[glhart]

Obviously, the heat of the MB is not a big issue for many people. I tried one for a few days and returned it because of the heat. I found that if I used the machine for an extended period, the whole thing (keyboard especially) became uncomfortably hot, and that distracted me. So I returned the MB and went back to my PowerBook, which is slower but much cooler. I have been using my PB for an hour, and it is still not even warm. After this much time, my MB would have gotten quite hot.

[fox-orian]

I have to admit, I joined the Apple wagon less than a year ago.

Intel or PowerPC, they both run hot, so I've experienced. My PowerMac G5, which I no longer own, was still very hot even for a desktop. At idle, my G5 ran at 149F. Under load, it would go up to 190F or so.

My Pentium 4 hobby home-built gaming system runs only slightly warmer than room temperature. The hottest I've ever gotten my Pentium 4 was 119F. If I wanted to, I could remove my CPU fan and run my computer passively -- but unfortunately my Motherboard requires a CPU fan. Penitum 4's are cool running processors most of the time, [or at least, all of the ones I've ever used all ran cool for me,] but they make terrible mobile chips since they're absolute gas-guzzlers.

For heatsinks that were moer than triple the size of my P4 heatsinks, man the G5's ran hot, even for a desktop system.


As for laptops, I find alot of the coolest running laptops are the least interesting to work with. Alot of cool running laptops I've used seem cheap hollow, not very "wholesome." -- kind of like a Playstation 2.

My IBM T21 with only an 800MHz Pentium III ran just as hot as my macbook under high load with things like Photoshop, and it took forever to cool down. It will not be too hot to handle, but it would make you recoil instantly. Thinkpads STILL do that today -- because IBM insists on using only one fan to cool the CPU. My friend has a Thinkpad T43 and says that under high load, the area under the processor will be too hot to touch with open skin. Some dells get just as hot. Some Gateway laptops can get as hot, but gateway fixes this on some models with three very loud fans that can get blocked with your pants while it's on your lap.

My brothers girlfriend has a Toshiba Satellite, [dont know which model -- it is recent however,] when under high load, it gets pretty warm. But the thing is a big large and all-over feels like a toy rather than a good, solid computer.

So now I own a macbook. I'm experiencing nothing too new from my past experiences. NOTE: While my experiences may not coincide with your experiences with cool, calm, powerful laptops, that's good for you. I however haven't. So I don't know what I'm missing, and I'm quite frankly more than content with it. -- Thus, I love my macbook for all that it's worth.


You, however, heat isn't quite your thing. That's fine, but in truth, I don't see the heat problem getting solved very soon. I'd expect temperatures to drop by subtle amounts with every new model of the MacBook. I dont see Apple completely resolving the heat issue by the next revision, all at once. The heat issue has been going on for years, it isnt just going to stop. Switch to a PC laptop with good cooling if you want. But, if you really want to wait for a cool apple laptop -- expect to wait for QUITE some time. ---- are my thoughts, anyway.

[bergy]

Perhaps a "cooling" solution is on the way?

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/08/...atent.granted/

[cSurfr]

Originally Posted by bergy

Perhaps a "cooling" solution is on the way?

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/08/...atent.granted/

As I'm sure you've read in the firmware thread, the Macbooks, are now 10 degrees cooler as the fans are working correctly now. I suppose you can run right out and buy

cs

[bergy]

Well .... almost ..

Now I'm waiting to see if the Merom chip is going into the MacBook in September ..

Will this have any effect on the heat issue ...

I'm very glad that Apple has figured out how to lower the temperature ... and that cooling patent hopefully bodes well for the future of cool computing ...

[mduell]

Originally Posted by bergy

Now I'm waiting to see if the Merom chip is going into the MacBook in September ..

Will this have any effect on the heat issue ...

I'm very glad that Apple has figured out how to lower the temperature ... and that cooling patent hopefully bodes well for the future of cool computing ...

No; Merom has about the same TDP.

Users are reporting ~20F temp drops with the new SMC firmware that keeps the fan on at lower speeds.

[bergy]

20 degrees Cooler? I thought most people here were saying about 10 degrees ..

That's still good news though ..... Does anyone have any conjectures on that liquid cooling patent?

[nickw311]

mine is about 15 - 20*C cooler. I havent really noticed any noise change either with the fan running more often.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by bergy

20 degrees Cooler? I thought most people here were saying about 10 degrees ..

I think the confusion comes from the fact that for these temp differences, 10C ~= 20F.

[bryanmsi]

Mine runs 15-20 degrees F cooler And NEVER gets as hot as it did during peak loads before I installed the firmware update.