12" PB heat issue fixed?

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Does anyone have any information or an opinion about the heat issue of the 12" PB? Do the new models fix this? I thought the last models ran quite hot. Thanks.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    If anything I'm sure it's hotter. Can't do anything about it.



    Edit: if anyone knows different let us know. But with a NVIDIA GeForce 5200 and 1ghz CPU I'm sure it's even hotter. It's made out of Al. So get used to it! Until there is liquid cooling or something. It's a subnotebook.
  • Reply 2 of 22
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Bah, my "old" 12" PowerBook doesn't get that hot. Don't listen to the babies out there that can't handle a little heat.







    But yes, I'm curious to see how hot these are. If the fan runs AT ALL, I will be really happy with my 867MHz G4. (fan never comes on)
  • Reply 3 of 22
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    unless the fx 5200 puts out a lot more heat than the 420go, i don't see the new 12" PB being any hotter thanthe hold one



    the processor is faster, but has also gone through a die shrink, so it should run cooler at the same frequency, or at a similar temperature at a higher frequency
  • Reply 4 of 22
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Cosmo

    unless the fx 5200 puts out a lot more heat than the 420go, i don't see the new 12" PB being any hotter thanthe hold one



    the processor is faster, but has also gone through a die shrink, so it should run cooler at the same frequency, or at a similar temperature at a higher frequency




    I just hope that the 15" runs nice and cool. The 12" gets pretty damn warm. I'm hoping 15" at most is a luke warm.
  • Reply 5 of 22
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Babies? You don't have a 12" or your hands have too many calluses. It makes my left hand sweat or my whole when on me. Not that I'm complaining, they couldn't help it. And it cools down real quick thanks to the Al. And if you're not using the drive and you tell it to spin down it cools down a lot. It's really just the drive that makes it hot.
  • Reply 6 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ast3r3x

    I just hope that the 15" runs nice and cool. The 12" gets pretty damn warm. I'm hoping 15" at most is a luke warm.



    Well, today at the show the new 15" were almost too hot to even touch. And what's more, they were hot all over: body, keyboard, everywhere.

    The 17" seemed a bit less hot to me -- sorry I didn't check out the 12" as it is not made for me.

    I'll certainly go and test the new PBs in a non-expo-situation before I buy; if they do get that hot in normal use, I'll stay away.
  • Reply 7 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by philby

    Well, today at the show the new 15" were almost too hot to even touch. And what's more, they were hot all over: body, keyboard, everywhere.



    Ouch. I was hoping Apple would've addressed this. I wanted something portable and also something I could write on for hours if need be, but if things have only gotten hotter then I'll probably go with a desktop.
  • Reply 8 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    And if you're not using the drive and you tell it to spin down it cools down a lot. It's really just the drive that makes it hot.



    Just curious: How does this effect performance? Mine gets warm, not "hot-hot-HOT!!!" like everyone says. But cooler is better in any way, shape or form.
  • Reply 9 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by trebuchet

    Just curious: How does this effect performance? Mine gets warm, not "hot-hot-HOT!!!" like everyone says. But cooler is better in any way, shape or form.



    Its life-span will increase with cooler temps...
  • Reply 10 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Nessie

    Does anyone have any information or an opinion about the heat issue of the 12" PB? Do the new models fix this? I thought the last models ran quite hot. Thanks.



    Before OS 10.2.6 it got hot when it was really working. Didn't bother me, but i can see how it might the more sensitive among us. Seriously, after 10.2.6 even when really working it's a non-issue.
  • Reply 11 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    It makes my left hand sweat or my whole when on me.



    Are we missing a word or two in that sentence?



  • Reply 12 of 22
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Hopefully that is the case, and he didn't just misspell the word "hole". Because, DAMN, that's one hot PowerBook if your hole starts sweating. (or you are using it all wrong)



  • Reply 13 of 22
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    My 12" gets hot when I have it plugged in and I've been working on it for a while. If it's on battery power, for whatever reason, it stays reasonably cool. And I don't usually have energy saver set differently for the power adapter or battery. It's weird. Maybe when I'm plugged in, it's open more of the time, letting the screen effects kick in from time to time, but when I'm on battery power, I don't leave it alone that long. I dunno. It's just different for me....
  • Reply 14 of 22
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    This thread is disgusting. Usually you have to pay $19.95 a month or so to hear people so freely speaking about their "hot 12-inch", "burning holes", batteries, sweating, etc. on the Internet.



