Is the 11.6" MBA Fan Always On?

[iRun26.2]

If I have only the 'Finder' open and the screen is on only one square of brightness, I can still hear a very weak sound that I think is the fan.

It is very very soft (and my wife couldn't hear it). The computer shows 6 hours of battery left and 50% power remaining. It's like it's using very little power... but could my fan really be running all of the time???

 

[DreamLand]

Yes, it's running all the time.

 

[acron1]

Yes, it's running all the time.

The fan is running @ about 2k RPMs when the computer is not working very hard or idling and off when it's asleep...
And yes you can hardly hear it when it's not going full blast.

 

[jimboutilier]

The fan runs all the time the computer is powered on (but not when off, sleeping or hibernating). Speed ranges from an almost inaudible 2000rpm to a reasonably quiet but quite audible 6000 rpm.

I found the 11.6" 1.6/4/128 to run very cool for a Mac (in the range of 40-50 deg C most of the time) and the fan speed remains slow and almost inaudible except under the heaviest loads.

Thats quite an improvement over previous MBAs and even over my uMB which have about the same speed range but are noisier at a given speed and tend to run hotter and faster more often.

Try a free utility called SMC Fan control to experiment with fan speeds and keep track of speeds and temp.

 

[11800506]

The fans of all modern Mac notebooks are always constantly on, not just the 11.6" MBA. They all generally run when at idle at around 2000 rpm. My Macbook Pro is the same way.

 

[gwsat]

The fans of all modern Mac notebooks are always constantly on, not just the 11.6" MBA. They all generally run when at idle at around 2000 rpm. My Macbook Pro is the same way.

That's right. As a practical matter, though, the fan, or in the case of MBPs, fans, are inaudible when running at 2,000 RPM.

 

[iRun26.2]

The fan runs all the time the computer is powered on (but not when off, sleeping or hibernating). Speed ranges from an almost inaudible 2000rpm to a reasonably quiet but quite audible 6000 rpm.

I found the 11.6" 1.6/4/128 to run very cool for a Mac (in the range of 40-50 deg C most of the time) and the fan speed remains slow and almost inaudible except under the heaviest loads.

Thats quite an improvement over previous MBAs and even over my uMB which have about the same speed range but are noisier at a given speed and tend to run hotter and faster more often.

Try a free utility called SMC Fan control to experiment with fan speeds and keep track of speeds and temp.

Thanks for such an in-depth response!

I am amazed that the fan still has to be running when the computer is basically doing nothing (but just sitting there, letting me read the screen). I would have thought they could turn everything off at that point (CPU and GPU wise).

I am disappointed that I can faintly hear the fan. At least it is not too loud even when I push it a little harder. I've always been told that I have exceptionally good hearing...so maybe most users don't even notice it.

Were the fans always on in the old MBAs, too? I thought the fan in my original Rev. A MBA were completely off unless I was doing more than just typing (because I never heard them).

(Maybe the fan in my old MBA were just so quiet I never heard it).

 

[maflynn]

All laptop fans are running now, the OS will control the speed of the fan, but its always running, heck, even on desktops the fans are always running. The CPU would cook itself without the fans running.

 

[yegon]

As jimboutiller said, smcfancontrol is your friend. I've always found the fans in Apple lappy's to be set woefully low, and sometimes slow to realise when they're needed. When I run anything intensive I always whack up the fans prior, otherwise you regularly see your temps hit 80+ degrees before the fans kick in at 6200 rpm. Not healthy imo, and smcfancontrol easily rectifies this.

 

[maflynn]

As jimboutiller said, smcfancontrol is your friend.

People tend to run hot and cold on smcfancontrol (no pun intended). Apple keeps the fan speeds low but temps up to have better battery life and a quieter machine. Personally, I'd rather of a cooler running laptop, but that's my preference.

 

[iRun26.2]

People tend to run hot and cold on smcfancontrol (no pun intended). Apple keeps the fan speeds low but temps up to have better battery life and a quieter machine. Personally, I'd rather of a cooler running laptop, but that's my preference.

My 11.6" 1.6GHz/4G/128G MBA does seem to be a lot cooler than my previous MBA. That in itself is almost reason enough to upgrade to the new (and smaller) MBA!

(I hate it when a laptop is too hot to put on your lap...)

 

[maflynn]

My 11.6" 1.6GHz/4G/128G MBA does seem to be a lot cooler than my previous MBA. That in itself is almost reason enough to upgrade to the new (and smaller) MBA!

mostly because apple is using intels' CULV CPU which is runs much cooler then apple's prior generation

(I hate it when a laptop is too hot to put on your lap...)

Agreed!!! I used to have a 2.53 MBP and it would cook my lap if I used it over extended periods

 

[yegon]

People tend to run hot and cold on smcfancontrol (no pun intended). Apple keeps the fan speeds low but temps up to have better battery life and a quieter machine. Personally, I'd rather of a cooler running laptop, but that's my preference.

That's true.

The only thing I do on battery that tends to ramp up the heat is flash video, so I accordingly raise the fans. Otherwise, on battery it's usually okay on default for me.