Anyone clean out their PB heatsink recently?

[tuartboy]

I'm used to my old PC notebook (a beast of a P4) sucking in a lot of dust and blocking off the heatsink after about 6 months of usage. I would just open the sucker up, remove a few panels and go at it with some compressed air. No problem.

I have had my current PB for 13 months now and I am noticing signs of possible blockage. Noticeably, the fan is running much more often and seems to be blowing out less air. I know the dissassembly process for the 12" PB is no cake walk and I'm not afraid to do it, but I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions. Basically, if I don't have to risk the integrity of the system by opening it, I don't want to.

Thanks!

 

[w_parietti22]

Just be sure to back up all valuable data and BE CAREFUL!

 

[dextertangocci]

Take it to Apple and ask them to do it for you! Don't risk breaking your mac, and voiding your warranty (if you still have it)

 

[tuartboy]

Take it to Apple and ask them to do it for you! Don't risk breaking your mac, and voiding your warranty (if you still have it)

Yeah, warranty is out. Probably just crack her open.

 

[Makosuke]

I'd try just going nuts blowing compressed air in to try to semi-randomly force the dust out. Not as effective as a proper cleaning, but if you get lucky with the angle and have enough pressure behind the air, it'll work.

Now, I say this being someone who generally uses the air compressor at my job's machine shop to blow out computers (don't worry, before the oil for machine tools is added), which is drastically more powerful than your average canned air from Staples, so this may not work for you.

Compared to a teardown it's worth a crack, anyway, and if big clots or clouds come out, you'll know it worked.