This is what happens when function plays second fiddle to form.
Intel had long been pushing for cooler chips and longer battery life. Beginning with its Centrino line and the Pentium M processor.
Apple hopped in right after the Core chips landed (dual core), and these chips were amazing for Apple. They could continue with the macbook pro design with a new and faster chip.
Then Intel went on a speed binge again and tried to yield the most bang for your buck, sacrificing thermals and battery life.
Now finally with the Haswell chips they took a step back and tried to improve battery and thermals. And hopefully Broadwell will be even better.
even Lenovo hinges suck now.
Putting vents at the hinge actually makes the most sense. It guarantees ventilation ports won't be fully obstructed. The vents face away from the user, reducing fan noise. Air ducts are short, since that area is close to the CPU/GPU.
It's hard to cool a laptop that can generate 85 watts of heat. Moreso if one cares about it looking nice and being thin. You may not like the trade-offs Apple chooses, but they put a lot of thought into their industrial design.
Critics hold Apple to a higher standard than other companies, and the media reports Apple's failings more than other companies. There are tons of examples: iPhone 6 bending (it's just as sturdy as other phones), solder separation issues (rare; limited to a few first-gen models), overheating (again, rare and usually first-gen models). Other manufacturers have similar issues, but you never hear about them because they don't get eyeballs. Few care if some model of HP laptop overheats.
In general, Apple makes quality hardware. If it were otherwise, they wouldn't be able to charge so much.
Edit: I have no idea why this comment has been downvoted. Anyone want to clue me in?
Oh, so you have never heard of the power of Marketing and branding ?
My experience of Apple hardware, from owning it myself and from seeing how it fares for those around me who also use it, is that it's pretty, but poorly designed, lacking in features, and very unreliable.
They are able to charge so much because they market it well. Also, OSX is a decent OS in comparison to Windows, for those who can't be bothered to learn Linux.
In term of hardware, I've had a few lemons and I've complained loudly but under Applecare, Apple replaced the mbp retina I had that failed 3 times with a new model (which runs perfectly fin) so I can't really complain.
I've also had very long lived devices from Apple, my first ibook lasted 4-5 years until my parents sat on it, my wife's old powerbook lasted 6 years until it was stolen, my first generation iphone still works perfectly fine...
One thing I did learn though is never to buy a first generation model from Apple, they tend to be unreliable (at least in my anecdotical experience)
How's that Kool Aid taste?
[edit] Not a great image but you can see where the vents are on the back and the left hand side on this image:
https://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpIDoMt_OkYzjIF9E6...
Doesn't matter how far I fold the screen back, the vents aren't blocked by it.
"Thick and bulky, with a keyboard studded with enough auxiliary buttons to look like a space shuttle control panel, the T420 is as old-school as a laptop can be."
I mean, it's all a matter of trade-offs, as the parent says. Personally I have been using my Macbook mostly as a desktop replacement, so in hindsight I would probably trade the small form factor for better cooling and more sustained performance, for people using a laptop more "dynamically" (carrying it around daily), I can see mobility to come first.
EDIT: Have you ever owned an ultrabook or a netbook ? I went from a T61p to a Macbook Air the the increase in mobility was significant. I used it on bed, on the couch, on the train, with no discomfort at all even after hours on end, unlike the bulkier laptops I owned before.
The Thinkpad may have more buttons than a Macbook, but I've never seen this as a disadvantage... The Thinkpad keyboard is much nicer to use than the Macbook keyboard. I've owned both. I'll admit that the Macbook keyboard looks nicer though. But that's the point isn't it. Macs are for people who care what their computers look like more than how useful they are.
Weight is hardly a big differentiator for MacBook Pros, as I understand it. The difference in weight between the ThinkPad T420, which the grandparent mentions, and the latest 15" MacBook Pro isn't that great: they weigh 4.9 lb (2.24 kg) and 4.5 pounds (2.06 kg) respectively according to the official specs. I suppose the ThinkPad will have a slightly heavier power adapter as well.
I mean be serious. Thinness and weight are critical to a non insignificant group of people. They could be people like myself who have to take his laptop to/fro work slongside gym wear and s number of books. I couldn't physically csrry s heavier laptop.
Heavier computers are something I had to make a decision to go out with. I knew I would be lugging it around on my shoulder and feeling grumpy. But the Air? It, plus a Wacom tablet next to it, takes up less room than the hardback sketchbooks I used to haul around as a matter of course. And I can sit out under a tree on a nice day and do finished, full-color art with a lot less mass than hauling a paint box around. (The fact that a full charge lasts most of a day helps a lot, too. I only take the power brick when I'm going out of town.)
