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Temperatures in this weather?

S

suekitch

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 27, 2009
136
0
Hi folks,

Just wondering how peoples MBPs are coping in this heat? Here in Europe it's swelteringly hot.

I'm currently using my 13" MBP for some word processing and internet use on the battery, in a room with the windows wide open. It's about 28 degrees celcius in here though.

According to iStat Pro my CPU is at 77 degrees which has me moderately concerned. How are other people getting on?

I do have a Zalman cooling pad (designed for a 17" though) but it's not with me at the mo as I'm away from home for a few days. It used to make about 20 degrees difference to my old laptop's GPU temps.
 
My macbook pro also runs warmer in the summer, I usually just use SMC fan control to idle my fans at 3500rpm or 4000rpm, with this the temp of my mac usually idles around 45C.
 
It's not sweltering hot in New York but occasionally I turn off my notebook because I hear the fans working hard. All of the air conditioners are broken in my house (tragedy) so I'm getting used to living in the heat.
 
If you are under warranty, I would have your mac checked out just incase. But first, check you activity monitor to ensure that no runaway apps are using excessive processor power.
 
Don't get it checked out its normal, depends on if you have it on a cushion or on your lap, but they just get hot naturally!
 
77c is extremely warm for an idle temperature, a normal idle temp at a room temp of roughly 27c is about 50c. My laptop has never idled at 77 degrees, even on a pillow. The only reason i suggest having it checked is just incase, that last thing anyone wants is a computer failing at a bad time.
 
CPU hovers around 45-47C, CPU heatsink around 40C and fans at around 2000rpm. 79C constant is too hot for it to be just idling, maybe a stray process is hanging around and consuming cycles?
 
I'm not convinced iStat is telling me the truth to be fair - between checks just now it jumped 8 degrees - the checks were 30 seconds apart, heh.

Currently it's sitting on my lap but I'm cross-legged so the vent out the back is free.

My MBP is certainly under warranty - it's only a week old! It has been on/sleeping for a while, maybe I should shut it down tonight and see if it helps any.

Nothing strange going on in Activity Monitor either.

Edit: I think that the USB dongle I'm using for internet where I am might be generating and contributing heat. I've just woken it up from sleep again and it was at 55 degrees C, back on the web etc (so the dongle is active) and already up to 62.
 
The CPU can easily jump 8 degrees in 30 seconds. It is very small and creates a lot of heat, but it takes time for the heat to dissipate through the heatsink.

The USB dongle itself probably isn't creating that much heat, but it could be causing more CPU use.
 
Definitely check for stray processes and restart, if this has no affect then run a hardware diagnostic using your your install disc as it is possible one of the thermal sensors maybe faulty. Does the laptop feet hot to the touch? (especially the area above the function keys)
 
These days I have 65-67°C idle temperature according to iStat.
 

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fpar said:
Definitely check for stray processes and restart, if this has no affect then run a hardware diagnostic using your your install disc as it is possible one of the thermal sensors maybe faulty. Does the laptop feet hot to the touch? (especially the area above the function keys)
Click to expand...

It's a bit hot yes, in particular above F4.

I'll do the hardware diagnostic as soon as I get home :)

I might even give AppleCare a call and see what they say - hey, it's what it's there for right? - if they're concerned then maybe we'd best pop back to the store.
 
(see https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7994534#post7994534)

My 13" Macbook Pro is way hot too in 28°C room. I couldn't care less for the interental temps, but the palmrests are way hot. When working in Logic, the left half (close to the ports and the palmrest) gets unbearably hot. Maybe I should mention that all the ports except the SD card slot and the audio jack are used, I have a 20" screen and a firewire audio interface attached as well as a lil hard drive for the audio data. I suppose the logic board has to work extra hard in this situation (Logic is pretty CPU hungry).

Somehow SMCFanControl doesn't work for me... the minumum Fan speed I can set is 5757 rpm. And "Fan Control" somehow caps the max fan speed at around 5800 rpm. Using both programs together kinda works, but it's still not ideal... does anyone have a viable solution?




I have the stock 13" Macbook Pro, 2.53 GHz.
 
Just to report back again. I rebooted earlier, and admittedly the weather is cooler. But with the same usage, I'm now getting 42 degrees C for the CPU with the fans going at 2000rpm - much better. :)
 
thank god for the air conditioning running 24/7 in my house. My computer seems to run at the same temperature as usual, but just in case, i idle my fans a little higher than i usually do to cope with the higher temperatures.
 
Looks like you had a stray process, I suggest you restart you mac periodically. As for MrCrowbar, if the internal temperature of your computer is high you wont be able to lower the fan speed, this a safety measure to make sure you dont fry the computer. I dont know what the max fan speed for the 13" Mbp is, but it is possible that it is 5800rpm as 6000rpm is the max on the 15". It is normal for the laptop to get very hot if you are maxing the cpu so I would not worry about it.
 
Sure you weren't doing anything CPU intensive? Even watching YouTube videos is enough to make your CPU run hot, and when it is a hot day, and the air being drawn into your Mac is hot, then over all your computer will run much hotter.

Nothing to worry about, but you can increase the fan speed to help cool it down, as the default settings Apple uses aren't really optimised..

Download Fan Control 1.1http://www.lobotomo.com/products/FanControl/.

Fan Control is better than SMCFanControl because Fan Control adjusts the fan speeds automatically rather than you having to tell it to speed the fans up.

I found these the best settings to use:

fan_c.png
 
I wasn't consciously doing anything intensive - I literally was only on these forums or doing a bit of work in Word. Activity Monitor looked clear but I guess something had just caused a hiccup somewhere :)

Glad it wasn't a big deal - the reason I 'left' Macs last time was because my old one used to get so hot (admittedly, whilst playing a game) that it worried me (nearing 100 degrees C). I decided it wasn't exactly a gaming machine and sold it to my brother for a very nice price (for him, anyway)!

I've quit PC gaming though now so I'm back to Maccing - it's just that much better for all the other computer stuff I do, so I was quite concerned when the temps started climbing again!
 
New 17" 3.06GHz uMBP... running a commendable 33-40 Celsius under normal load. You could say it's almost cold to the touch.
But then again, it is winter here and the temp in the house is 14.5 Celsius the way I like it. :)
 
fpar said:
Looks like you had a stray process, I suggest you restart you mac periodically. As for MrCrowbar, if the internal temperature of your computer is high you wont be able to lower the fan speed, this a safety measure to make sure you dont fry the computer. I dont know what the max fan speed for the 13" Mbp is, but it is possible that it is 5800rpm as 6000rpm is the max on the 15". It is normal for the laptop to get very hot if you are maxing the cpu so I would not worry about it.
Click to expand...

I thought I read somewhere that 6200 was the max for the 13" MBP. I can actually get it up that high temporarily using SMC fan control. It might be possible that the official fan speed only goes to 5800 though and SMCFanControl is kinda "pushing the limit".

When it's around 20°C in the room, the thing is actually quite cool. I guess the aluminum case has its advantages and disadvantages. If it's hot outside, it can't cool the insides that well.
 
Guys you don't know the meaning of swealtering hot :)

Try living in Australia during the summer months then you will know all about heat. And Macs survive just fine over here in the heat and humidity :)
 
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