2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread

[Mike Boreham]

Just noticed their updates. These stand out:
“Furthermore, there is significant throttling in the 3DMark stress test (-20%).”

looks like the gpu is more heat or power limited than cpu with more throttling

“At around 30% CPU load (installation of OS updates), the fan is clearly audible and we are already above 40 dB(A), which is hard to understand considering the low performance level.”

so you’re right there’s Just barely enough cooling to keep at least the cpu from throttling significantly but due to lack of a heat pipe the fan is running full bore just at 30% usage. My mbp 16 gets louder under 100% load, but at 30% it has enough cooling to stay quiet

IMO throttling due to a simple cooling system is an acceptable compromise to get reduced weight, size and cost, but getting high noise isn't acceptable.

Whether it really is unacceptable is subjective, and the comment that "the fan behaviour is similar to its predecessor" is inconsistent with the headline. I wasn't aware that the previous MBA were considered noisy.

 

[intelligence]

New Apple laptop, new drama. Some people will just never be happy (or just hate Apple in general)...

Damn shame that people aren't willing to spend top dollar for flawed hardware!

 

[noles1983]

Browsing this site in just one safari tab, nothing else open and my i7 is at 76 degrees. The fan never turns off, unacceptable to me.

 

[nnoob]

All this is possible with Thottlestop under Win10; not sure if anything equivalent exists for MacOS? Throttlestop runs entirely from userspace in 10Win; equivalent under MacOS would need kernel extensions which in turn means Apple notarisation, so unlikely...?

Volta - Ultimate power control for Mac

volta.garymathews.com

I tried it, it "works" but i think some features like undervolt are broken and this require SIP kext signing to be disabled...

 

[dapa0s]

Damn shame that people aren't willing to spend top dollar for flawed hardware!

Oh, so you were going to buy it? But now you won‘t because of no heatsink? Sure...

 

[nnoob]

Oh, so you were going to buy it? But now you won‘t because of no heatsink? Sure...

Oh noes, this Macbook Air needs more weight, lets slap in a macbook pro fan and heatpipe!

There will be no different between the pro 13 inch and air 13 inch. Sales cannibalization of each other!

 

[dapa0s]

Nerds and geeks, oh sorry, I mean "professionals" care about heatsinks and optimized cooling and Apple knows this. This computer was meant for the average consumer, the one that, believe it or not, does not care at all about the heatsink, cooling or benchmarks (let alone 20 benchmarks in arow) and will absolutely never notice or mind it.

This is why it makes this sort of argument against the Macbook Air weird in the first place.
Want better cooling and performance? Get the Macbook Pro. Want even more portability? Get a refurbished 12 inch. It's not about cannibalization, it's about Apple offering different products to different costumers.

And yeah, we know, "Apple expensive"... Just don't buy it.

Again, some people just love to hate on Apple any chance they get.

 

[Saul Giordani]

Hi all, I just bought my mba i7/16 few days ago, I'll receive it in 2 weeks, but aftr reading this I'm thinking in returning it
It not acceptable to spend 1800 € on a laptop with cooling issues.

What do you suggest?

 

[dapa0s]

I would suggest either ignoring the people here or getting a mbp 13 inch, which for 1800€ has amazing cooling (with 2 fans+heatsink) and a much better cpu. It all depends on your needs though.

 

[Saul Giordani]

I use it for "normal" stuff: browsing, youtube, developing. Not for editing videos or things like that. But I saw it starts making noise watching a 4k video on youtube. It worries me...

 

[dapa0s]

But considering your budget of 1800€, why not just get the macbook pro 13 for that price, if you are in need of better cooling? The only downside is the keyboard, but you get a 4 years warranty on that. Not to mention a new one might be dropping really soon, with a new keyboard.

 

[Saul Giordani]

But considering your budget of 1800€, why not just get the macbook pro 13 for that price, if you are in need of better cooling? The only downside is the keyboard, but you get a 4 years warranty on that. Not to mention a new one might be dropping really soon, with a new keyboard.

I was expeting the new MBA because I'd like to have the Air instead of the Pro, for portable reasons mainly. And this has finally a quad core processor.
Plus if you start to put 16gb of ram + 512 ssd on the pro the price goes over the 2000 €.
Honlestly I dind't check the cooling system before buying it, but only after. My fault!

 

[TechieGeek]

I use it for "normal" stuff: browsing, youtube, developing. Not for editing videos or things like that. But I saw it starts making noise watching a 4k video on youtube. It worries me...

