Really Worried about buying the new uMBP 15" 2.8ghz jun version.

[WareWolf]

Hey guys,

I am considering about buying the uMBP 15" 2.8ghz june 2009 version but i am really worried about whether im just gonn waste 1800 euros on something that i will have major issues with.

Ive been reading about this new macbook pro and the revious unibody models in forums and other places and im really worried about whether or not i should buy it now. The main problem that i come accross people saying is that this macbook pro gets extremly hot and there are many issues with it such as: some users have problems with the hard disk beeping an clicking.

What worries me the most is the heat issues. From what i understand is that if you use bootcamp the fans may not operate properly and the machine will get hot really fast. Personally i will use my new laptop not for gaming spesificly but i would like to use bootcamp to play a few games, not too hardcore. eg Sims, som RTS like warcraft or something and im not gonna buy this machine just to use XP, i will use the OSX the most but when it comes to some programs i might need or games i might use em through bootcamp.

SO basicly what i wanna ask you guys is have you expirienced any heat issues, have you used windows on you mac through bootcamp or parrallel, has that generated more heat? Im really worried about buying this machine due to all the stuff i come accross, i dont know if it is a minority of the new macbook pro users that post that stuff but it leaves an impression that if someone will buy this new macbook pro he will come accross serious heat issues when using it normally or in bootcamp mode. Are all those talk an exaduration or do all uMBP overheat in anyway you use it?

Just a side note this will be my only laptop, i dont use desktops, i dont game 24/7 i have consoles for that, so i will buy this system for portabillity, performance and a little gaming.

Also as i am typing this on my brothers old macbook (the balck plastic one i believe he bought it like 2 years ago) It never got too hot for me, right now on istat it says CPU 62c heatsinks 58c enclosure 37c, so all tha for me are totally unoticable.


Ive been really excite about these uMBP and ive beeen saving money for a few months and now im just dissapointed and worried that if i buy it day one i will expirience problems. BTW im gonna import this, i dont have Apple stores were i live so if there will be problems (nock on would) my only choice would be to mail it back to the UK or something, thats also the reason im worried. My brother so far with his old macbook hasnt had any problems



Sorry for the wall of text but im really concerned

 

[jav6454]

Hey guys,

... wall of text snip...

Sorry for the wall of text but im really concerned

Don't be sorry, its fine for you to be concerned. It's a major purchase. Now, to ease your concerns. New MacBook Pros are quite cool. They run cooler than previous generation MacBook Pros. Also, Hard drive clicking noises are small given, given (ignore redundancy) the fact that a Hard disk spins and has moving parts, so something will eventually screw up in that sense.

However, all these issues are addressed by the 1 year warranty on hardware. If you happen to have any issue, just call Apple up or take your Mac to an Apple store. There they will repair or replace your laptop.

Keep in mind this is a forum for troubled people, so you will find a disproportionate amount of problems or people complaining with their MacBook Pros here.

 

[WareWolf]

Thxs for the quick reply, but i got to stress that i live in Cyprus and there is no Apple Store, im gonna buy my uMBP through amazon uk so the only option would be to mail my system to the UK if there will be a problem (hope not)

I dont know if this is true cause its hard to tell but if there are like a few thousand people or maybe even more that already bought this system and the heat issues are posted in websites and forums by like hundreds of users is it safe to say that it is a minority of people like 10% that expirience heat issues, or is this a truely widespread, every uMBP will expirience heat issues anyway you use it. And when i say heat issues i mean like crazy hot 80-110 celcius or something.


The problem is that when people post threads like this "Oh my new uMBP overheats and get crazy hot" they sometimes dont specify the temps. Seriously ive read one guy saying that his system gets to 58 degrees and he thought that was hot.

Maybe its people overexadurating the issue, i dont know but dammn im worried guys lol

 

[suekitch]

I just replied in another thread - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/742185/ - so I'll save regurgitating that, heh

But one thing I will say is that you probably have Apple Authorised Service Providers in your country? Might be worth a call to Apple themselves to find out. If you have problems you could go to them or indeed mail the machine back to Apple for repair.

Not that you should need it! The games you mentioned as I said above aren't that intensive and can even be played in OSX (great performance here) so you don't need to bootcamp, and, even if you did, all you have to do is install a little piece of software to control your fan speed.

