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Moshi Clearguard Temperature Test.

P

Panzo

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 28, 2006
271
0
So i bought a moshi cleargaurd for my brand new 15" MBP and i kept reading about possible heat build up because of the actual protector covering up air vents under the keyboard.

Here is the test i conducted:

Laptop Completely Charged and plugged in.
Safari idling on apple.com
Amsn (msn messenger) launched and idling
Itunes playing 14 songs, Visualizer turned on (not fullscreen)
Laptop was set to Better performance (Aka using 9600 gtm instead of 94000

I left the laptop in this condition untouched for 2 half hour periods, half our with and half out without the moshi clearguard on the keyboard. The laptop was also set to not fall asleep.

With moshi clearguard:

HDD: 34 °C
CPU: 71 °C
CPU Heatsink: 56 °C
Enclosure base: 35 °C
Enclosure base 2: 35 °C
Enclosure base 3: 34 °C
Gpu: 60 °C
Gpu Heatsink: 73 °C

Fans running at 2450 rmps

Without the moshi clearguard:

HDD: 34 °C
CPU: 70 °C
CPU Heatsink: 57 °C
Enclosure base: 35 °C
Enclosure base 2: 35 °C
Enclosure base 3: 33 °C
Gpu: 61 °C
Gpu Heatsink: 72 °C

Fans running at 2400 rmps

In conclusion, i theorize that the moshi clearguard barely affects if at all the running temperature of machines.
 
great stuff! now i dont have to worry :)

a suggestion: maybe you should try streaming HD video, that tends to make the mac really warn
 
I have never noticed any problems with the Moshi ClearGuard overheating a MBP under normal use. But I did remove it when I ran Handbrake the other day. According the the genius I talked to the fans suck most of the air through the keyboard so it would be a good idea to remove it for intensive tasks that require a lot of cooling.
 
by streaming hd video, would playing a "backed up" dvd from my hardrive count?
 
this might not be totally related,
please look at this
http://s358.photobucket.com/albums/oo21/jpma2007/?action=view&current=DSC027591.jpg

it's for my previous late 08 mbp with removable battery.
clearly on the picture you can see how much dust can get in from the trackpad and yet I don't bring it outdoor very much.

imagine keyboard buttons have bigger gap than the trackpad,
surely there will really be alot of dust cramp inside the laptop

using moshi is really a good way to stop dust from going in.

And, it is not some sort of defect for my mbp that so much dust leak in.
guess it is unavoidable no matter how.

moshi clearguard for my side doesn't cause much heat, maybe 1-2degree
but overall I think room temperature matters more.
 
Panzo said:
by streaming hd video, would playing a "backed up" dvd from my hardrive count?
Click to expand...


no not really because wifi is not utilized when you're playing off the hard drive.....and the wifi module can get quite hot when it's doing a lot of work

Maybe if you were to run the test again you should-

- remove playing songs with itunes if you want
- stream HD video from youtube or hulu or something
- play the dvd video from the harddisk

this way you will make 9400M + CPU+ WIFI + Hard drive work really really hard....these are the things that contribute most to the heat produced by the machine.
 
I've had my clear guard now for a couple of months and have never seen a difference in the temps. I've had the temperature readouts in my menu even before I had the clear guard. Comparing the temps then and now, has resulted in no difference. The cut of them aren't as good as I would have liked for it to be. Most of it fits flawlessly on my keyboard. It's just the very top row(media key row) that fits a little loose. It doesn't lose any of its functionality, but it does cause it to get knocked off a little easier than it would if that row fit a little better.

I guess computer size shouldn't matter since the keyboards are all the same size. This may be an isolated case with just mine.
Overall I do love it and if your on the fence, I would say take a chance and get. You'll probably love it.

Oh yeah, I use Hulu all the time, Before I got clear guard my temps would be 66-69c and with the clear guard, they stay around 68c. I also keep my fan running at 3800rpm, this was before and after the clear guard. Hope that helps a little.
 
So here is test number two:

Itunes playing music ( no visualizer)
Quicktime playing a dvdrip
Youtube streaming various hd videos
transferring a dvdrip from my main desktop to the laptop via wifi and shared files (4gigs)
Also playing a game called braid at the same time.

