2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread

[throAU]

If you really think people will use MBA only for simple works such as typing, searching, and watching, then you need to bring data or information to support your opinion.

If you really think people are going to use an MBA for gaming you really need data to support your opinion.

I've got some.

Macbook air owners are 25% of mac owners with steam, which is the largest AAA gaming platform. Macs are roughly 10% of the larger computing market, and i would argue LESS of a share of the gaming specific market (actually its 3.8% from steam's march 2020 survey).

You're talking 25% of at best, 10% of the computer gaming market (I'd argue less than 1%). 3.8% of the gaming market. Steam has detailed OS breakdown - mac is 3.8% 25% of 3.8% is under 1% of people who happen to have steam installed on a Macbook Air. Possibly to chat with their friends on steam while away from their primary gaming PC. Or to run games on the couch via remote steamplay. Who knows...


"Nobody" cares about gaming on a Macbook Air. Never mind high end gaming (as the most common mac GPU in steam survey is HD graphics 6000 - which this MBA will significantly outperform, but hey). Or gaming on the mac in general - because all macs are subpar for gaming. To get a halfway decent gaming GPU, on a mac, you need to spend over $10,000 - for something that will be outperformed in games by a PC at 1/4 the price.


Or an eGPU - but for the price of an enclosure and decent card you could build a competent gaming PC that won't be hampered by 4x PCIe over thunderbolt.

Steam Hardware & Software Survey

 

[jgorman]

How do you even know if it's appropriate? How do you define entry-level users? How come there are some people using MBA for editing with FCPX?

You know that is a reasonable point. While I do not think a lot of people are going to try FCPX on the 2020 MacBook Air, I do think some people are going to try iMovie. There appears to be some trouble using iMovie for 1080p video on an external monitor. I think it would probably run better without connecting an external monitor to the MBA.

 

[kdm0505]

it just sounds to me don't use chrome and do basic stuff and all will be good

 

[Saul Giordani]

it just sounds to me don't use chrome and do basic stuff and all will be good

And do not spend 1800 € because you can do the same with a 300 € laptop 😅

Anyway, mine arrives tomorrow.. let's see how it goes...

 

[magbarn]

.....

"Nobody" cares about gaming on a Macbook Air. Never mind high end gaming (as the most common mac GPU in steam survey is HD graphics 6000 - which this MBA will significantly outperform, but hey). Or gaming on the mac in general - because all macs are subpar for gaming. To get a halfway decent gaming GPU, on a mac, you need to spend over $10,000 - for something that will be outperformed in games by a PC at 1/4 the price.


Or an eGPU - but for the price of an enclosure and decent card you could build a competent gaming PC that won't be hampered by 4x PCIe over thunderbolt.

Steam Hardware & Software Survey

I agree with the eGPU as it's a waste, but I game on bootcamp on my MBP 16 and if I didn't get 32gb/2TB, it would be less than $3000 and it's faster than GTX1650 equipped Win10 "gaming" laptops (albeit the lower end). I'm able to play many recent titles on it, of course OS X stinks for gaming on it. I wouldn't consider it subpar(maybe you're thinking of price then yes it is). However based on price, the MBA is a horrible value for gaming as most Win10 gaming laptops at $1000 will kill it mercilessly (and I admit if I dumped $3000 on a win 10 laptop, I could get a 8 core cpu, 2080 Max q and a Miniled/OLED screen!)

 

[TechieGeek]

You guys realize Steam has titles like Jackbox Party? They’ll work phenomenally on the Air.

Nobody is buying a Mac for any sort of 4K high-res high-FPS triple-A competitive gaming. People build windows gaming rigs for that, and (surprise) they’re all well-ventilated, well-powered towers.

People want their MacBook to last with an all-day battery, they want it to be reliable, and they want it to be able to export a 4K GoPro video from their vacation once every two months.

People who seriously claim to do “video editing” on a laptop confuse me. Anyone serious about it would be using a tower or iMac. The laptops are fine for once-in-a-while editing to make a fun clip.

 

[iKwick7]

The only game Id want to play (and used to play until recently) on my MacBook is Civ 4.

Thanks a lot, Catalina. Now I can’t play that anymore.

 

[kdm0505]

And do not spend 1800 € because you can do the same with a 300 € laptop 😅

Anyway, mine arrives tomorrow.. let's see how it goes...

keep us updated on how it works for a realistic MBA user, just checked and mine got pushed to arriving next week so i'll be waiting in suspense.

