Likewise. I just cancelled my MBA i7/16gb/1TB...Guess it's time to be patient and wait for the new 13/14 MBP...
I was really hoping that this could be my daily driver without the cons, but this perspective changes the outcome for me...
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2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread
- Thread starter ilikewhey
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Likewise. I just cancelled my MBA i7/16gb/1TB...Guess it's time to be patient and wait for the new 13/14 MBP...
I was really hoping that this could be my daily driver without the cons, but this perspective changes the outcome for me...
Are you seriously saying that the macbook air cpu will melt? Lol.
I love how you are implying that Apple engineers didn‘t think of this. They should have called Linustechtips or Louis Rossmann or some other genius to ask what cooling they need to add.
The macbook air is fine. The cpu and cooling is fine. You are making a huge issue out of nothing.
I went down this path and it has became clear I was not changing people mind after i gave clear explanation/evidence.
Is your MBA brand new and still indexing files in the background?
Also, do I understand that folks believe the cooling issues are more severe with the 2020 MBA than the 2019 model? Or, is this just the same old issue made more apparent by the Optional quad core processors now available in the 2020 MBA?
I ask because I have a 2019 MBA that has been flawless, so while it has the BF keyboard, I might just wait for the 4 year KB warranty to run out before moving on.
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Quick question for you guys, does the MBA 2019 has heatsink problem. I'm upgrading from a MacBook Air 2013, so, 2019 or 2020 should make it. Not a heavy user, though. Office stuff and lot of movies. No editing or 4k stuff.
Thank you
Thank you
Honestly, there is no heatsink problem for the average consumer who uses the MBA air for media consumption, web browsing, document work, light photo editing etc. All the concerns in this thread seem to be when the CPU undergoes sustained CPU/GPU load under stress conditions mimicked in Cinebench benchmarks and other synthetic benchmark conditions. These synthetic conditions almost never simulate real world usage patterns. For those that engage in heavy content creation like 4k video editing or do a lot of gaming this machine should not be under consideration in the first place. Keep in mind Apple has optimized their firmware in the past to better manage cpu/gpu heat. For your usage the MBA would be a great upgrade. There is a lot of unnecessary drama here.
If I can get the 2019 with AC+ for 300$ less, should I still get the 2020 or the 2019 will be sufficient ?
I’d like to know this as well. My mac’s many purpose is Photos and photo management. Nothing crazy. Maybe a littleminor Pixelmator once in awhile. Never more than 1 or 2 safari tabs.
The 2019 model has a slightly smaller heatsink and a 14nm CPU (7w) vs the current 10nm CPU (10w) design. There was no drama over the thermals in the 2019 despite having essentially the same thermal design. I think the current model is significant technology upgrade versus the 2019 model. In the 2020 model not only are you getting more powerful CPU, you are also getting a better keyboard (critical issue in my opinion), better speakers, better mic and longer battery life. I would under no circumstances buy the 2019 model over the 2020 model especially if you tend to hold on to your machines for 5-7 years. Just my two cents.
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You are wrong.
Over 40% of Online Advertisements Slow Down Websites
According to an Ad Lightning report, over 40% of online advertisements exceed industry standards, causing slow-loading pages. Find out more on this page.
I have the MacBook Air 2020 right with me right now. Running Chrome.
On this website, it is fine, but hit one with a lot of ads like one of those tabloids, newspaper sites and I can literally hear the fan going full blast and the keyboard heating up. It is a lot worse than the MacBook Pro.
And I was also one of those who believed the MacBook Air would not be hard hit by this issue but I am wrong.
I am not editing any video at all, nor am I doing anything that I'd normally do on the Pro to try and stress the CPU/GPU.
Unless now you will tell me the average consumer does not use Chrome to read newspapers.
Please stop defending Apple's decision to cripple the machine.
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Edit: as for why this issue is now exacerbated, it's simple: the 2019 MacBook Air did not have a quad-core CPU. The 2020 one does. I have the quad-core model and it's thermal-throttling. Maybe the i3 dual-core model will be okay, but the quad-core model is definitely not up to par.
Intel is also having thermal and power draw problems with the i9:
The laptop Intel i9-10980HK actually draws more power than an AMD Ryzen 9 3950X CPU with twice the core count
According to a power draw comparison, Intel's laptop i9-10980HK draws almost 30 percent more power than the Ryzen 9 3950X, a 16-core 32-thread CPU meant for high-end desktop use. While the Comet Lake H flagship might power past Renoir offerings, it does at significantly higher power draw.
