Noting the air inlets in the 2012 MBP,

[thermodynamic]

is there a safe, non-warranty breaking way to add subtle, smooth, unobtrusive, barely visible openings in the 2011's case?

Even the part one can screw off and add subtle holes might help temperatures a bit...

I don't often do 3D rendering, but to keep the thing closer to 75C would be far better than 90C... (I know vents alone will only go so far, but even then...)

Thanks!

 

[Queen6]

Buy a new bottom case and speak with a decent machine shop, i sure vents can be cut out of the base, problem is with just vents the machine may draw in more dust and worst case senario cooling will be less efficient, as airflow will not be optimal.

I would also look at elevation (Rain Designs Mstand) and external cooling; the MBP`s case to some extent is acting as a heat sync if it has a flow of air across the machine, it helps keep the internals cool. When my 15" Early 08 MBP fans failed I used an externa USB fan and was still able to keep the system up with only one internal fan running at low RPM`s

Bear in mind that the machine is designed to run in the low - mid 90`s so I wouldn't sweat on it too much, i use an Mstand for my MBP`s (08 2.4 Penryn & 11 2.4 i7) and generally see high 80`s, low 90`s under full load.