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General discussion

macbook pro as cpu

Dec 28, 2007 10:13AM PST

I've switched my main computer from a desktop Dell to a macbook pro (running vmfusion windows as needed). It slides very nicely under my flat-screen monitor and I have depth on my desk to allow a wireless keyboard and mouse in front of it. But I can't turn it on without opening it up which involves moving the keyboard, sliding it out, etc, so I'm inclined to let it sleep rather than turning it off.

What concerns me is the heat generated. I can raise it off the desktop about 1/2 inch so there's some air circulation, but is this enough? It seems awfully hot in the morning. Is there any setting I can make to run the fan (if there is one?) more efficiently?

Otherwise, I'm quite happy with the switch (I used macs for years, so it's a kind of return home for me).

TIA for advice

Clare (Briegull)

Discussion is locked

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To make this clear.
Dec 28, 2007 1:33PM PST

What you're wanting to do is connect the MBP to your monitor, and use your external keyboard and mice instead of working right on the laptop itself, right? And if the question you want answered is the heat problem, I believe that as long as you have some sort of compatible laptop stand or rest, the space between it and the desk ought to be enough. Depends, I suppose.
If the fans or the heat are bothering you, perhaps regulating energy use will help. Under System Preferences, go to "Energy Savings". If you plan on using it as a desktop replacement, you'll want to keep the charger plugged in, so under Power Adapter, click on "Better Energy Savings", or configure it to use less power for you. And if you need to change the battery settings, go to "Battery" in the energy savings pane and optimize it for better life when it's not plugged in. Also, reducing screen brightness helps.
That said, running multiple CPU intensive tasks will make your fans work. Download the iStat Pro widget from Apple's Downloads site if you want to monitor how the MBP is working from the Dashboard.

I bet that this may help some, but your fans will continue to work hard. My MBP generates lots of heat whether I'm doing a lot of things at once with it or not. Since you'll be using external devices, you may not be able to prevent it completely. As long as there is some circulation, you should be fan. There are some stands and pads that have fans built in to cool off laptops, so you could look into those if you want.

Hope this helps,
-BMF

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(NT) Typo, meant you should be fine, not fan, LOL.
Dec 28, 2007 1:33PM PST
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fan
Dec 28, 2007 8:23PM PST

I thought you were just from the deep South, saying Fan for Fine. Fan noise doesn't bother me in the slightest after living with my wheezing old Optiplex; I just didn't want to burn things out before their time.

Thanks!

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Sleep
Dec 28, 2007 9:28PM PST

It is fine to let your machine go to sleep rather than shutting it down, although it will need the occasional restart due to software updates. These, of course, can be done from the menu bar.

On the subject of heat, these machines do run hot but as already pointed out, ensuring that there is space under the machine for air circulation should be all you need to do.
half to one inch is sufficient.

You should also make sure that there is nothing blocking the fan vents. Cat hair, dust bunnies, mice, grannies wig, etc.,tend to accumulate there. A can of compressed air, not all of it, can be used to blow most debris out. Do not stuff the spout inside the vent holes. Happy

If the heat concerns you greatly, there are a number of devices around tht are designed to keep laptops cool(ler). The selection Here was just one hit.

Welcome back

P

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waybackmachine
Dec 28, 2007 10:08PM PST

I've often regretted that all the old usenet forums we belonged to way back when are on the 'net for searching; it's embarrassing to see my opinions on such things as cat hair in vents from twenty years ago! but I just now searched for Windowshade, a feature of earlier macs, and I found this entry from 1991!

http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/info/sft/goodies.txt

which was my review of mac freeware/shareware for System Seven, which was as big a jump in operating systems for that time as Tiger-Leopard is now, back when there were only a couple of repositories of such apps and when a 300 baud modem was considered perfectly fine! It's interesting that almost all the items I mention have been implemented as part of the operating system. I still wish Windowshade was standard, though! The one thing I was afraid I'd miss with the mac switch is the right-click context menu, but with my setup using a logitech mouse I'm fine!

Clare Durst (Briegull)

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WindowShade
Dec 29, 2007 5:39AM PST

Yep, it sure was a neat trick but, fear not, it is still around in OS X and was standard in the OS from around 8.0 (I think it was that one)
Double clicking on the grey bar at the top of the window would collapse the window and just leave the bar there. (For those of you who do not go back quite that far)

Double clicking the grey bar now, causes the window to slide down into the dock, leaving nothing on the screen.

The "Right Click" urban legend. Although Apple did not ship a two button mouse until fairly recently, the contextual menu has been around for quite a while, 8.5(ish). There was support for the two button mouse in System 9 but companies like Logitech had supplied software for their 2 to 10 button mouse products prior to the built-in OS support.

I bet you played with HyperCard too! I know I did and still miss its ease of use, flexibility and almost English programming language, HyperTalk. I wonder if Dartmouth still has their Hypercard Resources available?

P

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hypercard
Dec 29, 2007 7:49AM PST

Voice from the past! Of course, Hypercard!! At Brown, where I supported mac users in the administration, we had/have Andy van Dam who was a disciple of Ted Nelson who basically invented hypertext, of which hypercard was an early experiment. Andy used to claim that I was an example of someone actually getting a computer job after only his CS11, the original class in computer programming there. He's still at Brown, I retired years ago, and chose to use a PC in my consulting work. Now I've pretty much given THAT up, so I can play with a mac.

But I liked Windowshade's ability to snap up into a strip; the stickies app still can do that. Reducing to the dock isn't the same.

c.