControl. It's now idling at 43.

 

[GGJstudios]

As I have found quite often with your MROOGLE posts, they do not particularly reflect what the OP was asking. Good if you want to know 2010 temps or 2009 temps. But he is in particular asking about 2011 temps with the i5 processor. Why? Because they seem to be a lot higher than the 2.4 cd2 processors.

I posted those links as only a small sample of the hundreds of threads available this topic. They're not intended, in this example, to be specific to any particular model. The temps on the 2011 models are still well within the normal operating range. The links are intended to show that too many are obsessed with temps, for no good reason. MBPs (all models) normally generate high temps, especially under heavy workloads. The fact that someone may be unfamiliar with this fact doesn't mean the MBPs are "overheating" or "too hot". It only means they're hotter than the posters are used to. Macs are designed to automatically shut down when temps reach an unsafe level (for CPUs, about 105C/221F) for a sustained period. If they're not shutting down, they're not "overheating" or "too hot".

 

[rmitchell248]

It is good that you think that this is perfectly normal. What do you think the long term effect is on a logicboard that goes from 45* to 99* to room temp 20-30 times a day? I am sure you can use mroogle and find many instances where the solder fails from this exact situation. Now take a model that run at 45* and only runs up to 81* 4 or 5 times a day and you will have a machine that last much longer and is far less annoying to work with. The downside is that it's a slower processor so if you need the faster system you are out of luck in the laptop department.

For me I have a Mac pro that I use mainly. So i rarely need much out of the mbp. Knowing that I rarely run anything intensive on the mbp it still runs up to90-99 at many points. Now you say it's normal to run 90+* when using Microsoft office with 6000rpm fans? I find that laughable. Sure it may be normal for this apple computer but a complete waste of energy for a process that should be considered very light. How long do you think the battery will last under these 'normal' circumstances? Heat=Energy. Energy=something a laptop does not have a lot of therefore it is something people should be concerned about.

I have not started a post about this as I fully understand why my computer operates in the manner it does i can accept this as tge price you pay for a quadcore in a portable but in the same breath I can certainly tell you that I have NEVER used a machine that was so all over the map in the processor temps. That makes it a new thing... Not normal(yet). This is well over my 20th Mac and you will not convince me otherwise.

 

[nsdjoe]

Just ran the four terminal processes and mine gets a little warmer than yours, around 92-94C. With just 2 processes running it drops to 86-91C. Some web videos will push it to the mid-90's (not just Flash, either, Netflix uses Silverlight and that occasionally pushes it that high too).

For reference, here at work from a fresh boot with nothing running I idle at about 50C and about 55-60C with my normal programs running (Chrome with 8-10 tabs, Outlook and Access open via Citrix, Adium, iTunes).

It's definitely way hotter than any other laptop I've used, including my thin and light 13" Lenovo which was stolen and this MBP replaced. I'm just getting used to it and trying not to check the temperatures every 5 minutes.

To me it seems like a combination of Apple's choice of cooling (hinge area for both intake and exhaust) and OSX's poor optimization for rich web applications.

 

[FOX160]

I have recently bought an 13 inch MBP and its cool and silent as a cucumber
Just put one of the hard plastic skins on and no increase of temperature
stays the same.
sounds like you have a dud mate.

 

[coolbanana]

I realize this high temp / high fan speed is "by-design" and the i5sb is an amazing chip in a laptop (even at Apple prices) but running Google Earth with a cpu at 88*C is not really what i was expecting from a Pro Apple.

Does anyone know how to look specifically at what the graphics core is doing during these high heat sessions. While iStat definately says my CPU is busy heat-wise, my activity monitor says the cpu isnt really doing much.

(all apple needed to do was leave out the non-bluray drive which i havent used yet and fit a teeny-weeny little nvidia chip - nice)