The fans in my PowerBook are becoming extremely annoying. I do appreciate their use, but they're not at all effective! This can either be a problem owing to the airflow design of the PowerBook (there is only one section of the PowerBook I see where air can flow.. and that's BEHIND the display when it is open, and absolutely closed off when the display is closed.. heat's trapped inside, and no air goes in...), a design problem owing to the OS (my temperature readout says 42 degrees centigrade, fan kicks in at 44. But whenever a program, such as QUICKTIME is playing, the fans come on automatically, as if preparing itself for overheat). What gives? My fan is ALWAYS on. As for the ineffectiveness of the fans, the fans actually produce more heat than it dissipates. The area where the fan is, is constantly much more hotter than where the CPU is. Not to mention it's so annoying, and so embarassing in a quiet place!

Check this out:
http://www.enlightenltd.com/temp.jpg

Anyone have the same problem in their laptops? I know the iMacs are notoriously quiet.

Have you tried elevating your Powerbook a bit? For example with mine I usually put it on a Pocky box (in the centre) so that there is roughly 3/4" of clearance on the sides to help with airflow and keeping it cooler. I find it helps a lot, but if you do something extremely processor intensive for a long period or use the GPU heavily (eg. OpenGL games) it's going to come on no matter what.

That does help quite a bit.

I use 2 doorstops to elevate my iBook in the back end. The more air running under the laptop the better :)

on occasion, i worked on a 17" powerbook for a job i was doing some freelance for. when i had to put it away at night, that thing was so BLOODY hot, it was incredible! :eek: i had to be carefull on how i held it or it would become very uncomfortable, FAST!

got one of those stands with two fans underneath blowing air to my powerbook's bottom, and it works great.
sometimes when i take it off the stand and leave it on its front, i warm up pitas on the backside of my powerbook.

Which revision of powerbook? In my experiance they run very quietly except for playing games or encoding video.

These are great. I have a 12" rev A which is known as the hottest of the hot. The CoolPad (http://www.roadtools.com/podium.html) is great!

Adjustable and portable versions available. Another nice feature is that is swivels.

A cheap solution for you.......find a coat hanger and a cork (from a bottle of vino). Simply cut the straight part of the metal hanger to fit the underside of your laptop then cut the cork in half and insert the halves into each end of the metal wire. Volia -Instant stand...works great, creates good airflow....

I will try to take a photo and post it.....

Is heat a problem with ibooks as well?

I remember using a Dell laptop many years ago - I couldn't use it on my lap because it became to hot.
I should have sued Dell for false advertizing :D

I got my doorstops 2 for $1 at Walmart :D

I put those round Cabinet Bumper Pads on the bottom of mine.
Comes in packages like this:
http://graphics.x10.com/images_medium/blish/4627741.jpg

And looks like this:
http://www.3m.com/us/mfg_industrial/indtape/bumpon/images/d_cross_section.gif

I have to replace them every once and a while, they even have black ones to match my black PB. Clear for iBooks and AlBooks.

you all have no idea what i'm doing already... i've got a 2-inch novel elevating my PowerBook already (been doing that since I first bought it.. never thought the idea of spending money on some plastic stand is sane...), and i've put it right under my window with it open. i've even pulled the curtain in such a way that it channels cold air straight into my PowerBook. You can imagine my productivity level... :( to make things worse, the fan's still bloody on! I can't stand this anymore...

sigh.

I noticed in another thread that you are doing a lot of video encoding. If that's the case your PB is going to be hot. No way around it. You hard drive is churning like crazy and your processor is probably running consistently at 70%.

If this is the case, relax and burn that puppy in. If you have high heat in a 17" under regular use, then you may have an issue.

You could try installing a walk-in fridge and workstation...

I suggest getting it checked out. There might be something blocking the airflow. My 17" got pretty darn toasty on my lap, I just got used to it.

I think that as long as CPUs don't go above 68C for extended periods of time and above 75C at all it should be fine...

I think that as long as CPUs don't go above 68C for extended periods of time and above 75C at all it should be fine...

that's quite disturbing... but my complaint is much less of a heat issue, but the fans! they don't work! not to mention that when they're on, they cause more heat than when they're not on.
:confused:

I think you may have an issue there. Even when my fans are going full tilt, they are not at all as disturbing as you say. That and the fact that my fans, when they do come on, do an effective job dissipating the heat. As I said before, my PB is notoriously the hottest of all PB's released.