Yes, your MacBook Pro is running too hot, and yes, it is Apple's fault.

[Wuiffi]

My Macbook Pro (15'', 2010, i7) was running with temperatures around 70°C with only light usage for a few months now. I did clean the fans from time to time, but today decided to change the thermal paste and give it a proper clean. the result (for about 1h work) is phenomenal. I now have temperatures around 50 and 58°C. That's a drop of 12-20°C!!
I don't know how much of it is due to the exchange of thermal paste, but there is one thing I can tell: The amount of thermal paste in Macbooks is too damn high!!!

 

[Jodles]

I don't understand why some have such trouble with the OP suggesting that some parts of the manufacturing process for this already fine laptop could actually be made better - and even provides some technical insight?

There's always room for improvement, whether you call it an "issue" or not. And whether it is an issue is to me even irrelevant. I don't particularly have trouble with my MB being hot, but I still wouldn't mind it running cooler sometimes. And for a company that values the whole experience (weight, battery-life, etc.) more than just clock speed, temperature seems to me a logical element to perfect too.

The MBP can't be all things to all people, but I'd argue that temperature is a crucial element to its usage (LAPtop) for a huge portion of the userbase, just as weight and battery-life matter more to the average consumer than .1 more MHz. And if there is room for improvement - great!

 

[Doward]

My Macbook Pro (15'', 2010, i7) was running with temperatures around 70°C with only light usage for a few months now. I did clean the fans from time to time, but today decided to change the thermal paste and give it a proper clean. the result (for about 1h work) is phenomenal. I now have temperatures around 50 and 58°C. That's a drop of 12-20°C!!
I don't know how much of it is due to the exchange of thermal paste, but there is one thing I can tell: The amount of thermal paste in Macbooks is too damn high!!!

Now now, clearly something else was wrong with the system - just ask GGJStudios and others so vocal against this

I'm very glad that your system is doing better though - you'll find not only increased life from the components, but like myself, you'll find you simply enjoy the system that much more!

----------

I don't understand why some have such trouble with the OP suggesting that some parts of the manufacturing process for this already fine laptop could actually be made better - and even provides some technical insight?

There's always room for improvement, whether you call it an "issue" or not. And whether it is an issue is to me even irrelevant. I don't particularly have trouble with my MB being hot, but I still wouldn't mind it running cooler sometimes. And for a company that values the whole experience (weight, battery-life, etc.) more than just clock speed, temperature seems to me a logical element to perfect too.

The MBP can't be all things to all people, but I'd argue that temperature is a crucial element to its usage (LAPtop) for a huge portion of the userbase, just as weight and battery-life matter more to the average consumer than .1 more MHz. And if there is room for improvement - great!

The dominant stereotype of the 'Apple Fanboy' is what comes to play here. If Apple doesn't state anything, then you're holding it wrong, to paraphrase another Apple mishap.

To me, this simply shows that even Apple has room for improvement. And that's a good thing - I'd love to see more challenge to Apple in the fit and finish department, because almost nothing in the PC world comes close.

 

[GermanyChris]

every apple portable in my house has had the heatsink pulled polished and new compound applied. On unibodies it's not that big of a job pre-unibody and Powerbooks it was though. The 2006-2008 MP heatsinks were very much the same 4,1 and up weren't as bad.

 

[chambone]

The thing that I find to boggle the mind the most in this thread, is that just because the cpu has a thermal safety shutdown at 105C, some keep trying to convince themselves that 95C is a 'perfectly normal' temperature for a cpu to be at.

These people tend to ignore the fact though that if the cpu and gpu can't expel their thermal energy efficiently due to too thick a layer of paste, the motherboard and the computer itself become one large heatsink. Leading to 1) the fans being gone sooner, and 2) the battery being gone sooner. Personally I redid the thermal past on three of my four Apple laptops. The only one that I left alone is the early 2011 15" mbp, which seems to be one cool customer.

 

[Wuiffi]

But Foxconn (or whoever assembles the Macbooks) should see "How to apply thermal paste 101"

It's everywhere, except where it should be ^^

 

[Doward]

The thing that I find to boggle the mind the most in this thread, is that just because the cpu has a thermal safety shutdown at 105C, some keep trying to convince themselves that 95C is a 'perfectly normal' temperature for a cpu to be at.

You misunderstand. 95C IS normal for a MacBook Pro under heavy load. It is 'normal' insofar as that is how Apple has built the system. The fan won't even begin to really spin up until near 90C.

I don't agree with Apple's policy regarding thermal output - but I do understand WHY they did it. Nobody wants a noisy fan running constantly to keep the system @ 65C or so.

Apple put the experience in front of the actual engineering in that regard. It's one that has shown itself acceptable in the marketplace.

Doesn't mean they have to half-ass the quality of the heatsink, though There are *very* simple steps Apple could do to mitigate the cons of their decision.

