[Review] Apple MacBook

[sean.ferguson]

I have just got my 1.83GHz Duo Macbook today... and damn I notice the heat instantly! But then again, I notice the speed too.. and the glossy screen.. and the better sound.. and the wiiiiiiiiidescreen! So I'm not too bothered

I have just thought copying around 23GB of data will be adding to the heat

 

[muzikool]

Yeah, the heat is definitely there. I've got my fingers crossed that a firmware update will take care of that eventually.

Welcome to the club!

 

[Geffy]

mines running pretty hot as well, but I think thats in part due to the rather high ambient temperature of the air

 

[SPeedY_B]

Until they run as cool as my iBook, I'm staying away... as much as I don't want to

 

[Geffy]

I would say it runs just a little hotter than my iBook. tbh the iBook is just as bad. Good thing I have an iLap

 

[SPeedY_B]

I really need to get my hands on one. When people have been complaining of 82-deg-C temps from the CPU, it kind of puts me off a little, but there were also people who complained like little whiney girls about scratches on the iPod nano, and mine's still here 8 months on, completely flawless.

Still though, I don't think the people in the Brum apple store will be happy with me whipping a macbook of the shelves to sit with it on my lap for an hour or so

 

[muzikool]

The highest temp CoreDuo Temp has measured on mine was in the upper 60s. I haven't seen anything near 80.

 

[SPeedY_B]

My iBook right now:

whilst it's tolerable, it's still very hot and not comfortable. The current heat (about 30-deg-C in this room) can be blamed, as well as the fact it's resting on my lap/legs. I don't think I'd be happy with it being much hotter... that said, I might try and push it to see how hot it goes

 

[SPeedY_B]

Just had a quick try at running the CPU at maximum capacity for a while:

66.2 C / 151.2 F, before the fans kicked in and started to cool things off a little. Good job I moved it off my lap before starting

So the iBook can see 60c, however there's no way it would ever reach that had I not provoked it, in (my personal) day to day use, it's more likely to hover in the 40's, and more likely mid/high 30's when the weather's no so damned hot

 

[muzikool]

Definitely a difference between the iBook and MacBook when it comes to heat. I hope a firmware update can do something for it -- maybe not fix it altogether, but something.

 

[Geffy]

I'm a little dubious of its results but CoreDuoTemp says my processor is currently running at 81C

 

[SPeedY_B]

I'm a little dubious of its results but CoreDuoTemp says my processor is currently running at 81C

Ehm, is it hot to touch? Mine was pretty uncomfortable around the 40C mark, and there's no way I could of used it at 60C+

I understand the MacBooks may feature a different design to distribute and remove heat in a different manner than iBooks, however I honstly can't see an 80C+ notebook being usable.

The app I use for temps is Temperature Monitor, though from the note (bit in purple) on that page, I'm not so sure it'll work with the new intel macs.

 

[Geffy]

it is warm to the touch, but not 80C

I just fired up CoreDuoTemp after bringing it out of sleep and it jumped from a starting temp of 35C to 80C in a couple of seconds, and it was still cold to the touch (well as cold as things can get in weather like this) so I don't really trust the app at all

 

[SPeedY_B]

As the Temp Monitor site says though, Apple have changed their temperature recording to a hardware based module, maybe they're a bit screwy?

Looking at the recent Dell vs MacBook test though (Link) it seems that the MacBook doesn't actually exceed ~40C on the surface. I'd be interested to know what CoreDuoTemp stated during the tests when measured against his results from the thermometer.

 

[Geffy]

mmm, me too, but I dont have any thermometer appropriate for the task

 

[muzikool]

I'm not sure how to measure the temperature of the MacBook's surface. It only gets hot in the left back corner, and while it doesn't burn my leg by any means, I prefer not to have it on my lap without something under it when it gets that hot.