When did 15" Mac Pro get less hot?

I am kicking around the idea of buying a used Macbook Pro. A little over 3 years ago I tried one out, but returned it because it got very hot, too hot to have on one's lap. I understand that has been improved. Does anyone know when the improvement was made? Thanks.

 

They were always hot.

But I think they've made real progress since they've introduced the whole Unibody concept, so 2008-09.

The thing to remember about this particular design is that even though the outer casing may get hot, it's very much intended - as the whole body acts like a heat sink - and the internal components remain cool...

 

i am hitting 70s C in normal use , i can hit 90C by just fireing up vmware

 

Depending on your use, MBP's get extremely hot when gaming/running cpu & gpu intensive programs. I do believe when someone stress tested a i7 MBP they had to stand it on the side to get proper airflow

 

My U30 never exceeds 70C under full load. Do you know if the 13" MBP gets that hot? That's...unacceptable, tbh.

 

My Macbook Pro 13" under full load (Using Steam in OS X with Team Fortress or converting files for my iPod Touch via Handbrake) makes the temperature top out at 80 for me. I haven't experienced more than that but of course mine is a new one so I dont know how it will do once it ages.

 

nothing wrong with temps over 70º C...

 

my computer (sig) RARELY hits 70C.

and I mean rarely.

 

Perhaps not. But when I say "maxes out around 70C" I mean "under extended Prime95 maximum temp/power consumption torture test." Temperatures in excess of 80C while doing something comparatively simple like playing TF2 represent a seriously compromised thermal design. Combined with a highly conductive construction material, that's going to make the thing beyond uncomfortable to use on your lap.

Prime95 just passed the 1024k test, and the base of the machine is still barely warm, the palm rests remain cool to the touch, and the CPU cores are hovering around 70-72C. The U30Jc is less than half a cm thicker thicker than the MBP. That's a heck of a trade-off.

"Oh, it's OK, it's designed to run that hot" is a common rebuke. nVidia recently made the same comment about their insanely hot Fermi chips. Of course, they said the same thing about the G80 core. Just as Apple said the same thing about he first-generation MBP when people complained it was overheating. Look at how those turned out.

TL;DR: The chief enemy of integrated circuits is heat (or rather, electromigration, which is accelerated by...heat). Hotter is only better in smores and people.

Obligatory xkcd for internet arguments.

 

I play TF2 with the Macbook Pro on my lap and at 74-80 it isn't uncomfortable at all. The Apple hate is kind of getting boring if you ask me.

If anything the Asus I returned (U30JC) got hotter and was even more uncomfortable to use.

 

My MBP maxes out at around 81-82 when I am doing something quite CPU intensive, like encoding a video etc. The top of the laptop gets quite warm, but the palmsrests remain comfortable to the touch - then again I also have a SSD which may help keep heat down a little.

 

Prime95 drives the temperatures up a good 10 degrees hotter than playing TF2. You're saying that 80C versus 60C is cooler?

Fortunately the good folks at this very website tested the external temperatures of both the 13" MBP and the U30Jc after heavy usage:
MBP:

U30Jc:


In fact, the exterior idle temps of the MBP are higher than the load temps of the U30Jc:


You are empirically wrong. If you want to label that as "Apple hate" that's your right. But it's not your right to go around telling people the MBP is cooler when it clearly isn't.

Then again this same website (and you know, every other tech website out there) has clearly proven the Core i3 is faster than the Core 2, and I seem to recall you trying to argue against that, too.

 

thats a total load of #*$@ though... idle my MBP 13" sits around 38º to 40º and the bottom on those sections are cool to the touch.. no way are they in the 80s, so i don't believe the pictures.

 

Celsius != Fahrenheit

 

lol.. they did their temps in ºF .. what goobers.

plus thats the old model MBP 13"

being a metal case vs plastic... and that those are ºF temps... thats not at all bad.

 

Totally irrelevant as the temperatures were taken by different reviewers. Just makes you look foolish. Laptop Mag and CNet tests have consistently shown the Core 2 Duo to outperform the crap U30JC's i3 in multitasking and etc.

The tests were done with Photoshop on each computer so there is no biased. (Just wanted to add that in case you wanted to use the iTunes not being optimized for Windows excuse) So if anything, you are the one ignorantly wrong.

 

HEAD, MEET DESK

If you want to keep on believing that the Core 2 Duo is faster than the Core i3/5/7 because one CNET reviewer said so, then be my guest.

Pictured here: Obvious lies, since that one CNET reviewer says the Core 2 is faster!

Edit: Also,

Understandable mistake, it's not like the links to the reviews were right there or anything.

 

LOOK AT THAT MBP BLAZE PAST ALL THOSE CORE i3s! Err...

Both machines use off-the-shelf Intel procesors, RAM, chipsets, etc. You (and your best buddy that one CNET reviewer) are arguing that Apple has some sort of magical power to make the Core 2 Duo faster than the Core i3, in the face of all the mountains of evidence to the contrary. If you seriously can't see why that's wrong, you're beyond help.

And...I don't even know where to begin on less than half a cm of thickness making the difference between "WAY TOO BULKY" and "SO THIN OMG." Though clearly it makes a massive difference in heat dissipation, so eh.

 

Sorry to interrupt but I think you guys are taking this thread too much in a different direction.
I understand your enthusiasm for brands or different technologies but it's not what the OP asked for.
Please guys be sensible and fair or start a new thread and continue your discussion there.

 

LOL, ownage right there.

But yea lowlymarine is right in this case. Apple laptops run pretty warm. I use a Mac Book Pro 13 and it gets almost uncomfortably hot playing flash video in Mac OS X, and uncomfortably hot while playing it in Windows 7 via Boot Camp. It's wise for Mac owners to install a fan control program to keep temps down.

 

Those temps are in F and they are simply not that bad. Many other PCs with similar form factors will give you temps of 100F or more on the FRONT, including on the trackpad. Meanwhile, the 15" MBP stays cool on the keyboard and the trackpad no matter what you are doing, and never reaches temps on the back that are too hot to have on your lap, as long as you have pants on.

I have an i7 15" and I do play games on it, and when the fans come up it stays around 80C or less on the CPU, and is never uncomfortable to have on my lap. But like I said, you will want to be wearing pants if you're playing games or doing heavy computational lifting. For non-intensive usage however, like iTunes and reading webpages, feel free to go pantsless.