 

[swerve147]

Just repasted my rMBP 15" and am generally seeing 5-6 degrees lower temps. For the first time I've seen dead idle temps of below 40 degrees Celsius (39). This is for a 2012 2.6/16/512, so it naturally runs hotter than the 2.3/8/256 base.

Removing the heatsink for the first time was a horrific sight.

Cleaning the excess paste off was a long tedious process. There was a lot of it, and it was all over the place. Even after cleaning though I wasn't really all that impressed, especially with the copper heatsink.

There's a lot of scratches and flaws on the copper. My impression is that it's not very thermally efficient. I hope others have it better. I suspect I'd get much better temperatures if it were not as rough, and additionally pasted better from the factory.

In any case I used the iFixit instructions linked above. If you are going to use it be sure to read the comments, as you need a T5 Torx in addition to the pentalobe. You're also going to be busting through some light glue pulling off the delicate rubber flaps by the fans, so pry gently.

 

[paukivbashne]

Just repasted my rMBP 15" and am generally seeing 5-6 degrees lower temps. For the first time I've seen dead idle temps of below 40 degrees Celsius (39). This is for a 2012 2.6/16/512, so it naturally runs hotter than the 2.3/8/256 base.



There's a lot of scratches and flaws on the copper. My impression is that it's not very thermally efficient. I hope others have it better. I suspect I'd get much better temperatures if it were not as rough, and additionally pasted better from the factory.

What paste did you use? Before going into this monkey business i read all about thermal pastes and eventually bought Shin-Etsu Microsi
I had about -10 overall drop (but my radiators were a bit dusty so maybe i was running hotter in the firs place)
also i must say that others dont have it better unfortunately
the heatsink could have been polished better and jesus someone should tell em that "the more the better" is not the case for applying the thermal paste
Also i had a couple thoughts about heatsink design and was it really a good idea that dgpu and cpu are on the same plate?
have you ever noticed how much hotter it gets as soon as it turns to discrete?
i wonder what if the heatsink was separated??
anyway after al this manipulation i get less then 50 under moderate load in os x
and finally less then 80 playin heavy games in bootcamp so no throttling this time

 

[swerve147]

What paste did you use? Before going into this monkey business i read all about thermal pastes and eventually bought Shin-Etsu Microsi
I had about -10 overall drop (but my radiators were a bit dusty so maybe i was running hotter in the firs place)
also i must say that others dont have it better unfortunately
the heatsink could have been polished better and jesus someone should tell em that "the more the better" is not the case for applying the thermal paste
Also i had a couple thoughts about heatsink design and was it really a good idea that dgpu and cpu are on the same plate?
have you ever noticed how much hotter it gets as soon as it turns to discrete?
i wonder what if the heatsink was separated??
anyway after al this manipulation i get less then 50 under moderate load in os x
and finally less then 80 playin heavy games in bootcamp so no throttling this time

AS5. I just used the kit from iFixit which includes thermal material remover (probably some glorified Goo Gone, smells like citrus), thermal surface purifier (probably eyeglass lens cleaner), and a small tube of AS5.

I wonder if I'd get better results using a better paste like yours. It'll be easy to go back and redo it. Heck, maybe even lapping those small copper surfaces would help as well.

TBH I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get dramatically better results like you did. I'm blaming the heatsink or the paste. Or maybe it's the thermal profile of the rMBP. As long as I don't throttle. Skyrim's been acting up lately, micro-stuttering all over the place .

 

[devilcm3]

AS5. I just used the kit from iFixit which includes thermal material remover (probably some glorified Goo Gone, smells like citrus), thermal surface purifier (probably eyeglass lens cleaner), and a small tube of AS5.

I wonder if I'd get better results using a better paste like yours. It'll be easy to go back and redo it. Heck, maybe even lapping those small copper surfaces would help as well.

TBH I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get dramatically better results like you did. I'm blaming the heatsink or the paste. Or maybe it's the thermal profile of the rMBP. As long as I don't throttle. Skyrim's been acting up lately, micro-stuttering all over the place .

AS5 is dangerous IMO, the conductivity is the main reason i avoid using it because it leaves little room for error to achieve 100% coverage while not excessively applying the paste on CPU core at the same time.

IC Diamond i think is better, diamonds have better thermal conductivity vs silver and its not electrically conductive.

 

[fatlardo]

Just had an idea, what if we cut the metal Cooper so the gpu and cpu is seperate? That should give better temps right? Anyone know where I can buy a spare to try?

 

[swerve147]

AS5 is dangerous IMO, the conductivity is the main reason i avoid using it because it leaves little room for error to achieve 100% coverage while not excessively applying the paste on CPU core at the same time.

IC Diamond i think is better, diamonds have better thermal conductivity vs silver and its not electrically conductive.

Thank you for the recommendation. I think I'll allow some burn in time and see if it gets any better (I just did it 5 hours ago). If I replace I'll probably go with the IC Diamond or Shin-Etsu. Any other suggestions would be great as well.

Right now I'm running 2 tabs of Safari, Mail, and am at 42 degrees C. So practically idle. I think I'd be closer to 50 previously doing the same thing, so it's helped a good amount so far.

