Apple MacBook 13-inch 1.83GHz

Reviews: Hardware

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Anthony Fiti
Kurtis
N/A
Aug. 1, 2006

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Testing - Temperature

A lot of hubbub has been made about the heat generated by the new Intel-based MacBooks. The hottest part of my MacBook 13-inch 1.83GHz is the left rear part of the MacBook. Using CoreDuoTemp, I found that my MacBook's processor temperature is around 65C when idle, and around 85C under 100% load. The laptop was very hot under 100% load in the left rear portion. I would definitely not want to have this on my lap when performing very intense calculations.

(Ed - I'd like to mention that we are aware of the rumors stating that Apple has grossly over-applied thermal paste, which could very likely be what causes the excessive heat. I made sure that Anthony knew about this, and tried to guilt him into checking for himself (for science!), but at the end of the day it just wasn't worth the risk of voiding his $250 AppleCare warranty.)

At idle however, the heat is manageable, and for someone who is used to 115F days during the summer months, it is no big deal at idle. I even had it on my lap for approximately 3 hours on a recent weekend road trip. At home, if all I am doing is browsing the Internet and typing up product reviews, I can rest the laptop on my lap.

One cool trick my MacBook does is moo. At first I thought it was funny, to have my laptop sound like a cow, but it became annoying when I was trying to watch a movie later that night. I would guess that the source is a fan spinning up slowly to cool off either the CPU or the power circuitry, and after more than six weeks with it, I've learned to ignore the moo.

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Page 9 of 14

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Ordering the MacBook
Page 3: First Looks
Page 4: Taking a Closer Look
Page 5: Setup & Packaged Software
Page 6: Testing - Hardware
Page 7: Testing - Software
Page 8: Testing - Interfacing with and Running Windows
Page 9: Testing - Temperature
Page 10: Testing - Performance
Page 11: Testing - Battery Life & MagSafe Adapter
Page 12: Tech Support Experience #1
Page 13: Tech Support Experience #2
Page 14: Conclusion

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