External Monitor and Heat

[aiterum]

I am planning on purchasing a new Penryn MBP on (hopefully) the 15th. However, I am planning on using an external display with my laptop. It's nothing fancy, just a 19" monitor, but I hate to see such a good monitor go to waste, especially since I purchased it not to long ago myself.

My question is, if I have the laptop closed and hooked up to an external monitor as my primary display, do I need to worry about the laptop and heat? It will most likely be on a flat table behind my monitor at most times. I do plan on doing some gaming on it, but not heavily (as I'm buying this laptop for college, and academics take priority, as nice as playing Bioshock would be). I will be doing things like booting into windows on bootcamp, and possibly installing ubuntu through VMWare Fusion as well.

With this in mind, do I need to worry about my laptop overheating with it being closed? Does being closed even affect the fans and heating system that is on the laptop? Do I need to invest in/create some sort of laptop stand to dissapate the heating?

I have also heard that Windows XP runs hotter than OSX does. I don't plan on being in Windows XP too much, but I'm not planning on sticking exclusively to OSX either.

 

[119576]

I've never had any heat issues when using my laptop in clamshell mode.

The fans on MacBooks are at the back, so they are actually less obstructed when the lid is closed; and while some heat escapes through the keyboard, it isn't significant.

 

[darwinian]

I just picked up a 22" Samsung the other day and I've been very impressed at how quietly my MBP has been running. I have it underneath a display stand and elevated with a RoadTools CoolPad as always. There are 2 USB devices and the ethernet cord plugged in, in addition to the DVI cable.

According to iStat nano, both of my fans are running at ~3200 rpm, which if I recall is a bit more than normal. The CPU is at 54°C. Still pretty silent.

 

[aiterum]

Alright that sounds good. I don't really know the interworkings how of the heating system of the MBPs work so thats why I asked.

Do you think its still beneficial to invest or create some sort of stand for the laptop (I would most likely create one if this were the case) or would it just be fine sitting flat on a table/desk behind the monitor?

 

[darwinian]

Alright that sounds good. I don't really know the interworkings how of the heating system of the MBPs work so thats why I asked.

Do you think its still beneficial to invest or create some sort of stand for the laptop (I would most likely create one if this were the case) or would it just be fine sitting flat on a table/desk behind the monitor?

Yeah, passive cooling is helpful, even/especially in places where there is a minimum of breeze (your office isn't on the beach or anything, is it?). Silly to say probably but dusting from time to time can also help the fans be more efficient.

Creating a stand is pretty easy. I swear up and down by the CoolPad -- mine's outlasted about 5 laptops since 2000 and is still going strong. Not a bad investment of 20-30 USD.