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Level 1

10 points

Thermal Paste - Heating Issues

I've read many places that the new 2011 MBP's are too hot! I've also read that Apple is using far too much thermal paste on the CPU and GPU and that is what is causing the overheating. Apparently the first Core Duo MBP had too much thermal paste as well and many people reported that their GPU's were literally "cooked". Should there be concern over this in the newest MBP's?

Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Feb 27, 2011 3:27 PM

24 replies

ChrisNC

Level 1

0 points

Feb 28, 2011 6:19 PM in response to Herb Schaltegger

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

OK, you got me, I don't know what I'm talking about. We didn't actually cover the differences between heat pumps and pipes although it's possible that I do understand the difference and just used the wrong term. I did learn from a more fundamental level how conduction, convection, and radiative heat transfer work. I'm not an expert, just saying I understand it better than the average person.

Adam! Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 28, 2011 7:13 PM in response to ChrisNC

Speaking of thermal paste and over heating problems, when my 2.33ghz core 2 duo MBP's CPU is at full usage it goes up to about 210 degrees - 99 degrees C - and then hovers right around that. Is that too hot / abnormally hot?

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Feb 28, 2011 7:58 PM in response to Adam!

No.

Feb 28, 2011 10:24 PM in response to Tapps

I got the new 15" 2.2GHz i7 MBP on launch day. I have Safari open, iChat, and iTunes playing music and my CPU temp is 49 degrees celsius and the fans are at a silent 1990 RPM. I did notice the first day when downloading games off steam it seemed to get hot and loud and was a bit concerned, but that subsided and it doesn't do that nearly as often anymore. Hopefully it's something that will just fade away....

0mie

Level 1

0 points

Mar 1, 2011 12:44 AM in response to Adam!

I'm going in tomorrow to see if they will do anything about the heating issue, I mean it's a new machine; it shouldn't have any issues 😟

Mar 1, 2011 8:02 AM in response to Adam!

See this article for information on the fans - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4543?viewlocale=en_US

Mar 5, 2011 9:22 PM in response to Adam!

FYI, I found a data base of mac temperature posts for many years/models with ambient temperatures for references also.

http://www.intelmactemp.com/list/page14

Mar 5, 2011 9:25 PM in response to stare bare

also found a link where they tested a MBP with way to much paste and then again with Arctic silver 5 using just a small amount, this test is pretty old now but still relevant and revealed VERY little improvements from having done it which is my experience also.....

http://www.macgeekery.com/hacks/hardware/thedefinitive_macbook_pro_thermalroundup

ace16952

Level 1

4 points

May 12, 2016 4:41 AM in response to Adam!

i know this is old, but for people still looking into this stuff... i opened mine up, scrapped off the stuff and reapplied new paste.. runs a millions times cooler now, barely even gets warm on the bottom (even when plugged in)

Thermal Paste - Heating Issues