 

[KPOM]

First of all, that's not logical. I don't care how Y series started but we are talking about TDP 10~12W, not 3.5W or 5W. How come they added quad-core if it's for normal uses? This is something that I can not understand. How do you even know if it's appropriate? How do you define entry-level users? How come there are some people using MBA for editing with FCPX? This is something you can not define easily. There are people using MBA for photo editing with LR and PS. It is a simple task cause both LR and PS don't require high specs.

Also, Intel's TDP is not always correct since it really depends on what you do.

Technically, the fan does not cool down the CPU itself. It just blows hot airs out. Base on Youtubers' video, MBA 2020 tends to maximize the fan speed most of the time.

View attachment 904150

From Apple's website, they put this... for gaming... with a screenshot. So what about gamers? Are you gonna say MacBook Air is not for gaming while there are tons of gaming laptops cheaper than $1000? You cant even run LOL and Counter-Strike on MBA just because of its cooling performance? Both games don't really need high-end specs at all.

If you really think people will use MBA only for simple works such as typing, searching, and watching, then you need to bring data or information to support your opinion.

Mac is not a gaming-centric platform by any stretch. Even the 16" MacBook Pro isn't a great gaming machine. Sure, you can play basic games, but there are better systems for that purpose.

The quad-core is offered because those chips have become mainstream. All i5- and i7-branded "Y" chips are quad-core. That doesn't mean it's meant to be a speed demon. Having a quad-core processor helps as more applications and the OS are written to use multiple cores when available.

I'm running Windows Update within Parallels right now on a 2020 i7 MacBook Air. The fan is not running.

 

[high heaven]

Mac is not a gaming-centric platform by any stretch. Even the 16" MacBook Pro isn't a great gaming machine. Sure, you can play basic games, but there are better systems for that purpose.

The quad-core is offered because those chips have become mainstream. All i5- and i7-branded "Y" chips are quad-core. That doesn't mean it's meant to be a speed demon. Having a quad-core processor helps as more applications and the OS are written to use multiple cores when available.

I'm running Windows Update within Parallels right now on a 2020 i7 MacBook Air. The fan is not running.

Still, there are some people playing low end games including LOL, Counter-Strike, and more. Are you asking Mac users to get a better system for gaming? You cant just ignore those users.

You still didnt provide any data to support your claim.

 

[KPOM]

Still, there are some people playing low end games including LOL, Counter-Strike, and more. Are you asking Mac users to get a better system for gaming? You cant just ignore those users.

You still didnt provide any data to support your claim.

Apple has a lot more data than any random commenter on a chat forum. The MacBook Air is their top seller. If they get lots of complaints about the fan noise, then I expect they will improve the cooling. But I also think they will still keep the voltage limited in firmware. The Air is their entry level notebook. And it's well known that there are better options for gamers on the Windows side (and hard core gamers use dedicated systems). The Air and even the 13" Pro are equipped only with integrated graphics.

 

[joptimus]

I have a 2015 MBA which has the heat pipe connecting the fan with the heatsink. I'm doing light photo editing (only 16 MP), but that involves at times importing files into Lightroom and creating previews. Or exporting images from LR for print. I'm hardly a power user. Even with the 2015, the CPU gets to 100°C easily and the fans are loud (not unpleasantly so in the first moment, but it becomes annoying after a while).

With the 2020, I imagine this will be a bit worse and I don't understand Apple here. Driving a CPU near the thermal limit in a real use case is not good engineering - unless there are valid reasons like more space for other components. But given that it's Apple, I'd rather think they were too cheap to put the $2 heat pipe in or they want to sell the Macbook Pro.

Of course they can segment their products as they like, but then please put a 7W CPU in, reign in the CPU turbo and give me a quiet laptop.

And I will say that all people defending Apple here should realize two things: They are not Apple, so the criticism should not be taken personally. Apple needs no one to defend them. And secondly, criticism often leads to improvements, so if it's backed by arguments or facts, it's a good thing. Nobody is perfect, even Apple.

 

[KPOM]

I have a 2015 MBA which has the heat pipe connecting the fan with the heatsink. I'm doing light photo editing (only 16 MP), but that involves at times importing files into Lightroom and creating previews. Or exporting images from LR for print. I'm hardly a power user. Even with the 2015, the CPU gets to 100°C easily and the fans are loud (not unpleasantly so in the first moment, but it becomes annoying after a while).

