Macbook Pro Temps

[atomic ferret]

Hey,

My macbook pro is extremely hot, like the majority of them, and I was wondering what temps are normal for them. If people could post their macbook pro temps/if anyone knows what's normal that would be great.

When my fans are at 2000 RPM the temp hovers around 60 C. When I crank the fans up to 6000 RPM the temp is around 50 C, but it's kinda loud.

[Moto7451]

IIRC, Intel doesn't list the top end temp for them but usually mobile parts of any kind are fine to 80°C. No, I don't find comfort in that either ;).

The now ancient PPC G3 was rated for 105°C. Crazy stuff huh :D.

[LoneWolf121188]

Idle, I'm at 43. Load, I've seen it hit 80.

[whooping_a_panda]

I've seen my brothers hit in the 80's. He also gets some occasional hard lockups which i presume are due to the temps. First things first, if your running it under load be sure to elevate it so you get some air flow through the thing. secondly http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23137 is a nifty little program that will allow you to manually set your fan control.

i run a Powerbook g4 and under load i was seeing around 70s (one of my fans died on me. bearing crashed) i ended up ordering a replacement and fixing it for fear of an early death to the machine. If anyones running a PPC machine there is a PPC equivilant to the fan program i linked above. dont have the link off hand but it exists. just google.

[atomic ferret]

I use smcFanControl to crank up my fans. At 6000 RPM it's cool enough to be on my lap. I'm glad mine doesn't hit 80 C like some of you.

[LoneWolf121188]

^^ Be warned, I've heard that can cause premature death for fans.

[atomic ferret]

I was thinking that there may be some negative repercussions from forcing the fans to the max, but I wasn't sure. Is there any way to help the heat problem besides opening it and reapplying the thermal paste?

[Illah]

...heat problem...

Call me a pragmatist, but is it really a problem? Is it causing you any trouble, is the machine locking up, anything like that?

If not, then there's no problem :)

Temps only really matter if you get emergency shut-offs due to overheats or when overclocking.

--Illah

[atomic ferret]

Yeah, it's locked up a couple times, not enough to be extremely inconvenient, but it'd be nice to have it cooler. Also, I can't use it on my lap often because of the heat. It's nice in the winter but not in the summer.

[whooping_a_panda]

haha i was going to say something to that extent. Sure its not an issue, its a feature when you can sear off a nice steak on the underside of your laptop. But in reality its not that big of a deal. if im doing anything at load its sitting on a table not my unmentionables. and has anyone had the liberty of holding one of those new alienware lappys. OUCH!

My powerbook has never had crash issues due to heat, though my brothers macbook occasionally will (not often enough to be bothersome).

[LoneWolf121188]

haha i was going to say something to that extent. Sure its not an issue, its a feature when you can sear off a nice steak on the underside of your laptop. But in reality its not that big of a deal. if im doing anything at load its sitting on a table not my unmentionables. and has anyone had the liberty of holding one of those new alienware lappys. OUCH!
True dat. :)

I know you can get cooling pads or something...some have fans that blow onto the underside of the lappy to cool it, others I think are just big ol' heatsinks. I don't have any experience with them, so I have no idea how well they work. I'm sure if you looked around on newegg a bit you'd find what I'm talking about.

P.S. For those with no experience with the MacBook Pro, the entire case is aluminum, and all the heatsinks are bonded to it, so in essence, the entire case is a giant heatsink. Which can get a little hot (read: painful) when it's sitting on your lap.

[whooping_a_panda]

^^ Be warned, I've heard that can cause premature death for fans.

As i mentioned I've replaced a fan on my powerbook. before it went out it started making a horrible grinding noise and then just failed to run. to this day i dont know what the problem was as after i got it out and replaced it with a new one (i was sure it was dead so i ordered a new oem part, 60 bucks :( ) the bearing were all in tact and it spins just fine with a push.

im not 100% positive the macbook fans are of the same design, id bet they are though, but its a simple aluminum platform with a small axle protruding where the fan chassis sits on top of magnetically. Theyre simply designed and put together and all not that hard to replace, except the cost.

Untill my fan went out i never ran a fan control program so it died on its own accord (roughly 3-4 years of use, with an uptime nearly 24/7)

If anyone ever has the need or just for reference i got the part from http://www.powerbookmedic.com/ and although a bit pricey (it was brand new apple oem, guess i cant be too surprised) the vendor was promt accuate and provided very detailed instructions (in pdf on their site) for the dismanteling of my model (along with nearly all others) powerbook/macbook

i guess all im getting at is fan death isnt the end of the world outside of apple care warranty. and trying to get a bit of apple help on this forum.