MBP 13"cooling temps question

I know that the mbp can get hot when doing some heavy computing, however I was playing a simple online game the other night called plants VS zombies, check it out if you don't know it. Anyways after playing for only a few minutes I noticed that my macbook was getting very warm, and after about 15 minutes of playing it the underside of it was hot to the touch and the topside(keyboard) part of it was quite warm and I could feel the heat radiating off of it. I haven't even had it for a week yet but have done quite a few things including watching movies both on a HD and from a DVD. I have had multiple browser sessions open with wireless on music playing in I itunes etc. And I have played around with some other settings etc. Nothing else I have done on the computer has made any part of it warm to the touch, but this simple online game made it to hot to sit on my lap, and very hot to the touch and has me worried something might be wrong with it, I would hate to play a more demanding game, or do some video editing etc..which is one of the reasons I bought this computer over a PC in the first place. I still have 10 days or so to return it for a full refund or else exchange it for another I have tried restarting the system a few times and playing the game again and the temps shot right up again.

 

Flash intensive apps will stress the cpu and 9400m gpu to higher levels, generating a good bit of heat that the chassis will dissipate. And if you didn't have the MBP on a hard surface during the PvZ game, that would accent the warmth as the aluminum couldn't dissipate it.

I seriously doubt you have a flawed system here, rather the 9400m is not designed for gaming and Flash apps online will stress the cpu a good bit. Check your cpu usage and temps with iStat while playing PvZ - I'll bet that the cpu use is the culprit here. I have absolutely no issues with video editing etc although transcoding video creates the same issue -- high cpu equals 70+ C temps after 5-10 min.

 

There's a bit of misinformation here. It's not that the 9400m is not designed for gaming and Flash apps, it's that Adobe has not been able to optimize Flash for OS X to use GPU acceleration. Adobe has openly criticized Apple for not allowing core level API access for web based apps (ie: Flash). Thus Flash games and video (ie: Hulu/Youtube) are forced to depend on the CPU rather than GPU acceleration. This is a known issue with Flash and OS X. If you have Windows PC check out the current 10.1 Flash beta with full hardware acceleration.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/fplayer10.1_hardware_acceleration.html

 

Also apple laptops heating ventilation system is designed so that heat is dissipated through the keyboard and speaker (if you have the 15") so the keyboard area will feel hotter. You should get a application called SMCFancontrol which will let you set the fan RPMs manually so when you know that you are going to do something that you know will cause your laptop to get hot use the program to set your fan rpms to max. Also you can invest in a $10 app called Coolbook to undervolt your mac which will cause it to generate less heat and give you a better battery life.

 

Ok well the biggest thing I was worried about was that something might have been overworking between the CPU and GPU that shouldn't have been happening causing excessive heat, however if this kinda heat is normal for it on this macbook and everything is ok then its ok with me. Is this a software issue that is being worked on by adobe, or is this just the way it is and will be? Thanks

 

I don't understand why people always ask "Is this normal temp for this laptop?"

Laptops have the same gpus and cpus inside, it doesn't matter what laptop it is. If the CPU/GPU gets too hot then that is the flaw of that laptop, don't accept this as normal.

Check your temps, your cpu should not be around 90C, if it is, then up your fans and get a notebook cooler. Macbooks generally do get hotter because of their small enclosure, but this does not warrant high temperatures, it just means higher fan rpm is in order.

Also feeling how hot the chassis is, is a very poor way of monitoring your temperatures. It doesn't matter if your laptop feels like molten lava if your CPU temp is completely different. Let the software monitor your temps.

 

But some laptops have different cooling system laptop 1 has cpu and gpu at 50 at idle and Laptop 2 has cpu and gpu at 40 at idle. Both of these are well within safe operating ranges but if laptop 2 is idling at 55 instead of 40 like the rest of the laptop 2 models are then for that laptop the temps are not right. And the questions asks is this normal for the laptop, not normal for the cpu / gpu / hdd w.e...

 

My experience is that air is drawn IN from the keyboard, and dissipated out of the back of the unit.

At any rate, I know the early 2008 13" mackbook 2.4 Ghz has a thermal shutdown of 105c, and it should be close to similar along the product line. If you're nervous about it, I recommend SMC fan control or Fancontrol for mac. A small personal desk fan pointed at your keyboard wouldn't hurt either, and you can pick one up for $5-$10 vs $20-$40+ for a notebook chillpad which really doesn't do a thing for core temps.

And there's a Flash 10 beta available for OS X. Early reviews suggest superior performance and much less processor power being used for flash apps. Might wanna give it a google.