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Will I destroy my macbook pro within a year?

D

davdd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2010
5
0
Hi,

I own a macbook pro from 2010 and use it for everything. Watching HD movies, producing music, playing games, youtube etc. Temperature is above 70°C most of the time I use it.

This is my first mac and laptop ever and I would like to know if I can keep doing these kind of things on it without destroying battery and fans or other stuff. If the mac pro was cheaper I would have bought that one instead but I thought a macbook pro could handle it.

Should I be worried and be more careful, or am I ok?

If you have something to say regarding this please do so. I'm starting to feel like I'm nuts.
 
jav6454 said:
As long as it is not at 80*C, then you will be fine. Just rev up the fans a bit more.
Click to expand...

Temp is usually around 80°C when I play and 70-75°C when I produce. 74-76°C when watching HD movies. So it's pretty close to 80°C when I use it.
 
davdd said:
Temp is usually around 80°C when I play and 70-75°C when I produce. 74-76°C when watching HD movies. So it's pretty close to 80°C when I use it.
Click to expand...

It's ok, I'm not sure where they got 80C from, your CPU can handle up to 100C, which the fans shouldn't let you get close to.
 
Agreed don't worry

I do wish Apple would start putting stickers on saying

"THIS WILL GET HOT DON'T GET PARANOID IT'S FINE IT'S DESIGNED TO DO THAT"
 
Thanks guys. Smc fan control is killing me. I would prefer not knowing the temperature, but it's too late now. I'm used to desktops where I have no clue what's going on inside of it.

I have searched but everybody says differently. Some say temperatures like this shortens the life of MBP. I don't know what to believe.
 
Get Apple Care. You can purchase it just before the 1 year standard warranty expires, and add two more years. If you do end up "burning out" a chip (which is extremely unlikely) it will be repaired under warranty. Laptops in general, but especially heavily used units, should always get Apple Care (imo). And please make sure you have backups. Warranty repairs do not guarantee data recovery.
 
alust2013 said:
It's ok, I'm not sure where they got 80C from, your CPU can handle up to 100C, which the fans shouldn't let you get close to.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where you get 100 C from!

Intel defines Tj,max as 105 C for the C2D and i series processors. Tj,max is the temperature at which the processor starts to take steps to reduce its temperature, by lowering its clock speed or stopping cores. At 125 C it shuts down. 70 or 80 C is nothing

The short answer is:- your Mac is fine. Your Mac will run years and years at these temperatures. Your usage pattern is nothing compared to a real "pro" user who might be rendering 24/7. We had a guy on here some time ago who was rendering trees for Avatar on a MBP. His CPU would have been on the red line for days, weeks, months at a time.

Relax, you're far, far more likely to kill your Mac through dropping it, or covering it with coffee, than through premature CPU failure.
 
snberk103 said:
Get Apple Care. You can purchase it just before the 1 year standard warranty expires, and add two more years. If you do end up "burning out" a chip (which is extremely unlikely) it will be repaired under warranty. Laptops in general, but especially heavily used units, should always get Apple Care (imo). And please make sure you have backups. Warranty repairs do not guarantee data recovery.
Click to expand...

Good tip. Thanks.

Pax said:
I'm not sure where you get 100 C from!

Intel defines Tj,max as 105 C for the C2D and i series processors. Tj,max is the temperature at which the processor starts to take steps to reduce its temperature, by lowering its clock speed or stopping cores. At 125 C it shuts down. 70 or 80 C is nothing

The short answer is:- your Mac is fine. Your Mac will run years and years at these temperatures. Your usage pattern is nothing compared to a real "pro" user who might be rendering 24/7. We had a guy on here some time ago who was rendering trees for Avatar on a MBP. His CPU would have been on the red line for days, weeks, months at a time.

Relax, you're far, far more likely to kill your Mac through dropping it, or covering it with coffee, than through premature CPU failure.
Click to expand...

