Hackszine.com: PowerBook Fever

PowerBook Fever

Fried Egg PowerBook

Make Publisher and Hacks series chief Dale Dougherty brings us this anecdote cum request for hacks...

Stay tuned for (a la Rocky and Bullwinkle) "Jobs Really Made Fried Green Apples," Or "Why Am I So Hot I Could Cry?"

Make's Associate Publisher Dan Woods wrote that his son, Jack, had a fever over the weekend. "The kid was running hotter than a PowerBook with a recalled battery," added Dan. I know Jack will get over his fever but I'm not sure about my PowerBook. Dan's light-hearted comment made me realize he'd found the right metaphor for these PowerBooks, which run rather unusually warm. They really do seem sick. My relatively new Macbook Pro warms up to me in a way that makes me really uncomfortable. I've tried lap desks and pillows for previous PowerBooks but after a late-night session using my computer while sitting in a chair (or airline seat), I'm overheated and dripping wet. This isn't cool. And it can't be good design.

In addition, I find that the Macbook Pro doesn't want to go to sleep, either -- another sign of a sick child. Tonight I opened my laptop in the airport just before a flight from Oakland to LA and closed it when I was about to board. After about an hour, having arrived in LA, I got my briefcase down from the bin and the bag was really hot. The computer was actually too hot to hold, like a skillet. I actually kind of imagine it melting on me someday.

Makes me wonder if the iPhone will run so hot you can't hold it to your ear or in your hand. Third-party companies will sell iPhone mitts. In really cool colors.

So, Hack doctors, what's the cure for PowerBook Fever? And if can't be cured, can I learn to cope with this condition? Lastly, someone must have fried an egg on the back of MacBook Pro and taken pictures, don't you think?

(Photo note: it looks like Justin Lowery got a great one. Here's the original photo used at the top of this post, included under CC license.)

Posted by | Feb 12, 2007 04:23 AM
Mac | Permalink | Comments (6)

Comments

Newest comments listed first.

Posted by: A.Nonny.Mouse on February 12, 2007 at 9:35 AM

I have the same problem with my macbook pro: it doesn't sleep properly half the time, it gets incredibly hot most of the time, etc. If anybody has any suggestions, I'm all ears...

Posted by: pliszewski on February 12, 2007 at 7:50 PM

I had the same problem with my iLemon (MacBookPro). The reed switch in the lid fails and needs to be replaced by Apple. Be sure to backup - Apple isn't responsible for lose of personal data. I backup my drive, nuke n pave with a fresh OS, then take it in. This was easier to get fixed than my flickering screen problem that never happens anywhere close to the Apple Store and a "super" drive that cannot read audio cd's that magically reads problematic disks inside the Apple Store. Anyone seeing this too?

By the way, these machines are no longer referred to as laptops. These machines are notebooks. Amazing how something can be "fixed" with some lawyers and creative marketing...

Posted by: aplumb on February 12, 2007 at 8:49 PM

I went with the smcFanControl fix and it made a world of difference on the operating temperature of my MBP - bought it in June 2006. Before installing smcFanControl, I rarely heard the internal fan switch on and it got painfully hot; after installing it, every once in a while I can hear the fans ramp up and the machine rarely gets too hot to handle.

As always YMMV, but it works for me. I haven't had problems with the machine cooling off every time I closed the lid and it went to sleep though. That sort of behaviour raises a warning flag in my mind...

Posted by: philliptorrone on February 12, 2007 at 10:02 PM

figured i just post this here - i run my systems pretty lean and rarely have anything running besides what is needed. in fact, if you go to "activity monitor" try killing a lot of things like syncserver and itunes helper. i've never had any sleep or heat issues (well, it's always hot sorta) and besides a flood recently and one drive failure from 1+ year of 24/7 usage, never had any issues.

Posted by: philliptorrone on February 18, 2007 at 9:10 AM

also worth checking out -- http://81.169.182.62/~eidac/software/page5/page5.html

Posted by: AMR on February 9, 2008 at 5:41 PM

Not the reality distortion field again!!

quoting pliszewski:

"I had the same problem with my iLemon (MacBookPro). The reed switch in the lid fails and needs to be replaced by Apple. Be sure to backup - Apple isn't responsible for lose of personal data. I backup my drive, nuke n pave with a fresh OS, then take it in. This was easier to get fixed than my flickering screen problem that never happens anywhere close to the Apple Store and a "super" drive that cannot read audio cd's that magically reads problematic disks inside the Apple Store. Anyone seeing this too?

By the way, these machines are no longer referred to as laptops. These machines are notebooks. Amazing how something can be "fixed" with some lawyers and creative marketing..."