For those concerned about heat on MBPs

I've had my MBP since early this year and I love it. One thing I've started noticing early on is how hot the bottom gets which can be very uncomfortable, if not unhealthy when you want to use it on your lap.

My understanding is that the whole case pretty much acts as a heatsink, making the MBP extremely quiet and efficient at heat dissipation, except for the problem in the first paragraph.

I had heard about SMC Fan control but never really thought much about it until I decided to give it a try a few days ago.

Well, I should have installed it a long time ago.

The default fan speed on the MBPs is 2000 rpm (for both left and right). I read some users recommending setting them to 3000 but I decided to try out 2500 for noise reasons (yep, I am cursed with super hearing). Well 2500 was perfect; it's just about the same noise levels as the default 2000 (and much quieter IMO than 3000) and getting excellent results.

The bottom remains quite cool to the touch in most scenarios. If I have to watch videos or do some editing it does still get warm, but not nearly as much or as fast as before. It's now very comfortable to surf and reply to emails for extended periods while on my lap; I'm very happy about that.

Now of course this may not yield the same results for everyone but I think every MBP owner should have SMC Fan Control running, or at least give it a try. I am currently using version 2.1.2 and it's free here.

The only thing I'm concerned about is whether the battery will run down much faster having the fans run slightly higher. So far I haven't noticed that but will be keeping an eye on it.

Just thought I'd share this with those new MBP owners out there.

 

Yes, SMCFanControl is awesome! I set my fans at about 3000 RPM, its still quiet and lowers the temperatures quite a lot.

 

This is one of the first tools I installed. I've found that even 2200 rpm is a nice improvement. I have a row of other settings that I use. For example, when starting a video conversion job where I know the system sooner or later will ramp the rpms anyway, I set them to 3500 or even higher.

So far I have found that the systems control mechanism is not affected by the usage of Fan Control. In one case it actually set the rpm from 3500 to 39xx when the CPU reached the 80 C barrier.

 

right- the fans will increase on their own in response to heat, up to 6000 rpms (even without smc fan control installed)

smc fan control just raises the minimum fan speed

 

I'm just curious... where does the fan's push the air out from? The only logical place I know of is out from the speakers. I don't have my MBP at the moment so I can't test this theory. If only my work place gave us Mac's, my life would be uber-awesome.

 

Two fans push air out the back just right underneath the screen hinge

 

The heat never really bothered me when using it on my lap. However, I will give it a try because my MBP is always docked to the cinema display now.

 

I find air gets pushed out above the hinge as well, since the bottom of my screen gets warm when my GPU is really hot.

 

Correct. What impresses me though about SMC FC is that, at least on my unit, by increasing the minimum fan speed from the default 2000 rpm to 2500 it now hardly ever plays catch-up controlling the temperature. By that I mean, with 2000 rpm as a base, heat would quickly build up and it would typically rises to uncomfortable levels before the system kicks in higher fan speeds to cool it. That's no longer happening for me.

 

Don't mean to sound like a douche-bag. But it's SM C and not SM S..

And yes, it's great

 

I can't believe I carried that error through my posts; fixed. Thanks.

 

Two questions.
1. how does that affect battery life
2. does it void your warranty?

 

1. Lowers life depending on the speed set. Not much of a point in using it on battery anyway... if you're outputting so much heat you think that the fans will kick in you'll probably want to be plugged in anyway.
2. Not that I know of.... either way you can just uninstall it and say you never had it If anything it will make your MBP last longer.

 

1) Well, obviously more power is needed to run the fans at a higher speed, but actually on the long run I think it'll help it a bit as heat + battery don't match well, so having less heat may help your battery stay healthier in the long run.

2) Not that I believe so.

 

It doesnt effect battery life that much...depending on what speed its set on. I set the default to 2500, and ive been inclass for 1 hours 29 mins (89 mins) and im down to 63%...and is at a nice and cool 44C...