    Or so I've heard.



    Mods, I demand this shameful, smut-laden thread be locked at once. I shall have no part of it!



  • Reply 15 of 22
    Found something from apple about heat generation for the new Powerbooks. Perhaps the laptop at the show was plugged in all day with the slewing off by the default setting:





    Processor and Bus Slewing



    To lower power consumption and heat generation, the 15-inch PowerBook G4 incorporates an automatic power management technique called bus slewing. Bus slewing is designed to run at high processor speed, bus speeds, and voltage when the demand on the processor is high, and to run at low processor speed, bus speeds, and voltage when the demand on the processor is low. Switching between different processor/bus speeds and voltages is achieved by a transition that operates seamlessly to the user and should not impact system or application performance.



    The 15-inch PowerBook G4 allows the user to control bus slewing mode. The options for specifying either high, reduced, or automatic processor and bus speeds are located at System Preferences>Energy Saver>Show Details>Options>Processor Performance; then select Automatic, Highest, or Reduced.



    Slewing is enabled with the automatic setting. When the 15-inch PowerBook G4 is operating on AC power, the default is highest; when operating on battery power, the default is automatic.



    If the 15-inch PowerBook G4 detects a system temperature that is too high, due to high ambient temperatures or other factors, it will automatically force the system to slew regardless of the selected setting.



    When the 15-inch PowerBook G4 is in slewing mode, the processor, processor bus, and memory bus dynamically adjust their speeds based on the current needs of the system. In the 1.0 GHz configuration, the processor speed will switch between 1 GHz and 612 MHz. In the 1.25 GHz configuration, the processor speed will switch between 1.25 GHz and 765 MHz. For both configurations, the processor bus and memory bus will switch between 167 MHz and 102 MHz.



    See:



    http://developer.apple.com/documenta...0865/TPXREF109
  • Reply 16 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by philby

    Well, today at the show the new 15" were almost too hot to even touch. And what's more, they were hot all over: body, keyboard, everywhere.

    The 17" seemed a bit less hot to me -- sorry I didn't check out the 12" as it is not made for me.

    I'll certainly go and test the new PBs in a non-expo-situation before I buy; if they do get that hot in normal use, I'll stay away.








    Don't scare me like this.





    Thanks for the info Nessie. Eases my worry a bit...
  • Reply 17 of 22
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    A thread started by somone who posted the pictures of the 15" over at macnn said... "I meant it runs cool, cold, uh, heat is no problem on this at all."



    So that should be good...screw u 12"ers good luck
  • Reply 18 of 22
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    After MUCH digging, I can say that Moto makes a great embedded CPU, er, laptop CPU.



    Heat dissipation of the 7457 @ 1GHz: 7.5W



    from:



    Moto presentation on 7457 heat dissipation



    looks like the 1.25GHz 7457 dissipates about 10W (depending on voltage). Anyone know the voltage of the G4 in the new Al Books?



    More Moto 7457 info



    Google searches are good tings.
  • Reply 19 of 22
    Here's some more info I found. Be sure to read check out the "Discuss Little AlBook heat, take two":



    The 12-inch PowerBook G4 and heat, Take II

    Tuesday, March 18, 2003, 10:13 AM



    Since I made comments last week about the heat generated by my 12-inch PowerBook G4, I think it is only fair to offer an update today. In short, once the battery in my machine was "conditioned" then I have not felt the same level of heat eminating from the bottom of the machine or from the left handrest. The PowerBook is warmer when it is charging, but once it has charged and it is running off the AC then it cools down. And the machine stays pretty cool when running on battery power.



    Yes, the machine is always warmer than my Pismo PowerBook was, and I will likely change my summer computing habits as a result, but this is by no means unbearable.



    http://www.whiterabbits.com/macnetjo....html#note_881
  • Reply 20 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by murbot

    Hopefully that is the case, and he didn't just misspell the word "hole". Because, DAMN, that's one hot PowerBook if your hole starts sweating. (or you are using it all wrong)







    I'd like to nominate this for the "Funniest Post Ever" award.
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