MacBook Pro 15 Late 2013 Overheating - Do I Purchase?

Being a Visual Studio user and long time user of the Windows OS I am finally moving to the OSX. I will still have Windows running in Parallels to resort back to Visual Studio but going try and delve deeper into the open source world.

I am looking to purchase a Macbook Pro 15 Late 2013 but I am a litle worried about these overheating claims I have heard. I will be getting the GeForce 750 version because I am partial to games from time to time.

I will be purchasing the item from the US and was wondering if it is possible to get a replacement from a UK apple store if there a problems?

The reason I ask this as I have heard there have been overheating problems with the latest model.

Would appriciate any advice when purchasing an apple as its my first time and a lot of money.

Thanks

Matt

 

The cooling system in Apple laptops aren't made to take heavy loads all or most of the time. OS X is a nice , simplified OS , but do you really want to give up performance and build quality to try it out?

If you want to try out the Mac OS on a standard computer , you can try making a "Hackintosh."

BTW I'm more likely to buy a Fujitsu Lifebook , a Panasonic Toughbook , a Dell Precision , an HP Zbook , etc. over any Mac. There are reasons for that...

Macs don't offer the best bang for the buck in my opinion and neither are they built as tough as machines that are meant mostly for work.

 

I also am a programmer using my first MacBook. Mine has the 650m rather than the 750m but it cools just fine. I have played games in bootcamp for hours at a time with the machine sitting on my lap. I completed Diablo III and Bioshock Infinite on it this year. The fans get loud while I'm playing games but it doesn't bother me because I use headphones. I don't even realize how fast the fans were spinning until I shut the game down and start putting up my game controller. I have never seen a compile job put any particular load on my machine. Gaming is the only thing that really revs up the cooling system. I really enjoy this little sub five pound wonder. Go for it if you are interested in OSX. This is my first one and I have nothing bad to say about it except these things are expensive.

I have not needed Apple Care while travelling but I have used Apple Care about four times... once with an iPad, once with an iPhone 5, and twice with my laptop. They have been great and the turnaround time on repairs is very fast. I messed up my charging port last week. I think I left it sitting on a table charging overnight where the cord was hanging and kind of pulled away from the magnetic latch. It arced a little and in the morning the connector was scorched. They didn't have the parts in stock at the store so they had to make an order. They kept my laptop for about four days and it was ready to go as good as new.

 

Thanks for the replies.
I am actually looking for a laptop with a similar spec as the MacBook Pro 15:

Core i7
16GB Memory
SSD
Decent enough GPU to game for about 5 hours a week
Amazing Screen
Good Keyboard and Touchpad
Great Build Quality
Nice Design

I'm a Microsoft fanboy really (Windows Phone, Win8 tablet, .net developer, outlook.com, azure) but the only thing that comes close to my needs (that i found) is the Dell XPS 15 which isn't really as good. Also buying the apple will hold its value so I can use it for a year and get rid and get a good Dell. I was buying the apple for the build quality as I've only read good things.

Thanks for that jody, is yours the late 2013 model? If so thats great, i don't mind underclocking the graphics card (if thats possible?), not over keen on graphic intense games, getting on :/

I think I will post in the what laptop should i buy to see if anybody suggests anything i've not spotted.
Thanks guys.

 

Just to clarify, there's no "late 2013 MacBook Pro 15" that most Apple people would identify as a Pro (superdrive, ethernet, firewire). I assume you mean the Retina Pro, and you are basing your needs on it being like a Retina. Retinas are not intended to be opened by users, and have soldered on RAM, proprietary flash storage. They don't use your normal SSDs. Some Windows-side ultrabooks are starting to go this direction also. Keep it in mind.

That said, I've never seen a laptop that had a trackpad as good as a Mac (in OS X). They always seem to sacrifice something, and seem cheap compared to the Mac's etched glass trackpad. Also, Retina-type high resolution Windows laptops are still rather unique, Dell and Lenovo each have -a- 3K-ish model, some of the other OEMs do as well. I assume that number will increase rapidly over 2014. 1920x1080 is still the high end for many laptops.

Mac keyboards are fine, nothing spectacular, but they do "shine" easily. I wore a shine in the spacebar of my 2009 MBP within two hours of taking it out of the box. My current one had a keyboard film on it before I ever used it.

 

m3800 15? not a big gamer ( about the same as the rMBP )
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...35359-dell-precision-m3800-owners-review.html

Keyboard is rather Nice, Trackpad is close to the MBP/OSX combo and I far prefer it's screen actually. and runs quite cold.

 

Hi

I have the macbook 15 inch with 2.6 processor (the highest power one they make at the moment) with a ssd. If using for simple browsing it is fine. If you start using up to 25% of the processor it gets very very hot and unbearable to touch on the metal part above the keyboard. The fans make a lot of noise. I dare not use it with any power for more than 10 minutes.

Try playing Batman Arkham and you will realise the total mess the machine is.

I must admit buying a macbook has been the worst waste of money I have ever made. I am stunned that the poor design does not cool the system enough so it is usable. I cannot use the full extent of my processor.

The OS is ok albeit a bit mickey mouse and dumbed down. As such it is a bit tramlined and inflexible to tweak. The screen and keyboard is very nice as is the trackpad.

I would say steer clear.

Tony