All laptops get hot whilst gaming. Honestly. I abandoned gaming on my old MBP (07 version) because the heat worried me, and I got a gaming Windows laptop. Guess what - it got even hotter. Even went up to 105 degrees one time when I left it on, on the battery, off its cooling pad whilst I popped to the store. Any serious laptop gamer will monitor their temperatures and fans so it's not something that is exclusive to Mac owners.

I've been pleasantly surprised with my new 13" MBP which probably gets the hottest I guess as it has less airflow, being smaller? Just a guess. If heat really really concerns you (as it did with my Windows machine) then invest in a nice cooling pad - I can heartily recommend the Zalman ones, that knocked 20 degrees off mine.

Don't let this issue hold you back from buying a Mac! There's so much more joy to be had from one than just playing the odd game!

 

[Minimoose 360]

smcFancontrol is your friend in Bootcamp. Turn the 9600m on and set those suckers to 6000rpm in OSX, then reboot into Windows and they'll keep your MBP coolish.

I haven't played many intense games, just some HL2, CS:S, GTA, and it gets a little warm but with the fans going all is well.

I've been pleasantly surprised with my new 13" MBP which probably gets the hottest I guess as it has less airflow, being smaller? Just a guess.

There is less space, but also the 13" has only ONE fan, where as the 15" and 17" have two.

 

[WareWolf]

Lol thxs dude ive read ur reply there, yeah ive done my research and ive heared about that program your talking about, i just figured that should the uMBP do that by itself if it is already supposed to run other OS through bootcamp?

Also ive heared but dont know if its true, that if u use that program to adjust the fan speed, it can screw with them and cause them to eventually malfunction.

I just want to be clear that the uMBP i will (hopefully if i get over the paranoia) get will not be used as a computer that runs XP. I already fell in love with the mac OSX but there are some programs like Guitar Pro or converting videos to ipod format etc and few games that i might use (maybe even not cause im not an extreme pc gamer) on this laptop that will require me to use Bootcamp.

BTW since we are talking about heat issues, is it a widespread occurance with macbooks diying due to overheating? What temp range is considered dangerous and potentialy able to cause you laptop to die.

As i said before i own an old HP laptop and right now that it is running somewhere in my room it is crazy hot (made of plastic) i cant measure the temps. And it is on almost 24/7 lol crazy hot all the time and it works fine (but its a crap laptop lol)

 

[suekitch]

Lol thxs dude ive read ur reply there, yeah ive done my research and ive heared about that program your talking about, i just figured that should the uMBP do that by itself if it is already supposed to run other OS through bootcamp?

It's not up to Apple to make sure Windows works on their hardware properly. To be fair, they've already gone above and beyond the call of duty IMO when it comes to getting a competitor's OS to work on their machines!

Also ive heared but dont know if its true, that if u use that program to adjust the fan speed, it can screw with them and cause them to eventually malfunction.

I've never heard anything like that. Even if they did malfunction you still have a warranty (look at Apple care too, are you a student? Get it cheaper if you are).

I just want to be clear that the uMBP i will (hopefully if i get over the paranoia) get will not be used as a computer that runs XP. I already fell in love with the mac OSX but there are some programs like Guitar Pro or converting videos to ipod format etc and few games that i might use (maybe even not cause im not an extreme pc gamer) on this laptop that will require me to use Bootcamp.

Well some programs maybe you could use Parallels or similar instead of BootCamp. But yeah if you want to play Windows games at all you'll need to Bootcamp. To be honest you do sound a bit like me when it comes to gaming habits... I just got hooked playing WoW a few years ago and that's it, without WoW well.. I don't actually like playing PC games all that much but I find The Sims 3 quite fun. As said, my MBP handles them just fine.

BTW since we are talking about heat issues, is it a widespread occurance with macbooks diying due to overheating? What temp range is considered dangerous and potentialy able to cause you laptop to die.

It depends on the processor etc really. You should look at the chip you're considering, and the graphics, and see what temperatures they recommend. But I haven't seen many posts on this forum with people saying "I played games every so often on my laptop and now it's dead I think it overheated" - in fact I don't think I've seen one. But honestly, do get a cooling pad if it worries you that much because the peace of mind is worth spending a little more, e.g - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Zalman-ZM-NC1...k-Cooler-_W0QQitemZ250446297556QQcmdZViewItem

That's the one I had for my Windows laptop and as I said it was fantastic and they do them in 15" and 17" versions. It honestly took 20 degrees off my temps. I don't use it for my MBP though; it runs cooler than my old Tosh and when I get back to my place (visiting family at the mo) I'll get back to playing Sims on my iMac etc

 

[Minimoose 360]

The whole Bootcamp thing does it's job but many of the problems are getting things configured correctly. I have no idea why something as important as cooling fans don't seem to work correctly, but who knows thats Apple and Microsoft's problem.