With the 2020, I imagine this will be a bit worse and I don't understand Apple here. Driving a CPU near the thermal limit in a real use case is not good engineering - unless there are valid reasons like more space for other components. But given that it's Apple, I'd rather think they were too cheap to put the $2 heat pipe in or they want to sell the Macbook Pro.

Of course they can segment their products as they like, but then please put a 7W CPU in, reign in the CPU turbo and give me a quiet laptop.

And I will say that all people defending Apple here should realize two things: They are not Apple, so the criticism should not be taken personally. Apple needs no one to defend them. And secondly, criticism often leads to improvements, so if it's backed by arguments or facts, it's a good thing. Nobody is perfect, even Apple.

There are no stock 7W chips available anymore. The 10th Gen Y is 9W. Apple could customize it down to 7W, but that would reduce the performance. They basically took the stock i3 for the base model, and did a custom TDP up to 10W for the i5 and i7 models. They are voltage limiting so it doesn’t sustain high frequencies as long as the 13” Pro.

 

[high heaven]

Apple has a lot more data than any random commenter on a chat forum. The MacBook Air is their top seller. If they get lots of complaints about the fan noise, then I expect they will improve the cooling. But I also think they will still keep the voltage limited in firmware. The Air is their entry level notebook. And it's well known that there are better options for gamers on the Windows side (and hard core gamers use dedicated systems). The Air and even the 13" Pro are equipped only with integrated graphics.

And they are not always right. Having more data does not mean they know better. Besides, Apple is well known for having issues with the cooling system for a long long time.

Mac Pro 2013 is a great example. They said they aimed for the pro world and yet it became one of the worst Apple products in their history because of its design especially the cooling system. Apple is not always right.

You said MBA is an entry-level Mac. Guess what? What about Adobe users? Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, and more. There are MBA users using Adobe for simple works and yet you are not thinking about them at all. And there are at least 25% of MBA users for gaming within Mac products.

Since you can not define simple works, it's difficult to discuss this topic.

 

[nnoob]

You said MBA is an entry-level Mac. Guess what? What about Adobe users? Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, and more. There are MBA users using Adobe for simple works and yet you are not thinking about them at all. And there are at least 25% of MBA users for gaming within Mac products.

Since you can not define simple works, it's difficult to discuss this topic.

just don't buy it.. It isn't a high end Mac.

 

[high heaven]

just don't buy it.. It isn't a high end Mac, I

Seriously? Those software dont even require high-end Mac. Painting isn't a simple task? Gosh. How come there are people playing games with MBA?

 

[high heaven]

Oh btw, there are still a lot of people with MacBook Air for playing games.

Steam Hardware & Software Survey

Steam Charts

Top selling and top played games across Steam

store.steampowered.com

There are 24 million(almost) people playing games on Steam. And almost 4% of those players are Mac users which are 960,000 players playing with Mac. Half of them are MBP users and almost 25% of them are MBA users! It can be less than that cause not all people play games all the time but still, that's a lot of MBA users playing games.

Now, who is arguing that MBA isn't for gaming? Huh?

 

[KPOM]

And they are not always right. Having more data does not mean they know better. Besides, Apple is well known for having issues with the cooling system for a long long time.

View attachment 904327

Mac Pro 2013 is a great example. They said they aimed for the pro world and yet it became one of the worst Apple products in their history because of its design especially the cooling system. Apple is not always right.

You said MBA is an entry-level Mac. Guess what? What about Adobe users? Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, and more. There are MBA users using Adobe for simple works and yet you are not thinking about them at all. And there are at least 25% of MBA users for gaming within Mac products.

Since you can not define simple works, it's difficult to discuss this topic.

By all accounts the 2020 MacBook Air is faster than its predecessor. And for some people, it might be sufficient for Adobe, Lightroom, Photoshop, etc. It might even be OK for light gaming. But that doesn’t mean it is a replacement for the MacBook Pro. There is a reason Apple sells both. Up until the 2020 update, I thought the 13” was a better choice for most people. Now it isn’t as clear. The 2020 i5 Air isn‘t as fast as the 13” Pro, but for $400 less with the same RAM and storage, it’s a much closer call than before, when the difference was $200 and the performance difference more dramatic.

