Do Apple sacrifice substance over style?

[Crouton]

This is just something I've been thinking about recently. My Macbook tends to overheat really quickly and crash when it gets to hot if I use certain programs. Just in general it always get's REALLY hot and starts to hum really loudly, like a plane about to take off.

I spent some time googling why this is and found out that for the whole Macbook, they only have two tiny fans right at the back. Some more searching led me to some places saying that the reason Apple do this is because they don't want vents anywhere visible on the machine because it would ruin the look of the computer.

I understand Apple area obessed with appearance, almost above everything else, but it seems in this case they almost took it too far. Macbooks could benefit so much from just a few more fans to keep things from overheating so often. And proper vents so that the air can circulate properly through the computer.

Any thoughts on this? Has anyone else had trouble with Mac products getting really hot?

 

[35g700]

My MacBook Pro does not overheat unless I block the vents. It has 1 fan in the rear.

I've found that older MacBook's fans tend to be louder because the CPU is slower and usually under a higher load generating more heat.

 

[Crouton]

I find that the placement of that tiny vent along the back of the Macbook really frustrating. It means you can't actually rest the laptop on your well... lap, if you don't want to overheat. Or on a bed or something, because the vent is instantly covered. Seems like a silly place to put it. I know they were trying to hide it out of view though.

 

[MillField]

A friend of mine has a 2007 model which runs very hot/loud. However I've used a good few 2009+ models which seem to run fine. What year is yours?

 

[Crouton]

Late 2011. Although mine is only 4GB of RAM. I'm thinking of upgrading it to 16GB to try stop the crashing.

 

[Crouton]

It's not even two years old yet...

 

[MillField]

Upgrading the RAM would be a good start. It really shouldn't be running too hot of its a 2011 model. That's still pretty fresh. Might be worth bringing to a mac specialist before you commit to upgrading the RAM though...there could be a problem with the fan.

 

[Crouton]

Haha, to me there is a problem with the fan, it's tiny, there's only two very small ones right at the back and it doesn't have proper ventilation.

 

[Thorax_the_Impaler]

Haha, to me there is a problem with the fan, it's tiny, there's only two very small ones right at the back and it doesn't have proper ventilation.

Look back at EVERY apple product that's been manufactured since the original iMac. Then look at direct competition for the products at the time. Apple heavily favors form over function.

 

[35g700]

Late 2011. Although mine is only 4GB of RAM. I'm thinking of upgrading it to 16GB to try stop the crashing.

I have 8GB in my 2010 model and according to Activity Monitor I use around 4GB at all times so upgrading your RAM to at least 4Gb should help.

Look back at EVERY apple product that's been manufactured since the original iMac. Then look at direct competition for the products at the time. Apple heavily favors form over function.

Not really. The trackpad on my 2010 MBP is still far more functional than any trackpad I've ever used.