Hot palm on Macbook Pro

[silverclaws]

Macbook Pro 13 inch year 2010 model with the aluminium unibody, to the left of the track pad gets quite hot just browsing the net and especially so when writing replies to threads and sometimes the fans kick in and really go for it full bore in to attempt to cool it down, but going on blog sites such as Word press and Tumblr which are image heavy I do experience freeze ups which only a hard stop and start can cure, so what's happening with this thing.

Is it a memory or hard drive issue ?

But working with RAW files in Photoshop CS5 with multiple layers open I don't experience the heat issue and I would have though doing that would be more demanding than simply browsing the web ?

 

[Magsy]

Flash? specifically GPU accelerated flash causes my laptop to go mental, the GPU seems to make a lot more heat than the CPU.

I have Dell and Windows but I'm pretty sure its the same deal in Leopard/Snow/Lion

 

[REKIBorter]

My Dell laptop used to get really hot with the fan running a full blast most of the time until I had to get the hard drive replaced. Now the fan ticks over steadily and rarely goes into boost mode. Keyboard doesn't feel warm to the touch like it used to.

 

[silverclaws]

Ah Dell's have you Decrapified them to remove the bloatware? google Decrapifier if you haven't and want things to run smoother.

I have a Dell disc and key with XP pro on it intended for my pc back up lappy to get rid of vista basic, but the pc needs a new case, a new keyboard and a new screen before I even think of ditching the OS.

But yes, Snow Leopard and flash I have heard flash can be a problem.

Is there any way to inhibit flash ?

 

[Raging_Bulls]

But yes, Snow Leopard and flash I have heard flash can be a problem.

Is there any way to inhibit flash ?

Not sure about inhibiting flash in Snow Leopard. However you could install Vista or Win7 on the MacBook for a few days. If the problem persists, it's not Flash that's causing it.




... and if the problem disappears, you could always stick with Windows.

 

[Tazio]

No issues with Flash and Mac that I know of. My Macbook Air runs it quite happily and they don't even have fans in them. No hotness to report.

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

I had a chat with our PC engineers at work and they say the most common root cause of problems with laptops is dust and crap inside the case stopping the cooling working effectively. Taking the case apart and cleaning it out and blasting the vent grilles with some compressed air often sorts the problem out. He said that cracked CPU's and failed components often stem from over heating issues when this hasn't been done.

I'd try this before anything else as its free!

 

[Magsy]

If a laptop is hot it is because of increased load or dust/broken cooling.

If air comes out the back and the fan speeds up and down in use then it would be chance in a million the internal cooling has 'broken' somehow.

Being 2010 and a MBP I doubt it is either full of dust or has faulty fans so your cooling is probably ok. Being unibody and Apple it is coming apart easy anyway.

Which means you need to find what is 'using' the laptop hard and producing the heat. If it only happens in a browser then use another, look in the system activity tool at CPU load, is anything high? (50%+)

Install Firefox and when it asks to install flash say no, try it like that for a bit..

 

[rosstheboss]

What gpu is it? I know some Apples shared a particularly unreliable nvidia gpu chipset a few years back which made my dell laptop cut out at random intervals after heating up loads, which sounds familar... Like others have said look at the cooling and heatsink - my laptop's (crappy oe)thermal paste had been cooked by the time I realised it was causing a potential problem...

 

[Magsy]

Yea I wrote a big reply to that effect but it was all too geeky so I didn't post it.

I have that laptop, it was a Nvidia 8600GTm, the MBP he has is filled with a Nvidia 320m, so maybe similar. I know since flash and browsers started to use GPU acceleration my laptop is hotter/louder than ever because that damn GPU is fiery.