Apple: Steve and I Have Been Wrong 24 comments
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I bought my first Mac (the 128k variety) in January 1984. As part of the rationalization for spending $3,000 for a computer toy, I promised my wife I’d find a way to make money off of it — so I wrote a book on Basic programming. (Which wasn't published, but that’s another story.)
Of course the Mac reflected Steve’s uncompromising vision of what “insanely great” was. One thing where he was notoriously inflexible was on the question of a cooling fan. The advantage of the fan was that it would keep the computer from overheating and malfunctioning; the disadvantage was that it made noise.
The original Mac 128/512 and Mac Plus all lacked the cooling fan, and the quietness of the computer I found appealing, at least at first. (After Steve left Apple, the Macintosh SE and SE/30 in the same case did have a fan.)
However, I found in the summer of 1984 — writing my book nights and weekends in Southern California — that without a fan that once the room temperature was about 85° or 90°, the computer would malfunction in unpredictable ways. To be able to work under typical summer conditions, I cobbled together a solution with velcro and a fan from a surplus parts store, and later bought one of the sleek add-on products sold by third parties.
Fast forward 24 years and probably 20 Macs later. Between 4-6 p.m. this afternoon, my MacBook Air was acting strangely. I kept rebooting and closing applications but it would take 15 minutes to do something that should take 30 seconds. I finally gave up and did something else.
On tonight’s TV news, I found the answer: record temperatures from our latest heatwave. The high today in San José was 99°, and 101° for the reporting station closest to my house. I’m guess it was above 90° inside today in my home office. (Of course there’s A/C at work, but none at home).
My use of the Air over the past 6 months has shown a consistent pattern that when the computer gets hot, the computer seems to slow down — consistent with older power management schemes of reducing power/cycles to the CPU to reduce its heat output. So today the computer got slowed down to avoid overheating. Months ago I put the Mac on a box roughly 4"x4"x1" to increase the cooling and heat transfer under the case, but that obviously wasn’t enough.
Mac users have been complaining (like Steve) about fan noise for years, including on the MacBook Air. Still, the computer needs an aggressive variable speed fan that goes full blast when it’s needed.
Apple claims
- Operating temperature: 50° to 95°F (10° to 35°C)
- Storage temperature: -13° to 113°F (-24° to 45°C)
but I don’t buy it. It’s not much use having having a portable computer that gives up before I do.
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This article has 24 comments:
weblog.infoworld.com/v...
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I'm a fanboy but this is taking it to new extremes! Your productivity might increase if you had taken some of that $2,000 and bought a MacBook and a $400 air conditioner.
Just saying.
Why didn't you give up writing when you failed to publish your BASIC book in the 80's? Seems to me you are just whining about the heat, which is apparently getting to you as well as your computer.
i hate heat so i can't understand anyone living without AC. but i have news for you... in 90+ weather, even an internal fan won't help all that much. a fan just circulates, it doesn't really cool when only hot air is there.
so, go to home depot or lowes and get a wire closet shelf and put that on your desk...put your computer there. and while at lowes...um, they carry small AC units... one in just that room could cool it enough, say to 80, and solve the problem.
and..mac101 is right. but also keep your screen less bright and don't 'game' or have a lot opened at once.
ATTACK THEM - NOW.
You know that "Steve" wants you to.
For all you fanboi dweebs telling him to buy an AC unit, try actually reading the article, Joel was well within the manufacturers operating limits.
The MacBook Air was not robust, operating within the stated manufacturer's tolerances.
Joel: this was a pretty cool article, right on the money.
nothing that you say will ever carry any value after your recent post on Apple leadership.
It's a fact that Apple state an operating temperature. Go look at their site.
It's a fact that Joel experienced issues with his unit whilst operating within Apple's recommended temp.
What about that do you not understand?
I know, it's political season, if *you* agree with your opponent, but it's embarrassing to *your* stance, attack.
Joel didnt use his computer within apple's recommendation. He used it in an hot environnement at leat 90degree without any air circulation and on his own body at 99 degree.
You're an idiot. God, stop writing and go, go .... go flip burgers.
"Go flip burgers"
I'd have put it differently.
It was actually between 99 and 101 according to the author. He has no way to cool his house down, but he "guesses" it was 90° inside his house. It could just as well have been 100. That would be a better guess.
Don't ever set your laptop down on the mattress, etc. and leave it for awhile. Never, ever!! Motherboard gets hot,,,and you will have to buy a new laptop. Always use a chill pad w/laptops.