Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Does Your New iMac Run as HOT as mine?

First post here... So yeah, I bought a new 20" iMac with 2.4 ghz processor, and it sure runs hot! I mean, I could bake eggs on it. It was on about 12 hours yesterday.

Oh also, why is the display only working in 60 hz, I've always used a 75 hz monitor and I wonder if it's okay for one's eyes in the long run.
 
Think about it... Heat rises. The cooling slot is near the top of the case. The top of the case is made of aluminum. Of course it's going to get warm up there. MacBook Pros have had this "issue" for years.
 
netdog said:
Say what you will, but the tops of these babies at the Apple Store were quite hot. I want a computer that is whisper quiet and cool.
Click to expand...

Here you go
commodore_amiga_1200.jpg


Seriously though. If the enclosure is hot but the components aren't (all the readings I've seen are normal), then it just means that it does a good job conducting the heat.
Now if it's actually hot enough to damage the enclosure, then we have an issue.

Putting such powerful components in a tiny enclosure and making it quiet at a fairly low price is a hard thing to do.

My Presonus Firebox had the same "issue". Too many hot components in a tiny aluminum enclosure. It got hot. But it was never really an issue.
 
DoFoT9 said:
good point. do you think the days of the 10 year old macs are over?? will the newer macs only last 3-4 years before components die out??

sucks..
Click to expand...

The computer will likely last to the end of its lifecycle, but the drives are likely to suffer heat related deaths much sooner.

But that has been happening for quite awhile these days anyways. Since the durability went down (in exchange for quietness) as the heat they generated went up.
 
Wanted to see for myself....been waiting for almost a year now. Went to the Apple store here in Denver. Wow the top was hot. I touched every imac in the store and all were HOT...except one (the ol' white version still on display but not for sale). I was ready to throw down the money anyway, but then the Apple rep got an attitude when I asked if the heat may cause problems, such as to the internals. She said all the reps were informing customers just "don't put anything on top of or close to the top of the imac and you'll be fine." Needless to say, I walked out without buying my new home system.
 
Can't someone just get a thermometer and put it on top of the case so that we know how hot "HOT" is?
 
rainydays said:
Can't someone just get a thermometer and put it on top of the case so that we know how hot "HOT" is?
Click to expand...

For purposes of comparison, right now running iTunes, Safari, Activity Monitor and widgets, my MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.0GHz (original - Mar 2006) has temperature readings of: CPU - 59C, Case Bottom - 33C, Ambient - 23C, GPU - 53C, Memory controller - 53C. Both right & left fans are running @1000RPM, but, I can't hear them. The MacBook feels warm on my lap, but quite bearable. The case is always hottest by the hinge where the vents are.

I personally think the new iMac will be fine. I might also say I have a 24" 2.8GHz model on order so I might be a little bias. :D
 
Mac Mini heat issue?

I am wondering if the Mac Mini runs as hot as the iMac. What has been your experience?
 
lmcargo said:
Wanted to see for myself....been waiting for almost a year now. Went to the Apple store here in Denver. Wow the top was hot. I touched every imac in the store and all were HOT...except one (the ol' white version still on display but not for sale). I was ready to throw down the money anyway, but then the Apple rep got an attitude when I asked if the heat may cause problems, such as to the internals. She said all the reps were informing customers just "don't put anything on top of or close to the top of the imac and you'll be fine." Needless to say, I walked out without buying my new home system.
Click to expand...

OMFG FOR **** SAKE, just because the aluminum is warm doesn't mean that it is a heat problem. ALUMINUM LEADS WARMTH, which makes the chassi a big heatsink (which is great) leads away the heat from the components. And why bother if it's worm on the top?, it's not like a laptop where you need to touch it to use it (i hate laptops just because of the heat).

But on iMac this isn't a problem at all ! lel
 
paetrick said:
OMFG FOR **** SAKE, just because the aluminum is worm doesn't mean that it is a heat problem. ALUMINUM LEADS WORMTH, which makes the chassi a big heatsink (which is great) leads away the heat from the components. And why bother if it's worm on the top?, it's not like a laptop where you need to touch it to use it (i hate laptops just cause of the heat).

