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MacBook Pro

Counter Point: Thermal Grease Fix Overrated

arcticsilver.jpgAn article on ARS Technica disputes the claim that MacBook Pros run cooler by reducing the amount of thermal grease that Apple applies to the chips in the machine:

James Duncan Davidson of O’Reilly’s MacDevCenter recently explored the issue, disassembling his own MacBook Pro, removing and reapplying paste, measuring the effects, and laboriously documenting all the details as he went. In the end, after of all the effort, he got a (drumroll, please) 2 degree temperature reduction! Now, you will be quick to point out that many others have gotten signficantly better results and you’d be right. Davidson has some ideas on that. It seems that in reassembling his computer, he accidentally disconnected the heat pipe sensor. The computer responded to this by running ALL FANS! ALL THE TIME! ALL NUDE! (okay, maybe not actually nude) and making the MacBook Pro delightfully cool. It was only after getting annoyed by the fan noise that he discovered the sensor problem. Upon hooking it up, he got the noise under control and saw the temperature climb up to near the original levels. Bummer!

Infinite Loop: Cooling your MacBook Pro may be easier than you think

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arcticsilver.jpgAn article on ARS Technica disputes the claim that MacBook Pros run cooler by reducing the amount of thermal grease that Apple applies to the chips in the machine:

James Duncan Davidson of O’Reilly’s MacDevCenter recently explored the issue, disassembling his own MacBook Pro, removing and reapplying paste, measuring the effects, and laboriously documenting all the details as he went. In the end, after of all the effort, he got a (drumroll, please) 2 degree temperature reduction! Now, you will be quick to point out that many others have gotten signficantly better results and you’d be right. Davidson has some ideas on that. It seems that in reassembling his computer, he accidentally disconnected the heat pipe sensor. The computer responded to this by running ALL FANS! ALL THE TIME! ALL NUDE! (okay, maybe not actually nude) and making the MacBook Pro delightfully cool. It was only after getting annoyed by the fan noise that he discovered the sensor problem. Upon hooking it up, he got the noise under control and saw the temperature climb up to near the original levels. Bummer!

Infinite Loop: Cooling your MacBook Pro may be easier than you think

technorati tags: , ,

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.