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Macbook Pro 15" i5 - very hot on bottom

SPNarwhal

SPNarwhal

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 22, 2009
1,260
156
illinois
Is it normal for a Macbook Pro to be extremely hot underneith?
I mean, I had a 13" Core2Duo model and that never got hot whatsoever.
Now I have a 15" i5 model and it gets extremely hot (to where it almost hurts to touch) on the bottom, more towards the bottom front where the hinge/screen is. It gets extremely hot without even doing anything, it gets extremely hot just on start-up of the machine itself while it still has the apple logo and is turning on and such.

I'm not sure if this is normal, but aside that, I'm not sure if this is a problem either. Input?
 
Yes, it's normal. It's the nature of the metal case. It's been an fact of Mac laptop life since the first TiBook.
 
adnoh said:
2011 MBP all have heat issues. MRoogle is your friend.
Click to expand...

reading comprehension FTW!!

he's asking about 2010..

@op

maybe dl a temp monitoring utility program to get an estimate if how hot it really is..
 
I have the 2010 2.4 i5. The heat is not bad at all under normal operations with the fans running around 2000rpm. Using handbrake it will get very hot and noisy with fans running close to 6,000 rpm but it cools down fast after the task is down. If yours i svery hot all the time perhaps there is a fan problem - get iStat Pro widget to check it out.
 
If I got an app that stops the MBP from going into sleep when you close the lid, will it heat up even more? Is there a risk of over heating/damage if I do that?
 
karansaraf said:
If I got an app that stops the MBP from going into sleep when you close the lid, will it heat up even more? Is there a risk of over heating/damage if I do that?
Click to expand...

Why would you even want to do that? Unless you're using the computer in clamshell mode there is no point in closing the lid and keeping the computer running, apart from wasting electricity.

Yes it will heat up more, some heat is extracted from the computer by convection through the top case. We're talking about a 3-6*C difference.
 
A lot of the time I leave my computer on (throughout the day when I'm not there, or overnight) because I'm downloading something. But leaving it open means it just accumulates dust all the time. I haven't bought an MBP yet, but I will be in the coming weeks and was wondering whether leaving it on but closing the lid would heat it up too much.

Not really a big issue though, might just leave it open.
 
karansaraf said:
A lot of the time I leave my computer on (throughout the day when I'm not there, or overnight) because I'm downloading something. But leaving it open means it just accumulates dust all the time. I haven't bought an MBP yet, but I will be in the coming weeks and was wondering whether leaving it on but closing the lid would heat it up too much.

Not really a big issue though, might just leave it open.
Click to expand...

You could always try some type of cloth over the keyboard, or just leave it slightly open. I rarely use clamshell mode, but when I do, I leave it open a bit.
 
SPNarwhal said:
Is it normal for a Macbook Pro to be extremely hot underneith?
I mean, I had a 13" Core2Duo model and that never got hot whatsoever.
Now I have a 15" i5 model and it gets extremely hot (to where it almost hurts to touch) on the bottom, more towards the bottom front where the hinge/screen is. It gets extremely hot without even doing anything, it gets extremely hot just on start-up of the machine itself while it still has the apple logo and is turning on and such.

I'm not sure if this is normal, but aside that, I'm not sure if this is a problem either. Input?
Click to expand...

If it really does get that hot during normal usage (internet, email, etc), that is not at all normal. Take it in to an Apple store. Now, if you were playing a game or pushing the laptop in some way, yeah it'll get rather warm.

After two hours of light usage, my 2011 15" is only ever so slightly warm.

Second, the amount of heat dissipated through the keyboard is minimal. There is a large piece of plastic just under the keyboard. Plastic does a great job of absorbing heat, which is why your keyboard stays cool no matter how hard you push the laptop. It's also why there is very little heat coming up through the keyboard.
 
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I say for all mbp owners, if you download a lot, get a cheap pc to do the job. You can spend $200 bucks to get pc to do the download job.

Don't use your precious mbp for downloading for hours and hours when you don't need to.
 
jvmxtra said:
I say for all mbp owners, if you download a lot, get a cheap pc to do the job. You can spend $200 bucks to get pc to do the download job.

Don't use your precious mbp for downloading for hours and hours when you don't need to.
Click to expand...

Kind of defeats the purpose of owning a MBP if you have to be selective of how you use it, doesn't it? And has anyone really had any heat related problems from extended downloading?
 
Contact Apple. It should not get hot with low loads. Period. Period. Period.

Heat is ruing your experience and destroying your battery and god knows what else.
 
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