I would think altering the fanspeed (mine in OS X never get past 3000) could potentially burn them out quicker than normal if your on Bootcamp and running them full blast all the time...but that's what we have AppleCare for.

As to the MacBooks dying I don't have a figure that I can justify but I can assure you there aren't thousands of Mac users piling into store to get their machines fixed due to overheating. I have gotten my temp up to 73C before using Bootcamp without any issues. (I was doing some encoding and game playing at the time)

Also you said your using XP correct? XP runs a world better than Vista on Mac from personal experience. Things got a lot hotter with Vista. Right now I am running Windows 7 Ultimate RC on Bootcamp and I have little to no heating issues, even with gaming.

 

[WareWolf]

Thxs for the replies @minimoose yep im gonna have XP on it just to be able to run some software or games that wont run on the mac OSX. I dont care about windows, to be honest if mac could run all games and all the programs out there i wouldnt even use bootcamp.

The thing is that this is an investment, i chose to concentrate on the uMBP 2.8ghz because i believe that it will surve me for a long time and since i am not a harcore game or anythin hardcore for that matter, i wont be buying anything else like a desktop pc to strictly play games like some people do. I just want a great laptop that performs great and will not die on me and so far it seems that the uMBP is the clear winner.

Maybe as you guys said these issues that are stated in forums are minor and are not in any way a potential 'system killer'

I guess i am indeed paranoid lol

 

[suekitch]

It's also important to remember that the voice of an dissatisfied person is often louder than the satisfied... people come on forums to complain, seek advice etc, and can drown out those who are completely happy with their purchase.

I guess if everyone posted how happy they are and how many problems they DON'T have things could be quite dull

 

[WareWolf]

Just an update, ive considered all your guys advice and comments and i figured as long as i buy a cooling pad or a laptop coller whatever its called, ill be safe

Thxs for quickly repliying. You guys are awsome

BTW can you suggest any good cooling pads, price is not an issue when it comes to the safety of your laptop lol

@suekitch i checked that Zalman coolin pad you suggested and ill surely consider it, but do you know of any other ones, or some that are considered high end? like the alienware of coolin pads or something lol

Yeap i guess if i was satisfied with something i would never post it on forums cause then id be considered ligaly insane lol you only come accross the minority that is not satisfied with something

 

[suekitch]

Just an update, ive considered all your guys advice and comments and i figured as long as i buy a cooling pad or a laptop coller whatever its called, ill be safe

Thxs for quickly repliying. You guys are awsome

BTW can you suggest any good cooling pads, price is not an issue when it comes to the safety of your laptop lol

@suekitch i checked that Zalman coolin pad you suggested and ill surely consider it, but do you know of any other ones, or some that are considered high end? like the alienware of coolin pads or something lol

Yeap i guess if i was satisfied with something i would never post it on forums cause then id be considered ligaly insane lol you only come accross the minority that is not satisfied with something

Zalman are top notch for cooling devices. It's all they do. Not knowing the name is usually down to an element of 'ignorance' if you forgive the term with that field. It'd be like buying a Sony hi-fi just because you know the brand and ignoring the more specialist high end manufacturers because they are unknown names to you.

Zalman ARE high end - I paid £50 for my one (the bigger model). Alienware are... re-badged Dell. I can recommend www.quietpc.co.uk for buying this sort of thing. They're also really helpful people if you wanted to phone up and ask their advice. This is a specific link to the Zalman - http://www.quietpc.com/cy-en-eur/products/audio-and-laptop-products/zalman-notebook-coolers and this is their Zalman page if you need more convincing of their quality - http://www.quietpc.com/cy-en-eur/manufacturers/zalman . I notice you can also select Cyprus (south) as a country etc so I guess they ship there.

Reasons I like it - it's very quiet, and it obviously does a very good job of cooling. Seriously! 20 degrees! Also it has some extra USB ports (3) but it's USB powered so it uses one for that to connect to the computer, but you don't lose a port by connecting it, you gain one.

