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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

#151
post #67

I've got an early 2011 MBP which has exactly the same issue - I'm on the third logic board (GPU and a chipset both went on separate occasions within 3-year warranty) and second battery (battery wasn't due to heat though, just capacity), I use it heavily for programming (compiling) and rendering, so CPUs are often maxed out. I try and make sure it's ventilated properly (when I use it on my lap I often hold it in the a…

Do not replace the logic board a 4th time. Any Apple store manager is authorized to replace with a brand new 2014 model after three repairs especially for 2011 model owners. I just got my brand new replacement last month.

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

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Well, a more expensive phone has way more (hardware) features, and thus way more points of failure.

That's an excellent point. Nokia of old was often associated with build quality, but the more advanced you got, the more stuff would break. Their cheaper Symbian phones tended to last forever, but the N-series, especially the N900, had more hardware issues than their cheaper brethren. Given that the N900 was basically a full fledged computer in a phone form factor there were a lot of potential points of failure, the biggest of which was the faulty USB port.

> Snow Leopard has been praised as the best OS X release for focusing almost solely on bug fixing.

That's the last version of OS X I have used on a daily basis, and from what I've heard I missed out on a ton of new bugs introduced in Lion and up. Of course my aging Mac mini CoreDuo, even with a Core2Duo upgrade, is no longer fast enough for daily use and won't take a newer OS anyway. I'm not buying another Mac for a long time (if ever) as I can't justify the expense, but given what I've heard about Yosemite's stability maybe that's a good thing. OpenBSD runs great on my current self-built system so I don't really have a need for OS X anymore.

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

#153
I have a 2011 MBP, but the 17 inch model. Have had zero problems with it, even though I use my computer for heavy amounts of RAW photo editing in Aperture, photoshop, etc. This problem may be relatively common, but I doubt it is universal.

Of course, the people on this board are probably running generally more punishing tasks on their computers than the average, so if anyone was going to find this problem, it would be us.

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

#154
Shame that the holes are drilled so haphazardly. If only for the aesthetics, print out a template with the holes drawn on a circle, evenly spaced. Then use that as a guide to drill. Or find a local hacker group with a CNC drilling machine which will drill the holes with perfect alignment. Done right, it may have looked little different than a case with holes machined that way by the manufacturer.

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

#155
post #150

I've said it before and I'll say it again: while the "giant aluminum heatsink" idea generally works pretty well for the MacBooks and has for some time, it's not the same as if Apple were to really fix the thermal engineering in their machines: The machines could run downright cool if only Apple were to steal some ideas from Lenovo and Asus. As a side benefit, Apple could begin referring to the machines as "laptops" a…

To your second point, I doubt anyone will call anything a laptop ever again unless it runs at or below room temperature. There is a volume of evidence[0] that hot objects placed on the male genitals for an extended period of time can have a negative impact on fertility (and who knows what else, e.g. birth defects? Since it is likely damaging the semen).

The liability issues are just too great. We're talking class action levels of expenditure.

[0]http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/news/20041...

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

#156

I have a 2011 MBP, but the 17 inch model. Have had zero problems with it, even though I use my computer for heavy amounts of RAW photo editing in Aperture, photoshop, etc. This problem may be relatively common, but I doubt it is universal. Of course, the people on this board are probably running generally more punishing tasks on their computers than the average, so if anyone was going to find this problem, it would b…

I don't know if RAW editing is the best example of heavy load. RAW editing in Lightroom and Photoshop (don't use Aperture) don't really test my machine at all unless I am "publishing" and that seems to be more IO bound than CPU/GPU bound (on an one year old i5).

Gaming and BitTorrent (e.g. Battle.net launcher) are the only things that "upset" my machine heat/utilisation wise. Maybe full virus scans but that is more IO again.

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

#158
I have nearly the exact issues with temps around 80-90 on my 2010 MBP while I produce in Ableton. I've done hours of research, and it sounded like a new Logic board was the only answer ($700). I even had both fans replaced about 2 years ago. Speed holes here I come!

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

#159
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU provides 6 years? How so?

6 years seems great an all as the consumer, but I'd imagine the retailers/manufacturers are not just taking this extra burden all on themselves, but likely passing it down the chain to the consumer via higher purchase price, higher contract price, decreased service quality, fewer staffers, or... etc... Needless to say, I sure wouldn't even want a smart phone from 6 years ago. People get upset at the USA's more-or-les…

>> "Needless to say, I sure wouldn't even want a smart phone from 6 years ago."

It covers all items though, not just smartphones. If I buy a fridge or an oven I expect it last 6 years minimum. Also, I'm regularly surprised by people using very old smartphones (4-5 years).

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

#160
post #154

Shame that the holes are drilled so haphazardly. If only for the aesthetics, print out a template with the holes drawn on a circle, evenly spaced. Then use that as a guide to drill. Or find a local hacker group with a CNC drilling machine which will drill the holes with perfect alignment. Done right, it may have looked little different than a case with holes machined that way by the manufacturer.

He probably drilled them while filled with rage. Which is probably what I would have done. I was surprised the holes were so small. I would have just went over kill.
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