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Ventilator on Warm Powerbook

W

Wotan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 11, 2003
19
0
Boston MA
I got a new Powerbook and I was so happy that you can't hear any noise at all, but then when I have worked a while the ventilator (shhhhhh sound) start working. Even do this sound is lighter than my older powerbook, when I feel the computer it feels very warm.

If I pick up the computer from the table and put it on my lap it seems that it gets less warm and the ventilator stops.

Does anybody knows how this ventilator works, it seems now I don't like the computer to be on the table, I was wondering on buying like a stand so there will be space under the computer.

Any advice?
 
-Wotan

Don't worry about it too much. The aluminum skin just externalizes the heat that is always present in laptops.

Actually, if you can stand the heat - it's a good thing as it's radiating it away from the proc more efficiently.
 
So if it's warm its actually better? did i understood correctly?... So it doesn't matter that the ventilator is always on if the computer is over a table, but if I have the computer on over my legs it stops..

that is normal...
 
Originally posted by Wotan
So if it's warm its actually better? did i understood correctly?... So it doesn't matter that the ventilator is always on if the computer is over a table, but if I have the computer on over my legs it stops..

that is normal...
Click to expand...

-Wotan

In a word: yes.

:D
 
By the way wotan if your bothered about your table being ruined due to the heat on the table, espiecally if its warm, then you can by the plastic stand for a couple of pound on the mac store site.

Hope this Helps.

:)
 
Ya sure, http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=306230&pfp=srch1&sid=3FC3ED005DE2E17F

I bought one last week actually coz I bought a new desk that has a glass top and I don't want shatter the glass from the heat generated by my powerbook (been there, done that)... well... I shattered a glass-top with my Dell notebook... *ahem*

It looks cool too.

This model has 2 built-in fans under the grille, which power via USB but it's entirely optional. I don't bother running the fans.
 
sometimes i think i asked the dullest questions but then after the answears I feel so great I wrote them.
 
Super Hot PB

Yeah my PB also gets extremely hot, I also find when it gets hot My system runs slower than usual. But yeah my fan kicks on after about and hour or so, but i ususally use my computer on my lap so.....
 
If you are interested (All my friends think I'm really geeky now) you can get this little utility to see how hot your computer actually is. In all the new iBook G4s, all new Powerbooks and G5s there are dedicated temperature sensors. Get this little app...http://kezer.net/thermographx.html then set the short term display to show the high threshhold, and you can see how close you are coming to overheating your computer.
 
Originally posted by Counterfit
It can happen. If glass is heated unevenly, it goes KABOOM tinkletinkletinkle.
Click to expand...

Only crappy glass does this at this low of temperatures. The difference between room temp and powerbook bottom(115F estimate) isn't that great- 45F.

Most glass can take 100-122F temp drops.

Add on the fact that Aluminum has a low specific heat - this means it takes a little bit of energy to heat it up, it also gives off energy into it's surroundings easily. Hence the reason why AL is used in heatsyncs.

So what does this all mean? The glass and the Al are going to meet temperatures somewhere between the low, the glass, and the high, the Powerbook.

So the glass will be like 100 max.

This means this device is pretty much...useless.

Glass does not break from uneven heating, it breaks from thermal shock.
 
It would seem that there would have to be extenuating circumstances for this to happen, like the glass was already weakened by something (a crack, dropping something on it, previous temperature changes, etc) or the room was really cold and the powerbook was close to overheating. I have broken my share of glasses at school though, right out of the dishwasher, at least 100 degrees, then filled with ice cold soda at like 38-45 degrees, the bottom will fall off.
 
Originally posted by OutThere761
If you are interested (All my friends think I'm really geeky now) you can get this little utility to see how hot your computer actually is. In all the new iBook G4s, all new Powerbooks and G5s there are dedicated temperature sensors. Get this little app...http://kezer.net/thermographx.html then set the short term display to show the high threshhold, and you can see how close you are coming to overheating your computer.
Click to expand...
I use that app, and I love it. It's fun to look back in time and remember what you were doing, like gaming or decoding a DivX movie.
 
how about a wood-table

um... the only place i've got in my house for a gigantic 17" powerbook is either on a old wooden table (one of those cheap tables which have paper "prints" of incredibly fake-looking dark wood, but the inside stuff is poor-grade wood) or a glass table (it's actually a sheet of glass over a wooden table- the glass is more than a decade old).

in this case, would it be safer to put it over the glass table vs. the not really-wooden table? i'm afraid that the thin paper-like covering the wood would literally "melt" and fuse together with the Powerbook :D
 
As the back of the bottle says, try it in a small corner before actually applying the product.

You should be fine. I can't think of anything, even low grade building material that melts at 115
 
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