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    Fan on the MBP

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by gms238, Aug 21, 2007.

  1. gms238

    gms238 Notebook Consultant

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    Ok, dumb question time from a former Windows user.

    I love my MBP, but I've noticed that it really does get pretty warm. In reading the various posts I guess this is normal. However, today while I was trying to do a lot of work on-line that included some video classes, it froze up and wouldn't download a thing, either on Safari or Firefox. I noticed it was really, really warm and wondered if that was the problem.

    So this is my question: can you hear the fan when it kicks in on the MBP, can you feel the air flow? On my HP that I had before switching, you KNEW the fan was on - it sounded like a jet warming up! However, I've never heard the fan on the MBP and have never felt the air flowing from the fan. Is this normal or is something wrong? Should I get things checked out at a store or is this a common situation?

    Thanks.
     
    gms238, Aug 21, 2007
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  2. windowsrookie

    windowsrookie Notebook Consultant

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    Yes, you should hear the fan, and the air coming from the back of the MacBook.
     
    windowsrookie, Aug 21, 2007
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  3. cdnalsi

    cdnalsi Food for the funky people

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    I have the iStat pro widget, and that shows me the RPM speed of the fans, both L and R, but when it starts to blow, it still shows 1993-2004RPM on the fans.. which is at least weird...

    but they do kick in, and it gets cooler, so I have no problem with that...
     
    cdnalsi, Aug 21, 2007
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  4. Sam

    Sam Notebook Virtuoso

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    The fans of the MacBooks and the MacBook Pros are ultra quiet, but you should still be able to hear them, even if its a low dim.

    Download the iStat Pro widget. You can monitor temperature, fan speed, battery health, amount of battery cycles, CPU and RAM usage, etc. Very useful.

    From iStat Pro you can monitor your fan speed (you can also adjust the Mac's fan speed with an application called SMCFanControl). The fans should stay at under 2000 RPM until your CPU temperature is around 65 C or higher. At under 2000 RPM you can barely hear the fans, at around 4000 it should be pretty evident.
     
    Sam, Aug 21, 2007
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