MacBook Thermal Paste, comprehensive Q:

[thelocalspoke]

Question at the bottom!

Me: new to this forum, have had a MacBook Core 2 2.0 for a couple of weeks. It was "given" to me under Applecare to replace my 18 month old iBook 14 G4 1.42 which had been butchered by Flextronics (Tennessee repair contractor to Apple) in three tries to fix a simple problem (warped bezel). I bought my iBook 14 to replace my iBook 12 G3, because that one was on its third logic board and I was afraid of life without warranty. I sold it with full disclosure.

So, I'm nothing if not loyal, and I love the MacBook so far. However, I had already researched it before arrival, and was already fairly sure that I would at some point examine it for proper thermal paste application. I know there I can use a fan control app, and have not yet installed a temperature one because reviews are mixed, but those are band-aids if there's too much goo in the first place. The MacBook is quite a bit warmer than my iBook(s) were.

1)Has excess goo generally been found in the MB, or just the MBP?
2)Has it generally been found in late ones?
3)Important: I can just buy Arctic Silver, but are there any opinions on whether some tech could potentially tell I'd been in there just by its look/color? If so, what goo looks original?

Apparently, I'm better at fixing this stuff than whomever got hold of my iBook. I bought another Applecare anyway, in case of catastrophe.

 

[suneohair]

If you do this, it could void your warranty. If your Macbook isn't extremely hot/overheating. I wouldnt bother.

 

[thelocalspoke]

If you do this, it could void your warranty. If your Macbook isn't extremely hot/overheating. I wouldnt bother.

Thus the third part of my question: 'similar-looking paste'?

I don't want to incriminate myself, but lets just say that there have been other opportunities for a tech to ask whether I had been inside some electronic thing and nobody ever has. I don't leave a trail of crumbs, and I don't open sealed units.

 

[DaLurker]

Question at the bottom!

Me: new to this forum, have had a MacBook Core 2 2.0 for a couple of weeks. It was "given" to me under Applecare to replace my 18 month old iBook 14 G4 1.42 which had been butchered by Flextronics (Tennessee repair contractor to Apple) in three tries to fix a simple problem (warped bezel). I bought my iBook 14 to replace my iBook 12 G3, because that one was on its third logic board and I was afraid of life without warranty. I sold it with full disclosure.

So, I'm nothing if not loyal, and I love the MacBook so far. However, I had already researched it before arrival, and was already fairly sure that I would at some point examine it for proper thermal paste application. I know there I can use a fan control app, and have not yet installed a temperature one because reviews are mixed, but those are band-aids if there's too much goo in the first place. The MacBook is quite a bit warmer than my iBook(s) were.

1)Has excess goo generally been found in the MB, or just the MBP?
2)Has it generally been found in late ones?
3)Important: I can just buy Arctic Silver, but are there any opinions on whether some tech could potentially tell I'd been in there just by its look/color? If so, what goo looks original?

Apparently, I'm better at fixing this stuff than whomever got hold of my iBook. I bought another Applecare anyway, in case of catastrophe.

The excessive thermal paste issue has be rectified as of the Macbook Core Duos. Since you have Core 2 Duo, you will not have this problem. This issue has not cropped up in the recent MB's and MBP's and I haven't heard anybody bring up this problem for a while.

The Macbook's do tend to run hotter than the iBooks, but this is normal. If you load up iStat pro (widget) or something like smcFanControl, you can see your CPU temperature. If it is idling around 50-60 degrees C, then you're well within normal range and have nothing to worry about.

 

[thelocalspoke]

Thanks. I did not know that smcFanControl also displayed the temps. I'll get it, modify no settings, and see what I find.

I did not mean to sound eager to dismantle this thing, only willing.

 

[whateverandever]

Thanks. I did not know that smcFanControl also displayed the temps. I'll get it, modify no settings, and see what I find.

I did not mean to sound eager to dismantle this thing, only willing.

From most people's reports, the temperature on C2D machines is much more reasonable. Whether they fixed the paste issue or not, I'm not sure. I know it was horrible on my CD MBP and fixing it dropped temps drastically.

 

[slicedbread]

replacing the thermal paste is SO CoreDuo era!

The C2D MB's and MBP's have no real thermal issues anymore, they fixed it in the laptop refresh last summer.

Replacing thermal paste is not recommended, nor are there benefits that outweigh the relative to the risk of damaging the laptop and voiding your warranty.