Laptop Getting Worryingly Hot (Basic Tasks/Near Idle/

Hi, thanks for clicking here - I appreciate ALL replies constructive or otherwise.

I have recently acquired the Mid-2010 MacBook Pro and its my first MacBook Ive owned - so I don't know comparisons or if things are normal whereas I would a normal windows PC..

Its running quite hot - from what I can see in comparisons with windows PCs, or what I would see to be 'optimal' for idling and basic tasks.

For example It idles about 40 or 37 when doing NOTHING at about 2000RPM or maybe a bit higher.

When opening programs or watching videos fullscreen it knocks up to about 60C which is quite weird as it instantly gets 20C higher In milliseconds?

Even at about 5000RPM the fans set manually it will still not go lower than that 60-70 when watching videos so I hate to see what its like running a small game or such like..

My question is could this be a fan issue, they are spinning and making noise sometimes sort of a juddering noise but not very loudly at all only if you put your ear to the machine, and I can't feel very much air output from the back of the Mac or in between the screen and keyboard (Is this normal?) or could there be a problem with heatsink or dust or other in the fans outtake through heatsink/exhaust.

I am going to try compressed air, failing that taking out fans and completely serviced the fans, failing THAT I am going to buy a new fan assembly on eBay which hopefully is a last resort.. or unless you guys here can give me another suggestion id REALLY appreciate it as I'm not very familiar with MacBooks.

Thanks!!

TL;DR- My Mac idles 40C, 70C at basic tasks, not much output from fans pairwise at 5000-6000RPM when set manually - could it be dust or fans or heatsink problem?

I believe it could be something to do with fan wise.. the thermal paste is kind of a last option - the reason for this is there isn't a lot of output even when I ramped the fans to 6k RPM in an attempt to give it a good run for 30 seconds, however there is some - is this normal?

I am currently in the process of acquiring some compressed air, and potentially taking out the fan giving it a good dust, if it is visually broken or defective I will at that point replace one/both fans.

My question is, do ANY of the fans sit directly on the CPU or such like, similar to a Windows machine? My knowledge is primarily standard windows machines, and not Macs so getting to understand them will further aid me in diagnosing and fixing this!

I'll update this post after I have done the above steps!

Thanks for a quick reply, will keep you posted.

Hi all,

So I have acquired compressed air like I said - I opened up the laptop and did a few thorough sprays into the heatsinks, fan, and towards the heat-pipes (it is not very accessible without taking the logic board actually out of the system) It made a slight improvement to general usage if I'm honest, however it wasn't all that impactful.. temperatures don't tend to run away *as much* (Sitting at a steady 53-54C whilst writing this and charging, with it propped up on a glasses case above a mousepad, which probably isn't the best surface for heat dissipation) so them sitting at quite a steady temperature is a positive difference/impact in my books, however watching a YT video or opening a few programs and using them will make the temperatures go to high/mid 70's and potentially even higher but I haven't stressed it yet as I don't want to put any unnecessary pressure on the CPU without diagnosing if it's 'NORMAL' or needs something like a new fan, etc.

*QUESTION* It currently has 4GB of DDR3 and for todays standards that is by all means not a great lot, will upgrading to 8GB DDR3 take pressure of the CPU, in turn stopping it having to go to a higher usage % constantly, eventually in turn potentially let it run cooler?

My next task is going to be taking the fan assembly actually OUT of the MacBook I think and checking the fans themselves and investigating the slight juddering/ticking noise (Which I suspect to be the left fan, not sure) making sure the fan is not getting knocked by anything which could hinder its productivity/efficiency.

If I notice that the fans are visually damaged or worn or have something wrong with the bearing itself which is making it not spin at its said RPM I will order a new one/two from eBay or elsewhere - or I will take it to a local computer store to A. see if they have any fans in stock B. see if they can give me any further information from their knowledge or experience.

Again, thanks for reading this.. I appreciate it greatly as it's quite a large document but helps me massively.

I will keep this thread updated with any information/news I discover or gain.