Will that change again in a few weeks/months when Apple updates the 13” MacBook Pro? Perhaps. But maybe not.

The Air never was a speed demon. You are comparing thermal design choices of an entry level machine with the most expensive Mac sold. The trade-offs are easier to make in an entry level machine.

 

[high heaven]

By all accounts the 2020 MacBook Air is faster than its predecessor. And for some people, it might be sufficient for Adobe, Lightroom, Photoshop, etc. It might even be OK for light gaming. But that doesn’t mean it is a replacement for the MacBook Pro. There is a reason Apple sells both. Up until the 2020 update, I thought the 13” was a better choice for most people. Now it isn’t as clear. The 2020 i5 Air isn‘t as fast as the 13” Pro, but for $400 less with the same RAM and storage, it’s a much closer call than before, when the difference was $200 and the performance difference more dramatic.

Will that change again in a few weeks/months when Apple updates the 13” MacBook Pro? Perhaps. But maybe not.

The Air never was a speed demon. You are comparing thermal design choices of an entry level machine with the most expensive Mac sold. The trade-offs are easier to make in an entry level machine.

So are you justifying the poor cooling design just because MBA is an entry-level Mac? Gosh. Like I said before, there are people using MBA for simple works including Adobe software and yet you are saying the cooling system is appropriate.

Also, 13 inch MacBook Pro is rumored to have a major update and upgrade especially 14 inches. You never know until 2020 MBP release.

How can you explain there are still a lot of people playing games with MBA? you see, you already fail to justify the MBA's cooling system just because it's an entry-level Mac for only simple tasks and yet there are people using MBA more than simple works. Steam data already disagree with your point.

 

[dgdosen]

I've got a heat sink question or two:

If you look at the MacBook Air teardown on iFixIt - https://www.ifixit.com/News/36480/theres-something-new-in-the-macbook-air - They show the design changes from 2018 to 2020 - both only have a heat sink (not looking at the 2015 version). The 2020 heat sink is even a bit bigger.

So was the 2018 MBA a bad design? Or was that adequate for a 7W chip (2018) compared to a 9W chip (2020)?

Is it wise to compare these to the 2015 MBA that had a 15W chip?

Instead of a heat pipe - can't someone design a thin add-on heat sink? One that someone else would work the kinks out of before I ever tried to use one?

I'm sure the heat sink has thermal paste underneath - Has anyone (youtuber?) tried to take a look and determine the sloppiness of it?

I'm a vim user over Visual Studio - but I'd like to know what the heat/fans are like for VSCode 'power user' - please let us know.

 

[KPOM]

So are you justifying the poor cooling design just because MBA is an entry-level Mac? Gosh. Like I said before, there are people using MBA for simple works including Adobe software and yet you are saying the cooling system is appropriate.

Also, 13 inch MacBook Pro is rumored to have a major update and upgrade especially 14 inches. You never know until 2020 MBP release.

How can you explain there are still a lot of people playing games with MBA? you see, you already fail to justify the MBA's cooling system just because it's an entry-level Mac for only simple tasks and yet there are people using MBA more than simple works. Steam data already disagree with your point.

It is not a poor cooling design for the intended usage. They are using Intel's most power-efficient chip and have designed it accordingly. The Steam data doesn't suggest that there are lots of gamers. As others have pointed out, not everything that requires Steam taxes the processor.

Even if Apple added a heat pipe, at best it would run slightly cooler, or the fans would run a bit more efficiently. It wouldn't transform the Air into a Pro replacement. Those chips aren't binned to run at those high voltages for long periods of time. Apple wouldn't let them run at those speeds for that long, anyway. But that doesn't mean the Air isn't capable of running those more complex tasks. It just takes a bit longer than on their pricier Pro models.

 

[involuntarheely]

Oh btw, there are still a lot of people with MacBook Air for playing games.

Steam Hardware & Software Survey

Steam Charts

Top selling and top played games across Steam

store.steampowered.com

There are 24 million(almost) people playing games on Steam. And almost 4% of those players are Mac users which are 960,000 players playing with Mac. Half of them are MBP users and almost 25% of them are MBA users! It can be less than that cause not all people play games all the time but still, that's a lot of MBA users playing games.

Now, who is arguing that MBA isn't for gaming? Huh?