Now, I will admit that I do also care about how stuff looks. I'm an artist; it's my job. But my experience is that there is something really, really different about having a laptop that does everything you need, and weighs less than a hardbound book.
I have a T420 and have major heating issues with it playing games. I've tried everything: thinkpad fan control that turns the fan up to 7000RPM, clearing everything out with compressed air, replacing the thermal paste..
After a few years of observations, I think the problem may lie in software.. It seems like when I'm playing games and what not my CPU gets turboboosted, which stays there until it reaches about 90C, when it gets severely throttled, killing framerate and all. I use linux, so right now I have several scripts that goes and disables turbo boost. However, even at that point, it still will boost the CPU when running certain GL applications... Not sure why.
In fact, I've noticed this issue on all Sandybridge laptops I own/have encountered: the 2011 MBP, a dell inspiron... Ivy bridge computers seems to have no issue with this (W530, 2012 MBP).
In my experience, almost no consumer laptop is designed with a gaming thermal load in mind (aka heavy cpu + max gpu for extended periods of time). I'm not even sure it's possible in a conventional laptop case.
... I know this is completely useless advice, but don't do heavy gaming on a laptop without expecting problems. There are other form factors much better thermally suited.
tl;dr: mobility/thermal-tolerance/performance, pick two
Regardless, thermal performance under heavy load in laptop should either be tolerated, or the manufacturers should disable higher clock speeds.
My W530 on the other hand has no issue with heat. Heavy gaming puts it to about 75-80C. It is also much bulkier in size.
Edit: my dedicated graphics is off most of the time. Even then, CPU alone can drive the temperature up through the roof.
Apparently at one point (1983) someone thought it was possible: http://papers.sae.org/831101/
I wonder how many of these Macbook issues stem from popularity. If you look at any vendor's forums, you will find a bunch of posts about issues that a lot of people are having. They never make news, though, because how many people own an HP 5370-2wt20 laptop? A lot of people own HP laptops, but they don't have one model that makes up a large percentage of the laptop market. Macs, on the other hand, have a single (ish) model that makes up a large percentage of the laptop market. If there is an issue that affects 1% of HP 8209-c50mg buyers versus 1% of Macbook Pro buyers, only the Macbook numbers will be large enough to make news.
Do you mean RHEL 6? :-)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation release 6.5 (Santiago).
I have opened up my laptop more than once and cleaned all the areas i can, but I still can't seem to get the temperature to go down like others claim. At this point I'm considering replacing my fan assembly and see if I have better luck but haven't gotten around to do so.
To me the issue was present mostly when gaming, not really during normal use (with the Macbook is the same).
It failed me after a few years and sold it for spares.
So, when it's on my lap it doesn't get enough airflow and burns my leg.
So much for 'sensible' design.
Also, Apple could place their CPU/GPU wherever they wanted.
I have an rMBP 15" and a 15" Lenovo Y500. The Y500 cost less than half of the rMBP for equivalent performance but the experience, battery, screen, trackpad, etc are of course much better on the Mac. But for intensive tasks, even with nearly identical internals and the same OS, the Y500 is far more pleasant to use. Say what you want about Lenovo and the terrible things they've done to their laptops in the last few years, but the Y500 is designed to expel heat in the least obtrusive manner possible and it does an amazing job.
At full bore, all cores, maybe a game, the Y500 happily pushes a lot of air out the side vent, and the keyboard, trackpad, bezels, etc., stay very cool.
With the same workload, the rMBP gets very, very hot and seems to blow a small amount of air out of the keyboard (?), occasionally burning my fingers, It's loud and very uncomfortable to use.
In a sense it definitely makes me feel like I overpaid for the extra speed, since I can't use it comfortably anyway.
All they do is "cooling" the aluminum bottom case, which has no contact (or though holes) with the inside parts of the laptop generating heath.
I have three macbooks, two airs and a 13" mpbr, and none have had any thermal issues at all, even in the heat of summer.
If you are using a laptop in a way that generates that much heat, you probably get about 1 hour of battery life, which sort of defeats the purpose of having a laptop in the first place. A larger fan or heavier case material would also make the laptop less user-friendly for the vast majority of users.
I'm sure Apple has done some pretty exhaustive (no pun
intended) thermodynamic analysis of the case design.