Macbook Pro 2011 I7 easily overheats - fans run often

WaveLab
1

I recently upgraded from my 2010 Macbook Pro 13 " (the cheaper model) to a 2011 macbook pro I7 13 (the more expensive model). It seems like the fans are constantly running. I brought it to Apple and they said it’s normal with the i7 chip since it runs hotter. But it makes it almost unusable to record near. The fans on my 2010 were never a problem. I used it to record in cubase and nuendo and never had an issue (though i wanted more CPU power so I upgraded). I read in a forum that firewire on the I7 macs adds to the heat issue (I’m using an RME fireface 800).

In OSX Activity Monitor, the CPU for cubase says about 35-40%, with 45 threads, and 450mb memory - that is in stop mode, with maybe 10 native plugins and one VST instrument (Geist). Doesn’t that seem high? The cpu meter in cubase is down near the bottom. Do those numbers seem normal? Anything I can set on my laptop or in cubase to get it to run cooler?

I’m using CUbase 6.0.2 with OSX 10.6.8.

2

Hello,
I can attest to the fact that those machines run pretty hot. The i7s certainly have more power than the previous C2D but there still is only a limited amount of cooling available due to the size constraints. Our 2011 17" doing 64 track madi recordings plus HD video ingest simultaneously has no problems ever approaching the CPU limits but gets hot doing it. Our solution was to mount a low-speed / high-airflow fan below the MBP - it now runs about 10 degC cooler.

I almost wish Apple had offered a higher speed model in a case with more cooling, therefore allowing the cpu to rev to it’s max more often.

Hugh