Macbook Vs. Dell Latitude: Which Is Hotter?

We've seen how the Macbook's excessive heat can be used to cook your breakfast (which isn't a good sign as far as computers go). But is Apple's little gem alone with this heat issue, or are other Core Duo-based notebooks running just as hot as Apple's well-publicized stove computer. Brian Krische wanted to know, so he put a Macbook and a Dell Laititude D620 to the test to see which laptop will scold your lap faster.

Using The Hills Have Eyes UNRATED as his test DVD and keeping his room at a steady 75 degrees F, Krische ran a number of tests to see how the two machines stacked-up to each other. After booting, the Macbook had a slight lead with an average 77.7 degree temperature, compared to the Latitude's 77 degrees. By the end of the movie, however, the Macbook was noticably hotter than the Latitude, with an average temperature of 91.625 degrees on the top and 100.525 degrees on the bottom. By comparison, the Latitude's temperature was 89.8 degrees on the top and 99 degrees on the bottom.

Part of the extra heat generated by the Macbooks can be attributed to the lack of cooling fans, which the Latitude does have. Even without cooling fans, that Macbook was only a few degrees higher, on average, than the Latitude, which means that the Core Duo's heat could just be a side-effect of using that particular processor. While it won't help your burned lap any, it's comforting for Macbook users worldwide to know that they aren't alone in this.

Krische onLine [via Gizmodo]