[flavoredair]

I've got a 13" late 2010 MBA with the max specs and while it's not my primary machine for playing World of Warcraft, I do have it installed and it plays fine. My concern is the long term thermal damage from running WoW on the MBA. Specifically, when I play the CPU goes from the normal 42-48 degrees C to upwards of 75/80 C with the fan running at over 5600 rpm.

While I know that a cooling pad won't do a lot to alleviate the thermal issues, I'd like to use one anyway to stem the problem a bit. With that in mind, I was hoping to get some opinions about which cooling pads people are using and if there are any that seem to outperform others - specifically with the MBA 13" in mind.

Thanks in advance!

[P]

1) It is impossible to damage or even shorten the lifespan of a modern processor by running it too hot. It will shut down to save itself. All those stories about processors dying the heat death involve the processor being overvolted - that is, being a fed a voltage over specification to aid overclocking. It was especially frequent in a specific version of the Pentium 4 processor that was popular almost 10 years ago.

2) The CPU in that model is a mobile 45 nm Core 2 Duo, codenamed Penryn. The temperature at which it will start to throttle - ie, slow down the CPU to decrease the heat - is 105 degrees C. You are not even close. There is a very big difference between desktop CPUs and mobile CPUs in this area. Desktop Core 2 Duos will start to throttle at 62 C (or even below in some cases).

[fisherKing]

i use this with my late 2009 13" macbook; it's worth getting the AC adapter too. the AC powers the fan, and i get an extra 3 usb ports (worthwhile if u have the power adapter).

on the high setting, it does help somewhat (and i like the angle, and those extra ports)...

[tomerep]

Cooling pad is nice, I got mine and it keeps my computer from overheating and making that loud noise..

[Waragainstsleep]

Heat will only do harm if the machine is regularly heated and cooled too much and too fast. Which it probably isn't unless you live in Alaska and like to leave it outdoors.

[amazing]

Main thing in a laptop cooler is that the fans blow air directly at the bottom of the laptop. Many coolers suck air away from the bottom of the laptop, which isn't a efficient (to put it mildly.)

I had a Targus that sucked air away from the laptop--pretty worthless, in terms of cooling. It also failed pretty quickly.

Here's what I have:

Amazon.com: USB Powered and Most Efficient Metal Cooler Pad with 3 Built-in Fans for Laptop Computer: Electronics

I had an acrylic sheet cut to size and glued it to the bottom, so I could use it on my lap. One of the fans started vibrating loudly, which I remedied by wedging a piece of wood into the area between the fan and the frame (a toothpick tip.)

[osiris24x]

"P" is right, you're not going to hurt the CPU by getting it too hot. I'm an ex-Intel tech who worked on the team that made the Core 2 Duo chip - during lab testing of the chip I personally strapped a heating element straight onto the CPU's top (no heat sink) and cranked the CPU temperature up to 240C. Over, and over and over. The chip will just slow down and eventually power off completely if it gets too hot.

So play away!

[PB2K]

How about other components than the processor? While gaming, the area around the processor gets so hot that it is uncomfortable to touch the metal around the "5" key.

[P]

The VRMs (the little thingies that make sure that the processor gets the correct voltage) are pretty much the only things near the CPU that might be in danger, but I've never heard of an issue of them wearing out. Outright overheating, sure, but really: both Intel and Apple tests these things under rather extreme conditions.

[Young Spade]

Mine gets to about 80-90 while doing CPU intensive tasks as well (I have a BlackBook; different computer but similar temperatures) and although I do think that's pretty hot, no harm has come form keeping it elevated at that temperature.

Just make sure you're playing on a hard surface and you should be fine If you want to be cautious though, take a break every 30 minutes or so and let it cool down a bit... however I don't think you'll cause any problems.