Macbook PRO and Imac.. Heat.

Hi guys i posted up a couple of threads about my prediciment regarding whether to buy an imac or MBP. Now, one thing thats swaying me away from the MBP is heat issues.. like if im going to be leaving it on for prolonged times will it overheat. Say for instance i leave it on for a good couple of days downloading movies or something will it get really hot? In comparison to the Imac. If anyone would be cool enough to enlighten me.. im sure there are alot of people on the forums who leave there Imac's and MBP's on for prolonged periods of time. Do they stay cool? Or get really hot?

Cheers for your help

If they're not doing much (i.e. you turn everything off except the downloader) and have it on a sensible surface it should remain cool.

I honestly wouldn't worry about that. If a MacBook Pro couldn't be left powered on for days at a time, Apple wouldn't be selling many of them. As Mark said, just keep it on a nice flat surface, so as to allow a bit of airflow underneath, and it should be fine.

I leave mine on all the time, sitting on my desk (MBP). Never have any issues. It certainly gets warm, but nothing outside of the expected heatup. Certainly if you had it blocked up, with stuff pressed up against vents and such it'll run a lot hotter, and potentially damage something.

Yeah I leave my MBP on all the time, and it never gets hot. Even while using it 3-4 hrs on my lap in the car or something it still never gets more than mildly warm. It should be fine.

kind of a side question, but is overheating covered by warranty? Because even if it was due to you not keeping it on a good surface or seriously overusing your computer can they prove that?

Uhm ok cool, So how many days do you reckon i could keep one on for before it became dangerous? Maybe a week or so?

I usually leave my on for about a week before I restart it, but otherwise its always running

When you mean leave it on like leave it on running or like make it go to sleep, because I think I've shutdown my MBP twice since getting it. I just let it go to sleep.

Macks said:

Uhm ok cool, So how many days do you reckon i could keep one on for before it became dangerous? Maybe a week or so?

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Indefinitely. Really, these things are designed to be used as a desktop replacement. There's no cause for concern.

eliehass said:

kind of a side question, but is overheating covered by warranty? Because even if it was due to you not keeping it on a good surface or seriously overusing your computer can they prove that?

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Overheating generally doesn't cause damage. The chips are designed to shut down before any damage can occur.

cwa107 said:

Overheating generally doesn't cause damage. The chips are designed to shut down before any damage can occur.

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alright, I just get nervous bec sometimes my MBP runs at upwards of 210 F for extended periods of time when I convert things.

I've noticed it generally get hot when one of the main hard ware parts start running faster. Such as the graphics card during gaming, or in some cases watching films.

So just to have it sit there should be okay. Try it out and see!

This kind of issue is like not wanting to buy a car because engines get hot.

Computers are designed not to overheat. You can leave them on for months running constant stress test loops and they'll be fine.

I really don't know why people get so uptight about this overheating myth! Computers get hot, but they are designed not to overheat or burst into flames.

Uhm ok cool, So how many days do you reckon i could keep one on for before it became dangerous? Maybe a week or so?

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Make that years.

If you're really worried about it buy one of the notebook fan pads for like $10.