Cooling system of the new Macbook Pro

Your link does not work.

I have no definite answer to your question, and I suspect that Apple has not published and will not publish any information that answers it. But I think the likelihood is very high that all the heat sinks in the MBP are aluminum, because aluminum is light in weight and a very efficient conductor of heat, and Apple is clearly very comfortable working with it. So you may want to find a different thermal paste to use.

Take a look at this article - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4543?viewlocale=en_US

What model computer do you have??

I have no idea what "other guy" you're talking about, but the pads pictured in your photo do appear to have copper surfaces. If they were aluminum, there would certainly be no reason to make them look like copper. So the "other guy" is probably right.

I also suspect that if two of them have copper surfaces, the third one probably does too. But if you're tearing the MBP apart yourself, you'll soon find out for yourself.

I think that your idea of tearing apart a new MBP to replace the thermal paste is a stupid idea. Don't you think that Apple has used the most efficient paste to begin with? I really don't think they are in the habit of using inferior materials, and think that any attempt to replace them is going to leave your friend in exactly the same situation except without a warranty.

My suggestion to you would be to call Apple and possibly ship the unit back to them. If that isn't an option, look for a utility that will allow you to change the efficiency of the fan behaviour (can't recall the name of it but I'm sure someone will chime in)

Andrew: I agree in principle that it's a bad idea to void the warranty on a brand new machine by tearing into it and replacing the thermal paste. But these guys are in Russia, where by every account I've seen, getting a Mac serviced competently is impossible. Their first mistake was in buying a Mac at all, and their second was buying it in Britain so they don't have the option of returning it. They know the warranty on it is useless to them.

While I admire your classic Russian do-it-yourself attitude,
you will certainly void your worldwide warranty.
Remember, even though there are no Apple stores in Russia,
your can mail your computer to Apple for warranty service.

If you do decide to risk it all, you might consider Arctic Silver 5:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm
It doesn't seem to have the problem with aluminum.

Here's an interesting article where a user was able to reduce temperatures by 30°C!
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=199840

I understand that they are in Russia, but certainly they could ship it to Apple? And even if they had no warranty option, I am 99.9% sure that thermal paste isn't going to solve anything. I haven't seen any other complaints here and they all have the same factory thermal paste, so that would be the last thing I would look at. First off, have we even deduced that there is an issue? Has he checked the CPU temperature to see if its within the guidelines? Is it shutting down due to heat? Are the fans blazing? The answer to all is "we don't know", so to be advising this guy what thermal paste to use borders on insanity.

My understanding, based on previous posts, is that Apple has no corporate presence in Russia. All sales and service are through licensees, and they are incompetent, unable to get parts from Apple through Russia's corrupt import system on anything approaching a timely basis, and often dishonest. If half the stories are true, anyone using a Mac in Russia is better off entirely on his own than trying to deal with Apple's licensees there. As in most other countries, a MBP owner in Russia needs to have his machine serviced by Apple's licensee there, or Apple won't cover the service under warranty. Perhaps our Russian friend could send his machine to an associate in Britain or some other country to take it in for service, but I suspect it couldn't be shipped back to Russia without a major hassle and perhaps a major cost.

In any event, the OP has described himself as "quite skilled," and while it doesn't hurt to take such descriptions with a grain of salt, I'm not sure we can assume he has failed to think this through. He's in a tough spot if the machine really is overheating, and iFixit has expressed amazement and dismay at the excessive amount of thermal paste they found in dismantling one of the new MBPs. So what the OP proposes is certainly something I'd never do myself, but if it's what he feels is necessary, I'm not averse to trying to be helpful.

Andrew Wolczyk wrote:
I understand that they are in Russia, but certainly they could ship it to Apple?

That's what I said in my reply.

I am 99.9% sure that thermal paste isn't going to solve anything.

Did you read the Mac Rumors post? Have you read the iFixit article?
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Early-2011-Teardown/4 990/2
So there's at least a 0.1% chance that there is a manufacturing error.

advising this guy what thermal paste to use borders on insanity.

I was trying to address his specific question, which is what we do here.