But on iMac this isn't a problem at all ! lel
Click to expand...

*ralph voice* its made of plastic *un-ralph voice*
 
paetrick said:
OMFG FOR **** SAKE, just because the aluminum is worm doesn't mean that it is a heat problem. ALUMINUM LEADS WORMTH, which makes the chassi a big heatsink (which is great) leads away the heat from the components. And why bother if it's worm on the top?, it's not like a laptop where you need to touch it to use it (i hate laptops just cause of the heat).

But on iMac this isn't a problem at all ! lel
Click to expand...

Very good point. By the way, a worm is a little brown thing that lives underground, you want "warm".
 
Since its aluminum, it might be possible to drill some cooling holes in
the top of the case. Of course, be neat and don't hit anything.
 
OK, so I've used the iMac for a couple of days now and felt the back of it regularly to see if it was getting warm (or as my girlfriend put it "are you stroking your damn computer again?" :D) and it does get warm to the touch, but not "hot".

If you check out the disassembly pictures and compare with the warm spots on the case you can easily make out where the components are. The hd-area (under the glossy apple logo on the back) gets slightly less warm than any external hd enclosure I've ever owned. The heatpipe and gpu (right side mid to top looking at the back) gets a little warmer, but nothing alarming and it's located right between a fan at the bottom and the case opening at the top so it's well ventilated. This is all after testing things like Civ4 which does require a lot of gpu and processot power.

All in all it doesn't get warmer than any laptop I've owned.
 
I encoded video for hours yesterday. The top right hand side of the iMac gets warm, never hot. The Aluminum case tranfers heat very well, this is good. Warm outside means less heat inside.

So take your hands of the case and get some work done!
 
quit touching your computers!

Seriously guys, you need to stop touching your computers looking for the " hot spots" sounds a little perverted!:p

Trout
 
i have used my new 2.4 24" for medium/heavy use over the last week. the top can get extremely hot. as it has been said however, it is aluminum so it will be carrying more heat out of the system than the white imacs. additionally, the internal components run at comfortable temperatures and even with fans running the system is silent.
 
When I first posted...

My new iMac was set up in a work nook - with very poor air circulation. I've put a small quiet desk fan there and now my iMac is just warm - rather than HOT.
 
oduinnin said:
For purposes of comparison, right now running iTunes, Safari, Activity Monitor and widgets, my MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.0GHz (original - Mar 2006) has temperature readings of: CPU - 59C, Case Bottom - 33C, Ambient - 23C, GPU - 53C, Memory controller - 53C. Both right & left fans are running @1000RPM, but, I can't hear them. The MacBook feels warm on my lap, but quite bearable. The case is always hottest by the hinge where the vents are.

I personally think the new iMac will be fine. I might also say I have a 24" 2.8GHz model on order so I might be a little bias. :D
Click to expand...
What program do you use to see the fan speeds? I used Temperature Monitor and it says things like: Power Supply Position 1 64°C, Graphics Processor Temperature D 63°C, are those high numbers or not? I don't know what to compare with. Other temperatures are about 40-50.
 
Trout74 said:
Seriously guys, you need to stop touching your computers looking for the " hot spots" sounds a little perverted!:p

Trout
Click to expand...

Only at the bar can looking for the hot spots by feel get you in trouble. ;)

But alcohol will do that to you, and it will help dull the pain when somebody pounds you into the pavement.
 
Thanks for the Widget

emptyCup said:
By "surfing the web" do you mean reading sites like this, or watching video and animation on sites like YouTube? Download iStat Pro and give us some temperature readings. Otherwise it is hard to know what "hot" or "normal" means. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I knew their had be to a Widget out there that would show the temperature of the Mac.

I will download iStat Pro and post my results tonight.

Thanks...

Peace :apple:
 
It ain't gonna melt!

Do you think a computer company would release such a machine without testing it for weeks on end on maximum load? They'll have had racks of them in the lab, testing and stressing them in all sorts of ways.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back