fan control for mbp

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
i'm currently waiting for the mbp w/merom to come out so i don't actually own a mac yet, but after using a mbp at the Apple store in nyc for a couple hours and hearing of many complaints online about the heat, i was just wondering if there was a utility that one can install to control the fans on the mac notebooks. on my old toshiba laptop, i used such an utility and it did help with the cooling. i'm willing to trade a little noise for less heat if that's what it came down to. can anyone enlighten me on this topic? thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fongyuen


    i'm currently waiting for the mbp w/merom to come out so i don't actually own a mac yet, but after using a mbp at the Apple store in nyc for a couple hours and hearing of many complaints online about the heat, i was just wondering if there was a utility that one can install to control the fans on the mac notebooks. on my old toshiba laptop, i used such an utility and it did help with the cooling. i'm willing to trade a little noise for less heat if that's what it came down to. can anyone enlighten me on this topic? thanks.



    In case you have not noticed yet, an update was published two weeks ago that lets the fans spin up faster in order to cool more.

    http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...areupdate.html



    And no, the fan's behaviour can't be changed, that is all handled by the system itself.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    m01etym01ety Posts: 278member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gwoodpecker


    In case you have not noticed yet, an update was published two weeks ago that lets the fans spin up faster in order to cool more.

    http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...areupdate.html



    And no, the fan's behaviour can't be changed, that is all handled by the system itself.



    The update you link to is for the MacBook. The first poster is talking about the MacBook Pro. (While the MBP received a similar update, it was a whole lot more than two weeks ago.)



    Fongyuen, I assume you're speaking about SpeedFan. To answer your question, ask someone with Windows XP through Boot Camp on their MBP to install SpeedFan, and see if it does anything. If it does, then that would mean that "manual" fan control may be a possibility under OS X as well.



    That said, don't worry about it. The recent batches of MBPs are reportedly cooler than the very first ones, and as mentioned above, they have had a firmware update that makes the fans spin more, as well.



    In personal use on my MBP, I don't find heat to be a problem. It may take some getting used to for someone who's coming over from plastic laptops, but heat is nowhere near the problem people make it out to be. Unless you live in the desert.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    Ooops, my bad, sorry. But I agree with m01ety, only the first batch of 15" MBPs and the very first series of 17" MBPs had the overheating problems. A firmware patch for those machines came out around the beginning of june.



    Those machines get hot, no doubt about that, but don't worry, EVERY CoreDuo notebook gets a little hot, regardless of brand and model! MBPs tend to be thought running hotter because of the alu shell which transports heat much quicker to the outside than plastics. So what do you like better? A cheap plastic shell that catches all the heat inside and needs a large and loud fan to shovel all the heat out - or a metallic case that dissipates heat wherever it can so the fans can run slower and more silent? Apple chose the latter.



    Just be careful not to place your new MBP onto any uneven surface as your bed. Always put it onto a table or something flat so the airflow is not blocked in any way.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    thanks for the replies. i was just curious. hopefully it won't be so bad when i get mine. i read on another thread that someone running a preview of leopard felt that their system was running cooler than when it was running tiger. that'll be interesting to see...
  • Reply 5 of 10
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gwoodpecker


    Ooops, my bad, sorry. But I agree with m01ety, only the first batch of 15" MBPs and the very first series of 17" MBPs had the overheating problems. A firmware patch for those machines came out around the beginning of june.



    Those machines get hot, no doubt about that, but don't worry, EVERY CoreDuo notebook gets a little hot, regardless of brand and model! MBPs tend to be thought running hotter because of the alu shell which transports heat much quicker to the outside than plastics. So what do you like better? A cheap plastic shell that catches all the heat inside and needs a large and loud fan to shovel all the heat out - or a metallic case that dissipates heat wherever it can so the fans can run slower and more silent? Apple chose the latter.



    Not all Core Duo notebooks get hot. You can get an L2400 Core Duo based notebook that generates half the heat, or U2400 that generates a third of the heat. Apple only uses the T2xxx chips so you are getting the hottest Intel notebook chips if you get an Apple notebook. Most other brands offer at least one model that runs a cooler Core Duo chip.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM


    Not all Core Duo notebooks get hot. You can get an L2400 Core Duo based notebook that generates half the heat, or U2400 that generates a third of the heat. Apple only uses the T2xxx chips so you are getting the hottest Intel notebook chips if you get an Apple notebook. Most other brands offer at least one model that runs a cooler Core Duo chip.



    We were discussing the heat of MacBoook Pros compared to other notebooks that are - of course - equipped with the same chips than the MBPs... Apple is not using the low-power versions of the CoreDuo yet, so you're comparing apples to oranges...



    But yes, there are other CoreDuo chips available and other notebook makers are using them. But generally, the same chip at the same speed gets equally hot inside every notebook. The question, however, is how they get the heat out.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    just in case others are wondering (i just found this today), there is now a fan control program for osx.



    fan control



    here's the thread where i found it, there's another alternative for those interested. i'm using fan control now and it seems to be working pretty well.



    if this is old news, just ignore this post.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    mjimji Posts: 25member
    I can't believe that more people haven't taken notice of this program. It's great. Really improves the experience of using a MBP. A control like this should have been part of the operating system all along. I understand that Steve Jobs has this thing about fan noise, but I find sweaty fingers more annoying. Besides, my fans are still quieter than that much more irritating "processor whine."
  • Reply 9 of 10
    Hi,



    I am ordering my new MBP on Monday



    Just curious about that fan control program - have anyone tried it? Comments on performance?



    Regards
  • Reply 10 of 10
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sororca


    Hi,



    I am ordering my new MBP on Monday



    Just curious about that fan control program - have anyone tried it? Comments on performance?



    Regards



    i've tried it on my wife's macbook and i think many others have as well and it seems to be working very well. I increased the base spd from 1000(?) to 3500 rpm and the macbook is noticeably cooler. according to core duo temp, it used to idle around 52-55 C but now it's down to 45 C. i've introduced it to a friend of mine but he's reluctant to mess around with Apple's default settings, and i think there are a lot of people like him, too.



    i used to own a toshiba satellite that i increased the fan speed on and after 3 years, it's still running fine, so i don't think the fans will die that easily. that said, though, if my new mbp does not seem to run hot from the factory, i probably won't install the program either. :P but might do so under winxp when playing games....
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