How hot is too hot for a unibody MacBook Pro?

[Malithion]

I have a late 15" 2008 2.53 GHz MBP Unibody, and it seems the average temp is 140-160 degrees F, and I dare not watch a movie on Hulu with it on my lap for it reaches above 200*! I don't recall this happening until I installed snow leopard. Anyway in short is this normal?

 

[noodle654]

I have a late 15" 2008 2.53 GHz MBP Unibody, and it seems the average temp is 140-160 degrees F, and I dare not watch a movie on Hulu with it on my lap for it reaches above 200*! I don't recall this happening until I installed snow leopard. Anyway in short is this normal?

Completely normal. Anything over 200* is bad. The computer has fans behind the screen (where the hinge is), try to avoid blocking them. My MBP right now is at 150*. Also watch to see what is consuming your CPU power by using Activity Monitor or a program like iStat Menus. Something could be running in the background.

 

[iLog.Genius]

160 F (70 C) is normal if you're doing something (playing games, watching YouTube/Flash videos). Any higher and the fans should come on (my fans start up around the 70 C mark without any fan control software on a Late-2008 MacBook Pro). Try resetting your SMC and if that doesn't bring on the fans, then I suggest you use fan control software. I believe it reaches 100 C+ it will auto shutdown.

 

[AlexG]

The limitations of this machine are quite high (not sure the exact numbers) but I'd say anything above 80 you will be looking at 3rd degree burns and low sperm count

 

[Malithion]

I use Istat pro and SMC fan control, I use my computer mainly on my coffee table, but sometimes watch movies with it on my lap. I do make sure the vents are clear from blankets/etc. But the fans seem to stay at default 2000RPM sometimes even as the temp reaches 180+ then they go to 3-4K RPM it's as if they're slow to respond to the change in temperature.

I'm getting them replaced tomorrow due to a different problem (right fan not spooling) but before that problem I wasn't sure these temp were normal. thanks guys! Sorry for the noob questions, I just switched so i'm paranoid

 

[Nuge]

Watching videos and such, the temp. has gone up as high as 190F on my MBP 13"

 

[m85476585]

The limit for the processor is 221F or 105C. MBPs run hot, but as long as yours doesn't reach that, you will be fine.

We should sticky a thread with the title "up to 105C is safe for the CPU". There are several threads about what is too hot every week.

 

[noodle654]

I got my MBP above 185* under XP while playing Brothers in Arms at 1440x900. Ran great, no lag, but the fans WERE BLOWING! Sounded like my computer was about to take off.

 

[Malithion]

The limit for the processor is 221F or 105C. MBPs run hot, but as long as yours doesn't reach that, you will be fine.

We should sticky a thread with the title "up to 105C is safe for the CPU". There are several threads about what is too hot every week.

221F?! please say you're kidding, when I play COD4 i'm 10* from that!

But it does seem normal for MBP's to get hot. But has anyone noticed a change after installing Snow leopard?

 

[sn0warmy]

I've had the opposite experience. After installing Snow Leopard and switching from a 5400rpm drive to a 7200rpm Hitachi drive, my computer runs 10 degrees celsius cooler on average.

 

[motoMBP]

noob question

umm how can i even check the temperatures? im a new user and i have MBP 15" from august 2009.

 

[Malithion]

I've had the opposite experience. After installing Snow Leopard and switching from a 5400rpm drive to a 7200rpm Hitachi drive, my computer runs 10 degrees celsius cooler on average.

Upgrade or full install of leopard? I heard it's best to do a full, I just upgraded due to laziness.

 

[Malithion]

umm how can i even check the temperatures? im a new user and i have MBP 15" from august 2009.

Try istat Menus: http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatmenus/

 

[m85476585]

umm how can i even check the temperatures? im a new user and i have MBP 15" from august 2009.

A lot of people will recommend iStat Pro, but on my computer it makes the DashboardClient process use 2-3% of the CPU, which has a negative effect on battery life. I don't have an alternative to recommend because I have been using iStat Pro until now. One workaround is under Sections set CPU to Bars and Memory to Off.

 

[Malithion]

A lot of people will recommend iStat Pro, but on my computer it makes the DashboardClient process use 2-3% of the CPU, which has a negative effect on battery life. I don't have an alternative to recommend because I have been using iStat Pro until now. One workaround is under Sections set CPU to Bars and Memory to Off.

Try and tinker with the update times, the temp refresh seems to eat up more CPU the shorter the time between refreshes. I keep mine to check every 14 sec's and it's not to bad.

 

[motoMBP]

A lot of people will recommend iStat Pro, but on my computer it makes the DashboardClient process use 2-3% of the CPU, which has a negative effect on battery life. I don't have an alternative to recommend because I have been using iStat Pro until now. One workaround is under Sections set CPU to Bars and Memory to Off.

like i understand i could use this istats, but what is the workaround, is it too advanced for a new mac user that knows the ins and outs of windows and that got bored with it? or is it in the program itself?

 

[Malithion]

like i understand i could use this istats, but what is the workaround, is it too advanced for a new mac user that knows the ins and outs of windows and that got bored with it? or is it in the program itself?

Istat menus is easy to use, it installs in the System Preferences, and from there there's options of what you want to monitor. It's fairly customizable, i'm a new user as well and I didn't have difficulty.

though I think Istat Pro is a dashboard widget and Istat menus is like what I described, in the System Preferences.