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rMBP Thermal Performance

thuchu1

thuchu1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 16, 2010
155
22
Auburn Hills, MI
I upgraded last year to a 2011 2.2GHz Macbook Pro, then added more ram and added an SSD in the optical bay and honestly couldn't be happier with the machine from a power perspective. I rarely see the beach ball, and when I do it's from errors, not a lack of resources. My only gripe is the heat on this thing! When I'm sitting with it on my lap (even making sure not to block the fans or set it on blankets) it gets EALLLLY hot. I know this is just the nature of the beast when it comes to this kind of power in a form factor like this, but I was wondering if anyone had some real-world input as to how the new ventilation performs. This would be a very easy justification for me in upgrading, I'd just like to know that it really makes THAT much of a difference.
 
What's REALLLLY hot? Please provide the actual temperature and cpu load.

Just saying hot is subjective without actual hard numbers.
 
maflynn said:
What's REALLLLY hot? Please provide the actual temperature and cpu load.

Just saying hot is subjective without actual hard numbers.
Click to expand...

Hot means uncomfortable to the touch. I don't remember the specific numbers. I understand it's different to different people, but I'd like to assume there's a general threshold that people start to notice the heat at.

I'll rephrase my question to, "Has anyone with an rMBP noticed an uncomfortable level of heat when using the machine on their lap?"
 
thuchu1 said:
Hot means uncomfortable to the touch. I don't remember the specific numbers. I understand it's different to different people, but I'd like to assume there's a general threshold that people start to notice the heat at.

I'll rephrase my question to, "Has anyone with an rMBP noticed an uncomfortable level of heat when using the machine on their lap?"
Click to expand...

There is a reason why all manufacturers have stopped calling these things laptops.
 
theSeb said:
There is a reason why all manufacturers have stopped calling these things laptops.
Click to expand...

There was a KB article a few years back on apple's site basically saying that its not a laptop but a notebook and its not designed for be placed on your lap.

With that said, I and many people I know do use it as such.

I wonder because of the new cooling design of the rMBP, the bottom plate gets warmer by design, because of the vent placement has changed.
 
within 2 minutes of starting D3 mine gets hot enough that I can't keep it in my lap. a quick point with my ir gun showed 114F at the hottest point towards the back/bottom.

I dont care what they say, these machines are getting smaller yet we are still meant to be chained to a desk? yeah right.
 
thuchu1 said:
I upgraded last year to a 2011 2.2GHz Macbook Pro, then added more ram and added an SSD in the optical bay and honestly couldn't be happier with the machine from a power perspective. I rarely see the beach ball, and when I do it's from errors, not a lack of resources. My only gripe is the heat on this thing! When I'm sitting with it on my lap (even making sure not to block the fans or set it on blankets) it gets EALLLLY hot. I know this is just the nature of the beast when it comes to this kind of power in a form factor like this, but I was wondering if anyone had some real-world input as to how the new ventilation performs. This would be a very easy justification for me in upgrading, I'd just like to know that it really makes THAT much of a difference.
Click to expand...

Same here.

My Retina Macbook Pro gets insanely toasty all over, but the inside temps as measured by AtMonitor and iStat are pretty decent.

----------
maflynn said:
There was a KB article a few years back on apple's site basically saying that its not a laptop but a notebook and its not designed for be placed on your lap.

With that said, I and many people I know do use it as such.

I wonder because of the new cooling design of the rMBP, the bottom plate gets warmer by design, because of the vent placement has changed.
Click to expand...

I can still use my retinaMBP on my lap as long as I'm not encoding something or playing games. Have yet to try to watch a video for long.
 
thuchu1 said:
I'll rephrase my question to, "Has anyone with an rMBP noticed an uncomfortable level of heat when using the machine on their lap?"
Click to expand...

It depends what you are doing on it. For MS Office, web-browsing, and playing videos, it doesn't even get warm on your lap. It's the coolest laptop I've ever used. But if you start running intensive programs, yes it can get quite hot.
 
shadowarachh said:
within 2 minutes of starting D3 mine gets hot enough that I can't keep it in my lap. a quick point with my ir gun showed 114F at the hottest point towards the back/bottom.

I dont care what they say, these machines are getting smaller yet we are still meant to be chained to a desk? yeah right.
Click to expand...

Why would you ever want to play D3 on your lap? Using the trackpad for one thing is an impossibility.
 
For tasks associated with a computer on your lap, my rMBP is leaps and bounds cooler than my 2011 MBP. Streaming netflix, browsing the internet, and with PS running in the background does not even create the slightest uncomfortable spot. This is the computer I have been waiting for.
 
Retina Seems Cooler

I'm migrating now from a 17" "Early 2011" MBP which I bought new last fall. The machine is a 2.3GHx Core i7 with 8GB of dram and a 750GB Seagate HD. The 17" replaced an early 2011 17" with a 500GB SSD which was stolen in Dallas. Don't get me started. :)

While the 17" with the SSD had very good battery life, the replacement with a standard drive definitely did not. In fact battery life has been quite bad and the machine typically runs VERY hot. Doing any sort of work, the fan is always on.

The new machine is a 15" MBPr with a 2.8GHz core i7, 16GB dram and a 750GB SSD. I've been using the 15" MBPr now for about a day and a half. The first day was spent migrating from the 17" and dealing with getting the drive formatted correctly (I use separate boot and data partitions).

I've been doing serious work on it for about four hours now, including some Photoshop work. I have to say that, on a purely anecdotal basis, the MBPr seems to be running MUCH cooler than the earlier machine. I've not yet heard a fan come on and the machine has been sitting comfortably in my lap for the better part of three hours.

