How to clean the Mac Studio from dust?

[rotarypower101]

Possible anyone knows if any of the examples above "Restrict" airflow causing the Mac Studio to ramp the fans under no/low load?

Made a filter for the front of the cheese grader MacPro, and despite that machine having a Far Larger surface area to work with, the machine was Very sensitive to the restriction in flow for the filter media, and the fans would almost immediately respond by doubling in RPM at Zero load, and would go from a reasonable low sound to a immediate and noticeably audible fan drone!

Curious if a filter media is utilized with the studio, will it likely respond in a similar kind?
And if yes, might a pleated media to vastly increase surface area be advisable VS a single sheet of media ~surface area of the footprint of the studio?


The dust filter media I used before was ~3mm thin, partially nearly transparent because of its open cell nature, was Incredibly surprised how restrictive it was despite those attributes.
Are there filter medias that are optimized at blocking particles, yet less restrictive?

 

[transmaster]

It is available on Amazon Canada… Are you sure you are looking at the right thing?

Yes it is phooey I thought is was white in color. I only actually paid 8 bucks for mine using Amazon Credits. I'll just what for them to build up and get the silver one.

 

[Wheel_D]

Possible anyone knows if any of the examples above "Restrict" airflow causing the Mac Studio to ramp the fans under no/low load?

Made a filter for the front of the cheese grader MacPro, and despite that machine having a Far Larger surface area to work with, the machine was Very sensitive to the restriction in flow for the filter media, and the fans would almost immediately respond by doubling in RPM at Zero load, and would go from a reasonable low sound to a immediate and noticeably audible fan drone!

Curious if a filter media is utilized with the studio, will it likely respond in a similar kind?
And if yes, might a pleated media to vastly increase surface area be advisable VS a single sheet of media ~surface area of the footprint of the studio?


The dust filter media I used before was ~3mm thin, partially nearly transparent because of its open cell nature, was Incredibly surprised how restrictive it was despite those attributes.
Are there filter medias that are optimized at blocking particles, yet less restrictive?

@rotarypower101 - There was discussion of exactly this issue earlier in this thread; you'll want to check the first few pages.

 

[Shazaam!]

Possible anyone knows if any of the examples above "Restrict" airflow causing the Mac Studio to ramp the fans under no/low load?

Made a filter for the front of the cheese grader MacPro, and despite that machine having a Far Larger surface area to work with, the machine was Very sensitive to the restriction in flow for the filter media, and the fans would almost immediately respond by doubling in RPM at Zero load, and would go from a reasonable low sound to a immediate and noticeably audible fan drone!

Curious if a filter media is utilized with the studio, will it likely respond in a similar kind?
And if yes, might a pleated media to vastly increase surface area be advisable VS a single sheet of media ~surface area of the footprint of the studio?


The dust filter media I used before was ~3mm thin, partially nearly transparent because of its open cell nature, was Incredibly surprised how restrictive it was despite those attributes.
Are there filter medias that are optimized at blocking particles, yet less restrictive?

The Studio will ramp up fan speed only when CPU or GPU temperatures reaches a set point. If you restrict air flow with a dirty filter, more power (1-2 watts) will be sent to the fan motor to assure fan speed is maintained until the filter is cleaned.

 

[dimme]

I wanted to follow up on the Ifcase stand with filter. Is anyone using it. I have had the Spigen for about a year. When I clean my desk the desk is dusty but the Spigen is clean. I not sure if it is working great or it does not work at all. I try to vacuum the vents of the Studio and the Spine with a rubber hose attachment on my Dyson onece a month or so.

​

 

[Sharky II]

Is the Spigen the only option in town? In the UK, I can't see many alternatives.

 

[designerdave72]

Is the Spigen the only option in town? In the UK, I can't see many alternatives.

JEMACHE Desktop Dust, Air Filter Stand for Mac Mini 2010-2023 M1 M2 Pro, Mac Studio M1 M2 Max/Ultra (Silver)

Filter out 99.99% of dust particles without compromising performance

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[enrique.aliaga]

If a 140mm fan filter will fit here is one of the choices. As far as I am concerned if this is the case this solves the filtering issue. I have used this type of mesh for years, good air flow, and very easy to clean, swish it in soapy water, rinse, and blow dry.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WWJZFYR?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_6Q4DJQ52T5E0M71FJXBE_1

Hi there, @transmaster !

I purchased the IFCASE stand a few weeks ago for my Mac Studio M2 Max. It comes bundled with 3 of these cheap-looking foam filters. I have one of them installed and the other two sealed in a ziploc bag for the future. I'm doubtful about the effectiveness of the included cheapo filters, so your suggestion of the Silverstone fan filter caught my eye.

