November 21st, 2006
Comparing the temps of a Core Duo to a Core 2 Duo
I took some temperature benchmarks comparing the MacBook Pro (Core Duo) and MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo). The results substantiate what I uncovered in a previous post about the Core 2 Duo running significantly cooler than the Core Duo.
For this test I took both a Core Duo MBP (2.0GHz) and a Core 2 Duo MBP (2.33GHz) and booted them into a clean OS X account at the same time. Both were connected to power and Energy Saver settings were optimized for high performance.
I let both machines run the Nature Patterns screen saver for an hour then took 12 temperature readings from the top and 12 readings from the bottom and compared them. Readings were taken using a MasterCool 52224 infrared thermometer gun.
Click through for the numbers…
Temperatures (in °F) from 12 locations on the top case after one hour:
| Top | CD (°F) | C2D (°F) | Difference (°F) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 111 | 90 | 21°F |
| 2 | 104 | 89 | 15 |
| 3 | 103 | 90 | 13 |
| 4 | 103 | 90 | 13 |
| 5 | 99 | 85 | 14 |
| 6 | 98 | 85 | 13 |
| 7 | 96 | 84 | 12 |
| 8 | 91 | 83 | 8 |
| 9 | 90 | 80 | 10 |
| 10 | 92 | 80 | 12 |
| 11 | 83 | 80 | 3 |
| 12 | 80 | 80 | 0 |
Temperatures (in °F) from 12 locations on the bottom case after one hour:
| Bottom | CD (°F) | C2D (°F) | Difference (°F) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 104 | 91 | 13°F |
| 2 | 110 | 96 | 14 |
| 3 | 113 | 96 | 17 |
| 4 | 110 | 92 | 18 |
| 5 | 96 | 86 | 10 |
| 6 | 99 | 87 | 12 |
| 7 | 101 | 83 | 18 |
| 8 | 101 | 87 | 14 |
| 9 | 89 | 82 | 7 |
| 10 | 90 | 82 | 8 |
| 11 | 94 | 82 | 12 |
| 12 | 93 | 82 | 11 |
As you can see the Core 2 Duo machine runs significantly cooler than the Core Duo it replaces. Observed temperatures were as much as 21°F cooler (on the top) and as much as 18°F cooler (on the bottom).
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.
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| 11/22/06
