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Should I return my macbook pro?

O

Off1c3r

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 30, 2011
25
0
I just started a thread not too long ago about getting my pro. I got it 2 days ago. The finish, the style, everything, I love. I installed some of my software already and its great, but my issue is now the heat. I've read countless threads on this issue.

On a flat service, in ambient temp room:

Idle is 100-108F
Webpages, youtube: 115-125F
Iphoto: 155F
and just installing Office 2011: 165F
peak I've ever seen: 170F (just having a few programs open)

How can I even dream about playing a game on this system if every little thing I do shoots the CPU temp up so much. I've been monitoring with istat, and using smbfan to push the fan speeds up a bit (2600) and checking activity monitor to make sure nothing is using the CPU. Now I don't know if I should send it back.. maybe wait for the new refresh of the pros? Or maybe the temps I am posting everyone is dealing with now? Maybe it would help to have someone reply to my exact issue vs. me reading other peoples who don't have exactly the same temps as I do.
 
miles01110 said:
It's normal. Do a search and you'll see. If you wanted to play high-end games you should not have gotten a Mac.
Click to expand...

I really don't want to do it on my mac.. It was more a statement in the sense how can I really multitask or do more intensive things .. you know? You think I should wait for the new refresh or just stick it out?
 
miles01110 said:
As far as I can tell you aren't actually having a problem, just a perceived "issue" with heat (which is not actually an issue).
Click to expand...

Its just so foreign to me. You know I can read about it all day, but then when I experience it myself its a totally different perspective. All my thinkpads never got that hot and I've been through a lot of laptops so it feels not normal for me.
 
miles01110 said:
It's normal. Do a search and you'll see. If you wanted to play high-end games you should not have gotten a Mac.
Click to expand...

I disagree.. If he wanted to play highend games he should not have gotten a LAPTOP. Any laptop with a quad core and a decent or better graphics card is going to generate heat like this, it is that some made of plastic and others that are far thicker and heavier manage or mask the heat better. You pay a heat price with a thin aluminum laptop.

And to the OP, YouTube uses flash, heavy CPU use, iPhoto and installing software can also use a lot of CPU and thus the heat, just a fact of life. IMHO ignore istate and stop screwing with the fans, let the OS do what it was designed to do and enjoy your machine, it will not melt.
 
theDUB said:
But it will make your balls hot...
Click to expand...

Confirmed.

Ok, Thanks guys for the input. Out of everyone who replied.. anyone replaced the thermal compound? I've been in and out of laptops enough and built them from scratch that I don't mind doing the work. I just didn't want to commit if I was going to return it. Pretty much everywhere I read it shaves off between 5-10C
 
your temps are WELL within what is normal. 174 deg F is 76 deg C. I'm usually 80-85 deg C running WoW. No reason to return it. It is normal.

The only threads you have read on this issue are people posting like you did. But you did not read ALL the replys saying those temps are normal. Notebooks will get hot (the MBP is not a laptop, its a notebook) when you run them with high end programs.

Absolutely no reason whatsoever to reapply the thermal paste either.
 
reapplying thermal paste only lowers idle temperatures and the extreme peak temps if you not MBP has problems with such.
In between the notebook manages the temp on its own by changing the fan speed. It tries to keep the CPU at predefined assumed save temps. Reapplying thermal paste may help get you a less noise notebook but it wont be much cooler.

BTW. You cannot really compare desktop temps to notebook CPU temp. Mobile silicon is designed to withstand quite a bit more heat. Desktop Sandy Bridge I think has a Threshold Temp of 65C and mobile of 100C.
 
...

I found macbooks run pretty cool. When i had a dell it got so hot the paint started falling off the base of the computer
 
When I drink, I have to drink quite a few beers before getting drunk, but when I get drunk I get obnoxious. My friend gets drunk after two beers, but is the same level of drunk even after ten beers and never gets too drunk. The MBP is like my friend.
 
My MBP runs between 80*C to 87*C when running WoW or SCII. I read up on it and that is just normal as if you look at this laptop compared to my dell e1505 which I had previously to this. The Dell is twice as thick almost which does mask the heat unless you touch the bottom of the laptop (Dell and it can get super hot too, but I used it to run WoW for like 3 to 4 years with no issues, so I have no issue with a MBP running it as they imo are built alot better than my high end e1505 at the time)
 
There's nothing to worry about, I've seen my MBP run upwards up 92C, which is close to 198F.
 
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