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Wow, the Macbooks are so much more quiet compared to the Macbook Pros!!!!

DoNoHarm

DoNoHarm

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 8, 2008
1,138
46
Maine
I've been using boinc with my macbook pro classic. boinc basically keeps the processor occupied solving problems for drug discovery. While the Macbook Pro classic was a quiet computer compared to my old PC, i recently listened to a new macbook running boinc. I was amazed at how quiet it was - almost as quiet as my own macbook pro WITHOUT a processor load!

What I'd like to know is: :eek:Are the new Macbook Pro's similar to the new Macbook's or the Macbook Pro Classics in terms of noise?
 
Maybe that's not a good thing.

There's various posts here about people's MBP's fans not cranking up when the temps increase. Its quite possible that this is the cause of the quiet MBP. If the CPU is under 100% load (or near 100%) the temps are going to spike. You want the fan speed to start increasing to offset that increase in temperature.
 
HellDiverUK said:
You're mad running a Distributed Computing app on a laptop. They're not really designed for 100% CPU all the time...
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that. Since I have applecare, the question is strictly an academic one, however....

Some people argue that running a computer at 100% is just that - running it at it's capacity. I can understand that there would be an issue with overclocking, but here we're talking about running a computer at it's rated speed. If it was so much of a problem, Apple would say somewhere on it's packaging that these computers aren't designed to be run at 100% most of the time. It doesen't seem credible to me to build a computer that can "overwhelm" itself.
 
DoNoHarm said:
I was thinking about that. Since I have applecare, the question is strictly an academic one, however....

Some people argue that running a computer at 100% is just that - running it at it's capacity. I can understand that there would be an issue with overclocking, but here we're talking about running a computer at it's rated speed. If it was so much of a problem, Apple would say somewhere on it's packaging that these computers aren't designed to be run at 100% most of the time. It doesen't seem credible to me to build a computer that can "overwhelm" itself.
Click to expand...

Think about it terms of duty cycle. If you wanted to run a radio station you would not want your broadcast site to run off of a walkie-talkie as they are not rated to run at 100% power 100% of the time. Radio stations spend many thousands of dollars on 100% duty cycle rated radios. Computers are much the same. Desktops are larger, with more room to house larger heat sinks and have increased air flow for cooling. Notebooks are designed for mobile computing hence the design is more along the lines of compactness at the sake of cooling. Therefore running at capacity for extended periods of time is unwise. I doubt any manufacturer of a notebook computer would warn people not to run them at 100% for extended periods.

Can you run distributed computing app for a long time? Yes you can. Should you? Probably not. But hey, it's your money...

Mark
 
HellDiverUK said:
You're mad running a Distributed Computing app on a laptop. They're not really designed for 100% CPU all the time...
Click to expand...
Unless it's a cheap piece of junk any good laptop should have no problems running at 100% cpu (+gpu) for longer periods of time. That's why chip-manifacturers give TDP (Thermal Design Power) ratings for their chips.

Just don't expect a notebook to be quiet while running at 100%... (and of course: never block the air vents!)

If you want your MacBook Pro to run as quiet as a MacBook at 100%: Why not downclock your CPU to the speed of the MacBook CPU? :D
 
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