Chosen Solution
Hi, I’ve purchased this lovely portable Mac second hand for dirt cheap in good technical condition with some minor dents and scuffs all over the place. I needed a machine that worked great, was very repairable and I didn’t care for the visual condition. First thing first, I dismantled the whole thing very thoroughly and washed/dusted every morsel attached to it. I then replaced the spinning drive with a Samsung SSD for speed and cool operation. Also added 16GB of OWC RAM. Finally I removed the DVD drive, since I never use it and I didn’t want to lug around the extra weight. What I found puzzling was the complete absence of any intake air vents. I’ve seen that all of the newer MacBook Pros, big or small, have these milled air intake seams at the right and left hand edges of the bottom case. They make perfect sense. Where does the Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro intake it’s air? Should I decide to do it - would it help the machine run cooler if I milled or drilled some holes on both sides of the bottom case? I also noticed that it is possible to completely isolate the keyboard assembly from other internals of the computer, which would be useful in case of a spilling accident. I would probably do it with some durable and moisture resistant tape. Would that negatively affect the thermals of the machine at all or should I go for it? If it did, but I also milled or drilled the holes on the bottom case - would those changes make for a better thermal environment in the machine? Thank you.
Should I decide to do it - would it help the machine run cooler if I milled or drilled some holes on both sides of the bottom case? Yes, of course, you just need to do it in the right places. Be aware that most images on the WEB showing drilled Macbooks have the holes in the wrong place because people didn’t understand that the Macbook fan in Centrifugal and didn’t study the Macbook Airflow. Macbook Pro 13 (2011) - Airflow Best place to drill air intake holes is on the Blue Arrows. Or Blue+Yellow
Did you check the fan function and change out the thermal paste and change the hard drive/IR cable to a 2012 model? If not do so. Use a keyboard skin for protection. Do not use it in bed or where it can’t breath or dissipate heat.
Don’t know about the keyboard, but what about installing a small exhaust fan in the same place you had the DVD-ROM using the DVD slot instead of drilling anything? Something like this for instance: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CPU-Cooling-Fan-… Be aware though that no matter how much air you blow into it or suck out of it, it’s temperature will never be bellow room temperature so if you live in a very hot place there’s not much you can do about it - been there, done that, trust me…
