“If you ask people what they think about the MacBook Pro, currently the flagship of Apple’s portable computing line, you’ll get comments about its powerful processor and impressive speed, its ability to dual-boot OS X and Windows, and—if the person actual owns one—probably some complaints about how danged hot the thing gets. While some have looked to Apple to remedy the problem, others have taken matters into their own hands and gotten some noticable results.,” Tanya Klowden reports for Ars Technica.
“The short version of the story so far is that earlier users who cracked open their cases found bountiful amounts of thermal paste (which conducts the heat away from the processor to, in this case, everything else) and, when they reapplied said paste correctly saw significant temperature decreases,” Klowden reports.
More info in the full article here.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple’s MacBook Pro sure is cool, but, wow, it’s hot! – May 15, 2006
Old news.
Greg M,
Yeah, it’s been almost 5 whole hours since Ars posted that article.
I wish that there was a way for the user to decrease the point at which the fans start to rev up. Sure if I listen real closely I can now hear the fans running a little more but I’d rather have them ramp up a little more in order to get a cooler laptop. Yes I said laptop because I want a portable Mac computer that I can use on my lap.
Would it be so hard to give us an option of a quieter computer or a cooler computer? That could be an option in the system preferences without much effort on Apple’s part.
The funny thing is that, after people have done this, they find that the fans come on far more often.
Would you rather have a hot and quiet MacBook Pro or a cool and loud one?
This technique doesn’t actually do anything. From the article:
“Davidson speculates that the thermal paste application, ghastly as it may look, doesn’t make a signficant difference.”
I’m typing this on a 13″ Macbook and I don’t find it any more hot than the 12″ 867mhz Powerbook it replaced.
By the way… I LOVE the keyboard and screen changes.
There was a test done at O’Reilly’s MacDev website that showed that a lot of effort resulted in a drop of 2 degrees. Thermal paste is not the issue.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2006/05/23/thermal-paste-question.html
The issue is firmware code that the machine uses. Apple does not wants its machine to sound like jet-engines PC laptops sound like when the get hot.
Wake up kent this is about mac book pros not macbooks, ur a bright feller!
Well thats wat the article is about!! No need to summarize a already short article
Now she just keeps ice cubes in her mouth.
Thanks a heck of a whole lot Apple. 🙁
The only conclusion that you can make is that laptop B was 2 degrees cooler than laptop A. There are no pre- and post- comparisions, and 2 degrees is probably within normal variation of what you would expect across a sample of the same model of laptops. The only way to know if
Totally useless story. I can’t believe he went through all that trouble without measuring temps before re-doing the thermal paste.
MDN: Read the article! It’s about how the thermal paste didn’t work!
So…if the paste really is the issue, and re-applying it would make the case cooler, doesn’t that mean the processors would be hotter, and therefore, perhaps, get fried?
Either way, I hope the next revision of the laptop is cooler. Seems like a pretty serious problem they need to fix.
The fact is the guy screwed up and then wrote a screwed up story.
He didn’t seem to use software to monitor the temps over time with CPU’s maxed out in a controlled enviroment.
He’s so way off base…
After running World of Warcraft for several hours (taxing both CPU and GPU), my 17″ MBP isn’t too much hotter than my old Ti 800 or my Al 1.67. I would say with in a couple of degrees. Quite warm, but I could place my hand on the hottest part and keep it there indefinatly. Maybe I’m just lucky to have gotten a cool one.
My 17″ MBP does not get hot it only gets warm. I certainly don’t have a problem here.
I must admit the story gave me some serious cause for concern while I was waiting for delivery. If there was a problem it looks like its been fixed.
I am happy
I got a macbook pro 15″ for 4 weeks now, in the first weeks i could not lay my hand on it, it was so hot, after applying the upgrade of the firmware now i hear the coolers litle bit, but no whining sound and it is much cooler than before.. so i guess they fixed that part, now the temp is ok …
Once the technology is re-invented and made public which would enable you to search through millions of files within fraction of a second, what will google do then?
Nothing google runs is successful other than its search engine.
Their froogle site sux
their image search is useless. ( not profitable )
their video search is useless.
their google earth software only appeals to a limited number of people.
i really dont see how google can survive as #1 by 2008.
Well my MacBook Pro makes a nice gentlle whirrrr, it stays warm, not hot and its a beaut. Glad I wasn’t tempted by the de-gunk ‘solution’.
Oh and ‘Google’, whether you work for MSN or Yahoo or whatever, you need to get over your angst. Google is highly successful and isn’t likely to go away, not by 2008. It has given the world loads of free apps, like Analytics, Earth and Gmail. Millions of us are using these tools daily so it gets my vote if not yours. I don’t see a Microsoft behaving like this. (and I do see Apple doing it…iLife).
@Google:
Okay…
Thanks for the useful commentary on Thermal Paste.
Apple should simply fess up and tell its customers that the firmware requirements and implementation were a mistake and that corrected firmware should be installed. They would be applauded for their honesty. Instead, they quietly release a firmware update and fail to mention its most important fix. Boo Apple — boo.
“i really dont see how google can survive as #1 by 2008.”
oh, wait … you’re serious.
Back to topic: The 65nm Yonah is (thermally speaking) a HOT chip! There is no solution for it. Apple can crank the fans and impact the battery life, or – like they hoped – keep the fans as quite as possible while baking the finish on your desk, and maybe you won’t care. There is no middle ground, and it will only get worse as the clockspeed bumps are introduced. Since only a substantial case redesign can relieve this problem, look for either that to happen, and/or Yonah will be replaced with a hopefully better 64bit version of Core sooner rather than later – maybe when the pro-level desktops arrive.
Not that it really matters. The Macanistas will learn to live with, ney love, the heat issues (“Look – I can make pancakes in the shape of an Apple on it!”). But it does make you wonder what all the fuss was about with IBM and the G5.
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Ok does anyone have some numbers on how hot they get? My PB 1ghz runs at 63.5 and that’s only .2-.5 hotter than it was without the Seagate 7200 speeed upgrade.
Uhm, no actually the problem won’t get worse with time. Hello, idiot! The new rage is power-per-watt, with both AMD and IBM focussing on chips that are more efficient for the watt, which means less heat.
Hmmm, tearing apart the motherboard of your shiny new Apple to redistribute thermal paste sounds like the antithesis of “it just works” to me.