MacBook Dissected

I totally agree with you as to where the credit should go.

I too was annoyed that guy pulled all the pictures and gave no mention of where they were from.

I will write him an email as well.

Kalel

The original Japanese poster is too kind to Apple with regard to the thermal paste. This is still a significantly messy job and I notice in the later photos he obviously very painstakingly cleaned it up.

This pretty much squares with my obsevations of the MacBook in an Apple store today. The heat on the top of the case (the side with the heat sink) is about what I expected; the heat on the bottom side underneath the processor (away from the heat sink, so it would only pick up local heat) is just ridiculous; and the fan does not seem to run much at all, so I do not think the heat sink is getting a chance to do its job. It is a good thing the MacBook is so much easier to disassemble than the MBP because if this is how the contractor is putting them together, the thermal paste is going to need to be done over again.

What is apple say about the Paste?

Was at the Apple store today, and felt around the MB for excess heat. The palm rests, keyboard, and the area just at the base of the hinge are reasonably warm - quite pleasant, in fact. I then lifted the unit up and ran my palm along the bottom surface. Significantly warmer, to the point where it was painful to leave my hand there for any more than 2 or 3 seconds. As I stood there with the MB in my hands, a foul smell wafted up to my nostrils. It took me a moment, but I realized it was coming from the surface of the display table. Whatever finish is on the wooden bench was being heated up by the bottom of the MB to the point that it was vaporizing. Just to be sure it wasn't an isolated incident, I went around to all of the MBs, and MBPs on that table and lifted them up one by one, feeling the bottom as I did so. All of the notebooks were excessively hot to the touch on the bottom, and as I picked up each notebook, I was greeted with the same smell I encountered with the first MB.

Most of these machines were idling on the display. All of them were too hot on the bottom to touch for more than a few seconds. There is no way I would put any of those display units on my lap. I think the photos of the disassembled MBs and MBPs speak quite loudly and plainly. Someone on the assembly line was not properly trained on the correct application of thermal grease. Or maybe it was done on purpose as a means to keep the fan from coming on - I don't know. As much as I want a MB or MBP, I don't think I'm going to be buying one anytime soon. I'll use this as an excuse to buy a Mac Pro instead when those come out - whenever that is.

You have to remember, these are laptops that have been left on 24/7 and have been used constantly through out the day. My iMac G5 would get burning hot if I left it on for over 12 hours (particularly in the top left corner of the front). I'm not sure what to say about the thermal grease but I'm saying that if you're a mobile person who's looking for a mobile computer, you're probably not going to leave it up and running from 8:30 AM to 9:00 PM.