Hi all,

I have SETI set up on my MacBook Pro (Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7800 @ 2.60GHz with 4gig of RAM).

I noticed that the benchmarks produced by my MBP are better than my Quad Core machine at home (Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz with 4gig of RAM), however, the work units are being done slower and the average turn around time is slower on my MBP.

I currently have the GUI version installed both machines. Is the CMD line version faster or are the benchmarks not totally reliable?

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The benchmarks are not totally reliable. Most often Linux benchmarks are among the lowest when they should be higher than almost any Windows PC of the same configuration.

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Is your home machine a desktop system? It may be that power-management functions of the laptop are keeping a tighter rein on its CPU than the other’s do. You could set the Processor Performance (in System Preferences>Energy Saver>Options) to “Highest”, but beware of overheating: I’d recommend installing a temperature-monitoring utility to help keep an eye on things.

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Yes it is my desktop at home.

My MBP does not seem to have that option (Leopard 10.5.8).

Now that I think about it after reading your post and checking my BOINC settings, it would be because I have my MBP set to only use, at most, 60% CPU. The reason for this is because I started out at 100% and the CPU temperature was reaching over 100 degrees Celcius! Even with a heatsink pad underneath the laptop. At 60% the fan keeps the CPU temperature hovering around 75-80 degrees.

Even at that temperature, I'm still worried about it running 24 hours a day for the 5 days of the week I'm at work.

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My MBP does not seem to have that option (Leopard 10.5.8).

They may have hidden it somewhere else … sorry, I’ve never used any Mac OS version later than 10.4.11.

Now that I think about it after reading your post and checking my BOINC settings, it would be because I have my MBP set to only use, at most, 60% CPU.

That would explain it!

The reason for this is because I started out at 100% and the CPU temperature was reaching over 100 degrees Celcius! Even with a heatsink pad underneath the laptop. At 60% the fan keeps the CPU temperature hovering around 75-80 degrees.

Even at that temperature, I'm still worried about it running 24 hours a day for the 5 days of the week I'm at work.

As long as it doesn’t get any hotter, it’s probably OK. My dual-core G5 (minitower) at 100% 24/7 is pretty consistently in the 70°–75° range, but that being said, the fans only need to be on medium low (judging from the sound they make) to hold it there. Laptops being generally much more fragile WICT cooling, throttling them back probably pays off in peace of mind, at least …

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My MBP does not seem to have that option (Leopard 10.5.8).

They may have hidden it somewhere else … sorry, I’ve never used any Mac OS version later than 10.4.11.

It's still there in 10.5.8, but I suspect that the option may not be there for Intel chips or for systems that are unable to change clocking on the fly.

The reason for this is because I started out at 100% and the CPU temperature was reaching over 100 degrees Celcius! Even with a heatsink pad underneath the laptop. At 60% the fan keeps the CPU temperature hovering around 75-80 degrees.

Even at that temperature, I'm still worried about it running 24 hours a day for the 5 days of the week I'm at work.

As long as it doesn’t get any hotter, it’s probably OK. My dual-core G5 (minitower) at 100% 24/7 is pretty consistently in the 70°–75° range, but that being said, the fans only need to be on medium low (judging from the sound they make) to hold it there. Laptops being generally much more fragile WICT cooling, throttling them back probably pays off in peace of mind, at least …

The above temperature is what the G5 is rated at. I think some Intel chips may be able to run hotter but as I am not sure of the part names/numbers for Intel chips, I haven't found the Spec sheets for the chips. On the other hand, I saw a story where a guy burned his male member with the heat produced by his laptop. I agree that it's a good idea to keep laptops cooler as they aren't intended to handle a load like a server would.

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