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Rev A, new ones, fixed?

ayeying

ayeying

macrumors 601
Original poster
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
I just ran 2x "yes" in terminal for the past 2 hours on my MacBook Air, Rev A and no core shutdowns or overheating. The temps maxed out at 83 deg C with fans at 6200rpm. Once I exited terminal, the fans dropped to 2500rpm within a minute.

Has the newer ones been "fixed" of many of the problems? The serial number says I'm a Week 14 in the year 2009.
 
ayeying said:
I just ran 2x "yes" in terminal for the past 2 hours on my MacBook Air, Rev A and no core shutdowns or overheating. The temps maxed out at 83 deg C with fans at 6200rpm. Once I exited terminal, the fans dropped to 2500rpm within a minute.

Has the newer ones been "fixed" of many of the problems? The serial number says I'm a Week 14 in the year 2009.
Click to expand...

Holy crap 83C that is damn hot.
 
johnny13oi said:
Holy crap 83C that is damn hot.
Click to expand...

Not really..

Picture1-83.jpg

(Was on my 17" uMBP)
 
ayeying said:
Not really..

Picture1-83.jpg

(Was on my 17" uMBP)
Click to expand...

HOLY CRAP 105C on a CPU. Expect that CPU to not last long at all. I thought the thermal threshold for the Intel Core 2 Duo was 105C and a bit lower for Penryn Cores. There are plenty of threads with people worrying when their CPU goes over 80C. I worry a little when my T9300 gets to 70C.

Oh and I just noticed 90C on the GPU Diode. Also don't expect that to last long at all. Nvidia 8 series cores were failing left and right when they reached a little over 90C.

If I were you, I would expect that computer to be in for repair for a large portion of its life.
 
Damn, week 14 was like last week. I have a Rev A as well, dated 11th week of 2009. Gotta love the refurb Rev A's for the money.

Running cool book with full load mine would get to 85C after 5 mins or so. I did the Arctic Silver 5 on the heatsink and now I can't get it above 73C. So far my Rev A has been one of the best purchases I have ever made.
 
Hammer97e said:
Running cool book with full load mine would get to 85C after 5 mins or so. I did the Arctic Silver 5 on the heatsink and now I can't get it above 73C. So far my Rev A has been one of the best purchases I have ever made.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I really wish Apple's engineers would read statements like this and finally adopt decent thermal paste application on their products.

C'mon, Apple, I can't believe a mere Arctic Silver should raise manufacturing costs that much on $1,000+ laptops.
 
That is really hot. And that has to be screaming loud with the fans running like that. Has to sound like a couple of helicopters, with out of balance blades, ten feet above your MBA. You better fix the thermal paste and cool it down or you will be burning your house down.

Yes, the original MBA runs better now (relative term) with software updates/patches and Cool Book, than IT used to. But is the troubled/problematic original MBA really worth it even at sharply discounted prices???

No matter how many times I read Cool Book to the rescue, I think but why on Earth would anyone want to deal with that MBA given its component makeup and history??? I really don't get it no matter how hard I try. And I have tried. The prices seem tempting had I not experienced the original MBA myself. I thought about one for my daughter who is a very light user, but still it just didn't seem right.

And here is someone bragging about nearly frying his 20W Merom CPU. Sure, new thermal paste, sure Cool Book, sure software rewrites... but when a 17W Penryn is available, I cannot imagine going any other route (in that tiny Air case). I really don't fault anyone except Apple. Of course people like cheap, especially in this economy. The vast majority of refurbished rev A MBA buyers have no clue how inferior the component makeup is compared to what is available in the rev B. Most haven't experienced it at its worst and don't believe the quantity of negative reports accurately reflect any "Apple" Mac product. I would have never believed Apple could sell/brand that original MBA staking its reputation on such a worthless product. Not the Apple I used to know.

I think Apple should have recalled every single original MBA, used the cases for refurbished Bs, upgraded them all to rev B component makeup. I would have respected Apple instead of the extremely negative feelings that will never leave with my original MBA experience. No matter how great the rev B is, Apple charged me for upgrading from the rev A that should have never been branded with the Apple logo. Disaster at best...
 
Scottsdale said:
That is really hot. And that has to be screaming loud with the fans running like that. Has to sound like a couple of helicopters, with out of balance blades, ten feet above your MBA. You better fix the thermal paste and cool it down or you will be burning your house down.

