MBPs are a bit notorious for having too much thermal paste applied during manufacturing. It's a bit hit or miss, and it's getting better, but here's a good exa

MBPs are a bit notorious for having too much thermal paste applied during manufacturing. It's a bit hit or miss, and it's getting better, but here's a good example... * 2011 15" MBP (thunderbolt), i7-2.0GHz (quad-core, 8 logical CPUs), AMD 6490. * Laptop 1: 32C at idle (silent, fan at 1900rpm), 57C (fan at 3400rpm) at peak load for 2 hours. Never tops 36C under "normal" usage. * Laptop 2: 54C at idle (fan at 3000rpm), 75C or more (fan at full tilt) at peak load for 30 minutes Hits 58C under "normal" usage. We eventually cracked open laptop 2, to find the thermal paste was a bit of a disaster. After cleaning it up and reapplying the appropriate amount, temperatures were consistently with 5-10% of Laptop 1. What's most unfortunate is it's hard to get a MacBook Pro returned or repaired for this. The solution, sadly, is to DIY.