 

[WareWolf]

Thxs alot for all your help. Ive been looking up that Zalman pad you recommened me and it does look like a quality product the only thing that bothers me (which is somewhat not so important i suppose) is that as it seems it is not comfortable to use on your lap. Could you verify that? Because in my case i would be using my laptop 50% or so on my lap, since it is a portable computer, thus i somewhat need it to be something i could put on my lap and not worry about it being too sharp, too heavy or too uncomfortable. But as far as ive looked around im gonna go with it most probably.

I totally agree with you that when buying something for the brand name is ignorant, but sometimes you just cant go wrong, eg Iphone, Ipod, macbook

I got to say suekitch you helped me alot and made me less worried about buying my new macbook and i have to thank you for all your help and info your awsome. I figured ill buy my uMBP and a good cooling pad and im all set

*Edit* One more thing ive noticed youve recommened me the NC-100 what about the newer one the NC-200 do you know if the newer one is better or if there is any difference whatsoever?

 

[suekitch]

Thxs alot for all your help. Ive been looking up that Zalman pad you recommened me and it does look like a quality product the only thing that bothers me (which is somewhat not so important i suppose) is that as it seems it is not comfortable to use on your lap. Could you verify that? Because in my case i would be using my laptop 50% or so on my lap, since it is a portable computer, thus i somewhat need it to be something i could put on my lap and not worry about it being too sharp, too heavy or too uncomfortable. But as far as ive looked around im gonna go with it most probably.

I totally agree with you that when buying something for the brand name is ignorant, but sometimes you just cant go wrong, eg Iphone, Ipod, macbook

I got to say suekitch you helped me alot and made me less worried about buying my new macbook and i have to thank you for all your help and info your awsome. I figured ill buy my uMBP and a good cooling pad and im all set

*Edit* One more thing ive noticed youve recommened me the NC-100 what about the newer one the NC-200 do you know if the newer one is better or if there is any difference whatsoever?

It's a size thing not a quality or newness thing - the 2000 is for laptops up to 20" but the 1000 for up to 15.4"

As for using it on your lap hmm, I'm not so sure about it in that case to be honest, it might be worth spending some time in the other thread that was linked to see what others recommend for that specifically

I don't think it would be too bad. The base is flat and stuff, but there might be other more comfortable ones out there.

 

[WareWolf]

One more thing ive noticed that the holes on the zalman only cover the 3/4 of the entire unit and the upper 1/4 of the zlman doesnt have holes, does that affect the cooling anway? Shouldnt it entirely be covered in holes so that the entire laptop is being cooled down.

Also when it comes to the uMBP there is nothing underneath the laptop no fans no holes or anything like other laptops, so how does the Zalman even cool it down if the air doesnt enter the laptop to cool it down? As i understand the uMBP ventilates through the keyboard and the sides or am i wrong?

It just seams kinda useless in a way that the zalman blows air into nothing just the alluminium casing

 

[Freyqq]

One more thing ive noticed that the holes on the zalman only cover the 3/4 of the entire unit and the upper 1/4 of the zlman doesnt have holes, does that affect the cooling anway? Shouldnt it entirely be covered in holes so that the entire laptop is being cooled down.

Also when it comes to the uMBP there is nothing underneath the laptop no fans no holes or anything like other laptops, so how does the Zalman even cool it down if the air doesnt enter the laptop to cool it down? As i understand the uMBP ventilates through the keyboard and the sides or am i wrong?

It just seams kinda useless in a way that the zalman blows air into nothing just the alluminium casing

idk about that particular model, but if it's anything like the other cooling pads they drop the temps about 10 C. Aluminum conducts heat well, so cooling the bottom cools the components.

 

[WareWolf]

Ive read somewhere that the NC-1000 is a little smaller than a 15" laptop. Is that true? Does it cover a 15" exactly or does the laptop hang at either sides?

 

[Freyqq]

Ive read somewhere that the NC-1000 is a little smaller than a 15" laptop. Is that true? Does it cover a 15" exactly or does the laptop hang at either sides?

most coolers don't cover the whole laptop, but they cool fine anyways

 

[WareWolf]

Then wouldnt it be better to get a bigger one rather than a smaller one i mean the NC-1000 is slightly smaller that a 15" laptop and the NC-2000 is for 17" to 20" laptops , then again the latter might be just too big for a 15"

Then wouldnt it be better to get a bigger one rather than a smaller one i mean the NC-1000 is slightly smaller that a 15" laptop and the NC-2000 is for 17" to 20" laptops , then again the latter might be just too big for a 15"