Yes, the original MBA runs better now (relative term) with software updates/patches and Cool Book, than IT used to. But is the troubled/problematic original MBA really worth it even at sharply discounted prices???

No matter how many times I read Cool Book to the rescue, I think but why on Earth would anyone want to deal with that MBA given its component makeup and history??? I really don't get it no matter how hard I try. And I have tried. The prices seem tempting had I not experienced the original MBA myself. I thought about one for my daughter who is a very light user, but still it just didn't seem right.

And here is someone bragging about nearly frying his 20W Merom CPU. Sure, new thermal paste, sure Cool Book, sure software rewrites... but when a 17W Penryn is available, I cannot imagine going any other route (in that tiny Air case). I really don't fault anyone except Apple. Of course people like cheap, especially in this economy. The vast majority of refurbished rev A MBA buyers have no clue how inferior the component makeup is compared to what is available in the rev B. Most haven't experienced it at its worst and don't believe the quantity of negative reports accurately reflect any "Apple" Mac product. I would have never believed Apple could sell/brand that original MBA staking its reputation on such a worthless product. Not the Apple I used to know.

I think Apple should have recalled every single original MBA, used the cases for refurbished Bs, upgraded them all to rev B component makeup. I would have respected Apple instead of the extremely negative feelings that will never leave with my original MBA experience. No matter how great the rev B is, Apple charged me for upgrading from the rev A that should have never been branded with the Apple logo. Disaster at best...
Click to expand...

This is due to the people who buy Apple computers. They will not see any fault in any product released by Apple and will buy basically whatever they put out. This gives Apple the chance to release anything they want without putting much thought into it or taking the time to produce a quality product because no matter what, the buyers will always think Apple can do no wrong. If people actually would open up their eyes and fight back or actually make informed purchases then Apple would be forced to release quality products.

At the current rate though, it doesn't seem like many will do this. I mean come on, the guy above with a Macbook Pro 17" unibody reaches 105C and doesn't complain about it. 105C is very close if not past the absolute limit of these CPUs used today and will most likely fail within 6 months or less. And sure you got warranty and all but what happens when it runs out. Even if you have warranty for 3 years it will still fail over and over again and eventually you will just think that it's time to buy another Mac laptop which is what Apple wants exactly. I have even had an Apple product specialist tell me that they are not meant to last much longer than the 3 years warranty they provide and that I should just buy a new one because mine was going bad.
 
Scottsdale: I understand your argument, and I think if it was any other product, I would totally agree with you. For strictly my needs, a refurb Rev A was the perfect choice for me, and I was confident in that choice fully aware of the problems and "inferior" components. So far, fingers crossed, my MBA has been wonderful, the first week I had it, I didn't use Coolbook or apply Arctic Silver and it was fine, if I hadn't read about those two things, I would be none the wiser and kept on using my MBA happily. But I like to tinker and if it lowers temps a couple of degrees, that's cool with me.

So far I have used my MBA strictly for surfing the web and word processing. I stripped it of iLife and hell even iTunes. I can use pandora, and I have an iMac for the rest of my computing needs. I use it while laying in bed, on the couch, at a coffee shop and on the plane. A refurb Rev A serves my needs adequately. Given this scenario, I couldn't justify spending 80% more for a Rev B. There's a lot of better things I can do with $800 than spend it on extra computing power that overall may have little effect on my computing experience; ie a Time Capsule and an Apple TV, and still have some to take my lady out for a nice dinner, as a sign of thanks for looking the other way when I ordered my MBA. :) I still have a warranty, and if I need to use it that's fine, no one makes a perfect product. I will invest in Applecare for it before my year is up, and if I do run into severe enough problems that they swap it for a Rev B; lucky me.

As I said before, any other product and I would be in total agreement. I would not of compromised if it was my iMac or if it was a MB or MBP that I would use more heavily. But laying on the couch, watching the game, and browsing MacRumors; I am in heaven.
 
Hammer97e said:
Damn, week 14 was like last week. I have a Rev A as well, dated 11th week of 2009. Gotta love the refurb Rev A's for the money.

Running cool book with full load mine would get to 85C after 5 mins or so. I did the Arctic Silver 5 on the heatsink and now I can't get it above 73C. So far my Rev A has been one of the best purchases I have ever made.
Click to expand...
I also just bought a rev a refurb, still waiting for it, not wanting a B because of the lines.
I am selling my uni 2.0 its only 2 months old
 
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