Core i7 MacBook Pro Could Make Water Boil

PC Authority was putting their new 17-inch, Core i7 MacBook Pro through their typical battery of benchmarks. Then, the chassis grew hot and a series of strange errors began to occur.

The only way they could complete the testing was to turn the MBP on its side. The problem had to be heat.

So PC Authority tried more tests (in both Boot Camp and OS X) while tracking CPU temperatures all the while. Skeptical of their own results, they turned off the system overnight and tested things again.

In both instances, Cinebench—which is designed to tax the CPU in full—was able to heat the actual i7 cores to temperatures around 101°C, or almost 214°F.

That's hotter than the boiling point of water.

When the tests were repeated on a Fujitsu Lifebook SH 760 (loaded with the same i7 processor, but also a copper heatsink that vents out of side of a plastic chassis), the CPU was found to run at 81°C, or 178°F.

To be fair, PC Authority admits that everyday use only cranked up the heat of the MBP CPU to around 194°F (still significantly hotter than the Fujitsu working at max CPU capacity)—but here's the rub: The MBP 17 isn't the sort of computer you buy for everyday use. You buy it to have a mobile processing workhorse. And it's hard to imagine that professionals won't find themselves dealing with these heat issues. Also, seeing these results in the 17-inch model makes us wonder, how will the smaller, 15-inch i7 deal with the heat? [PC Authority]

Joule iPad Stand Review: Stylish But Expensive

One month into the future, and I love my iPad more and more every day. I use it constantly, for pleasure and work. Lately, I keep it next to my computer on a Joule, a solid aluminum stand.

Great Design...

Handcrafted in California in plain aluminum or anodized black, the Joule has a beautiful design. It reminds me of classic 70s European products. It's probably the only stand that actually matches the iPad design, even more than Apple's own. The slot in which you place the iPad is lined with black velvet, which sets the tablet firmly in place while avoiding any damage. It feels nice and solid, adding welcome weight to the iPad.

...Not to So Good Function

It has three positions. The upper one is good for watching anything from a movie to a web page—I use mine to keep an eye on Twitter and some web apps, like Campfire. The lower position, which puts the iPad at a very low angle, is useful good for typing or while you are planning to stand up while doing something else (like cooking and following a recipe in Epicurious).

You set these positions using an aluminum pole that magnetically attaches into three holes on the back of the base. I like this design as much as I don't like it: While this system is simple and works perfectly, I wish I didn't have to detach and attach the pole manually. I would have preferred a mechanism that allows to set the iPad to any angle by just pushing or pulling it.

My other complaint is the lack of a built-in dock port, meaning that in its portrait position, you can't charge the iPad unless you put it upside down, with the docking cable sticking up. (This is neither convenient nor elegant.) But then again, if it had a docking port, you won't be able to set it to landscape mode without the cable sticking out a different way.

At $129, these two complains would make the Joule a no-no for many people. But if you have money to spare, you like the aesthetics, and you can appreciate fine craftsmanship, you will like the Joule. The good news for Gizmodo readers: They still have the GIZMJ3 discount code open, so you can get yours for $99.

Great design, solid built.

Nice magnetic pole support design.

iPad's angle can't be easily adjusted.

It costs too many rupees.

Doesn't have built-in dock port, which is not elegant, but necessary if you want to use the iPad in landscape mode.

Avatar Blu-ray Breaks Sales Records By Doubling Them

Avatar! It's basically a big, blue, 3D money-printing machine. The previous record for Blu-ray sales was held by The Dark Knight, but Avatar has come along and doubled it.

The Dark Knight set the first-day Blu-ray sales record of 600,000 back in 2008. Avatar sold 1.2 million copies on Tuesday. By Thursday that number had climbed to 2.7 million, surpassing The Dark Knight's 18 month sales total of 2.5 million. And keep in mind that these are sales of the bare-bones edition. We still haven't seen the deluxe or 3D editions.

That sound you just heard? It was James Cameron buying himself the country of Norway. Just a nice quiet vacation spot for him and his 82 supermodel girlfriends. [Variety via Mashable]

BlackBerry 6 coming in third quarter of this year

Breaking News

11diggsdiggRIM's co-CEO Mike Lazaridis just announced in an analyst call today that the company's next platform -- coined BlackBerry 6 -- will be available "in the next calendar quarter," which we take to mean the third quarter of 2010. We weren't able to see a video preview of the platform that was shown to analysts attending the event, but the demo apparently showed a touchscreen interface; a follow-up question from the audience confirmed that it'll be available for both touch and non-touch devices, though. Interestingly, Lazaridis said that the company's all-new WebKit-based browser is part and parcel with 6, pointing out that the rendering engine will have implications throughout the platform and the apps that run on it, not just on the browser alone; in other words, we wouldn't expect a release of a WebKit browser from these guys for OS 5.0-based devices. Speaking of OS 5.0, the intention is that every device in RIM's portfolio will eventually run 6, but not everything in the market today will necessarily be upgradeable -- Lazaridis says that they'll "do [their] best," but he's not making any guarantees. More on this as we get it.

Rumor: Intel to launch Atom N500 series in June, ASUS netbooks to follow

Details on this one are pretty light at the moment, butDigiTimes is reporting that Intel will be launching its Atom N500 series of dual-core processors this June. That word comes from the site's "sources from notebook players," who also say that Intel will be revealing more details on its third generation netbook platform at the same time. Unfortunately, that's about as specific as they're getting right now, but there are naturally some netbooks rumored to be launching alongside the new processors as well, with ASUS apparently already planning at least one N500-based netbook for the third quarter of this year that will sell for around $575. Of course, Intel itself isn't isn't saying any more on the matter than it did during its recent earnings call, but the timing of the rumor does line up suspiciously well with this year's Computex (June 1-5), which would be as good a place as any for a big netbook-related launch