That Silverstone fan filter looks great if we can make it work inside the IFCASE. However, the filter is magnetized around its periphery (which facilitates attaching it to a normal PC fan, of course). My concern may be unfounded, but is there any chance the magnetism of the filter could affect the components of my Mac Studio (the SSDs in particular)?. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I just wanted to be sure before ordering one.

BTW, even though it's plastic, the silver-colored IFCASE stand is a very close match to the color of the MS, so they look great together.

 

[Sharky II]

JEMACHE Desktop Dust, Air Filter Stand for Mac Mini 2010-2023 M1 M2 Pro, Mac Studio M1 M2 Max/Ultra (Silver)

Filter out 99.99% of dust particles without compromising performance

www.amazon.co.uk

Amazing, thank you! Do you use this? Looks awesome! And almost half the price! I can't decide which colour to get...

 

[designerdave72]

Amazing, thank you! Do you use this? Looks awesome! And almost half the price! I can't decide which colour to get...

I use Spigen on a perforated raiser and it works. I still check every month and clean it just in case.

 

[Sharky II]

Cool - I ordered a clear version of the one you posted, will let you/the thread know how it goes.

I also ordered a small Sharc handheld vac for my workspace as I now have a cat!

 

[Chuckeee]

I use Spigen on a perforated raiser and it works. I still check every month and clean it just in case.

Just wondering, does the riser provide any improvement in BT or WiFi antenna reception?

 

[designerdave72]

Just wondering, does the riser provide any improvement in BT or WiFi antenna reception?

I never really thought about it but I suppose it could do yes. I do get some broken signal when using my AirPods when connected to the MS and walk into another room or go downstairs.

 

[Sharky II]

Cool - I ordered a clear version of the one you posted, will let you/the thread know how it goes.

I also ordered a small Sharc handheld vac for my workspace as I now have a cat!

It’s quite a flimsy thing and even though the box was sealed, it came with a few marks on it. But then, it’s very cheap.

Comes with a total of 3 sponge filters, not sure if they consider them a consumable, or where to buy more from. The sponge filters are very thin and delicate but I think that could be a good thing.

It’s also a bit annoying that the Mac Studio doesn’t lock into place onto the stand, it can easily slip off, unlike the Spigen which I believe uses the Kensington lock slot to hold the Mac, though the Mac Studio Ultra is very heavy. The machine does sit flush without the gap that many Spigen owners seem to report.

But ultimately I think it should do its job for the foreseeable future and from a distance it looks decent (see attached)!

 

[splifingate]

Just wondering, does the riser provide any improvement in BT or WiFi antenna reception?

Never had a problem with either, and never noticed any change with the addition-of.

 

[MacLuvin]

is it a 2-3 degree increase on IDLE or heavier workloads? Also if its 2-3 degrees higher on idle, won't it hurt the system in the long run by running hotter than what they intended it to run at?

 

[MacLuvin]

My Mac Studio was sitting my basement office for 9 months without collecting any visible dust underneath. I used a Rocket Air Blaster (for photo equipment) and a vacuum-cleaner to clean it out, and now it is sitting on top of a Spigen stand/filter. I don’t know if that is necessary, but it looks great, and for the price it seems worth it to protect the Mac Studio from significant dust build-up. My CPU temps increased perhaps by 2-3 degrees celsius.

is it a 2-3 degree increase on IDLE or heavier workloads? Also if its 2-3 degrees higher on idle, won't it hurt the system in the long run by running hotter than what they intended it to run at?

 

[Killerbob]

Only under pressure, and you are not hurting your Mac Studio by running it a few degrees hotter. If the CPU gets to be too hot, it will throttle and turn off way before you are destroying it.

 

[MacLuvin]

Only under pressure, and you are not hurting your Mac Studio by running it a few degrees hotter. If the CPU gets to be too hot, it will throttle and turn off way before you are destroying it.

so on regular work / idle work the temperate is a constant same as without the spiegen stand? I got mine on a raised stand + thinking about getting a little vacuum for it...

 

[Killerbob]

It’s been a while, but I believe so…

 

[Luis Glez]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. The Studio has a very nice cooling system and the Apple Silicon chips have really good thermal efficiency. The temperature rise when using the Spigen stand is negligible, at least in my experience.

I've been using the Studio for more than a year now, usually for CPU/GPU intensive tasks related with 3D graphics, and have never seen the fans ramp up, even in hot summer days with moderately high ambient temperature.

