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The reports are disconcerting .

If one uses a 2017 or 2018 MacBook (Pro) as a dual-purpose machine, with an external larger monitor at home, and on its own on the road, then a temperature of 90C is now deemed to be a normal operating temperature when driving a second display, even when the laptop is otherwise just about idle.

In my experience an older MacBook (Pro) is noticeably cooler if it is raised on a stand .

Have you confirmed whether a 2017-2018 MacBook that is connected to an external monitor, and that is otherwise left idle, reports some cooler temperatures?

Calaf
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  • Everything you've listed there shows the MacBook working within it's operating parameters - 90°C has always been within operating spec; there's no issue. The only way to determine if it's actually cooler on a stand is to actually put it on a stand. If you're hesitant to buy a stand to try out, put it up on something temporary like some blocks so you can get some airflow; then make your determination. – Allan Feb 05 '19 at 18:29
  • @Allan I'm hesitant to buy the Macbook, not the stand. Now we are told to just accept 90C as "normal". I know all too well that Macbooks are cooler on a stand. I once used a 2011 Macbook resting on a table rather than a stand, and its logic board had the infamous meltdown. That was after being treated so badly at an Apple store for complaining that the characteristic sign of the 2011 Macbook GPU defect happens regularly, but unpredictably (multicolored pixel-lines flashed across the screen). "Did you take a photo?" they asked. Sure enough, it melted right after the repair program was closed. – Calaf Feb 07 '19 at 11:45
  • @Allan (Yes, yes, I should have always used a stand. Ironically I was then not driving an external display.) – Calaf Feb 07 '19 at 11:45
  • @Allan As a buyer, I'm only a little nervous, but otherwise willing to grant that in 2019 90C can be declared a "normal operating temperature" for a CPU/GPU. As an engineer, especially one who has been previously bitten, I have little respect for designers who build a machine that reaches 90C when the machine is idle, just because it's driving an external display. What happens when I start running something other than Emacs!? – Calaf Feb 07 '19 at 11:45
  • @Allan And what if I select an external display whose resolution is not even higher than the built-in screen, what warrants steaming the machine? – Calaf Feb 07 '19 at 11:46
  • I don't understand the "told to accept 90°C as normal" statement. It's literally the specification directly from Intel. The 2011 MBP GPU defect was a design flaw of the logic board, not that the GPU got "too hot." Your CPU and/or GPU is going to increase in temperature when you use it. Period. This includes creating the frame buffers to carry that second monitor regardless if you're watching a video or editing a text file in nano. – Allan Feb 07 '19 at 12:06
  • Your bad experience with the 2011 MBP is understandable, but (being pragmatic here), if you're this leery, why are you even considering buying again? I've always considered Apple's mobile computers as sub-par in manufacturing build and never get them to be work horses. I would rather use a MBA or entry level MBP to connect to my "big iron." If it's video or photo work I'm doing, unless it's absolutely necessary, I save that for my desktop. – Allan Feb 07 '19 at 12:11
  • @Allan Following your point, if car (/boat/plane) engines were (/are) made by other than the vehicle maker, and we were told that a consumption between 60 and 100 units of gasoline / some distance is acceptable, I'd look with contempt at the vehicle maker whose vehicles use 90 units even when idling. – Calaf Feb 08 '19 at 00:40
  • @Allan An increase in temperature means more noise, more energy consumption, and more wear-and-tear on the device, shortening its life (or cutting it short, as the case may be). – Calaf Feb 08 '19 at 00:40
  • @Allan As to "why are you even considering buying again?" I'm asking myself precisely this question. I delight in coding anywhere with neither sync nor connectivity issues. If any large laptop maker committed to some kind of *nix OS in the long term, I'd never touch a laptop that reaches 10C from its "maximum temperature allowed" when I'm using it as a typewriter. – Calaf Feb 08 '19 at 00:40

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