I really needed to hear this. Now I'm gonna try to enjoy my macbook pro.
 
davdd said:
I really needed to hear this. Now I'm gonna try to enjoy my macbook pro.
Click to expand...

If you want reassurance, use MRoogle (searches these forums). Look for people who play Starcraft 2 on their Macbook Pros. Starcraft puts the CPU and the GPU on the red line and leaves them there for hours, and hours, and hours. The only complaints you will read are people saying it's too hot to hold on your lap, or you can't play it in bed because the fans can't suck enough air through and it shuts down. I've not heard of anyone who's blown their Mac up doing this.
 
It's likely your temps will never go above 90 C. I would only worry if you get above 90 doing something. 100 is the danger zone as others have said.
 
I'd say half the time I'm on my mbp I'm gaming, the other half I'm doing school work. I've never had a problem with my mac, and I even game in clamshell mode. However I've only had this Mac for a month, my pervious pro had 0 problems, and my sister is still using it to this day. What im trying to say is your mac will not have any problems haha.
 
One reading to be aware of, is the hard drive temperature. For example, the absolute max operating temp for WD drives is 60C. In practice, it's best to keep HDs at no more than 45C, preferrably below 40C for longevity. High operating temps are the main killers of hard drives. Laptop drives generate very little heat themselves, and in MBPs the drives are situated under the right wrist rest, away from the major heat generating components, so, unless the MPB is running at close to the max temperature limit for a long period, the drive should be in a reasonable thermal environment.
 
I once spill 7-up into my macbook pro track pad and, when i cleaned it up with just paper towel, it still works fine. my macbook pro has been with me for 2 years and i recently sold it for some money so i can buy the newer model.

honestly, it takes some effort to destroy your macbook pro. Mac OS is very stable, almost maintenance free, and the hardware is just beautifully assembled. If you are willing to take minimal care, you should do fine. Just don't do anything stupid and it should last you a while.
 
I think these things are pretty well made, and from the other posts I've seen, such as people stepping on theirs and they still work, you should be fine.
 
Get a decent usb notebook cooler if you are hitting the high Cs for hours at a time. I used to use one when ripping to keep my hard drive cool as the temps rose perilously close to 50C. It probably saved my MGP from the nVidia black screen of death and it is still ticking along three years later.

Keeps the noise level down, too. Worth it just for that, alone.
 
weckart said:
Get a decent usb notebook cooler if you are hitting the high Cs for hours at a time. I used to use one when ripping to keep my hard drive cool as the temps rose perilously close to 50C. It probably saved my MGP from the nVidia black screen of death and it is still ticking along three years later.
Click to expand...

But you don't know that for a fact.

My theory is...just use your computer!:D

Don't worry about the minutia of what temp the hard drive is or the GPU or any of the other internal sensors. Your MBP is designed to take into account internal temperatures and run the cooling fans as needed based on what it perceives as temperatures that are getting too high for it to operate comfortably. And if it gets too hot, it shuts down without damage to your system.

The way I see it, one only needs to know internal temperatures to diagnose a problem that may be affecting your unit. Most folks who learn what their internal temperatures, on this forum at least, seem to go way overboard into doing things to cool their internal componants when no action is necessary.
 
mstrze said:
But you don't know that for a fact.

My theory is...just use your computer!:D

Don't worry about the minutia of what temp the hard drive is or the GPU or any of the other internal sensors. Your MBP is designed to take into account internal temperatures and run the cooling fans as needed based on what it perceives as temperatures that are getting too high for it to operate comfortably. And if it gets too hot, it shuts down without damage to your system.

The way I see it, one only needs to know internal temperatures to diagnose a problem that may be affecting your unit. Most folks who learn what their internal temperatures, on this forum at least, seem to go way overboard into doing things to cool their internal componants when no action is necessary.
Click to expand...

+1

Apple knows a hell of a lot more about designing laptop cooling systems than anyone posting on this board. There are so many thresholds, failsafes etc it's bomb-proof. Just use it.
 
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