Get the Pixelbook Go. I have one, it’s completely fanless, even the m3 processor handles 4K playback well.

Insanely good battery life, runs Linux, and best of all runs Android apps. I took a 6hr flight and downloaded the Netflix app so I could download movies for offline watching. Windows and Mac can’t do offline Netflix.

I have an iMac at home for video editing. I bought the i7 air so that I can play some Counter Strike on longer vacations away from the iMac at home, but if you’re not into gaming and you just need something for web browsing and software engineering, the Pixelbook is great and silent.

 

[bill-p]

I was expeting the new MBA because I'd like to have the Air instead of the Pro, for portable reasons mainly. And this has finally a quad core processor.
Plus if you start to put 16gb of ram + 512 ssd on the pro the price goes over the 2000 €.
Honlestly I dind't check the cooling system before buying it, but only after. My fault!

I recently got a 2020 MacBook Air in to compare against the 2018 MacBook Pro that I have, and I think I can best answer this question for you:

0. To save time, let's just say I'm returning the MacBook Air.
1. To dive deeper, the first thing that'll be immediately noticeable is that the weight difference is... not noticeable. It's 2.75 lbs vs 3lbs.
2. The MacBook Air isn't significantly thinner, either.
3. The screen on the Air is worse. Less bright, less contrast, less color-accurate.
4. The Air is indeed unable to keep up with even "consumer" tasks like watching 1440p or 4K videos in Chrome. In fact, it's louder, hotter, and less smooth than the 2-year-old Pro.
5. Even something as simple as viewing a website that has a bunch of ads causes the Air to rev up its fan and make a lot of noise. It doesn't take a 4K video.
6. The Pro is almost completely silent.
7. For kicks, I have a 5K display at home. The Pro drives 5K with no issue at all. The Air is... a sub-optimal experience, let's put it that way.

I had expected to replace the Pro with the Air, and I had hoped that the thermal issue wouldn't be that bad, but in the end, the Pro is still the better machine overall. Even if I have to pay more for 2018 Pro again, I think it's worth it.

 

[high heaven]

I was expeting the new MBA because I'd like to have the Air instead of the Pro, for portable reasons mainly. And this has finally a quad core processor.
Plus if you start to put 16gb of ram + 512 ssd on the pro the price goes over the 2000 €.
Honlestly I dind't check the cooling system before buying it, but only after. My fault!

CPU is not able to cool down my friend!

 

[aajeevlin]

I recently got a 2020 MacBook Air in to compare against the 2018 MacBook Pro that I have, and I think I can best answer this question for you:

0. To save time, let's just say I'm returning the MacBook Air.
1. To dive deeper, the first thing that'll be immediately noticeable is that the weight difference is... not noticeable. It's 2.75 lbs vs 3lbs.
2. The MacBook Air isn't significantly thinner, either.
3. The screen on the Air is worse. Less bright, less contrast, less color-accurate.
4. The Air is indeed unable to keep up with even "consumer" tasks like watching 1440p or 4K videos in Chrome. In fact, it's louder, hotter, and less smooth than the 2-year-old Pro.
5. Even something as simple as viewing a website that has a bunch of ads causes the Air to rev up its fan and make a lot of noise. It doesn't take a 4K video.
6. The Pro is almost completely silent.
7. For kicks, I have a 5K display at home. The Pro drives 5K with no issue at all. The Air is... a sub-optimal experience, let's put it that way.

I had expected to replace the Pro with the Air, and I had hoped that the thermal issue wouldn't be that bad, but in the end, the Pro is still the better machine overall. Even if I have to pay more for 2018 Pro again, I think it's worth it.

Thanks, I think given this, it's probably not a bad idea to wait for the next Macbook Pro 13/14. If there is only a 0.3 lbs weight difference. I was really wanting to go for the air, because well...the airness of it. Maybe I'll just go for the Macboko Pro 16 and get it over with (my current machine is a Macbook pro 13" 2011 anyways, so weight wise is about the same).

 

[jgorman]

Get the Pixelbook Go. I have one, it’s completely fanless, even the m3 processor handles 4K playback well.

Insanely good battery life, runs Linux, and best of all runs Android apps. I took a 6hr flight and downloaded the Netflix app so I could download movies for offline watching. Windows and Mac can’t do offline Netflix.

I have an iMac at home for video editing. I bought the i7 air so that I can play some Counter Strike on longer vacations away from the iMac at home, but if you’re not into gaming and you just need something for web browsing and software engineering, the Pixelbook is great and silent.

