24” iMac with hot screen and top

[Galex]

On Monday I received my first Mac ever, a 24” iMac with a 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB RAM, 500 GB HD and the Nvidia 7600 GT 256 MB graphics processor. The machine looks gorgeous and the screen has no dead or stuck pixels. It also seems very silent, at least to my ears. However, after maybe one hour of initial testing and enjoyment I noticed that some outer parts of the computer seem to become rather hot. This is apparent on the upper part of the screen and particularly the left part of the top and right behind the upper left top. When I am close to the screen I can literally feel the heat radiating from the screen. My obvious question: Is this normal or should I contact Apple about it?

/Galex

 

[andygiff]

Galex, I've just received my very first Mac (and the very same model as yourself). I will check later for similar "symptoms" and let you know in case you receive no response from the regular forum gurus.

Have to say my XP days are forever in the past....

 

[TBi]

Install a temperature monitor (iStat or CoreDuoTemp) to see what the temperatures are and then try running a stress tester to see if the fans are working.

Open two terminal windows and type this into both

yes > /dev/null

hit enter for both windows and watch the temperature soar. If the CPU temperature hits 80C and still rises up to 90 then close them as soon as you can and call applecare. The CPU should maybe just about hit 80C (more than likely never get that high though). You should hear the fans come on after a while.

 

[andygiff]

Having checked my own machine, it too has heat near the top of the unit. But I would describe it as warm rather than hot. Certainly safe too touch. Similar heat to that produced by an LCD TV.

 

[nateDEEZY]

Temperature Monitor is a much better app than the ones suggested, definitely try that one out.

 

[TBi]

Temperature Monitor is a much better app than the ones suggested, definitely try that one out.

How can one program read the temperature better than another? I mean, the temperature doesn't change per application does it?

 

[nateDEEZY]

How can one program read the temperature better than another? I mean, the temperature doesn't change per application does it?

I meant to say it takes better advantage of all the sensors, istat and and courduotemp couldn't pick up nearly as many sensors as Temperature Monitor.

I've read some people experience that there temperature changes between applications, but I have not personally experienced this.

 

[MacBass]

Also consider the space that you have the machine installed in...is it enclosed or is the iMac out in the open with plenty of airflow?

 

[xfusejc]

Mine usually runs between 100F to 130F.

 

[Shotgun OS]

Mine runs quite warm, too. Especially where the apple is at the base.
MY vent used to be blocked from dust, which caused random shutdowns because the temperature got around to upwards of 100 degrees Celsius. Make sure the temperature doesnt get that high.

Mine is currently running at 69-71 Degrees Celsius(says Temperature Monitor.)