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2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread

I would assume they had to upgrade the internals if what I read is true: that they are using U-Series CPUs instead of Y-Series CPUs. Anyone confirm the CPU series? If they’re using a U-Series CPU one would have to assume it’s not passively cooled any longer. Just like Apple improved the 16” MBP, I have to assume they’re getting smarter and not just going thinner all the time now that Ive has left. Of course, we all know what they say about assumptions. I guess we will know next week at the latest.
 
Scottsdale said:
I would assume they had to upgrade the internals if what I read is true: that they are using U-Series CPUs instead of Y-Series CPUs. Anyone confirm the CPU series? If they’re using a U-Series CPU one would have to assume it’s not passively cooled any longer. Just like Apple improved the 16” MBP, I have to assume they’re getting smarter and not just going thinner all the time now that Ive has left. Of course, we all know what they say about assumptions. I guess we will know next week at the latest.
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It should be a Y series. But even MBA has Y series CPU, it's better to have a proper cooling solution by adding a piece of HEATPIPE... I have no idea why Apple designed like that.
 
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Erehy Dobon said:
I see no "anacedals" [sic] of overheating.

It's designed to throttle in certain operating conditions. That's what it's supposed to do. If Apple let the processor runaway with heat generation, it could (and probably would) eventually damage the other components.

And heat management isn't just about the CPU. The CPU doesn't live all by itself on a tiny desert island.

Are you not aware that Intel produces families of processors? It's not like Apple could only use this one. Usually there are several choices within a certain TDP.

My guess is that Apple gets dozens if not hundreds of sample units of pretty much any production CPU Intel makes as well as a bunch of pre-production demos to research.

There's also cost which you have completely ignored. Your blinders are strictly on the CPU.

It's not just about the CPU.

This isn't a homebuilt PC from 1997. You don't just drop in a bigger Panasonic case fan, bigger PC Power & Cooling power supply when you upgrade your Pentium II or graphics card in your Lian Li ATX case.

If you think you can design notebook computers better than Apple's current engineering staff, why don't you send in your resume? They're always looking for engineering talent.
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its designed to have lower potential performance. by not having a heatpipe connecting the highest thermal output component, apple cannibalized the performance capacity of the mba from the get go. i had a 2013 mba that could go toe to toe in performance with my 2015 mbp 13inch. the 2018 mba throttles under the same workload where my 2015 mbp chucks along just fine.

its definitely about CPU, modern motherboards with solid state choke capacitors are capable of heat tolerance well beyond 100C, it doesn't have to be a home made computer fitting into a lian li case. everything in a modern computer can be passively cooled or not cooled at all, except the cpu/gpu.

again with the appealing to authority statement, apple blunders left and right with the crap show of butterfly keyboard for years, if you think they are doing such a fantastic job why they going back on their designs with old tech that works. just because someone have phd degree, doesn't mean they are always right.
 
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ilikewhey said:
its designed to have lower potential performance. by not having a heatpipe connecting the highest thermal output component, apple cannibalized the performance capacity of the mba from the get go. i had a 2013 mba that could go toe to toe in performance with my 2015 mbp 13inch. the 2018 mba throttles under the same workload where my 2015 mbp chucks along just fine.

its definitely about CPU, modern motherboards with solid state choke capacitors are capable of heat tolerance well beyond 100C, it doesn't have to be a home made computer fitting into a lian li case. everything in a modern computer can be passively cooled or not cooled at all, except the cpu/gpu.

again with the appealing to authority statement, apple blunders left and right with the crap show of butterfly keyboard for years, if you think they are doing such a fantastic job why they going back on their designs with old tech that works. just because someone have phd degree, doesn't mean they are always right.
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You hit it on the head. “It’s a feature not a bug”. It’s purposely used to differentiate between the mba and mbp lines. Compare the single vs dual heat pipe versions of the mbp 13. The 4 port models run cooler and quieter with the same load as the 2 port models. Reason, 4 port models have double the fans and heat pipes. The 2018/2019 are purposely compromised designs for the Facebook/Twitter/safari/Netflix clubs and most won’t notice it, but if you’re deciding to render 4K videos of serious length, it’s gonna get slower & noisy. Hopefully Apple did the right thing and added the heatpipe. Me, I’m waiting for the tear downs first before putting more coin in Apple’s hand.
 
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magbarn said:
You hit it on the head. “It’s a feature not a bug”. It’s purposely used to differentiate between the mba and mbp lines. Compare the single vs dual heat pipe versions of the mbp 13. The 4 port models run cooler and quieter with the same load as the 2 port models. Reason, 4 port models have double the fans and heat pipes. The 2018/2019 are purposely compromised designs for the Facebook/Twitter/safari/Netflix clubs and most won’t notice it, but if you’re deciding to render 4K videos of serious length, it’s gonna get slower & noisy. Hopefully Apple did the right thing and added the heatpipe. Me, I’m waiting for the tear downs first before putting more coin in Apple’s hand.
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i don't do anything close to rendering video nevermind 4k, right now the ones at office struggles with chrome tabs + office doc + excel, i really don't think thats asking too much.
 
