overheating?

in the manual it says that i shouldnt put the laptop on a pillow/bed
well the main place i use my laptop is on my bed

so i wanted to know what the best accessory i can buy to place the macbook on

iLap is a pretty neat accessory.

yea i like that

but is it a necessity, because there are no vents on the bottom of the macbook, so i dont see how it could overheat

The thing is that even thought when the MB is on a hard surface, there is air going underneath it and cooling it. When its on something soft the heat goes in to the pillow or whatever and stays there.

I dont think it would overheat quickly, and it would need heavy usage. So I think you will be ok. I use my MBP on my sofa all the time and its ok

Any notebook computer should always be used on a hard, flat surface like a desk or tray.

D3v1L80Y said:

Any notebook computer should always be used on a hard, flat surface like a desk or tray.

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Truth to that. I tried just about everything to get my laptop to quit overheating when using on my lap to watch DVD's & such while I was on deployment, and wound up getting a metal tray (like a breakfast in bed tray) while I was overseas, and it worked great, no overheating.

I got the iLap for Christmas and love it. It's great for using on my lap AND on a tabletop. It raises it up to a nice angle for typing, has good padding, etc, etc. However... I'm sure you could get something flat to put it on that would be just as good for cooling purposes (and cheaper than the iLap, if that's an issue). I've also seen those pillow-things with a hard surface on top.

if you got good legs hold it between your legs or on the edges, what i do and no problems yet, but best bet is any hard flat surface (for me other times is a shelf left over from a shelving system i had)

you could save the money and use a binder or clipboard instead of shelling out 50 bucks for an enhanced version of the two things I listed above

lol thats what im using
a clipboard

depending on how you like to sit in bed...

why not just pull your knees up and rest the middle of the macbook on them?

All notebooks dissipate heat through the bottom, whether they have bottom facing vents or not. Therefore it's not the best idea to place them on something that can potentially smother them like a pillow or comforter.

on the macbook the vents are not on the bottom of the notebook
they are never covered when i use the laptop on my bed/sofa, so i am not worried about it overheating anymore

Dr. ** said:

All notebooks dissipate heat through the bottom, whether they have bottom facing vents or not.

Click to expand...

macbookdabest said:

on the macbook the vents are not on the bottom of the notebook

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As was already stated, heat dissipates through the bottom... vents or no vents.:black:
Notebooks should always be used on a hard, flat surface. Otherwise you run the risk of damaging the notebook after prolonged use like that.

cam_macintosh said:

depending on how you like to sit in bed...

why not just pull your knees up and rest the middle of the macbook on them?

Click to expand...

thats all i do, the heat from the macbook cpu is just off centered to the left a little.

i use a lapdesk sometimes. my newest one i got at barnes and noble - its a wood writing desk with a top that can be raised to access a storage area underneath, and has a pillowed bottom. cost about 39 bucks, worth every penny.

i will also do the split leg trick - rest the side edged of the macbook on my legs to keep the rear vent open.

anecdotal evidence that this second method doesn't cause any less heat to dissapate? yep. i run temperature monitor and my average resting and very active temps are pretty much the same, lap or lapdesk. although i normally run on the lap on battery and lapdesk with the power cord, so that could conceivably have something to do with it.

I sit indian style and have the mac rest between my legs.