When our iMac and MacAir get hot (and we have fans under each), is it better to sleep them in-between sessions, or shut them down? I say shutting them off and on all day does more damage than the heat.

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Level 1

21 points

When our iMac and MacAir get hot (and we have fans under each), is it better to sleep them in-between sessions, or shut them down? I say shutting them off and on all day does more damage than the heat.

When our iMac and MacAir get hot (and we have fans under each), is it better to sleep them in-between sessions, or shut them down? I say shutting them off and on all day does more damage than the heat. My husband says it's better to completely shut the machine down when the user is finished. The cooling fans help, but he says it's not enough. I say Apple needs to put cooling fans in its products. alice gray & rich breen

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 10.7.4 iMac

Posted on Aug 28, 2012 1:38 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Aug 28, 2012 6:08 PM in response to alice dale

What's hot and how are you determining? You might try this:http://download.cnet.com/smcFanControl/3000-18487_4-102230.html or Bresink's, maker of TinkerTool, Temp Monitor.

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Answer 2

alice dale Author

Level 1

21 points

Aug 28, 2012 6:33 PM in response to baltwo

The outside of the screen gets hot. We're running OSX 10.8.01. Does this machine have an internal fan? Could have fooled me. My Mac Air doesn't get as hot as this one does. Maybe that's the problem? And if it doesn't have an internal fan, how is the smcFanControl going to help? Is the Mac Pro the only one with an internal fan, or do most Macs have them? How can I tell, or control this on my iMac?

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Aug 28, 2012 7:28 PM in response to alice dale

The iMac has numerous ones. I know nothing about the MBA, having no use for a laptop. All I can suggest is to run one of those freeware apps and get data. Hot to the touch isn't sufficient. Here are the temps from my iMac running ML.

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