 

[paukivbashne]

Just had an idea, what if we cut the metal Cooper so the gpu and cpu is seperate? That should give better temps right? Anyone know where I can buy a spare to try?

exactly my thought as i described it in my previous post but i have some doubts as of it thermal efficiency
after all theres a whole bunch of ppl who designed it this way

 

[neurodave]

My rMBP runs on average at about 95-100F (Around 35C) on regular use. Even during some heavy usage, I barely go above 115F (46C)

 

[fatlardo]

exactly my thought as i described it in my previous post but i have some doubts as of it thermal efficiency
after all theres a whole bunch of ppl who designed it this way

Found one on ebay. Theres one left for who ever wants. Now what the heck am I gonna use to make a clean cut?

 

[c1phr]

Just had an idea, what if we cut the metal Cooper so the gpu and cpu is seperate? That should give better temps right? Anyone know where I can buy a spare to try?

It probably won't. Most heat pipes are filled with a liquid that will generally instantly become a gas when you cut the pipe and break the vacuum. I've read some posts in gaming forums where people tried to cut one of their overly large heat sink pipes to fit some RAM and they suddenly had terribly high temps. Phoronix also tried cutting open some different heat sinks and explained that it is a general practice:

Normally at the hot-end of the heatpipe there is a fluid that turns to vapor because of the heat and it then naturally flows to the colder end. When reaching the opposite end, it then condenses back to a liquid and flows back to the hot interface and the process repeats itself in a closed loop. Heatpipes are generally made of copper or aluminum and filled with a fluid such as water, ethanol, mercury, or a pressurized gas.

 

[fatlardo]

It probably won't. Most heat pipes are filled with a liquid that will generally instantly become a gas when you cut the pipe and break the vacuum. I've read some posts in gaming forums where people tried to cut one of their overly large heat sink pipes to fit some RAM and they suddenly had terribly high temps. Phoronix also tried cutting open some different heat sinks and explained that it is a general practice:

Damn so basically there is liquid inside? Guess its better for me to practice polishing then. ill try to polish. Now whats the most cost efficient way? Tooth paste or not fine enough, sand paper? I dunno never polished before

 

[c1phr]

Damn so basically there is liquid inside? Guess its better for me to practice polishing then. ill try to polish. Now whats the most cost efficient way? Tooth paste or not fine enough, sand paper? I dunno never polished before

Either a liquid or pressurized gas, it depends on the manufacturer of the heat pipe. Either way, the effectiveness of the pipe relies on the fluid acting in the vacuum or near vacuum of the pipe itself.

Unfortunately, I can't help on the polishing front, though I'm sure there are plenty of others in this thread who could be helpful.

 

[GermanyChris]

Either a liquid or pressurized gas, it depends on the manufacturer of the heat pipe. Either way, the effectiveness of the pipe relies on the fluid acting in the vacuum or near vacuum of the pipe itself.

Unfortunately, I can't help on the polishing front, though I'm sure there are plenty of others in this thread who could be helpful.

If you cut a heat pipe it can't do the job of carrying hot air so OFC it'll run hotter.

 

[c1phr]

If you cut a heat pipe it can't do the job of carrying hot air so OFC it'll run hotter.

That's exactly what I was saying. fatlardo was talking about possibly cutting the pipe so that the CPU and GPU would be on independent pipes, not necessarily cutting them off from the heat sink entirely.

 

[sofianito]

80 Thermal Pastes Compared

AS5 and Shin-Etsu received a A+ grade. I think I am going to replace my late 2007 MBP thermal paste because it is almost never below 60° even when idle...

 

[swerve147]

80 Thermal Pastes Compared

AS5 and Shin-Etsu received a A+ grade. I think I am going to replace my late 2007 MBP thermal paste because it is almost never below 60° even when idle...

Thank you sofianito. Now I know I need to wait a good long time for my AS5 to cure before I jump to conclusions. I'm starting to idle below 40 more often than before so I think it'll slowly improve every day. I also now know I have to shut down the Mac completely every once in a while to give the paste some time to cure. Some more FYI for the rookies like me reading this thread.

 

[GermanyChris]

That's exactly what I was saying. fatlardo was talking about possibly cutting the pipe so that the CPU and GPU would be on independent pipes, not necessarily cutting them off from the heat sink entirely.

There is only one heat pipe for both CPU and GPU. If you cut it inbetween then the GPU's heat has no where to go but in the case. The cpu heat would also hit the case. If the heat doesn't hit the rad and get diffused by the fans neither processor can cool it self.

 

[paukivbashne]

There is only one heat pipe for both CPU and GPU. If you cut it inbetween then the GPU's heat has no where to go but in the case. The cpu heat would also hit the case. If the heat doesn't hit the rad and get diffused by the fans neither processor can cool it self.

if you cut between then the gpu heat would go to right side of the pipe and fan
and cpu to the left
im working oh fitting custom made heatsinks
i think separating gpu and cpu Might improve