Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Macbook Pro
MacBook Pro heating problems fixed?
When Apple released the SMC Firmware update for Intel Macs this past Tuesday, they were rather cryptic about just what it was supposed to do. One conspiracy theory proposed that it was intended to cripple clock speeds, but Information Week is reporting something quite different (and less insidious): It seems that MacBook Pro (MBP) heating issues have been resolved. According to the article, MBP users are finding that their fans are running more effectively, resulting in post-update temperatures as low as 8 degrees cooler. What all this means is no more burnt thighs during lengthy World of Warcraft sessions.So, TUAWers, what has your experience been? Has this firmware update put your MBP into the deep freeze?
[Via MacNN]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Mike said 11:10AM on 5-19-2006
Auctally, I have been sitting on the update just in case. And it did not describe fully enough the update :P
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Thomas said 11:10AM on 5-19-2006
And for those people who reapplied their thermal paste - have they borked it in combination with the new firmware or is it even cooler now?
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Gaurav Saraf said 11:12AM on 5-19-2006
It didnt fix anything. Making the fan run all the time isnt exactly a fix.
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Joshua Ochs said 11:30AM on 5-19-2006
My fan is running much less, and the case is cool or only slightly lukewarm to the touch after hours of running.
I won't use CoreDuoTemp until they load the kext on the fly; I'm not installing that in /System, especially without any warning!
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Bridget Samuels said 11:30AM on 5-19-2006
Nope! Hasn't changed the behavior of mine a bit (no increased fan, no cooler temp). Still running about 70-73 celsius at 50% CPU usage.
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Andy said 11:35AM on 5-19-2006
Mine's running a lot cooler. Prior to this update you could fry an egg on the strip above the function keys. What's odd is that I haven't heard the fans kick in at all (other than during the update itself).
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I.A. said 11:36AM on 5-19-2006
I've noticed that my wireless has been snappier since installing the SMC Firmware update.
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ODOG said 11:38AM on 5-19-2006
Since I've updated the firmware update I've noticed ZERO temp change. The program I run, Temp monitor still shows temp upwards of 109F on minimal program use and nothing intensive. I'm a new mac user so I really don't know where the temp should be anyway but its still frickin TOO HOT.
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schmidp said 11:39AM on 5-19-2006
nothing different
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Florian Gngi said 11:39AM on 5-19-2006
How on earch can a firmware update remove to much thermal paste from your heat pipe?
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Phil said 11:40AM on 5-19-2006
mine has cooled down by about 5C and my maximum speaker volume has increased!
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TurtleJP said 11:40AM on 5-19-2006
Actually so far so good. Everything was running well before but do seem to feel a bit of cool air flowing out the back over my knees.
A-OK!
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Kernel Dan said 11:43AM on 5-19-2006
My MBP is actually running a lot cooler i have to say, but one thing I noted..
I've never heard the fans go as fast or as loud as they did when I installed the update.. Is that bad?
I personally wouldn't mind if the fans did that every once in a while (or during CPU intensive tasks) to give it a quick cooling, but thats just me.
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kduerr said 11:44AM on 5-19-2006
Nothing has changed for me. Still don't hear the fans and if anything it's running hotter at near idle CPU.
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Kyle Derouen said 11:44AM on 5-19-2006
This update really helped me. I was runningat 65C but now I'm down to about 50-55C. I'm really impressed overall.
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Joe said 11:47AM on 5-19-2006
Thats easy
The firmware update uses imaginary windscreen wipers to wipe of excess thermal paste :-)
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ChillyWilly said 11:52AM on 5-19-2006
Mine was pretty much fine before, but this new SMC firmware update seems to have made some minor improvements. It doesn't seem quite as hot.
In general, every laptop I've used in the last 7 years has run hot. I've used hotter (ThinkPads), so the heat issues with the MacBook Pro are not as bad.
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Barry said 12:02PM on 5-19-2006
In Boot Camp > Windows XP: Prior to the firmware update, DVD Shrink could extract the contents of any DVD in less than 20 minutes. Now it's taking over an hour. It's pretty depressing for a brand new, $2000 laptop which has 1.5 gigs of RAM to be slower than my crappy, two year old, $1200 one which has 512. Argh.
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Jason said 12:06PM on 5-19-2006
My 1.83GHz MBP temps were high - even external temps were around 120° F or higher. The firmware update didn't make a major difference, so I brought my MBP into an Apple store and asked them to check out the thermal paste issue. Of course, there was too much, and after it was re-done, my MBP ran at least 15° to 25° cooler than before.
I also noticed that the wireless connection stopped dropping out after the heat issue was fixed. Seems the excess thermal paste was doing more than just making the case hot - it may have also created heat-related side effects on the airport extreme card inside.
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pnarse said 12:12PM on 5-19-2006
Mine probably has far too much thermal paste on it as it does get very hot...
Thing is, I've not had any actual problems so far so I'm reluctant to get it sorted incase it makes the fans spin more...
As it is they only run if I work it hard, and that's the way I'd like to keep it. The heat doesn't bother me it's usually sitting on a desk or table of some sorts anyway :)
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