Betalogue

I am pleased to report that Apple has just released a software update called Mac Pro Audio Update 1.0 that addresses the problem with excessive CPU heat in 2009 Mac Pro computers during audio activities.

I first wrote about this problem a month ago, but this is a problem that has been plaguing 2009 Mac Pro computers (a.k.a. “Nehalem” models) for many months.

There have been more reports about this issue on the Mac web since my last post, including this post at Ars Technica and this one at Apple Insider. There is also a Facebook page about it.

I can confirm that the update appears to fix the problem on my machine. I can no longer reproduce the big temperature increase when playing tracks in iTunes, leaving Elgato Video Capture open and idle, or leaving Logic Pro 9 open and idle. According to Temperature Monitor, there are still temperature fluctuations during these activities, but they seem to be much more modest and within the range of what can be normally expected when using one’s computer for various activities.

It’s only through regular monitoring over a certain period of time that we’ll be able to confirm that the problem is gone for good, but I am sure that this software update brings substantial relief to all those Mac Pro owners who were rightfully concerned about the durability, reliability and energy consumption of their computer. It is also a relief to see confirmation that this was indeed a software issue that could be fixed through a software update and not a more serious hardware issue related to the Nehalem CPU itself.

It’s good to see Apple take the problem seriously, although of course most Mac Pro owners would probably have appreciated more open and consistent communication from Apple about the issue, and a quicker schedule for the release of a fix. But all things considered, I am sure that most affected people will be glad to be able to bring this unfortunate chapter to a close and move on to other things.

This entry was posted by Pierre Igot on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 10:53 am and is filed under Macintosh. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.