Check out how I overcame thermal throttling in MBA 8GB!

[Sund]

Hi everyone! I recently purchased MBA 8GB/512GB model and wanted to test some hypotheses on how to prevent/reduce thermal throttling?

I first ran the Cinebench multi-core test and my MBA started getting heat up and I got a score of 6862

I then let my MBA to cool down and then used this stand:

And then I purchased powerful and cheap USB fan and placed it under the above stand:

After cooling, I ran the Cinebench multi-core test again with the fan running and my MBA was slightly hot but nothing like without fan and please find the below score: 7204 and YES WE CAN BEAT THERMAL THROTTLING with some cheap alternatives when you are running demanding tasks and save nearly 20% of your money

 

[nameste]

Or you can buy m1 mbp with a smaller fan ?

 

[KPOM]

Or you can buy m1 mbp with a smaller fan ?

Or a cooling pad.

 

[wyrdness]

You can buy cheap laptop cooling pads that do a similar job. I'd be interested to see any benchmarks to show if they have any significant effect on MBA performance.

 

[4sallypat]

This is funny!

My current 16" MBP and i7 Mini both needed laptop cooling fans to keep them warm (instead of hot) and the fan spinups were noisy!

Now I don't use the fans any more since the M1 Mini just replaced them and I can't even make it run hot or hear the fan anymore...

OP you should consider returning the fanless M1 Air and get an M1 Pro or Mini which have an internal fan.

 

[tiberiu]

I will probably do a similar thing, will switch my mbook pro to mbook air, and in case of thorttling just use a cooling pad, as anyway will probably thorttle very rare, something like 5% of my usage.
So there's no reason to carry a fan inside the laptop if I use it 5% of the times...

 

[eicca]

Hmmmm, now you've got me thinking. What would a MacBook Pro do for me that an Air couldn't, if I were buying a laptop with the intent of docking it and doubling it as a desktop? Seems like a fan dock might take thermals out of the equation.

 

[Populus]

Yeah! Let’s but a fanless and silent laptop just to put a noisy fan underneath.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool (lol) that you shared that trick here, but I would be more interested if someone, somehow, improved the heat dissipation from the aluminum radiator on the inside.

 

[Sund]

Yeah! Let’s but a fanless and silent laptop just to put a noisy fan underneath.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool (lol) that you shared that trick here, but I would be more interested if someone, somehow, improved the heat dissipation from the aluminum radiator on the inside.

Hi in my case, 98% of the time I don't do heavy intensive work and today was my full day at work, not even once felt slowed using chrome with multiple tabs, lots of hangouts call, Google sheets, excel, Data Studio etc.

Not even once I felt even warm and always it was cold the entire day with my batter starting at 100% and now at still 28% and going.

My old MBA early 2015 model gets heated up quickly and gets slowed down a lot.

When I need some pretty intensive work, which I do at home, I have this USB fan underneath which does the magic

 

[Sund]

This is funny!

My current 16" MBP and i7 Mini both needed laptop cooling fans to keep them warm (instead of hot) and the fan spinups were noisy!

Now I don't use the fans any more since the M1 Mini just replaced them and I can't even make it run hot or hear the fan anymore...

OP you should consider returning the fanless M1 Air and get an M1 Pro or Mini which have an internal fan.

In India, unfortunately, we don't have an option to return or exchange. Only get a replacement of the same model provided it is declared defective by Apple team.

Anyway, my use case is where 98% no heavy heating up level work and throughout the day it was cold only. When required, I have my setup to overcome throttling

 

[ChromeCloud]

It's a cool experiment (pun intended).

But If you think you just solved a problem, then you bought the wrong M1 MacBook.

 

[MK500]

I think we honestly need a very small fan to avoid throttling. The thermal mass of the heatsink plus case is doing a good job of pulling heat away from the CPU. A slow moving fan would do the rest. So a cooling pad with a large slow fan would be best.

Honestly, though, I'll take the < 15% hit for the silence

 

[eicca]

I have to wonder, if the Air under thermal throttle is still more powerful that my current Mac Pro (which I have never managed to max out), then I don't think thermal throttling will be an issue.

 

[sirio76]

Between the 2 Cinebench score there’s a difference of less than 5%, you really think you will notice this during everyday job?

 

[Sund]

Hi everyone! Another update from my end!

The ones who are worried about how the laptop can withstand load with a protective case?

You don't have to worry.

The same multi-core Cinebench test was conducted with fan running and my laptop with protective case as below:

Please find below the test results:

The results are still the same and under heavy load, still its going strong with not much of a difference.

My post os targeted a few who has bought base config and helping them to realize when needed, this beast can perform

Cheers, all!

 

[Sydde]

I just wonder, if Apple had put the mobo/ssd behind the screen, with only the battery under the keyboard (at risk of having it called a glorified iPad), would it not be able to shed heat more efficiently?

 

[eicca]

I just wonder, if Apple had put the mobo/ssd behind the screen, with only the battery under the keyboard (at risk of having it called a glorified iPad), would it not be able to shed heat more efficiently?

Interesting idea. I wonder if the screen has a higher base operating temperature as opposed to a battery which really only heats up under load.

 

[Sydde]

Well, I just groped the old-ish 42" TV that has been on for several hours and it is really close to ambient temp (which is around 60°F, I think, so lots of space for it to shed into). If the cpu were to sit at the bottom of the screen and sink into the back cover, all its heat would go up the back with minimal impact on the screen itself. There would be much less warm lap issue, more overhead before throttling and, perhaps of great importance to users, much less risk of beverage-bricking.