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Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

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Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#121

Post by Someone »

digitalsushi wrote: post #99

There is an alternate universe where every time he took his computer apart, he skipped the reflow heat stuff and just put it back together... and it worked identically for identical periods of time between failures. I'm not saying it's this universe, I'm just saying there is one out there.

I wondered that, too. I wonder whether he actually reflowed solder in the oven. Wikipedia gives a sample profile that heats to over 200 degrees Celsius for a minute or so. This uses around 170 degrees Celsius, which is used for preheating in the Wikipedia example. Also, a Google image search gives me reflow heats above 200 degrees for the 5 images I checked.

Also "The speed holes worked: The boot chime rang. The screen glowed. The fans blew." doesn't make sense to me. The extra holes may help and may even fix his problem, but I find it hard to believe that successful booting shows that. Yes, it is a 'little' early for a final verdict.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#122

Post by apetrovic »

gnarbarian wrote: post #29
apetrovic wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate laptops with vents on the bottom. I can't put it on my lap without constantly thinking did my leg obstructed the hole, I can't put it on the bed because the vents will be clogged. The only place where laptops with vents on the bottom works well is the desk.

Gotta hand it to apple on this one. They clogged the vents so you don't have to worry about it. Laptop overheats? Must be Intel's fault. This is the reality distortion field.

Is that "reality distortion field" jab pointed at me? The best laptop in my life is/was my trusty Thinkpad w520. No vents at the bottom, no overheating problems (two previous laptops were HP EliteBooks - a toy computers compared to Lenovo). Now I'm working on MacBook Pro, and yes, it's slicker than w520, but it have problems with heat.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#123

Post by akgerber »

emodendroket wrote: post #113
proveanegative wrote: post #41

I have question related to this issue. Which MacBook model, new, refurbished or used, should I buy if I want it to last as long as possible and be useful for doing OS X-specific programming tasks?

Anecdotal, but I've bought refurbished stuff a couple times and had to repeatedly replace logic boards and other parts. I probably wouldn't do that again.

Counter-anecdote-- my 2010 Macbook refurb is still running swimmingly after a couple upgrades.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#124

Post by dbg31415 »

Guessing the discussion at Apple was:

Engineer: "We can get the computer to half heat if we add a few more intake holes..."

ArtsySalesDouche: "Nein! Nein! Nein! I don't want that! I know nobody sees the bottom, but I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it!"

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#125

Post by jerrytsai »

uptown wrote: post #79

My early 2011 MBP has had one logic board replaced so far at my own expense a short while after AppleCare expired. This site has been compiling relevant information to those experiencing the same problem, and the #mbp2011 hashtag on Twitter is also a good resource for those affected: http://mbp2011.org/ https://twitter.com/search?q=%23mbp2011

Yes, this problem is widespread and unacknowledged by Apple.

https://www.change.org/p/timothy-d-cook-replace-or-fix-all-2...

It's ludicrous that to attempt to fix this problem, you would have to go so far as to bake your laptop.

It cost me over $US 500 to get this fixed at an Apple Store.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#126

Post by MrJagil »

morganvachon wrote: post #120
madawan wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? I can get a €20 Samsung in any place that still sells dumbphones. I got a €30 Nokia 5 years ago and it still works splendid.

This is what drives me insane about the state of modern electronic device quality. It seems the less you pay, the longer it lasts. This is completely the opposite of how it is with traditional goods like furniture, utensils, tools, and so on. Maybe it's over-engineering, maybe it's forced obsolescence, maybe it's something beyond my comprehension. But it stinks.

Well, a more expensive phone has way more (hardware) features, and thus way more points of failure. Makes perfect sense to me, though I do understand your position.

Snow Leopard has been praised as the best OS X release for focusing almost solely on bug fixing. I wish releases such as this were more common both in soft- and in hardware.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#127

Post by jusben1369 »

morganvachon wrote: post #120
madawan wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? I can get a €20 Samsung in any place that still sells dumbphones. I got a €30 Nokia 5 years ago and it still works splendid.

This is what drives me insane about the state of modern electronic device quality. It seems the less you pay, the longer it lasts. This is completely the opposite of how it is with traditional goods like furniture, utensils, tools, and so on. Maybe it's over-engineering, maybe it's forced obsolescence, maybe it's something beyond my comprehension. But it stinks.

I think that's partly because by the time those components get to the cheap product they've been out in the wild for several years and improved substantially over time. The same thing happens with cars. Today, buying the top of the line BMW or Mercedes almost guarantees you more electrical/functional issues than a mid or entry level model where the technology is flowing down but been in the market for 3 - 7 + years and significantly improved.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#128

Post by skynetv2 »

i had to replace logic board on my mid 2010 mbp 15" after applecare expired.

i also noticed my mbp also runs very hot even when i am not doing anything fancy. the most i have is 15 chrome tabs open. i know chrome is a hog but hey ... its a powerful system, should be able to handle it without heating my like an oven ready to bake chicken.

compressed air many times .. no use i had to run smcfan but still its pretty hot.

Re: Why I Drilled Holes in My MacBook Pro and Put It in the Oven

#129

Post by STRML »

chroma wrote: post #7
techrat wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think after 10 years having model after model of aluminium built laptops, Apple would have found a way to solve the heat issues they always have... but nope, they still think it's a good idea to put the heat exhaust vent right up against the bottom lip of the screen where it is still blocked when the machine is in use.

Where else can one put air vents on a laptop? The sides are taken up by expansion ports and speakers. The front is blocked by the battery. The bottom is often obstructed by blankets, clothing, etc. The top is for the keyboard, trackpad, and palm rest. Putting vents at the hinge actually makes the most sense. It guarantees ventilation ports won't be fully obstructed. The vents face away from the user, reducing fan noi…

The thinness is the critical problem, and to be honest with most consumer electronics (phones especially; please give me a larger, replaceable battery), I wish they would stop the race to the bottom and instead deliver more functional and longer-lasting productions.

I have an rMBP 15" and a 15" Lenovo Y500. The Y500 cost less than half of the rMBP for equivalent performance but the experience, battery, screen, trackpad, etc are of course much better on the Mac. But for intensive tasks, even with nearly identical internals and the same OS, the Y500 is far more pleasant to use. Say what you want about Lenovo and the terrible things they've done to their laptops in the last few years, but the Y500 is designed to expel heat in the least obtrusive manner possible and it does an amazing job.

At full bore, all cores, maybe a game, the Y500 happily pushes a lot of air out the side vent, and the keyboard, trackpad, bezels, etc., stay very cool.

With the same workload, the rMBP gets very, very hot and seems to blow a small amount of air out of the keyboard (?), occasionally burning my fingers, It's loud and very uncomfortable to use.

In a sense it definitely makes me feel like I overpaid for the extra speed, since I can't use it comfortably anyway.

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