13" MBP vs 15" MBP heat difference.

I owned the 13" 2.53 Ghz with a 250GB 5400rpm HD and I was wanting to know how much difference there is between that and a 15" with the dual GPU setup? Compare both under normal useage and both under alittle stress.

I am considering going to the 15" but not if it is any hotter than the 13" I owned.

 

its toasty if you run the CPU at load, it will be a bit hotter than the old 13"

 

- Go to Notebookcheck.com and click on their reviews section.
- In that section look for their own internal reviews of these two laptops (not the external ones they also index).
- Within those reviews they have a section called "Noise" or "Emissions" where they provide data on their tests of noise and heat for these laptops.

They do have the data - I have read their reviews of both laptops. If i recall correctly both units had class-leading levels of noise management (ie fan noise) in this category. The did produce heat, but that is the point of the aluminium body - the whole thing acts as a heat sink and saves you the
hassle of fan noise.

If you want something that isnt hot, in this size category, have a look at the Sony FW series, which also uses the Intel P series CPUs and is lightweight for the size. Also runs very cool as a unit. Same goes for the Lenovo T400 and T500.

All of the above are also reviewed on that website, you can get hard data on the exact heat levels they produced when tested. Of course be careful to note what specific CPU was in the units they reviewed, as that will be the main factor.

But I would be shocked if you can find the 15" MBP with dedicated GPU producing same heat as the 13" with integrated GPU. There is no such thing as a free lunch and the dedicated GPU alone has a TDP of about 23W on its own, never mind the CPU it is added to.

 

I did not know how to think about it. The 13" is smaller so it would be hotter than a 15". But then the 15" has a better GPU and even CPU so it would be hotter than the 13".

I figured I would ask since alot of forum members have owned both.

 

Cant beat the actual data - and they have it.

 

Are you thinking of using the 9400m or 9600m?
if it's 9400m, the heat is almost non existent for me on my 15". I am always the one who's paranoid about the laptop overheating including with the previous gen macbook pro, but with the unibody, I stopped using a laptop cooler.
However, I never even tried using the 13" though, so not really comparing here.