Intel Core i7 MacBook Pro Is Too Hot: Can Boil Water [2010 17-Inch MacBook Pro Put to the Test & Found Too Hot, Not in the Good Way; Intel Core i7 CPU Overheats Too Fast?]

Posted on TFTS by Chris Smith on Monday, 26. April 2010 under: Computers & Computing, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets

I already happen to think that the new 2010 MacBook Pro notebook line is way hotter than its 2009 predecessor. But is it really worth getting a powerful laptop from Apple if it overheats? Today we read a strange report according to which the Intel Core i7 17-inch MacBook Pro can make water boil, that’s how hot it can become.

PC Authority put the new 17-inch MacBook Pro to the test and it managed to heat it up to over 100 degrees Celsius which is certainly something future MacBook Pro buyers wouldn’t want to hear. To blame for the whole thing is the new Core i7 processor, a CPU MacBook Pro have been waiting for a long time now.

Apparently the processor managed to heat up during benchmarking and the tests have been completed only after placing the MacBook Pro on the side. These concerns were later proved to be true when further testing revealed the fact that the Core i7 CPU went from 50 degrees Celsius to 84 degrees in a matter of minutes while the laptop was dealing with a complex Dwarf Fortress universe.

When trying Maxon’s Cinebench 11.5, a 3D benchmark used to test multithreading in CPUs, the temperature rose to 95 degrees which is awfully close to the boiling point of water. I don’t think I have to tell you that it wouldn’t be pretty comfortable having such temperatures close to your laps, do I?

Testing has been repeated and temperatures reached an unprecedented 101 degrees Celsius which is way hotter than I could have ever imagined. And certainly a lot hotter than the current laptop I am using, which, as it is, needs an external cooler to keep temperatures down when the CPU has to deal with various simultaneous complex processes.

On comparison the Fujitsu Lifebook SH 760 which also has the same i7-620M CPU processor as the MacBook, only went up to 81 degrees when put through the same Cinebench consecutive testing.

This is really disturbing as it looks like that aluminum unibody isn’t properly disposing off that extra heat coming from the new i7 CPU. You’ll say that you’re not going to put your i7 MacBook Pro to the same CPU strains, but people who are buying 17-inch machines are getting them to forge them in battle.

In other words while 15-inch models might be used for a wide range of activities which might make the Intel Core processor boil water, the 17-inch MacBook Pros are basically powerful machines made for professionals that will surely make the most of the i7 processors. And they will hate those 101 degrees Celsius temperatures.

Did you experience similar problems on your new MacBook Pro?

Source

Poor Yorick
Apple never admitted the thermal-compound problem on its older Macbook pro’s, so it’s easy to think it’s the same problem: poor quality control of the cheap thermal compound application during factory assembly. I recently brought the temperature of my old A1150 from 120 degrees celsius to 50 degrees celsius by removing that crap and properly applying good thermal compound. This should be easy for Apple to remedy, but somehow they can’t get it done. It’s been years already. C’mon, Apple!
http://www.ynform.org/w/Pub/MacbookProA1150OverheatingProblem
Barry Fisher
What’s interesting is that one source has done this test, PC Australia, and the results have been scattered and repeated throughout the web by sites like this. It may or may not be true, it may relate to one sample etc. etc. My unibody 2.4 core 2 duo never gets over 70 something under load.
What amazes me, is why doesn’t someone that rights about computers do their own testing instead of just apeing what they’ve heard elsewhere? This is similar to the “Niger yellow cake” story that was printed in one paper and then spread as truth in a hundred more. Not very objective reporting.
Albert
Yes I have an intel i5 macbook pro (15 inch). I upgrade from a 2008 core 2 dueo macbook pro model. The i5 runs so MUCH hotter. Even on a fresh boot, the computers seems far too active and hot before I even run any applications. I ran the hardware test cd (the in depth test too) and it reveal no problems. Looking at the activity monitor, it shows kernal_task with over 70 threads for no apparent reason (on fresh boot up) and it’s usually taking 5% CPU. System isn’t quite idling well. I’ve never even come close to the advertised 8-9 hours battery. Lucky if I get 5 on normal use.
tropicalmonsoon
My 13″ 2009 MacBook Pro is pretty good with heat, although it has got up to 102C at max!