I don't know why you're arguing with people. there's no point in looking at those numbers. it can be argued in both ways. however, Apple themselves are marketing the Air with claims such as 2x more powerful or 80% more GPU. MBAs owned by people who make use of this power will run unnecessarily hot for unnecessarily long periods of time.

Unnecessary means that the MBA would be colder with a fan on the heatsink, for the same wattage or performance. it doesn't matter whether its 10 or 5 or 15 watts. it does not matter if by 1 or 10 degrees. regardless, the MBA could be colder.

if the CPU gets thermally throttled for any reason because of the high temperature, then there's going to be a performance differential between a hypothetical better-cooled MBA vs the actual MBA 2020 for at least some time (better cooling would afford the MBA to run at max speed for more time before throttling)

else:
-- if the CPU does not get thermally throttled, then one can expect the same performance but perhaps shorter longevity given the possibly much higher temperatures.

-- if the CPU does not get thermally throttled and Apple established that longevity is the same, then the user will experience less comfort (warmer laptop or higher fan noise).

I can draw a flow chart of this thing it's really easy.

was there no room for a different design? I doubt it: the chassis does not seem packed. plus we're talking about Apple engineers, not exactly virgins in terms of thinking about solutions. The fact that older MBA models had the same design shows a lack of innovation. sad. (edit: it's sad because it just looks like a cost-cutting choice, just like any other major Chinese brand would make on plastic laptops with Celeron chips)

 

[high heaven]

It is not a poor cooling design for the intended usage. They are using Intel's most power-efficient chip and have designed it accordingly. The Steam data doesn't suggest that there are lots of gamers. As others have pointed out, not everything that requires Steam taxes the processor.

Even if Apple added a heat pipe, at best it would run slightly cooler, or the fans would run a bit more efficiently. It wouldn't transform the Air into a Pro replacement. Those chips aren't binned to run at those high voltages for long periods of time. Apple wouldn't let them run at those speeds for that long, anyway. But that doesn't mean the Air isn't capable of running those more complex tasks. It just takes a bit longer than on their pricier Pro models.

Define the intended uses. It's not Apple to decide who to use MBA or not. If you cant define the term correctly, this conversation is meaningless.
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I don't know why you're arguing with people. there's no point in looking at those numbers. it can be argued in both ways. however, Apple themselves are marketing the Air with claims such as 2x more powerful or 80% more GPU. MBAs owned by people who make use of this power will run unnecessarily hot for unnecessarily long periods of time.

Unnecessary means that the MBA would be colder with a fan on the heatsink, for the same wattage or performance. it doesn't matter whether its 10 or 5 or 15 watts. it does not matter if by 1 or 10 degrees. regardless, the MBA could be colder.

if the CPU gets thermally throttled for any reason because of the high temperature, then there's going to be a performance differential between a hypothetical better-cooled MBA vs the actual MBA 2020 for at least some time (better cooling would afford the MBA to run at max speed for more time before throttling)

else:
-- if the CPU does not get thermally throttled, then one can expect the same performance but perhaps shorter longevity given the possibly much higher temperatures.

-- if the CPU does not get thermally throttled and Apple established that longevity is the same, then the user will experience less comfort (warmer laptop or higher fan noise).

I can draw a flow chart of this thing it's really easy.

was there no room for a different design? I doubt it: the chassis does not seem packed. plus we're talking about Apple engineers, not exactly virgins in terms of thinking about solutions. The fact that older MBA models had the same design shows a lack of innovation. sad.

I am arguing because that's how Apple designed. It's not just about the performance, it's also about stability. Since KPOM is not able to define the INTENDED, this topic wont gonna end.

 

[involuntarheely]

I am arguing because that's how Apple designed. It's not just about the performance, it's also about stability. Since KPOM is not able to define the INTENDED, this topic wont gonna end.

oh I agree with you I just think it doesn't matter what the intended usage is. it doesn't matter whether or not there is an intended usage at all. regardless, the MBA is going to be louder/hotter for some people in some conditions that are not limited to extreme use-cases or prosumers.

lol it runs hot on Chrome which is literally what the average person uses.

 

[high heaven]

oh I agree with you I just think it doesn't matter what the intended usage is. it doesn't matter whether or not there is an intended usage at all. regardless, the MBA is going to be louder/hotter for some people in some conditions that are not limited to extreme use-cases or prosumers.

lol it runs hot on Chrome which is literally what the average person uses.

What about Safari while watching 4k videos?