There have been a number of reports that the MacBook Pros get hot. While there are a number of discussion and conjectures on the Apple Discussion forum (
http://discussions.apple.com/), there has been no word from Apple other than that it is "operating within specification". Speculation is that between 2-5% of shipped MacBook Pros 15" Models have this issue (the 17" are only shipped today onwards). Lucky me, I am in that 2-5%!!!!
I noticed fairly immediately that the MacBook Pro gets pretty hot when I use it. I have heard before that the PowerBooks also ran hotter than other laptops, so I did not immediately react. What I have read is that Apple Stores and Customer Service in the US do not refer to the PowerBooks and MacBook Pros as "laptops", but rather as "Notebooks". This is because the machines run so hot that you can't put them on your lap! However, I have noted that Apple Stores in Singapore do refer to them as "laptops". I guess there is less litigation in Singapore.
Anyhow, after three days of use, I really began to worry. The bottom of the MacBook Pro and the area above the keyboard gets really hot. So hot that I can not hold my finger in those places for more than 5 seconds. I called Apple@Orchard and they told me to bring it down. I was told that it was operating within spec and that there has been nothing from Apple about heat issues. They could not change it for me there and then as I did not bring my whole box. I told them I will check on it for the next few days and then come in with the box to exchange if needed. So I went away without having done anything.
I did more research online and really read up in the Apple Discussion Forum. Consistently, people have said it is because Apple Production out TOO MUCH thermal paste onto the CPUs. This messes up the thermal dynamics of the whole laptop - apparently. I don't know if I am totally convinced that is why, but this article is a great read to understand the issues:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=469166I also downloaded some tools to monitor the temperature inside my computer. Temperature Monitor (http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html) only gave me my harddisk temperature at first. The temperature went up to almost 70 degrees CELSIUS during the work day and remains there. I was not too comfortable with that figure - I mean 100 degrees C is the boiling temperature of water at sea level, and the weather in Singapore maxes out at 34C.
I finally found a tool that can read the temperature from my CPU. It is CoreDuoTemp (
http://macbricol.free.fr/coreduotemp/). That put my CPU speed in the 75 degree C range in an aircon office.
Over the weekend, my MBP shut down on me without warning. I was using it in my living room where there is no air conditioning. (I live in the tropics - 150 miles from the equator). The room temperature was about 88F with the overhead fan going. Anyhow, after a couple hours of usage, the MBP shut down. The palmrest was very warm, but not hot. I checked the bottom and realised that it was quite hot as was the area above the function keys. I restarted and it shut down again after 30 seconds or so. I left it alone after that to let it cool down. An hour later, I booted it up and it was fine. So I am speculating that the heat causes the machine to shut down (perhaps to protect itself?). I did not have the CoreDuoTemp yet so could not measure the temp then.
So I called up AppleCare again and got the same as before. However, they said that they can change out the logic board if I would leave my computer for a few days. I declined because the Apple Discussion Forum is filled with people who had their logic card sent and it did not solve the problem at all. Not only that, but the few days taken by Apple are essentialy wasted and the issue was still there. I refused as I have all my work on the MacBook Pro and did not want to twiddle my thumbs for a few days. I pursued on the thermal paste replacement, but they very strongly emphasize that this was not necessary and would probably not solve the problem because Apple has not said that this was a problem.
I did finally get someone to clean the thermal paste and reapply a thin layer as was suggested. This took a few hours during my lunch break, and I now have my laptop back. The results?
It worked, but it is still quite warm. The CPU temperature maxes out at 64 degrees C, while the Hard Drive temperature remains a steady 41 degrees C. The bottom is still too hot to put on my lap, but I can actually hold my finger on the spots longer than 5 seconds (indefinitely I guess). So it did work... somewhat. I do feel much better, though I want to see Apple acknowledge the issue and put together a proper fix ASAP.