So far the MBPr is very impressive. Bootup is blazingly fast and my sense is that battery life will be very good. I'll obviously have a better handle on battery life and power management as I get more experience with the machine.

So far, so good.
 
I had an early 2011 MacBook pro and the retina runs much cooler in most tasks.

In intensive tasks like gaming or encoding, it will get hot.. though it tends to get hotter on the top side of the notebook as opposed to the underside as compared to the 2011 model.
 
JohnDoe98 said:
It depends what you are doing on it. For MS Office, web-browsing, and playing videos, it doesn't even get warm on your lap. It's the coolest laptop I've ever used. But if you start running intensive programs, yes it can get quite hot.
Click to expand...

From the sound of it, it seems like I won't see much of a benefit. When I'm watching shows, they're usually playing on my girlfriend's computer or the tv, and web browsing is done on the iPad. 90% of the time I'm running Xcode, Photoshop and Fireworks with a bit of video work in either After Effects or Premiere, so toasty is just the name of the game for me I guess. Thank you for the opinions, I'll just go spend $50 on a cooling mat instead of $2700 on a new computer
 
Last edited:
My base-model rMPB has been getting quite toasty as well. I installed iStat Pro to see the temps and it looks something like below after 30 mins of so of web browsing and e-mails. No games or video and not pushing the machine at all. Are the numbers below normal? This is my first MacBook but the keyboard is getting warm during some pretty simple operations which concerns me. Temps are in Celsius.

ScreenShot2012-07-03at42803PM.png
 
My retina macbook gets a little warm but nothing serious or unexpected. The only place where it gets pretty hot is at the top right above the keyboard when playing games. even then I wouldn't say its too hot to touch.

CLASSIC MUSCLE said:
My base-model rMPB has been getting quite toasty as well. I installed iStat Pro to see the temps and it looks something like below after 30 mins of so of web browsing and e-mails. No games or video and not pushing the machine at all. Are the numbers below normal? This is my first MacBook but the keyboard is getting warm during some pretty simple operations which concerns me. Temps are in Celsius.

Image
Click to expand...

my GPU reads ~71C when playing diablo 3. are you sure you have nothing running in the background?
 
melterx12 said:
My retina macbook gets a little warm but nothing serious or unexpected. The only place where it gets pretty hot is at the top right above the keyboard when playing games. even then I wouldn't say its too hot to touch.

my GPU reads ~71C when playing diablo 3. are you sure you have nothing running in the background?
Click to expand...

I only have 3-4 applications open (mac mail, safari, dashboard, etc) but in Activity Monitor it shows I have 83 processes running. A picture of that is below as well, as you can probably tell I'm not very computer savvy but I absolutely love this new Retina Macbook and just want to make sure all is OK or if I should return it for another one.

ScreenShot2012-07-03at50017PM.png
 
CLASSIC MUSCLE said:
I only have 3-4 applications open (mac mail, safari, dashboard, etc) but in Activity Monitor it shows I have 83 processes running. A picture of that is below as well, as you can probably tell I'm not very computer savvy but I absolutely love this new Retina Macbook and just want to make sure all is OK or if I should return it for another one.

Image
Click to expand...

You're probably fine.

However, If it concerns you enough and you want to take some steps, there are couple things you can do.


1. I noticed the CPU was under some load when you took that screenshot, if you sort the processes by CPU % used, it'll make it easier for you to ID and kill anything unnecessary. This will lower CPU temps. If you don't know about a particular process, you should be able to google it.

2. Download GfxCardStatus (google it) and set the macbook to only use the integrated card (intel 4000). This will keep the GPU temperature pretty much just above ambient temperature (temperature inside the system, that is).
Note that by doing this you may encounter more general lagginess, as the weaker integrated Intel 4000 will have to do all the graphical legwork. its a tradeoff.

Hope this helps :)
 
Lurker for a long time,

I had Mac book pro models since 2009. Each one was uncomfortable to sit on lap during load. My last mbp 2011 would get around 50 idle 90c. I got the retina and the highest it's ever gotten was 53 load and hovering around 40c idle.

In my opinion the rMBP runs much cooler than previous models.
 
I have decided to purchase another RMBP and see how it compares to my current one. $2K is a lot of money for a computer so I want to make sure I got a "good" one. My local Best Buy had two in stock and I purchased one over the phone this afternoon and plan to compare them side by side. Even immediately after coming out of "sleep" mode, my current RMBP keyboard is warm to the touch (especially up under the screen) and I find this to be abnormal. Does anyone else find my temps above to be out of the ordinary?
 
maflynn said:
There was a KB article a few years back on apple's site basically saying that its not a laptop but a notebook and its not designed for be placed on your lap.
Click to expand...

Well I hold my notebook in my hands while reading from it and I don't see anyone doing that with a 17" MacBook Pro :rolleyes:
 
2.3 rMBP with 16GB RAM experience:

Regular web browsing with multiple tabs: cool.

Web browsing multiple tabs, some flash, some java, also idle Flash and Photoshop CS6 open: fairly cool.

Working in Photoshop with a basic file open in flash and also a few Safari tabs: average.

Testing basic 3d work in Unity with average flash and photoshop files open and multiple safari tabs; average.

^^All above plus downloading/installing dreamweaver, plus syncing iPod touch and playing music on spotify: getting quite warm but not uncomfortable.

Obviously other uses, personal sensitivity and different specs will vary, but this is what I have felt. The room was slightly chilled throughout.
 
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