Running heavy load programs/games for 12+ hours bad?

[ninogan]

Hi! I have a MacBook with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM. I play a MMORPG called Darkfall Online and to put it short I can gain skills while being afk but logged into the game. I figured my laptop would be perfect for this since I can keep it in another room and it won't make as much noise as my stationary PC.

Running this game via bootcamp puts the CPU at 100% and the mac gets really warm. I was wondering if letting it run like that for up to 12 hours would be really bad for the hardware or if it would be able to handle it. I don't want to make it burn out so to say.

 

[miles01110]

If it gets too hot it will shut down on its own. It's fine.

 

[apunkrockmonk]

I've had my 2006 doing handbrake encodes for weeks at a time in the past.

It's still going strong to this day.

As long as the fan doesn't stop spinning (break) you're fine. Even if it were to break your Mac with throttle the CPU speed down as much as necessary to keep it running. Unless it reaches a certain threshold at which point it will shut itself off.

 

[ninogan]

If it gets too hot it will shut down on its own. It's fine.

Ah that's great, thanks!

 

[dime21]

Does the Macbook specify a certain duty cycle that you should not exceed? If not, then just use it. Make sure its on a hard surface like a table or desk, and not on the couch or bed which traps the heat in.

 

[Saturdays]

Does the Macbook specify a certain duty cycle that you should not exceed? If not, then just use it. Make sure its on a hard surface like a table or desk, and not on the couch or bed which traps the heat in.

Lest your desk surface begins to melt, like my old 2006 MacBook used to do, was getting so hot it would melt the desk's surface finish.

Suggestion: take two thick books and space them apart, then leave macbook on top to let some air through the bottom of the notebook.

The main thing is if your computer gets hot enough it will shut down or at least kp, if it doesn't then your fans could melt or through prolonged use stop working. its better to be safe and give them a break here or there.

 

[dime21]

This asinine push to make everything "thinner" is exactly why Apple's laptops are all crippled with inadequate cooling. Macbook's, Air's, and Pro's alike all get very very hot due to the barely-adequate cooling design. If the made the notebook just a tiny bit thicker, we wouldn't have these problems.