 

[ultratiem]

The design itself looks great but is actually a really dick move for maintainability. First, the rubber circular foot rest needs to be ripped off to access the chassis. They want $30 for a new one, which is insane to me. Next, Apple, in it's infinite wisdom made the chassis an upside container with the fans at the top. This means having to disassemble the entire thing to get access to the fans. I don't know about any of you, but I'd rather not take my $3k machine apart for 2h just to clean it.

This is a stark contrast to say the 2013 that whose internal components and fan was accessible in 5s.

Dust will depend on your environment but for those not living in a bubble, it's going to be dusty. I see lots getting screens to filter the dust (I have the spigen stand which they now want $69 for!) which only work to a degree. I blow mine out every 6 or so months and there's always a plume of dust (aim the nozzle at and angle against the back grill). So I suspect it's probably pretty bad in there. My building is older but I vacuum weekly and keep my place quite clean.

It would have been epic if Apple designed the top of the chassis to be removable, similar to how they design their desktop displays, where the glass is held on by magnets. They would have to rework the placement of the antennae, but it would allow users to just pop off the top to access the fans and the logic board, making maintenance a breeze. Moreover, given their legendary build quality, I have no doubt they could machine the top so precise, the gap would almost be unnoticeable.

Lots criticized the 2013 Mac Pro regarding its thermal efficiency, claiming it overheated. I have no doubt if these users didn't de-dust it, that would occur. I would routinely clean mine and even when I gamed for dozens of hours straight, I never had thermal issues. In fact, I never had its fans ever ramp up past 3500 rpm even during hot ass summers.

I'm on the fence that cleaning a machine so it moves air and stays cool is bar none the best thing you can do for its longevity. I have friends that had reached out saying their machines (PCs) just died. I look in inside and it's just a 2cm layer of dust on everything. Like shocker this poor thing just melted.

 

[iAssimilated]

The design itself looks great but is actually a really dick move for maintainability. First, the rubber circular foot rest needs to be ripped off to access the chassis. They want $30 for a new one, which is insane to me. Next, Apple, in it's infinite wisdom made the chassis an upside container with the fans at the top. This means having to disassemble the entire thing to get access to the fans. I don't know about any of you, but I'd rather not take my $3k machine apart for 2h just to clean it.

This is a stark contrast to say the 2013 that whose internal components and fan was accessible in 5s.

Dust will depend on your environment but for those not living in a bubble, it's going to be dusty. I see lots getting screens to filter the dust (I have the spigen stand which they now want $69 for!) which only work to a degree. I blow mine out every 6 or so months and there's always a plume of dust (aim the nozzle at and angle against the back grill). So I suspect it's probably pretty bad in there. My building is older but I vacuum weekly and keep my place quite clean.

It would have been epic if Apple designed the top of the chassis to be removable, similar to how they design their desktop displays, where the glass is held on by magnets. They would have to rework the placement of the antennae, but it would allow users to just pop off the top to access the fans and the logic board, making maintenance a breeze. Moreover, given their legendary build quality, I have no doubt they could machine the top so precise, the gap would almost be unnoticeable.

View attachment 2384234

Lots criticized the 2013 Mac Pro regarding its thermal efficiency, claiming it overheated. I have no doubt if these users didn't de-dust it, that would occur. I would routinely clean mine and even when I gamed for dozens of hours straight, I never had thermal issues. In fact, I never had its fans ever ramp up past 3500 rpm even during hot ass summers.

I'm on the fence that cleaning a machine so it moves air and stays cool is bar none the best thing you can do for its longevity. I have friends that had reached out saying their machines (PCs) just died. I look in inside and it's just a 2cm layer of dust on everything. Like shocker this poor thing just melted.

The Apple M series chips would have made the 2013 Pro an absolute perfect machine.

 

[ultratiem]

Yeah totally agree @iAssimilated! For thermal efficiency, the design was absolutely king, moving the hot air right out the top. They kept saying they couldn’t really update it because of its design but that never made sense to me. If anything Apple silicon would have made it even easier given it’s an integrated chip.

 

[minvoyager]

The YouTube channel Morgonaut has a video entitled, "Apple Mac Studio Has a Major Flaw! Here's how to fix it". She shows how to use a plus-size pantyhose to encase the Mac Studio so that the pantyhose acts as an airfilter. In the video she shows the mesh size that she found a good balance between dust-filtering versus airflow. Sure, the Mac Studio looks dorky with a pantyhose over it, but it's fine if you're past the honeymoon period where you were staring at your Mac all the time.