Will Apple Stores redo thermal paste?

[mmoy]

I have a 2.2 Ghz MacBook Pro and the fan comes on and the left side of the laptop gets pretty warm. I read about the thermal paste issue a while ago but
bought one for our son for college.

Can I just bring it into the Apple Store and have them redo the thermal paste and do they provide that kind of service? BTW, the fan comes on loudly when the ambient temperature is high and when playing video games. It's just a bit warm when doing office-type stuff.

 

[husky]

im pretty sure all notebooks get quite warm... .02

someone can double check your issue though.

 

[mmoy]

im pretty sure all notebooks get quite warm... .02

someone can double check your issue though.

There was a rather long thread on the thermal paste issues here a month or two ago with at least one user taking his MBP apart and reapplying the paste with a 10 degrees C drop in operating temperature. The pictures shown indicate a pretty bad job of application. Similar to what happened with the MBPs a year or two ago when they launched.

 

[technologist]

Basically, unless your computer is
1. Crashing, as a result of excessive heat
2. Hot enough to burn your skin
3. Setting something on fire

Then your computer does not have anything wrong with it as far as Apple is concerned. Computers are not supposed to be refrigerators; they get warm, sometimes hot.

 

[mmoy]

Basically, unless your computer is
1. Crashing, as a result of excessive heat
2. Hot enough to burn your skin
3. Setting something on fire

Then your computer does not have anything wrong with it as far as Apple is concerned. Computers are not supposed to be refrigerators; they get warm, sometimes hot.

I really could care less how Apple feels about it. Clearly they don't care as they continue to sell laptops without an efficient application of thermal paste. My question was will the Apple Store reapply the paste. All of this other crap is really pretty useless as far as my question goes.

I plan to buy another two MacBook Pros in January and would ask them to redo the thermal paste on those as well. From what I understand, reapplying thermal paste is a fairly routine job at computer shops. I would like the Apple Store to do it so as not to void my warranty.

 

[Kash]

Clearly you didn't understand the premise of Apple not caring. If they don't care, then that means they won't do anything since technically according to Apple, nothing is wrong.

Now, instead of asking a question and showing attitude about not getting the answer you're looking for, how about you just call up your local Apple Store and find out whether they do it. That way you can be the guy who tells everybody here whether or not it can be done.

 

[Eric559]

Now, instead of asking a question and showing attitude about not getting the answer you're looking for, how about you just call up your local Apple Store and find out whether they do it. That way you can be the guy who tells everybody here whether or not it can be done.

Agreed.

 

[Dominion]

i don't know if they do or not but I am praying they do. My brand new macbook pro has unreasonably high heat issues. Like alot of other people RIGHT above the Fn keys and in the same area on the back (where the GPU is I believe) the notebook is getting HOT to the touch, almost enough to burn (if I left finger on the spot it would burn). According to a temp reading program, the GPU temps are around 70C, thats pretty fing hot for any computer.

If apple doesn't fix it I'll have to set out to do it myself, it's not something I'm looking forward to but if it keeps up, I'm going to have to.

Btw this is without it being in my lap sitting on top of various material desks (wood, aluminum, and glass)

 

[Kash]

I'm hear ya Dominion. If I didn't have my warranty to worry about, I definitely would have gone in there and fixed the problem already. Having the fan turn on high and the computer hot to the touch when watching a Youtube video or doing anything even slightly strenuous can get annoying real fast.

 

[mmoy]

Clearly you didn't understand the premise of Apple not caring. If they don't care, then that means they won't do anything since technically according to Apple, nothing is wrong.

Now, instead of asking a question and showing attitude about not getting the answer you're looking for, how about you just call up your local Apple Store and find out whether they do it. That way you can be the guy who tells everybody here whether or not it can be done.

Clearly you didn't understand what I wrote. And clearly Apple, the corporation, doesn't care as they're shipping machines as they are. What I asked is if the Apple Store would reapply the thermal paste. What the Apple Store does isn't necessarily what Apple, the corporation does. With the store, you're dealing with real people and dropping a lot of cash on them can certainly give you different results.

What I wanted to know is has someone else done this here given the rather long discusssion that was here a month or two ago. Pretty simple question. If you don't have a new MacBook Pro, your comments are germaine.

