Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Normal Temp for MBA in F and C?
- Thread starter ghsDUDE
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The Intel processors used in Macs are designed to automatically shut down to prevent damage if they truly overheat (around 100C/212F - 105C/221F, depending on your processor). iStat Pro will give you accurate readings of your temps, among other things.
Unless there is a rare defect in your Mac, your temps are well within the normal operating range, considering the workload you're putting on it. Websites with Flash content, games and other multimedia apps will put higher demand on the CPU/GPU, generating more heat. This is normal. If you're constantly putting high demands on your system, such as gaming or other multimedia tasks, expect temps to rise and fans to spin up accordingly. It's just your Mac doing its job to maintain temps within the normal range.
Your fans are always on when your Mac is on, spinning at a minimum of 2000 rpm (for MBPs) or 1800 rpm (for MBAs, MBs and minis). They will spin faster as needed to keep temps at a safe level. If they're spinning up without increased heat, try resetting the SMC. Also, make sure you don't block the vents, which are located at the rear, near the hinge.
Learn about the fans in your Mac
Apple Portables: Operating temperature
Unless there is a rare defect in your Mac, your temps are well within the normal operating range, considering the workload you're putting on it. Websites with Flash content, games and other multimedia apps will put higher demand on the CPU/GPU, generating more heat. This is normal. If you're constantly putting high demands on your system, such as gaming or other multimedia tasks, expect temps to rise and fans to spin up accordingly. It's just your Mac doing its job to maintain temps within the normal range.
Your fans are always on when your Mac is on, spinning at a minimum of 2000 rpm (for MBPs) or 1800 rpm (for MBAs, MBs and minis). They will spin faster as needed to keep temps at a safe level. If they're spinning up without increased heat, try resetting the SMC. Also, make sure you don't block the vents, which are located at the rear, near the hinge.
Learn about the fans in your Mac
Apple Portables: Operating temperature
I can tell you in Celsius. You can do the conversion yourself ^_^
First and foremost, the operating temperatures depend on certain things:
- ambient temperature of the room (if you're operating in a 35 celsius environment, your MBA is going to run hotter... if you're operating in a 0 celcius environment, your MBA is going to run a lot cooler)
- where you are using the Air (on your lap, on a counter, on the bed)
- what you are doing with the Air and when you look at the temperature (if you leave the Air idle for 15 minutes, you'll see a lower temperature than if you check the temp just after booting up).
Anyways, I'm sitting at 37 degrees celcius as my core processor temperature. That's quite low (it's a mildly cool day today). The temperature is fluctuating up and down between 37 and 40 celcius right now while I'm running just Safari, and typing this up.
If I were to run Angry Birds, Safari, spotlight, and a couple other small things, I'd likely see temperatures ranging from low 60's to high 70's.
If I were to run Starcraft 2, I'll get temperatures going up to 95 celcius (imo too hot).
Intel's specifications state that 100 celcius is the highest the processor should go before you are likely to be causing damage to it. You probably won't be able to hit 100 celcius unless if you're in an area which is 35 celcius or hotter (ambient temp), or you are blocking your fan slots, or if you've done something odd with your Air. The computer should shut down anyway if you're hitting that kind of a roof, though running hot all the time (or hitting the shutdown roof) can do damage and the processor will age much quicker (so to speak). Running your Air hot all the time isn't good anyway though... keeping things in the 80's or below is usually desirable. You can always have a dud processor (there's lots of those, it's just a statistical thing that happens), where your breaking temp is lower than the average breaking temp. Intel states a 100 celcius cap... for most processors, they can probably hit 105 or 110 before being dealt any damage. The reason they set 100 is because that's sort-of the safe zone for them (the less tolerant processors made in a batch that don't handle heat as well can take that much heat, so they set it at 100). You could be unlucky and get one that starts taking damage at 98 celcius though, for example... which wouldn't be good.
Anyways... after all that... just don't worry too much.
iStat Pro will give you accurate readings of your temps, among other things. It will show temps in Celsius, Fahrenheit or Kelvin. And it's free.
iStat Menus is the best way to monitor everything on your Mac.
You can try iStat Pro but I'm not sure it is supported anymore.
iStat Pro and iStat Nano both work fine in Lion. No need to spend money on that when these are free.
I didn't say "They don't work" I said they are "Not Supported".
Meaning any update could break them, but since they are free I guess it doesn't matter.
Proof that they're not supported? Not attacking, just asking
They have removed them from Bjango's website.
