Thermal Paste - Heating Issues

This is what the warranty should be used for. You should not at all attempt to modify the internal paste yourself unless you wish to pay for any damages of replacement.

That said, I've written about MacBook Pro heat here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3461358&#3461358

My brand new 2011 Core i7 MBP runs a LOT cooler than my 2008 Core2Duo MBP on the same tasks. No worries about overheating here.

The Core 2 Duo is rated by Intel for operation at up to 105°C (221°F). Your computer is fine.

I can tell you as someone who has witnessed the before and after of fixing the overzealous application of thermal paste that the fans are supposed to carry the heat out of the computer, not the metal body. It went from cooking eggs to, "hey, I can use this on my lap!". Of course, I would not do this ever again but I have a 1st generation MacBook Pro and I went through the considerable effort of disassembling the machine and reapplying the paste several years ago.

I'm saddened to hear they are suffering the same problems as I was hoping to buy a new MacBook Pro. I don't want to spend $3000 on a machine with this kind of problem again.

How hard is it to put a piece of thermal tape on the chips? It may not be as good as a manually applied layer of a good thermal paste but at least it is consistent and that's what you need in manufacturing. Apple needs to pay closer attention to some of the manufacturing processes.

I think everyone who has issue with this, needs to at minimum have it checked by a service technician, and at least give feedback to the service technician that headquarters needs to find a way of better managing the heat. If you are on the fence, but still want to give Apple feedback, post it here:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

You may not get a direct response, but at least the opinion will get voiced.

This being a user to user forum, it is difficult to gage how much it is listened to, as I've heard mixed reviews of that based on other people's experience at the genius bar as to how seriously Discussions is handled.

The more it gets in the hand of the feedback link above, and AppleCare, the better a chance it will get addressed in the future.

My experience is that yes, they are getting too hot. I bought a 13" macbook pro about three weeks ago and less than half a month later, the even newer "Sandy Bridge" chipped MBP's released. I was pretty upset, but luckily Apple let my exchange my "old" MBP for the newer one. Believe it or not, after two days I took it back and swapped back for the 2010 machine! While I enjoyed the speed bump in the newer model, I did not enjoy the heat the computer seemed to be giving out. Just doing fairly light Photoshop work, the fan sounded like an aircraft engine. Even when surfing videos on YouTube I began to notice the fan kicking in. This never happened in my 2010 machine. In fact, one of the things that most impressed me most about the 2010 MBP was how quiet and cool it was. So I went backwards and traded back to the 2010 I had just swapped I'm pleased as punch. The 13" MacBook Pro with the 2.4 Ghz Intel Core Duo chipset is fine for my needs. No problems at all with heat and quiet as a church mouse. In addition, I also have found the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics card inside the 2010 MBP to be superior to the integrated Intel graphics chip inside the newer model. I actually saw a step backwards with the newest MacBook when playing intensive games like WOW and StarCraft 2. Those games move better on the 2010 model and the fan doesn't sound like a hair dryer. I don't mind waiting a TINY bit longer in Photoshop for things to render in return for cooler fingers and faster gaming. Am I nuts??? Part of me wishes I had kept the 2011 machine but the coolness factor and better graphics card in the 2010 model won out for me in the end.

"I've read many places that the new 2011 MBP's are too hot!"
You posted one such thread, Adam. Can you post the others that would constitute "many places"?

Donavan,

When the fans were on high, was the air coming out hot?

The problem with my 1st gen MBP was that the fans didn't even come on. I did lots of research, plus I'm an engineer and have taken heat transfer classes so I understand the subject better than the average Joe. Anyway, in my case, the fans were likely triggered by the heat that made it into the heat pump. Since the gap between the chip and the metal plate was too large, the heat was not able to bridge the gap effectively, so instead of transferring to the heat pump, it transferred into the casing and the fans were never triggered. Perhaps now, they have moved the fan sensor closer to the processor so now the fans may still activate even if heat is not effectively being transferred into the heat pump. So it's possible that you have noisy fans pumping relatively cool air while the bottom of the machine is toasty hot.

ChrisNC wrote:
Donavan,

When the fans were on high, was the air coming out hot?

The problem with my 1st gen MBP was that the fans didn't even come on. I did lots of research, plus I'm an engineer and have taken heat transfer classes so I understand the subject better than the average Joe. Anyway, in my case, the fans were likely triggered by the heat that made it into the heat pump. Since the gap between the chip and the metal plate was too large, the heat was not able to bridge the gap effectively, so instead of transferring to the heat pump, it transferred into the casing and the fans were never triggered. Perhaps now, they have moved the fan sensor closer to the processor so now the fans may still activate even if heat is not effectively being transferred into the heat pump. So it's possible that you have noisy fans pumping relatively cool air while the bottom of the machine is toasty hot.

If you're an engineer, you know the difference between a heat PUMP and a heat PIPE, right?

No heat problems on my brand-new 15". It runs much cooler than my late-2008 unibody does and the battery life is incredible by comparison.

Hello,

I am planning to go for a new 15" MBP 2011 i7 2,2Ghz (the large one)... So is this true with the thermal paste...!?

Or is here somebody, who can post their MBP 2011 i7 (1GB ATI) temperatures for me please? only the idle, with airport on for some surfing with Safari or Firefox...

Many thanks for any replay regarding my question!

Regards

tapps

If it shuts itself down for its own protection at temperatures somewhere above 100°C, there's a problem. If it doesn't, there isn't one.