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New laptop user inquiry

MacBH928

MacBH928

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 17, 2008
9,167
4,193
Hello

I was always a desktop guy because desktops are dependable and strong. But things changed and I do not heavily use my computer so I bought a macbook the one with no firewire. I heard that laptops today are just as good and reliable as desktops.

So I just have to ask , I am only running Safari with 4-5 tabs open and watching a video . Is it normal for the fans to be this loud and on most of the time? I mean this is hardly using the CPU.

Or does it have to do with the room temperature because this usually happens when the air conditioning is off.

I am afraid these fans are saying to me: The laptop is HOT, be careful. I get ideas that it might hurt the laptop if it gets hot and the fans turn on.

Could you please enlighten me?
 
If the video is a flash video then that is normal. Flash needs some work in OS X.
 
That's perfectly normal. I have the same model MacBook as you and I recently learned that, by default, the fan us always on and has a minimum speed of 1800 rpm, but it will usually rev up a lot more than that.
I agree with above about flash, that's probably what has your fan going, it's trying to cool the gpu not the cpu.
 
So , shall I let the fans go crazy and smile about it with no worries?
 
kingmohd84 said:
So , shall I let the fans go crazy and smile about it with no worries?
Click to expand...

Yeah you should be fine. Once you do something less intensive the fans should slow down. I use smcfancontrol to run my fans higher than normal because I don't mind the noise and hate the heat on the keyboard when I'm typing.
 
kingmohd84 said:
So , shall I let the fans go crazy and smile about it with no worries?
Click to expand...

Yup.

It's better to have them running when the computer is hot than not at all ;)

You should see how loud some of the newer HP's get when they start cranking...yikes, sounds like a room fan going at full blast!
 
NewMacbookPlz said:
Yup.

It's better to have them running when the computer is hot than not at all ;)

You should see how loud some of the newer HP's get when they start cranking...yikes, sounds like a room fan going at full blast!
Click to expand...

Haha, you think those are loud, you should have heard my old iBook G3 when it heated up. The speakers didn't go loud enough to block out the noise!!
 
matthewscott661 said:
Haha, you think those are loud, you should have heard my old iBook G3 when it heated up. The speakers didn't go loud enough to block out the noise!!
Click to expand...

My G4 iBook was the same way, especially towards the end. It had two levels, absolutely silent..and small aircraft on take-off.
 
I do not think any one had to face the noise I faced using IBM thinkpad.
The air vent felt like it was a car's exhaust and the fan would make cranking sounds like a faulty car engine.

The macbook is very quite then I hear the fans going loud "SSSSHSSHHHH" like it needs to breath or about to blow while I am just watching flash video online. It isn't like I am running Final Cut Pro, parallels xp , and playing a DVD movie. I was worried that the heat and high fans might damage the internals as the laptop is extremely thing
 
If you want the laptop to cool down more then install smcfancontrol and ramp the fans up high. This also monitors the temperature. It will be relatively loud but it will keep it cooler and keep your mind at ease about your laptop.
 
kingmohd84 said:
I do not think any one had to face the noise I faced using IBM thinkpad.
The air vent felt like it was a car's exhaust and the fan would make cranking sounds like a faulty car engine.

The macbook is very quite then I hear the fans going loud "SSSSHSSHHHH" like it needs to breath or about to blow while I am just watching flash video online. It isn't like I am running Final Cut Pro, parallels xp , and playing a DVD movie. I was worried that the heat and high fans might damage the internals as the laptop is extremely thing
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about that. If you want to keep a look at your CPU temps, you can download the iStat Pro dashboard widget. The Core2Duos in these computers are rated up to 105*C (221*F) before they'll fail/panic. I've never gotten my temps above ~82C, as the fans kick up and stop the heating in its tracks.
 
NewMacbookPlz said:
Yup.

It's better to have them running when the computer is hot than not at all ;)

You should see how loud some of the newer HP's get when they start cranking...yikes, sounds like a room fan going at full blast!
Click to expand...

My HP has a loud fan like that. The difference between it and my unibody MacBook? About 30c under load. The HP runs cooler under full load than the MacBook does idle. And the HP has dedicated graphics as well.

A "cooling" system designed to keep the hardware from reaching its failure point is not as good for the long term life of the product as a cooling system designed to actually keep the hardware cool is. A Core 2 Duo running a 135F will definitely last longer than one running at 185F. My plastic and aluminum MacBooks have definitely gone above that under full load.
 
I knot this sounds stupid but out of curiosity
does it help to keep a fan blowing on your laptop , or set it on an ice pack, or just keep the room you operate in really cold
 
kingmohd84 said:
I knot this sounds stupid but out of curiosity
does it help to keep a fan blowing on your laptop , or set it on an ice pack, or just keep the room you operate in really cold
Click to expand...

A fan blowing may help it to dissipate heat faster, An ice pack is not a good idea, and a really cold room would help probably lol, I know when i first got my macbook and it would get hot when id play a game for a while, I got curious and held it up to my window when it was -40C outside and the temps went from about 83C to 30C on the cpu in about 3 minutes haha
 
kingmohd84 said:
I knot this sounds stupid but out of curiosity
does it help to keep a fan blowing on your laptop , or set it on an ice pack, or just keep the room you operate in really cold
Click to expand...

I wouldnt recommend an ice pack either, even if it's covered or in a container or something there's still more then likely going to be some form of condensation as the air coming out of the computer is suddenly cooled - not the kind of thing you want around your computer. And do not, under any circumstances, even attempt to use dry ice like someone's asked on these boards before :p
 
Ivan P said:
I wouldnt recommend an ice pack either, even if it's covered or in a container or something there's still more then likely going to be some form of condensation as the air coming out of the computer is suddenly cooled - not the kind of thing you want around your computer. And do not, under any circumstances, even attempt to use dry ice like someone's asked on these boards before :p
Click to expand...


WOW lol...Thats all I can say
 
hate to hijack the thread but it is the most recent dealing with smcfancontrol...I just installed it but can't get the app to run, I click the icon and nothing happens

any ideas?
 
chucktown said:
hate to hijack the thread but it is the most recent dealing with smcfancontrol...I just installed it but can't get the app to run, I click the icon and nothing happens

any ideas?
Click to expand...

What version of the app and what OS X version are you running?
 
chucktown said:
hate to hijack the thread but it is the most recent dealing with smcfancontrol...I just installed it but can't get the app to run, I click the icon and nothing happens

any ideas?
Click to expand...

Nothing appears in your menubar?
 

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