 

[Kash]

If you're going to use big words, at least have the decency to use them properly so that those who don't understand can look it up.

Since you have such great English skills, I'll try the skill of repetition in order to get my suggestion across again. And just so that you don't miss it again, I'll put it in its own special quote box.

How about you call up your local Apple Store and ASK if they re-apply thermal paste.

Now here's the reason why I'm telling you to do this. Each Apple Store is different. Some employees may not want to bother with re-applying thermal paste, some would love to help you, and then there are those who don't know what you're talking about. Which is why it would be best for you to contact your own store and find out how its employees feel about it rather than wait for somebody who had a different experience only because the employee was more helpful than the ones at your store.

In the time you spent asking the question here, giving attitude, and looking like a fool at a botched attempt in using a big word, you could have gotten your answer already.

 

[mmoy]

If you're going to use big words, at least have the decency to use them properly so that those who don't understand can look it up.

Since you have such great English skills, I'll try the skill of repetition in order to get my suggestion across again. And just so that you don't miss it again, I'll put it in its own special quote box.

Now here's the reason why I'm telling you to do this. Each Apple Store is different. Some employees may not want to bother with re-applying thermal paste, some would love to help you, and then there are those who don't know what you're talking about. Which is why it would be best for you to contact your own store and find out how its employees feel about it rather than wait for somebody who had a different experience only because the employee was more helpful than the ones at your store.

In the time you spent asking the question here, giving attitude, and looking like a fool at a botched attempt in using a big word, you could have gotten your answer already.

> If you're going to use big words, at least have the decency to use them
> properly so that those who don't understand can look it up.

Non sequitur.

> Since you have such great English skills, I'll try the skill of repetition in
> order to get my suggestion across again. And just so that you don't miss
> it again, I'll put it in its own special quote box.

Unresponsive.

> Now here's the reason why I'm telling you to do this. Each Apple Store is
> different. Some employees may not want to bother with re-applying
> thermal paste, some would love to help you, and then there are those
> who don't know what you're talking about. Which is why it would be best
> for you to contact your own store and find out how its employees feel
> about it rather than wait for somebody who had a different experience
> only because the employee was more helpful than the ones at your store.

I already knew that. Believe it or not, I just wanted a simple answer to the question that I asked.

> In the time you spent asking the question here, giving attitude, and
> looking like a fool at a botched attempt in using a big word, you could
> have gotten your answer already.

Untrue. I wanted to know the experiences of others that have tried this.
Calling the Apple Store would not have provided me with that information.

 

[RONE]

Our laptops run pretty darn cold compared to a lot of other Windows-running laptops. Lots of people with the performance that we have in our MBP's have to get an external fan board to set their computer on to keep the temps down. You have a good machine, and you want better because you've read of one thing Apple does that you don't like. Your computer is not broken and it's performance is not hurting. How about enjoying how great of a machine you have, rather than complaining about how much better it could be? You're already leaps and bounds ahead of our Windows brethren.

 

[mmoy]

Our laptops run pretty darn cold compared to a lot of other Windows-running laptops. Lots of people with the performance that we have in our MBP's have to get an external fan board to set their computer on to keep the temps down. You have a good machine, and you want better because you've read of one thing Apple does that you don't like. Your computer is not broken and it's performance is not hurting. How about enjoying how great of a machine you have, rather than complaining about how much better it could be? You're already leaps and bounds ahead of our Windows brethren.

I have five laptops. And I work with a lot of people with multiple high-end and midrange laptops. I also understand computer architecture and follow TDP ratings of processors and chipsets. I've overclocked and underclocked laptops and made a fair number of modifications to them. I've only replaced CPUs on desktops but I did consider replacing the CPU in my Compaq laptop.

That you need an external fan on a laptop isn't an endorsement point. I didn't say that my laptop is broken and I didn't say that there are any performance problems so please dispense with the strawman fallacies.

> How about enjoying how great of a machine you have, rather than
> complaining about how much better it could be?

I'm glad that Apple Inc doesn't have your attitude. The drive to always
improve something is what excellence in execution is all about.

> You're already leaps and bounds ahead of our Windows brethren.