JTToft said:
- No one knows yet. But we're crossing fingers that it's because of the inclusion of a heat pipe.
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They have to. Because MBA now has a quad-core CPU and if it doesn't have a proper cooling system, it's a failure in terms of design.
 
Still no word on this? Watched a couple of „reviews“ on YouTube, but nobody cared to show the new MBA from the inside...
 
JTToft said:
- I see. I'll also be looking forward to the teardown and reviews. I'm considering replacing my 9-year-old Pro with an i5/16/512, but I'd rather not have thermal issues of course.
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What a coincidence, I'm typing this on my early 2011 MBP 15" 2.0 with 8GB of memory and a 512GB SSD & 2TB HDD combo after just ordering the i7 16GB 512GB model.
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gim said:
Still no word on this? Watched a couple of „reviews“ on YouTube, but nobody cared to show the new MBA from the inside...
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Apple definitely told them to not open them.
 

It seems it throttles a lot. Quite disappointing. A cooling fan in MBA is so meaningless without a heat pipe.
 
Yeah, I was actually going to point to that Appleinsider video. According to it, the new MacBook Air doesn’t experience a temperature drop even with the fans at maximum speed (8.000 rpm), so that’s all indicative of a lack of heatpipe.

I’d like to be wrong but, looking at the throttling at temperatures (Constant 100ºC), most probably it is passively cooled.
 
So wait, the CPU idles at around 70C?

Guess they really didn't improve on cooling. Same terrible semi passive cooling solution as in the MBA 2018.

On the other hand, it seems to be ok for light usage.
 
Is there any rational reason for using this passive cooling with active fan ? Or only for performance (or cooling) difference to MBP ?
 
imp3rator said:
Is there any rational reason for using this passive cooling with active fan ? Or only for performance (or cooling) difference to MBP ?
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If that’s the case, which I’m inclined to think it is, they’re probably trying to differentiate the Air from the Pro lineup which is still using 14nm CPUs. If they bump the 10nm Air CPUs to 12W and refrigerate them actively, they might be on par (or close) to those of the MacBook Pro. If that was the case (and knowing Apple, it could well be), it would be a pity honestly.
 
high heaven said:

It seems it throttles a lot. Quite disappointing. A cooling fan in MBA is so meaningless without a heat pipe.
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I wonder with this, did he jump right into the testing after setting the computer up? Generally the OS is still performing background stuff, indexing etc for a few hours afterwards which could explain the lower than expected multi core score. Additionally, Apple were able to tweak the firmware of the 2018 15" Pro after release to give a modest improvement, we might see something similar here once it's bedded in. I don't think we're going to see this chip perform to its absolute potential either way, though, that's not really what the MBA is all about.
 
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imp3rator said:
Is there any rational reason for using this passive cooling with active fan ? Or only for performance (or cooling) difference to MBP ?
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Yes, milking customers and making them buy the more expensive MacBook Pro. Hell, even $500 laptops have a proper heatpipe, the last-gen Air also had one. There’s no other explanation, and for everyone who knows how proper cooling works, this should be a dealbreaker.
 
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gim said:
Yes, milking customers and making them buy the more expensive MacBook Pro. Hell, even $500 laptops have a proper heatpipe, the last-gen Air also had one. There’s no other explanation, and for everyone who knows how proper cooling works, this should be a dealbreaker.
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this is absolutely a deal breaker for me. reason why i held off on air so far for personal use is cause of lack of heatpipe
 
Let's hope someone can make an aftermarket heatpipe kit as a drop in replacement. Also a deal breaker and will just wait until the 14" MBP if a 3rd party can't come out with a cooling kit.
 
imp3rator said:
Is there any rational reason for using this passive cooling with active fan ? Or only for performance (or cooling) difference to MBP ?
Click to expand...

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No, it's not. 13in MBP has a superior cooling system with two fans. Having a proper cooling system with one fan for MBA shouldn't be a problem. Apple didnt add a single heat pipe and that's why MBA is such a failure. Furthermore, we are talking about Intel Y vs U. Both series are very different and they aren't comparable with each other.
 
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high heaven said:
No, it's not. 13in MBP has a superior cooling system with two fans. Having a proper cooling system with one fan for MBA shouldn't be a problem. Apple didnt add a single heat pipe and that's why MBA is such a failure. Furthermore, we are talking about Intel Y vs U. Both series are very different and they aren't comparable with each other.
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- You're comparing to the Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports model, though. The Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports model only has one fan - but of course still better cooling than the Air.

DICvm4w11sDrZQoF.huge.jpeg
 
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