Thermal properties of the NEW MBP?

I've got a MBP that is about 7 months old and I've been pretty happy with it. All things considered, I've really enjoyed using it until I had to switch over to Vista Ultimate. I currently run Windows XP on the MBP using Parallels.

It did not seem practice to even try to run Vista Ultimate on the MBP because Parallels did not support the full use of the graphics chip in the virtual machine and I only had 2 gigs of memory. Vista likes at least 2 gigs of memory.

So, now I'm considering upgrading to the new MBP, but I'm just wondering if the thermal properties have improved any? I "thought" the MBP ran pretty cool until I purchased a Thinkpad T61. Now that's a cool (thermal wise) laptop. Use it on your lap without any discomfort at all ... for hours and hours.

I really like the flexibility of running both OS X and Windows, but unless the thermal properties have improved, I'll probably pass on it.

 

From the anecdotal evidence I've seen so far (people posting about their new MBP's), it sounds like they might have improved to some degree...... people seem to be saying they seem cooler running, but it doesn't sound like it is radically different than the C2D MBP. The biggest difference would probably be the heat generated by the 8600M compared to the X1600..... supposedly the 8600M does run cooler, which contributes to this a bit.

 

Thanks zadillo for your response. I'm hoping we can get some more definitive evidence regarding the heat generated by the new components.

While the T61 does run very cool - perhaps the coolest running laptop I've ever had, it appears that there are still some issues that will need to be addressed. I use mine with an advanced dock and I continue to experience lockups when attempting to dock from a suspended state, resolution not conforming to my external LCD when docking, wireless radio not on when cold booting, etc.

 

I am curious if the 8600M is clocked normally, or if it has been crippled to bring heat down. Many early reviews of Santa Rosa said it ran hotter than the previous platform.

 

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't underclocked at least to some degree............ probably not a whole lot though (more like the underclocking of the X1600 in the C2D MBP, than the dramatic underclocking of the X1600 in the original CD MBP).

-Zadillo

 

They fixed the cooling problems from the original CD MBPs, right? I remember that being really really hot....

 

Still the 8600 will produce more heat than the x1600...

 

Yeah, they improved the cooling, especially the vents in the back of the machine, allowing the C2D MBP to run cooler, and also have a higher clocked X1600 GPU.

 

This apple customer representative I talked to yesterday stated that apple does not touch the GPUs after they receive them from Nvidia (thus they use stock settings) and therefore the GPU is not underclocked

 

It's possible, but I would probably wait for independent verification (i.e. someone actually checking the clockspeeds on a new model).

Frankly, I am not so sure a typical apple csr would really know about this anyway. At the very least, it would be a change from the previous MBP's if Apple was no longer underclocking them.

 

I just bought the new MBP yesterday, and it doesn't run nearly as cool as my thinkpad T42. Most of the notebook is fine, but on the bottom back near the battery it can get uncomfortably hot, even under light-normal usage.