MacBook Air 2011 high temperatures!

I'm probably touching yet another beaten subject here... Anyway, -
I've noticed that load temps tend to easily reach 90c+ even in Mac OSX. Just by playing HD Video Trailers from IMDB.com I'm hitting an alarming 97c mark after a few minutes. Then the fan kicks in and lowers the temps a bit. My question is, if that's the way all macbooks handle the heat, wouldn't it be a good idea to repaste and maybe do some heatsink modding?

 

That doesn't sound normal. What are you using to measure temps?

 

The built in gadget. It's consistent with the readings I get in HWMonitor when switching over to Windows via bootcamp.

 

Ok, so I downloaded the smcFan Control and set the fan speed to max - 6500rpm. The load temps while watching HD videos on IMDB.com dropped to 85-87C, which is still crazy IMHO. If someone could run the following command yes>/dev/null in terminal and tell me their temps after 5min it would greatly help me in finding the root of the problem.

Thanks

 

I definitely think something is wrong. I'm not a good person to compare with since I have one of the late 2010 MBAs with C2D and nVidia 320M. However, here are the CPU diode temps I see with the free Temperature Monitor app:

Idle: 35C
Light web surfing: 42C
SD YouTube videos: 47C
HD video from hard drive: 48C (20% CPU)
HD HTML5 video full screen: 50C
HD Flash video full screen: 52C (25% CPU)
Skype: 70C (60% CPU)
Converting videos: 71-75C (85-90% CPU)

I know that the Sandy Bridge models run hotter than the C2D models, but there's no way you should be seeing such high temps watching video.

Is your CPU utilisation also abnormally high when watching videos? If you're getting high temps at low CPU utilisation, then it could be a problem with heat syncing or fan blockage.

Does it happen in both Mac OS X and Windows? Does it happen with HTML5 video in a browser as well as with Flash? Does it happen when playing back video files stored on the hard drive? If the answer to all the above is yes, that's another indication of a hardware issue. If not, then you have some information to narrow down a software issue.

Also, make sure your system is up to date. A lot of people had problems with high CPU use and/or high temps when first upgrading to Lion.

 

At 95C your laptop should be shutting off.

Watching any flash videos has a dramatic effect on the temp and fans. This is common among the current lineup.


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CPU utilization is pretty low most of the time except for HD playback when it can go up to 40%.

System is up to date, BTW.

The easiest way I found to bring the cooling system to its knees (other than watching HD trailers) is to fire up 4 instances of terminal (1 for each thread) and type yes>/dev/null.

I have seen 100C stable for many minutes and no shut down

 

The CPU has to be at 95C for the shutdown, it's built into the processor. If you're seeing higher temps, they probably aren't accurate.


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The Tjunction is 100C. I'm pretty sure laptops only throttle at the TJ max.

Intel® Core? i5-2557M Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz))

One reason it heats up so quickly is that MacBook fans don't activate until the temps are pretty high. At least, this what I've seen over the past few years. Does it stay in the high 80C's after the fans hit top speed?

 

Again, I'm not the best person to compare with. But when I run 4 instances of yes> /dev/null, the CPU temp eventually peaks at 78-79C after about 10 minutes. The bottom of the case is warm but not uncomfortable and the fan is still running at a low speed (very quiet). Anything that taxes the CPU alone and not the GPU doesn't stress the cooling system on my machine because they're not on the same chip. But play a FPS or other 3D game that stresses the GPU and my fan will be cranking.

With the exception of Flash video, your temps are about 10C higher than mine across the board. That's probably typical of Sandy Bridge ULVs because they're more powerful and the GPU is integrated onto the same die.

You obviously have a problem with Flash video playback. You probably don't have hardware acceleration enabled in Flash player and possibly have an older version. When Lion first came out, Adobe didn't have hardware acceleration enabled in Flash player for Lion and a lot of people had the same problem.

 

I suspect they do not have good thermal compound between the CPU and case to dissipate the heat as it should.

