Heat General Question

I have a question about heat...

does the heat from a laptop have any detrimental effects on its performance or is it only a matter of discomfort for the user.

I want to know because I am looking into a MBP and obviously have heard about these heat issues. My MBP will mainly be on my desk though so if it doesn't affect performance, I may get one now as opposed to waiting.

 

Shortens Lifetime?

 

the only thing that effects preformance is the underclocked gpu, my guess is apple underclocked it because it would have been way too hot if it wasnt underclocked. if you dont play games you shouldent worry about that. The only reason people say the mbp is still hot is because it is so thin and aluminum that you feel the heat more with the 1" thick mbp compared to a 1.5" viao sz.

If i were you i wouldet worry about preformance.

 

Performance - yes - but only when throttling down. In the long run it will affect fan and other components too.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

heat will cause components to break down faster. this is why laptops have a shorter lifetime on average than desktops. laptop cooling is much more inefficient and so much heat is created in a compact space, causing the components to deteriorate.

 

When cpu's heat up really hot and cool down, they expand and contract. This movement, especially when exaggerated by excessive heat, breaks wires. Think of a paper clip...when you bend it a million times, the tensile strength gives and it breaks.

 

I feel the replies above are slightly exaggerated. While heat is the enemy of electrical components, I highly doubt it will cause your CPU expand and contract on any macroscopic degree to the point of damage. The CPU runs well below its maximum temp specified by intel and there are no sudden temperature changes that are going to happen there which would encourage such break.

While they certainly do run warm due to closely placed components, I feel the heat is more seems evident due to the fact that the chassis is metal as entire case is utilized to dissapate heat.

 

Thus why you should get AppleCare Protection plan. It's never bad to have a drive to do backups on either or use .mac for that.

3 years of service, really I think by the time the 3rd year is up you'll be in the market looking at the next mac to get your hands on. Remember how fast the computer industry moves, whats state of the art today, isn't next week.