Finally got my macbook! + few questions

My macbook is now on my lap (with a layer of padding between it and me! it's hot!). and about 4 hours old! I installed iStat Pro but it says there are no temperature sensors in the macbook! I thought there were?

Also: So far, amazing. Only hitch was a small freeze in the software update. Don't really know why, but after a force quit it sorted itself out.

EDIT> Temperature Monitor does get the CPU temp: 66degrees at idle. Meh.. could be better. I'll see what I can do. Either way, I bet I'll be back for more questions soon.

The sensors in the macbook are different to the ones in the PPC range of Macs. I tend to use CoreDuoTemp to get this sort of reading. What are you using for padding, though? If you are using something textile (cushion, blanket, towel, etc) then it will be blocking the flow of air around the macbook and it will get much hotter than normal that way.

The best thing to get is a level, hard surface. I use one of those lap-trays with a sort of beanbag on the bottom at the moment, but I'm intending to get a laptop cooler of sorts.

Good question, I actually use something I made myself. It's wire mesh, so don't worry about airflow. The one thing that scares me is when I put it to sleep while it's so hot, I'm actually a little scared about putting it in my laptop bag. Will it be okay to cool down in there?

Yes, should be. It's not generating any more heat, so it shouldn't get hotter than it is when you put it in. I generally don't wait because I have a rucksack with air pocketed lining, but a normal 'briefcase' style case should be alright. If the top of the case is really hot (very hot to touch) then it's probably an idea just to wait a couple of minutes so the heat can't damage the screen. I'm not saying that it _would_ damage the screen, but I'm really quite protective of my little macbook

Yep.. I'd call it my little macbook, but despite it's *small* nature, the screen feels HUGE! I couldn't imagine using a notebook with a bigger screen!

Xshare said:

Good question, I actually use something I made myself. It's wire mesh, so don't worry about airflow. The one thing that scares me is when I put it to sleep while it's so hot, I'm actually a little scared about putting it in my laptop bag. Will it be okay to cool down in there?

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i suggest you wait a few minutes for it to cool down because i have found that when i put my powerbook in my laptop bag and ran to class when its fans were running full blast that by the time i got there my powerbook was off. i figured it was overheating in the bag and shutting itself off
-chris

Hmm.. this heat is a bit ridiculous. It's 70 right now, at idle. (I just finished moving some files and stuff, but still. That's a little over the top. It was better earlier. How do I check what week macbook I have?

Also, when I plugged it in (almost 30/40 mins ago, it said that it had 50mins till the battery was full). Now it says 1:01hrs! How can that be!? Does using it while it's plugged in consume battery life? iStat and the battery indicater say the battery is at 71%. Does it really take an hour to charge the remaining 30%?

Open up Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor and sort by the CPU usage column. It sounds like a process is going a bit funny and is running in the background in a busy wait. Once you figure out what it is, it's entirely possibly that killing it will cause your system to return to normality.

Hmm... I haven't unplugged it yet, and now it says 1 hour till full! What? It said 1 hour, an hour ago! It seems like using it while it's charging takes away from battery life.... but that shouldn't be right. Guess it's down to the genius bar when they open on monday.