 

I feel like all laptops get to these high temperature esp the ultra portable laptops.

 

Thanks for the info, guys, I really appreciate it! So, it turns out that overheating is a common problem of these machines, especially the ones equipped with Sandy Bridge processors. I checked a bunch of MBA's and MBP's at work and all of them reach 90C+ even at medium load (1-core). I guess, it's a trade off between ultra portability, processing power and cooling system. Hoping to see a different scenario with the upcoming refresh. I might repaste the CPU just to check if there's any improvement but am not holding my breath.
Another thing, when using fan control software and forcing the beast @ 4000-5000rpm, the temps will remain low enough most of the time but it won't help during long flash playback, rendering or gaming sessions.

 

My asus ultra portable doesn't get to these high temperatures. When idle, these laptops are passive cooled (fan never comes on).
Asus ul30vt with almost 50% overclock, idles at 28c and peaks at 60c
Asus u36sd idles at 38c and peaks around 65c

High temperature is usually attributed to an Apple or Acer laptop.

 

Looks like Apple decided to sacrifice the cooling system in order to get lighter and slimmer machines. IMHO, just adding another heatpipe to the heatsinks would greatly improve the situation.

 

Where would you put it? I don't think I could fit a hair off my head in between the case and the internals...

Another case of Apple's design being a bit ahead of their available technology. The CPU's in the MBA are 17W TDP models. The MBA is mighty small to have to dissipate 17W of thermal energy.

Makes me wonder how warm the Asus UX31/21 runs.

 

Fix your Flash installation. Aside from Skype and Flash, the rest of your temps don't seem that bad.

 

Asus ux31/21 runs about 80degrees max when fully loaded. Its usually around 40-50 with normal usage.
Apple sacrificed cooling for longer battery life (less power for spinning fan), slightly thinner profile and fan noise. The air is easily capable of handling a 17W CPU. The high operating temperature is just a style on the MAC. Its normal so you have nothing to worry about.

 

Those temps were all with a fan forced to 4000rpm. At stock (2000rpm) it would hit 100C during software update install or just by stressing one core with rendering. I know it's not just my machine as every mac in our lab including MBPs runs hot. Never mind, I'll make some cooling mods and slash 10c from the max temps.

The Asus UX31/21 has the same thickness at the CPU area and yet it uses a far more power hungry CPU + dedicated graphics with no serious overheating.
You don't need to add anything on top, just another pipe parallel to the existing one would make things way better but it would also add 20-30gr to the weight.

 

The UX31/21 is an ultrabook the size and shape (mostly) of the MBA. It has a 17W ULV Sandy Bridge CPU and no dedicated GPU... which ASUS are you referring to?

 

Sorry, I meant that one.

 

U36SD idles at ~40 and fully loaded at 65 with integrated graphics. With both dedicated graphics on and fully loaded ), its around 75-80.

 

Try running flash! E.g maybe some facebook games. My mac also has this problem.


Currently:Macbook unibody 13.3 late 2008.
Getting a 6165 or a 6110 as soon as i see reviews when playing games!

 

I don't think Flash player supports hardware video acceleration for your Macbook. It is supported for the OP's machine.

 

Flash Player for OSX supports hardware video acceleration on the NVIDIA 320m and anything newer. Anything older isn't supported.

 

I've got a Feb 2012 MBA 11" that I'm not sure is exactly the same spec as the OP's, but what I found was that if I had an antivirus program installed (such as Sophos), then the CPU load would skyrocket, causing the heat buildup and fan to constantly be on. After I uninstalled it, I haven't had fan issues or heat issues ever since.

I also run Parallels Win7 on a daily basis at work... and it generally runs around 60degreesC, while also having Photoshop CS5 running in OSX. Not sure if this helps...

 

Try watching HD video trailers on The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and see how hot it gets
Anyway, I solved my problem by disabling turbo boost through w7 power options.