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Passive Cooling - Cases on MBP

C

chefwong

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
MBP is generally in clamshell mode with a Andar Helm on it. I can fee it is slightly warm on both top and bottom of the case covers.

I'm terrible with my MBP when it's traveling...

I am second guessing the passive cooling + case since I can feel the warmth that is coming from laptop, through the plastic shell of the case+leather skin ontop. Is this Something to be concern about only if the fans are kicking in high speed , which is has not. I am cognizant that is is not cooling as effective as it should be with the case on it.
 
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clamshell + case + a monitor pushing full brightness is a rough combo for these chassis. the whole point of the unibody is that the aluminum top and bottom ARE the heatsink — you slap a plastic/leather sandwich on both faces and you've basically wrapped the radiator in a blanket. fans will kick in earlier and stay on longer, and even then junction temps hold higher than they would without.

I ran my 16" M3 Max in clamshell for about 8 months with a felt sleeve draped over the top for aesthetics and eventually caved once I noticed sustained fan noise on tasks that were dead silent open. now it lives on a vertical stand (BookArc-style) with nothing on the surfaces and the difference is night and day — fans basically never spin on the same workload.

if you can't ditch the case entirely, at minimum leave the bottom uncovered. that's where most of the heat exits on the 14/16.
 
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Get yourself the Macs Fan Control app, this will allow you to manually control the fans in your MBP, and that will definitely help with cooling. Even with faster fan speeds, these MBPs are generally quiet. Only on full blast does the sound become very noticeable.
 
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Curious, would this allow you to disable fans on a MBP. One reason I never looked at one is because of the sound with fans.
maflynn said:
Get yourself the Macs Fan Control app, this will allow you to manually control the fans in your MBP, and that will definitely help with cooling. Even with faster fan speeds, these MBPs are generally quiet. Only on full blast does the sound become very noticeable.
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I considered it and due to the post, I just removed the bottom base just to see how much of a difference I would see.....

It's interesting cause even touching the top of the case, it is not as warm as when there was the case bottom installed.

It appears that with the bottom case on, it was warm enough to passively transfer the heat through the hinge of the top case...for me to even feel heat on the upper top case. It's in clamshell mode so the display is not active....so I can't see any heat being generated aside from thermals being transferred through the metal portion of the center hinge
 
chefwong said:
It's interesting cause even touching the top of the case, it is not as warm as when there was the case bottom installed.
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Yes, anything touching the surface of the metal (even a sheet of paper directly touching it) severely limits how much the large aluminum surface can passively cool. The cases cause the laptop fans to work harder and the metal to retain heat.

But like you, I'm clumsy and I still use a Tech21 case on my traveling laptop. Bought one of those at the Apple Store like a decade ago and they have done a great job of keeping my screens intact when the MBP goes in a bag.

The heat/fan noise difference was really noticeable in the intel days when using a case.

You can use Macs Fan Control app to check the temps and even the free version offers custom controls if you want to run it cooler (the free version allows custom controls, they just don't save between rebootis so it defaults back to Auto fan control on reboot unless you pay)

I have mine set to ramp up the fans at 78ºC which is really early, but I'd rather the fan noise (which is still extremely quiet) than my machine be hot all the time.
 
Right now, I'm in clamshell. No case on bottom. Case left on top.

It was never on my radar to check.......
While it is silent, I guess it is generating quite some heat as I do feel the passive heat on the bottom, as well as heat o desk as well as a very slow mild airflow from the back vents.

I am in clamshell (driving a monitor) as opposed to native laptop screen....

Just trying it now....no screen connected, just laptop a a laptop.
Maybe placebo but it does not seem to run as warm
 
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maflynn said:
No, there's a minimum speed, you cannot go below that, on my Studio its 1,000
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My MBP M5 MAX 14” starts with fans at zero RPM. Fans don’t kick on until I cross 50C, based on what I’ve tracked through istat menus. The fans will go back to zero RPM when the CPU has cooled enough during idle activity.
 
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PBG4 Dude said:
My MBP M5 MAX 14” starts with fans at zero RPM. Fans don’t kick on until I cross 50C, based on what I’ve tracked through istat menus. The fans will go back to zero RPM when the CPU has cooled enough during idle activity.
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Yeah, this is the case since at least the 2017 Intel Kaby Lake MacBook Pro. I know because I used one of those and tested it.
 
PBG4 Dude said:
My MBP M5 MAX 14” starts with fans at zero RPM. Fans don’t kick on until I cross 50C, based on what I’ve tracked through istat menus. The fans will go back to zero RPM when the CPU has cooled enough during idle activity.
Click to expand...
My studio has 1000 nothing less. I believe if memory serves me, the Mini was the same way (but I could be wrong on that)
 
I can confirm that the MacBook Pro fans are VERY quiet and they don't kick on until they are really needed. When the fans in the 14" Pro kick on, it's usually because there's a real need for cooling.

But my Studio is locked to around 1000rpm minimum as well. I wonder why they did that? It's not annoyingly loud, but it means I will have to replace the fans due to wear eventually I'm sure.
 
benholt said:
the whole point of the unibody is that the aluminum top and bottom ARE the heatsink
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Not really. They stopped using the body for any significant dissipation exactly when they switched to unibody design, AFAIK last time it directly participated in cooling was the pre-unibody MBP design, heatsink/heatpipe assembly was connected to bottom case which got super hot because of it.

Heat is mostly handled by heatsinks themselves (or heat spreaders in Airs) and there are air gaps between them and body preventing the latter from getting too hot, warmth on the exterior is more of a side effect than an intentional thing in this setup. In MBPs fans are expected to kick in long before heatsink gets overwhelmed enough for body heat to become an issue. This is also why thermal pad mods are a thing.
 
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chefwong said:
MBP is generally in clamshell mode with a Andar Helm on it. I can fee it is slightly warm on both top and bottom of the case covers.

I'm terrible with my MBP when it's traveling...

I am second guessing the passive cooling + case since I can feel the warmth that is coming from laptop, through the plastic shell of the case+leather skin ontop. Is this Something to be concern about only if the fans are kicking in high speed , which is has not. I am cognizant that is is not cooling as effective as it should be with the case on it.
Click to expand...

Heat is never a concern unless the system is lagging graphically or shutting down. The reason you're feeling warmth is because the cooling is working the way it's intended.
 
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