I also let the computer cool down between tests for an unbiased result

*** for this test i have put the laptop on my cooling pad just in case, shouldn't affect readouts since we are looking for differences in temperatures and for simplicity sake lets think the cooling pad cooled off the machine evenly in both tests***

With moshi:

HDD: 35 °C
CPU: 74 °C
CPU Heatsink: 58 °C
Enclosure base: 35 °C
Enclosure base 2: 35 °C
Enclosure base 3: 32 °C
Gpu: 59 °C
Gpu Heatsink: 54 °C

Fans running at 2450 rmps

Without the moshi clearguard:

HDD: 36 °C
CPU: 72 °C
CPU Heatsink: 59 °C
Enclosure base: 34 °C
Enclosure base 2: 34 °C
Enclosure base 3: 34 °C
Gpu: 58 °C
Gpu Heatsink: 53 °C


Fans running 2450 rpms
 
No problem guys thats what being on forums is for, sharing, learning.

One thing i think, my opinion, might be wrong, but i believe the keyboard is more a escape route for heat then an air intake, also, after closer analysis of the moshi clearguard, i think it has micro perforations. Maybe it onrder to let air flow freely? ill try to take a high resolution picture of it.
 
Panzo said:
So here is test number two:

Itunes playing music ( no visualizer)
Quicktime playing a dvdrip
Youtube streaming various hd videos
transferring a dvdrip from my main desktop to the laptop via wifi and shared files (4gigs)
Also playing a game called braid at the same time.

I also let the computer cool down between tests for an unbiased result

*** for this test i have put the laptop on my cooling pad just in case, shouldn't affect readouts since we are looking for differences in temperatures and for simplicity sake lets think the cooling pad cooled off the machine evenly in both tests***

With moshi:

HDD: 35 °C
CPU: 74 °C
CPU Heatsink: 58 °C
Enclosure base: 35 °C
Enclosure base 2: 35 °C
Enclosure base 3: 32 °C
Gpu: 59 °C
Gpu Heatsink: 54 °C

Fans running at 2450 rmps

Without the moshi clearguard:

HDD: 36 °C
CPU: 72 °C
CPU Heatsink: 59 °C
Enclosure base: 34 °C
Enclosure base 2: 34 °C
Enclosure base 3: 34 °C
Gpu: 58 °C
Gpu Heatsink: 53 °C


Fans running 2450 rpms
Click to expand...

great work!

btw, which cooling pad do you have? I have hoping to buy one so I can use my mac on the bed.....
 
Panzo said:
the cooling pad i have is Targushttp://www.amazon.com/Targus-PA248U-Notebook-Chill-Pad/dp/B0000AKA8Y

Works great for me ive had it for a year now, keep the fans well lubricated and your set.
Click to expand...

thanks....I will look into that....

by the way I managed to drive my Macbook to 80 degrees C - I was running xp (VMware fusion) and streaming a video using WMP within IE. Nothing on the OS X side. It was HOT!
I had the clearguard on, but i guess it won't make a lot of difference with it off.
 
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klee1987 said:
thanks....I will look into that....

by the way I managed to drive my Macbook to 80 degrees C - I was running xp (VMware fusion) and streaming a video using WMP within IE. Nothing on the OS X side. It was HOT!
I had the clearguard on, but i guess it won't make a lot of difference with it off.
Click to expand...

It won't make a big difference with it off. Maybe get it down to 76-78c.
 
I was with you as far as the Moshi Clearguard and heat issues until yesterday, when I was transcoding an .avi file to DVD using iDVD and then burning it. The keyboard area got HOT! I didn't take measurements, but it got disturbingly hot (much, much hotter than I'd ever noticed before), and it was apparent that this heat is trapped somewhat by the Moshi, which is disturbing enough to not want to use it anymore. A further thing I noticed is that the MacBook's weak (i.e. max volume is not very loud) sound seems to be directed up through the keyboard as well, and the Moshi muffles it significantly. I'd never noticed this before. Play an mp3 and turn the volume up, and then while that's going on, lift the Moshi off, and it's really obvious the difference.

So, that's two strikes against the Moshi ClearGuard, versus the positive attributes of unobtrusive protection, esthetics and nice tactile sensation.

Now, I truly can't decide if I should continue using it, even though I quite like it.

The next time you transcode and burn a DVD, about 30 mins into it, I'd be very curious to see what your diagnostics read then, but the sound muffling is disturbing enough.

I have the latest 13" unibody white MacBook (not "Pro"), but I think that detail is probably irrelevant, since they're all similar.

Thoughts?
 
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