So this is also an Intel problem. They purposefully underrated the power consumption and thermal capabilities of their newer chips in order to try and compete with AMD.
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You are wrong.
Over 40% of Online Advertisements Slow Down Websites
According to an Ad Lightning report, over 40% of online advertisements exceed industry standards, causing slow-loading pages. Find out more on this page.www.statuscake.com
I have the MacBook Air 2020 right with me right now. Running Chrome.
On this website, it is fine, but hit one with a lot of ads like one of those tabloids, newspaper sites and I can literally hear the fan going full blast and the keyboard heating up. It is a lot worse than the MacBook Pro.
And I was also one of those who believed the MacBook Air would not be hard hit by this issue but I am wrong.
I am not editing any video at all, nor am I doing anything that I'd normally do on the Pro to try and stress the CPU/GPU.
Unless now you will tell me the average consumer does not use Chrome to read newspapers.
Please stop defending Apple's decision to cripple the machine.
Chrome is currently horribly optimized under MacOS. It is a real resource hog and drains the battery very quickly on every Mac notebook, Pro or otherwise. You can research this yourself. I'm not trying to defend Apple. I'm saying that this whole heat issue is pure drama and blown way out of proportion.
I have the machine. It's not blown out of proportion. It is just as bad as reported.
Yes, I know Chrome is a resource hog but you can't tell the average consumer to stop using it. Chrome is inherently multi-threaded and it will try to tax the CPU to the fullest. The quad-core MacBook Air will be stressed to the fullest when running Chrome, especially when a page loads multiple ads.
Is Safari better? Yes. Safari is almost silent with the MacBook Air and is perfectly silent with the MacBook Pro, but it doesn't support going above 1080p with Youtube.
The problem is that Intel is purposefully under-reporting their chips' power draw. Apple is just eating the specs up (so the chip's power draw and heat is not Apple's fault), and then just keep neglecting to improve thermals (now this is Apple's fault).
The i3 model should be fine, but I don't think the i5 (what I have) and the i7 models will be "fine" at all. This is the same situation as the early 12" MacBook where the m5 and m7 chips thermal-throttled and ended up not performing significantly better than the m3 model, sometimes even worse.
You are wrong.
Over 40% of Online Advertisements Slow Down Websites
According to an Ad Lightning report, over 40% of online advertisements exceed industry standards, causing slow-loading pages. Find out more on this page.
I have the MacBook Air 2020 right with me right now. Running Chrome.
On this website, it is fine, but hit one with a lot of ads like one of those tabloids, newspaper sites and I can literally hear the fan going full blast and the keyboard heating up. It is a lot worse than the MacBook Pro.
And I was also one of those who believed the MacBook Air would not be hard hit by this issue but I am wrong.
I am not editing any video at all, nor am I doing anything that I'd normally do on the Pro to try and stress the CPU/GPU.
Just use an Adblocker to prevent this from happening.
I cannot speak for others, but I think two factors make cooling the 2020 model more difficult than the 2018 or 2019 models.
First, the new CPU is generally drawing more power and generating more heat. The 2020 i5's TDP is 10W versus 7W for the 2018 or 2019 i5. The new CPU also will draw more power to turbo boost to 3.5GHz; one video shows it go over 32W. However, the 2018-2019 model CPUs draw less than 15W in turbo boost. This might be why even short bursts of CPU use, like scrolling through a webpage, seem to cause the temperature to rise.
Second, the 2020 model seems to let the CPU stay at about 100 degrees C under load, while the 2018 and 2019 models keep it about 97 degrees C, according to Notebookcheck's 90-minute stress test. This not might sound like much, but the maximum allowed temperature of the CPU die is 100 degrees C.
In addition, the dual core i3 model appears to also have some trouble with heat compared to the dual core CPU in the 2018 or 2019 models.