I am interested in the Pixelbook Go. I have been watching the Linux container support develop. It seems like it now can access the audio hardware and the GPU. I am really interested in trying one out.

 

[AustinIllini]

Maybe it's just me, but why would you bother with the i7 on a MacBook Air? Wouldn't it be better to get a MacBook Pro?

A little strange Apple would even offer the i7.

 

[TechieGeek]

I am interested in the Pixelbook Go. I have been watching the Linux container support develop. It seems like it now can access the audio hardware and the GPU. I am really interested in trying one out.

It’s a great machine, and you can always SSH into a Linux desktop for more demanding work. The keyboard and battery life are excellent.

Don’t be afraid of the m3 model either, ChromeOS is far more efficient than windows and macOS.
[automerge]1586107435[/automerge]

Maybe it's just me, but why would you bother with the i7 on a MacBook Air? Wouldn't it be better to get a MacBook Pro?

A little strange Apple would even offer the i7.

I got it because it’s only $150 more then the i5. It’ll extend the longevity of the machine and performance will be snappier. Got the 16GB memory for the same reason.

I had a 15” Pro before, hated how bulky it was. Would’ve gotten a 13” Pro if the new one was out, but it’s not.

 

[AustinIllini]

I got it because it’s only $150 more then the i5. It’ll extend the longevity of the machine and performance will be snappier. Got the 16GB memory for the same reason.

I had a 15” Pro before, hated how bulky it was. Would’ve gotten a 13” Pro if the new one was out, but it’s not.

Oh I definitely get it from a consumer standpoint. I'm just a little surprised Apple did it.

 

[Pakaku]

Nerds and geeks, oh sorry, I mean "professionals" care about heatsinks and optimized cooling and Apple knows this. This computer was meant for the average consumer, the one that, believe it or not, does not care at all about the heatsink, cooling or benchmarks (let alone 20 benchmarks in arow) and will absolutely never notice or mind it.

This is why it makes this sort of argument against the Macbook Air weird in the first place.
Want better cooling and performance? Get the Macbook Pro. Want even more portability? Get a refurbished 12 inch. It's not about cannibalization, it's about Apple offering different products to different costumers.

And yeah, we know, "Apple expensive"... Just don't buy it.

Again, some people just love to hate on Apple any chance they get.

It's not about what a consumer thinks they want. A CPU needs proper cooling (heatsink, fan) to dissapate heat away from it or else it will melt itself. That's just basic computer hardware design. Why do you think every other computer out there has some sort of cooling system attached to the CPU in some way?

If the Air is only meant for consumers, then the choice of CPU itself should be consumer-level. Even then, consumer-level CPUs still need to dissapate heat.

 

[agaskew]

You can defend the Air's performance and cooling in its market/user segment all you like, but the fact remains that all they had to do was run a cheap little heat pipe from the CPU to the fan. Easy.

 

[Saul Giordani]

I recently got a 2020 MacBook Air in to compare against the 2018 MacBook Pro that I have, and I think I can best answer this question for you:

0. To save time, let's just say I'm returning the MacBook Air.
1. To dive deeper, the first thing that'll be immediately noticeable is that the weight difference is... not noticeable. It's 2.75 lbs vs 3lbs.
2. The MacBook Air isn't significantly thinner, either.
3. The screen on the Air is worse. Less bright, less contrast, less color-accurate.
4. The Air is indeed unable to keep up with even "consumer" tasks like watching 1440p or 4K videos in Chrome. In fact, it's louder, hotter, and less smooth than the 2-year-old Pro.
5. Even something as simple as viewing a website that has a bunch of ads causes the Air to rev up its fan and make a lot of noise. It doesn't take a 4K video.
6. The Pro is almost completely silent.
7. For kicks, I have a 5K display at home. The Pro drives 5K with no issue at all. The Air is... a sub-optimal experience, let's put it that way.

I had expected to replace the Pro with the Air, and I had hoped that the thermal issue wouldn't be that bad, but in the end, the Pro is still the better machine overall. Even if I have to pay more for 2018 Pro again, I think it's worth it.

You convinced me, I'll return it and get a pro. The keyboard of the pro bother me though...

 

[Mattyman]

are we saying the air can’t even playback 4K smoothly or is that only through chrome?

 

[kdm0505]

would buying the base i3 model solve the heat issues if you are just buying the MBA for basic tasks?