You can still find them if you search, but I can't remember the last time they where updated.
I liked iStat Pro and used to recommend it but with the lack of updates and the removal of it from the Mac section on the site I figure it is only a matter of time before it dies.
iStat Pro is on the iSlayer site, not Bjango. It never was on the Bjango site.
http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/
iStat Pro works perfectly well on Mac OS X 10.4 and later. There's no reason not to use it.
Not really answering the question.
They left iStat Pro behind they appear to have no intention of doing anything with it. You can continue to use it, but it will not be updated.
They're not doing new development of iStat Pro, but that doesn't necessarily mean they wouldn't update it to keep it functional if an update caused it to stop working. It's just not getting any new "bells and whistles".
For now, it works perfectly well and it's free. There's no need to pay for an app that does the same thing, just because something may change in the future. There's no investment to worry about.
Is there anyway without downloading a widget? I feel like I've seen it somewhere on my mac before...but I'm new to mac so could be mistaken. Thanks for the widgets though, just wondering if I am correct in saying theres a way to view it without them?
Gotta get two comments off my chest:
I am not a developer, but I know that maintaining a quality software product takes a great deal of time and effort. Any developer that actively maintains two separate code bases for different versions of same product - and then giving one of them away (even if it is the older version) - will soon have to find other employment.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't imagine a single reason to make such a foolish move.
Consider yourself lucky. iStat Menus (v2) does not work "perfectly" on my 2010 iMac (i7) as it does not display any CPU data. Since CPU data is 90% of the reason that I installed iStat Menus in the first place, paying for v3 was an easy decision for me to make.
There is no shame in paying a developer a fair price for great software. It tends to encourage them to continue maintaining and updating it.
I am not a developer, but I know that maintaining a quality software product takes a great deal of time and effort. Any developer that actively maintains two separate code bases for different versions of same product - and then giving one of them away (even if it is the older version) - will soon have to find other employment.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't imagine a single reason to make such a foolish move.
Consider yourself lucky. iStat Menus (v2) does not work "perfectly" on my 2010 iMac (i7) as it does not display any CPU data. Since CPU data is 90% of the reason that I installed iStat Menus in the first place, paying for v3 was an easy decision for me to make.
There is no shame in paying a developer a fair price for great software. It tends to encourage them to continue maintaining and updating it.
If by "foolish move" you refer to the possibility of updating iStat Pro to keep it functional with later OS updates, one reason to do so would be goodwill. Thousands (or millions) use iStat Pro and are very happy with it. Many of those users will buy other products by the same developer, based on their satisfaction with iStat Pro. If it stops functioning, some may elect to upgrade to a paid version as a result, and some may simply go elsewhere. Keeping it running could be viewed by many users as a goodwill gesture that could promote loyalty to the developer.
Consider yourself a very small minority, as it works fine for the vast majority of users. You may have other issues contributing to your problem.
Of course not! Nor is there "shame" in using a well-developed free app, if it's available.
This may be more true than you realize. My six month old iMac is currently in the shop for an estimated $1400 worth of repairs. (Never buying a refurbished piece of electronics again!)
That said, I must admit that my previous post was made in ignorance about iSlayer/Bjango's iStat product catalog. While doing a my homework for this reply I realized that I was confusing iStat Pro (one of two iStat Dashboard Widgets) with iStat Menus (the Menu Bar Application). I wasn't even aware that iStat Pro and iStat Nano existed. My iStat experience on my iMac was with iStat Menus v2, not iStat Pro. For all I know, iStat Pro might have worked fine on my iMac.
So, I agree with the premise that using an EOL/unsupported application that works well is a perfectly fine thing to do; and there is nothing wrong with hoping the developer offers the goodwill gesture of occasional updates in the future. My previous rant was based on my misperception that the topic up for discussion was the notion that developers should be expected to continue supporting previous versions of currently shipping applications. I see now that this was not the topic at all and I apologize for typing out of turn.
Someday I will learn to never visit online forums and fire up the keyboard while sleep deprived.
Sorry about the misunderstanding.
[ONTOPIC] My MacBook Air averaged 129 degrees F while typing this reply. [/ONTOPIC]
What's that saying about "friends don't let friends post drunk"?
No problem at all. When you get as old as me, you can always fall back on the
"senility defense"!
I missed the fact you did, indeed, refer to iStat Menus 2, not iStat Pro. (I claim senility!
) From the previously mentioned link: