Do modern laptops really run this hot?

[neilencio]

I don't really have much experience with portables, and I've dabbled in overclocking desktops, so I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to temps. I already get a bit nervous if my desktop reaches upper 50C on idle (knowing that cpus are much more sensitive to heat than GPUs these days)

And this holiday, I got myself a cheap e-machines laptop that has an AMD e-450, it's one of those fusion APU thingies where the processing unit and a gpu (that's on par with low end discrete ones) sit on the same die. It gets very hot, reaching mid 50s on idle, and reaching mid to upper 60s after an hour of Counter Strike: Source on high settings (with low settings it peaks at about 62C). It's only the APU that's reaching high temps, though, the HD is at an okay-ish 35C, which only peaks at 40C (while unzipping/writing a large zip file).

I did a lot of googling and found that it's par for the course with fusions, with some of the users even comfortable with 72C peaks. And then I looked at average temps for other portables and even the mobile core I3s idle at low 50s. I thought portables were supposed to run cooler and made to produce less heat? (whereas it seems that nowadays they just make them more resistant to heat?) Even the flimsy dual core atom netbooks produce only slightly lower temps, at least in tropical countries like mine.

[ZenErik]

Eh, I don't get too uncomfortable with my laptop potentially over heating until it's 75 - 80 degrees Celsius or higher. That's on an HP laptop with an AMD A-series APU. Very nice bang for the buck, btw.

You'd understand if you've ever used a MacBook Pro/Air. You can often fry an egg on those things when playing back video or doing anything mildly tasking.

[neilencio]

Nice. I bought it with low expectations, expecting something similar to an atom with a slightly better videocard (especially since it was priced like that), but was surprised that it can handle 3D games that would have worked like a slideshow on a netbook. I figured the catch was that it will overheat easily, but if it's not gonna get instantly borked on the temps I'm getting, then it may be one of the best tech-related purchases I've made in the last few years.

[gtmtnbiker]

At work, I have a Dell 1080p laptop with an i7 that runs fairly cool. At home, my wife and daughter have the i3. Maybe it's the graphics card/chip that generates most of the heat?

[ZenErik]

Hmm. I should also note that I overclock the crap out of my laptop. When I undervolt it, it is extremely cool. The default settings are 800 MHz - 1.5 GHz with a 2.4 GHz max. When undervolted it is quite cool even at max.

When I overclock I use the default voltage settings and have the CPU go from 1.5 GHz - 2.4 GHz. 3 GHz max. Only then will the fans start spinning a bit faster. This happens while playing Skyrim or de/re-encoding 24-bit audio.

[J T]

You might want to get a cooling pad, but my HP Pavilion dv6 ran really hot. My new Lenovo y570 gets a bit warm, but nothing like the HP.

[neilencio]

I got a new cooler pad, and I get 46-52C during normal/non-gaming use now. The old one was probably crappy (the old one pulls air from underneath and pushes it away as exhaust from the side, but it had a weak fan that it wasn't really doing a good job). The new one I got blows air underneath, and has recessed areas so that the air leaves in a certain direction instead of accumulating in one place.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Most laptops wont overheat until something hits around 90c.

@JT

I'm surprised you say the Y570 doesn't get so hot. With my dads Y560 (which I foolishly didn't take from him before he sold it), it would easily get as hot 80c. It never overheated though.

[J T]

@JT

I'm surprised you say the Y570 doesn't get so hot. With my dads Y560 (which I foolishly didn't take from him before he sold it), it would easily get as hot 80c. It never overheated though.

It does get hot, just not as hot as the HP Pavilion dv6

It runs in the high 40's C during normal use. I haven't tested it after heavy gaming yet though.

[AznKhmerBoi]

With those temps it should be fine for laptops. Mine idle at about 45-49 and full load at 70c.