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I never told you or anybody to stop using Chrome. I'm only pointing out a fact that Chrome has poor optimization for MacOS. That is a software issue that might resolve itself in Chrome updates. But that has no bearing on the thermal hardware design of the MBA. If Chrome is essential to your workflow then maybe the MBA is not the right fit for you at the moment. However, your usage scenario is not applicable to everyone and therefore it is illogical to draw a conclusion that somehow the MBA has a flawed thermal design because your particular software usage scenario is causing issues currently. I would also keep in mind that this is new hardware from Apple that inevitably will get further firmware optimizations that can alter CPU/GPU power and thermal properties, as has happened in the past.
P.S. Neither Safari or Firefox support Google's VP9 codec required for Youtube 4k on the Mac. This again is a software issue which has no bearing on the hardware thermal design of the MBA.
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Thanks much. I watched the video, and it does look like there are more cooling issues with the 2020 model. This might resolve itself with firmware/software updates.
The two main advantages of the 2020 are: 1. New keyboard, and 2. Price drop that includes more storage. Actually, I paid less for my 2019 than the current retail price of the 2020, and that’s a sunk cost anyway. I am not anywhere close to using the storage in my base machine. As for the keyboard, I am ok with the feel of the 2019 BF KB. I’ll just have to live with the uncertainty of perhaps needing a warranty repair sometime in the next 3 years. That’s life. Anyway, there are bigger things to think about these days.
most people use chrome, it's not unrealistic to envision many people with a MBA also will use chrome.
I actually don’t know why everyone started to go over to Chrome? I use safari and on windows I simply just use Firefox. Unless you do something that NEEDs Chrome. I guess I never have the need to switch to chrome.
I'm pretty sure Safari has a higher usage share on MacOS than Chrome does. Chrome is a popular browser, it used to be better optimized on MacOS but you can't fault Apple for a Google issue. I have both Safari and Chrome on my Mac and use Chrome sparingly.
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Not on Mac, I don't think. Only on Linux and Windows (depending on the config).
Playing 4K (Ultra-High Definition) YouTube videos in Firefox | Firefox Help
Why the 4K option shows up for some viewers while it doesn't for others.
support.mozilla.org
It does, i played 4K youtube video right now on Firefox. Maybe they forgot to update the doc..Not on Mac, I don't think. Only on Linux and Windows (depending on the config).
Playing 4K (Ultra-High Definition) YouTube videos in Firefox | Firefox Help
Why the 4K option shows up for some viewers while it doesn't for others.
massive marketing by google.
I used to use chrome myself but it's so bad on battery on every OS so I ditched it. google though has such a monopoly it's hard to find something that is not chromium based but with similar features. for now I went back to firefox.
in any event the fact that the air runs hotter than necessary because of bad heatsink design is just bad. many people will not notice, sure, but then again isn't fan noise and cooler operation one of the reasons people liked macbooks so much in the first place?
am I delusional in remembering people (myself included) complaining about windows laptops being super noisy and warm all the time because of inefficiencies in windows? I dont think apple should get a free pass when noise/heat is now a result of subpar design.
Great! maybe they did forget to update the doc. Can you right click on the video and click 'stats for nerds' to confirm.
I had a bit of a look, i haven't yet found anything that extensive under macOS.
"Volta" allowes undervolting on older machines, and (hopefully) power limit cap on newer machines (and yes, it needs SIP turned off so i guess its a kernel extension). But it is a toggle, that you can't configure rules on. Maybe there's a market for a more intelligent app there on macOS - because loud fans and bad cooling is not a Macbook Air exclusive thing. As you mention above with your thinkpad - all laptop vendors seem to get this "wrong" (and boost too hard/too long) in order to win benchmarks.
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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?
If you want a laptop without cooling compromises, don't buy a thin/light ultrabook form factor from any vendor. In fact, don't buy a laptop, build your own PC in a proper case.
Load untrusted kernel extension in macOS Mojave
The Volta application is installed on my MacBook Pro, running macOS 10.14 Mojave. This app needs a kernel extension to function properly, and said extension does not have the proper code signatures.
Looks like the Volta dev had already had his request for notarisation of his kext turned down by apple, hence the SIP bypass. Even this workaround is about to end; apple are about to deprecate the entire 3rd party kext model, making apps like Volta a thing of the past https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/117377
I know apps like Little Snitch that also relied on (apple notarised) kexts are also having to rethink their approach because of this.
Like you i'll wait on the arrival of the air I ordered and see for myself how the thermals go. Do post on here when you get a chance to try your i7 out; think you're a week or two ahead of me in the queue
