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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > imac 2.8 heat

imac 2.8 heat
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reemas
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Aug 20, 2007, 12:27 AM
 
anyone else have an imac 2.8 that gets VERY hot on the top left corner of the aluminum? sometimes i can't even touch it.
     
Big Mac
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Aug 20, 2007, 12:48 AM
 
Its new aluminum body apparently gives it similar heat dissipation characteristics to the PBs/MBPs. At least you don't have to touch it.
( Last edited by Big Mac; Aug 20, 2007 at 03:58 AM. )

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
Simon
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Aug 20, 2007, 03:18 AM
 
The top left side becomes hot because the fan below the CPU/GPU heatsink blows air in that direction. The aluminum case is basically acting as a big heatsink to ambient air.
     
bearcatrp
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Aug 20, 2007, 08:22 PM
 
Download smc fan control (free) and crank up the fans a bit. I use it on my 1st gen 24 inch iMac. Kind of figured there would be heat issues with an aluminum case and higher processor. With all the complaints with the new ones, think I will stick with my 1st gen one.
Randy
2010 Mac Mini, 32GB iPod Touch, 2 Apple TV (1)
Home built 12 core 2.93 Westmere PC (almost half the cost of MP) Win7 64.
     
jgcan
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Aug 20, 2007, 08:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by bearcatrp View Post
Download smc fan control (free) and crank up the fans a bit. I use it on my 1st gen 24 inch iMac. Kind of figured there would be heat issues with an aluminum case and higher processor. With all the complaints with the new ones, think I will stick with my 1st gen one.
Randy
Better to have the heat to dissipate via aluminum than to keep it trapped in a plastic enclosure. Hotter outside = cooler inside.
     
iREZ
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Aug 20, 2007, 11:11 PM
 
i dont get this argument...who cares if the inside is hotter in the plastic, long as normal computing heat i'd rather the inside be hotter than the outside.
NOW YOU SEE ME! 2.4 MBP and 2.0 MBP (running ubuntu)
     
Simon
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Aug 21, 2007, 02:38 AM
 
Originally Posted by iREZ View Post
i dont get this argument...who cares if the inside is hotter in the plastic, long as normal computing heat i'd rather the inside be hotter than the outside.
Normally people expect electrical components to suffer form prolonged exposure to heat. Hence many prefer heat taken from the components and transfered to ambient air. That comes at the expense of a hotter case though.
     
sushiism
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Aug 21, 2007, 03:59 PM
 
Powerbook G4 gets too hot to touch on the top part of the case and screen hinge.

I'd consider it normal cos at least the heat is going somewhere
     
iREZ
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Aug 21, 2007, 04:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by Simon View Post
Normally people expect electrical components to suffer form prolonged exposure to heat. Hence many prefer heat taken from the components and transfered to ambient air. That comes at the expense of a hotter case though.
i thought the previous imac had vents if im not mistaken, and a fan that would rev up when the heat was too much. its not a big deal seeing how one doesn't need to hold an imac or touch one hardly ever once its setup, but i still don't understand the argument of 'i prefer aluminum to plastic because it dissipates heat better'. why prefer the exterior to be hot vs warm when neither holds an advantage to one another in regards to interior heat. i had a 17" imac core duo and i never heard the fans no matter how much video/photoshop/halo work i did.
NOW YOU SEE ME! 2.4 MBP and 2.0 MBP (running ubuntu)
     
Simon
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Aug 22, 2007, 02:53 AM
 
Originally Posted by iREZ View Post
why prefer the exterior to be hot vs warm when neither holds an advantage to one another in regards to interior heat.
The people who prefer the warm case don't prefer it because they like the warm feeling, but because a warm case means more heat transport from inside the case to ambient air. Heat transport scales with the temperature gradient: no gradient means no transport.

Personally I wouldn't care about the case temp of my iMac. If it's hot I wouldn't notice (because I don't touch desktop computers when I'm using them) and if not and some component actually goes bad AppleCare would fix it for free.
     
   
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