I spend far more time on Windows and Linux than on Mac OSX doing mostly
engineering work. The first MacBook Pro was for our son. I like the hardware
though I was aware of the heat issue but I did read about the personal fix
for it over here. I plan to buy another comple of MacBook Pros when they
come equipped with Penryn Mobile chips which should require 1/3rd less
power with IPC improvements that should improve performance between 10
and 100% depending on the application. I'm looking forward to trying out the
new SSE4 instructions on a few image rendering routines.

It looks like there's a pretty easy fix to the thermal paste problem and I'm just
asking a simple question. For some reason a lot of folks like to try an throw out strawmen, fallacious arguments and decoys without any skin in the game.

 

[schweb]

I already knew that. Believe it or not, I just wanted a simple answer to the question that I asked.

Here is your simple answer...

Call your Apple store and ask them. No one here can tell you the answer. I'm no sure why you continue to belabor the point when you could just pick up the phone and ask. Here's a link to get their number:

http://www.apple.com/retail




Now to everyone who has participated in this thread, I would have you all return your attention to the forum rules for a moment, paying special attention to the sections about courtesy. Personal attacks, flaming, and disrespect are not permitted here.

 

[mmoy]

> Here is your simple answer...

> Call your Apple store and ask them. No one here can tell
> you the answer. I'm no sure why you continue to belabor
> the point when you could just pick up the phone and ask.
> Here's a link to get their number:

> http://www.apple.com/retail

My store opened at noon and they're 40 minutes away. So no, I couldn't call them up. As far as nobody being able to
tell me, that's indeterminate. If someone has already done
this, then they would be able to provide me with an answer.

> Now to everyone who has participated in this thread, I
> would have you all return your attention to the forum
> rules for a moment, paying special attention to the
> sections about courtesy. Personal attacks, flaming,
> and disrespect are not permitted here.

Thanks. I don't like getting jumped on.

 

[schweb]

> Here is your simple answer...

> Call your Apple store and ask them. No one here can tell
> you the answer. I'm no sure why you continue to belabor
> the point when you could just pick up the phone and ask.
> Here's a link to get their number:

> http://www.apple.com/retail

My store opened at noon and they're 40 minutes away. So no, I couldn't call them up. As far as nobody being able to
tell me, that's indeterminate. If someone has already done
this, then they would be able to provide me with an answer.

So now it's after 12:00, call them. And if they're not open yet, wait to call them or is this a thermal paste emergency that can't wait a few hours to get an answer?

I'm neither understanding your apparent aversion to calling them nor your need to get an immediate answer for something that is not stopping you from using your machine.

> Now to everyone who has participated in this thread, I
> would have you all return your attention to the forum
> rules for a moment, paying special attention to the
> sections about courtesy. Personal attacks, flaming,
> and disrespect are not permitted here.

Thanks. I don't like getting jumped on.

BTW, it also applied to you as some of your responses were quite rude borderline acceptable.

 

[TWM]

i am still not quite sure if there is a problem with your machine. I can assure you, that if there is, apple will more than likely take care of it.

 

[mmoy]

> BTW, it also applied to you as some of your responses were quite rude
> borderline acceptable.

I'll have to work on that. I just reread the thread and thought that I was pretty controlled in my first few responses.

> is this a thermal paste emergency that can't wait a few hours to get an
> answer?

No emergency. I'd just like an answer.

> I'm neither understanding your apparent aversion to calling them nor
> your need to get an immediate answer for something that is not
> stopping you from using your machine.

I'm just looking for the experience of someone else having done this.

I don't understand your not understanding. I ask for purchasing and
service information, particularly from those with experience all the time.
People at work ask me for my opinions on vendors, assembler programming,
cars, houses and trading. I get questions on banks and brokers. Why?
Because one wants an informed opinion; not strictly what you get from
the broker.

 

[mmoy]

i am still not quite sure if there is a problem with your machine. I can assure you, that if there is, apple will more than likely take care of it.

Obviously Apple doesn't consider it a problem as they're shipping these machines. I've had my share of hot laptops from other vendors as well. What I'd like to do is to see if I can make the current situation better. Perhaps I should go back to the other thread to see what people did.