April 30th, 2008
Excess thermal paste causing high temps in MacBook Air (updated)
Remember the thermal paste problem with earlier MacBook Pros that was reported back in May 2006? Well, it’s back.
Read more about the grease problems in my earlier reports:
- Thermal grease theory - 01 May 2006
- Thermal grease and the MacBook - 21 May 2006
Chief Japanese Mac disassembler Kodawarisan took apart his MacBook Air (of course) and discovered a metric-ass-load of thermal paste (also called “thermal grease”) on the top of the CPU and GPU. Witness:
Kodawarisan says (Japanese version, Babelfish English translation) that it’s about twice the amount that’s needed (sound familiar?) and that skimming off about half dropped his temps down.
It all started when he noticed that his MacBook Air’s fan was turning on frequently, especially when he was taxing the CPU and/or GPU. After opening the MacBook Air case he suspected that the excessive quantity thermal paste to be the cause.
Temperature Monitor was reporting the temperature of his Core 2 Duo chip to be running between 50 and 70℃ (122 and 158 degrees Fahrenheit).Which is quite toasty.
What temperature does your MacBook Air run at?
Update: MacFixIt is covering the issue after noticing reports of high MacBook Air operating temperatures on Apple’s discussion boards. The recommend bringing it to Apple for service and making sure that you’ve installed MacBook Air SMC Update 1.0.
In completely unrelated news: Jordan Bunnell had success installing a Verizon Wireless USB727 EVDO Modem inside a MacBook Air. So what if he had to remove the Airport and Bluetooth cards to make room. (Tip: CrunchGear via MacNN)
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
Subscribe to The Apple Core via Email alerts or RSS.
