smcFanControl: The Heatbuster
When Apple transitioned its portable line of Macintosh to the Intel platform, a lot of Macbook and Macbook Pro users experienced rampant heat issues, especially those early adopters who ordered the “first revision”. Despite Apple’s progressive efforts to curb heat complications via software patch on Core Duo laptops, heat is still public enemy #1 even on portable machines running Core 2 Duo processors.
If your machine abruptly locks up, heat is usually the primary culprit. When I run Aperture on my Macbook Pro, temperature can hover around 85 *C (185 *F), even sitting on a Griffin’s iCurve. Over time, several independent developers wrote applications that attempt to rectify the thermal issue. One particular macware that I have been regularly using is smcFanControl. It is basically an intel-only application that displays the temperature of your mac in either celsius or fahrenheit format and more importantly control the built-in fans’ speed.
New Features
Hendrik Holtmann, the developer behind smcFanControl, has recently released version 2.0. Not only has it been rewritten from the ground up, but there are a number of compelling new features worth trying out.
The former standalone application has now been moved to the menubar resulting in a speedier access to fans’ settings and quicker monitoring overlook. I am also glad to see that the new version supports all intel-based macintosh including Apple’s flagship Mac Pro. One of the most sought-after features absence on the previous version was the ability to save and apply fan settings for different usages and version 2.0 delivers upon that with just a mouse click . For instance, if you use portable macs, you can have smcFanControl automatically apply your fans’ speed’s favorites depending on your power-source. One thing to note is that, you can only set the fan’s minimum speed as defined by Apple’s defaults, meaning you cannot “turn off” the fans. The new version also eradicates the old authentication methodology and opts for OS X verification. The option to auto-start smcFanControl after login has been redesigned as well.
Final Thoughts
There are two missing features that I hope the developer will consider implementing in the future version. First, wouldn’t it be great if smcFanControl variably adjusts the fans’ speed in real time based on the temperature you have pre-set? This is pretty useful in a scenario where your machine has cooled down and it does not need the fans to be running in full blast anymore or even the other way around.
Second, the “sync sliders”, which adjust two or more fans’ speed simultaneously is missing on the new version (Macbook has only one internal fan, so don’t be alarmed when you don’t see the “other”). I suspect that the latter will be available on the next release. For those users who use heavy-duty applications such as Final Cut Pro, Aperture, Photoshop, or what have you that make the processors work as much and as hard as possible , especially in their laptops, smcFanControl is a must-have. Not only do I highly recommend it, it is gratis. If you find it useful, however, consider donating the developer who has worked hard to make this possible.
Get your heatbuster here.
Must-have if your Mac tends to overheat, like some 1G MacBook Pros did.
I gotta figure out a way to do this on my dell, it’s always frying me knee!
I quite like the heat generated from laptops, it’s not that unbearable.
@Indraneel: you must live at zipcode 99686? lol.
Apple should consider buying this app from the developer and integrating it into OS X, before they get his with a testicular cancer class action lawsuit.