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Preventing MacBook from over heating

M

Mr.tari

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2017
2
0
I usually have the habit to use my MacBook while resting on my bed. I have heard that most laptops mostly Apple’s MacBook lines, have their air vents at the bottom, which means that I am likely to block them using this way. Could this device easily withstand such type of use? If no than any good suggestions?o_O
 
The 12" MacBooks don't really have this issue. If they get hot, they throttle the processor to cool it down. My wife has a 2016 model that she uses on the bed occasionally without issue. The only time I notice it even getting warm, if I use it, is during OS X updates. It did also get a little warm during the Time Machine restore when i set it up. Day to day use, it stays very cool. My wife's is the Silver 2016, m7, 8GB, 256GB model. She does Office Apps, Facebook, E-Mail and general web surfing with Safari and Chrome as well as using a VPN client with Remote Desktop for work access on it. No games or heavy graphics apps like Photoshop. With that program load, it stays very cool.

I have a new 2017 Gold i7, 16GB 12" MacBook on the way (delivers Wednesday!) and hope it will be the same heat wise.
 
Mr.tari said:
its MacBook pro
Click to expand...

Which MacBook Pro? You can click on the Apple icon in the upper left-hand corner, click About This Mac, and it will tell you which system.

(This is the MacBook thread BTW, which is different from the MacBook Pro - a Moderator will hopefully move this thread to the right section.)

In most cases it will be fine sitting on the bed. However, this doesn't make sense if you are performing tasks that are extremely intensive, as it will have somewhat of an insulating effect and cause more heat buildup (using more energy, reducing performance, and unnecessarily exposing the system to more heat.)
 
I use both my MBP (2014) and MacBook (2017) in bed or on the couch and have never had any over heating issues.
 
SteveJUAE said:
My wife's rMB will overheat and shut down quite easily when using Skype or streaming unless it's on a flat hard surface
Click to expand...

This surprises me a lot.

Admittedly I don't use it like your wife does, but in other sustained heavy load tests it has never shut down and temperature is controlled by throttling back...not much, about 10%. I haven't heard any other reports of shutdown.

I used it for some months with a hardshell case and same applies.
 
Mike Boreham said:
This surprises me a lot.

Admittedly I don't use it like your wife does, but in other sustained heavy load tests it has never shut down and temperature is controlled by throttling back...not much, about 10%. I haven't heard any other reports of shutdown.

I used it for some months with a hardshell case and same applies.
Click to expand...
Yes the rMB is fine but as the bottom can get quite warm for bare legs so my wife started putting it on a sofa pillow or the wide arm of the sofa when skyping this is how we found out that it shuts down say after 30 mins or more (never actually timed it) place it on a hard surface (table etc) or even a magazine and its fine and this is without the Spec case that she never uses now
 
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