Will the new Air run any cooler?

[ghileman]

Yea but that's while playing SC2!!

True, but still.

So based on numerous reports now, including this pcmag review, it sounds like the 11" definitely runs cool and quiet:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371199,00.asp

however, it would be nice to get definitive word on the 13" temps and fans. can anyone settle this question with data once and for all?

 

[archurban]

I don't think that new macbook air couldn't handle cooling problem. since I have seen the same unibody macbook, macbook pro have the same problem. I don't understand why Apple still doesn't have any solution for that. they make very decent computer. sometimes, when I play game on mac, I can't stand something my macbook pro is getting really hot. but with my sony vaio F laptop, I can even play the same game on my lap. I don't really feel hot. it is just little warm. this is shame.

 

[tivoboy]

tell me

tell me what to throw at it, and I'll give it a try

I only have the 13" 128BG version.

 

[hachre]

tell me what to throw at it, and I'll give it a try

I only have the 13" 128BG version.

Tell us how loud it is when they run at max speed ;D And tell us how likely they are to get audible...

 

[Bosep]

I don't think that new macbook air couldn't handle cooling problem. since I have seen the same unibody macbook, macbook pro have the same problem. I don't understand why Apple still doesn't have any solution for that. they make very decent computer. sometimes, when I play game on mac, I can't stand something my macbook pro is getting really hot. but with my sony vaio F laptop, I can even play the same game on my lap. I don't really feel hot. it is just little warm. this is shame.

Eh, did u even read the thread? People in this thread says its much cooler than macbook and macbook pro...

 

[ghileman]

tell me what to throw at it, and I'll give it a try

HD flash video, por favor.

 

[mulo]

tell me what to throw at it, and I'll give it a try

I only have the 13" 128BG version.

handbrake for ~30 mins that'll run hot

 

[Adidas Addict]

If it's cool and quiet (the 13") while watching HD flash video, that's good enough for me.

 

[hachre]

If it's cool and quiet (the 13") while watching HD flash video, that's good enough for me.

I could care less...







Just kidding ;D Adidas Addict



Seriously, my MBP can't be trumped imo... It has been running Handbrake for 5 mins now. This is the result:

100°C = 212°F

 

[tivoboy]

can't

Tell us how loud it is when they run at max speed ;D And tell us how likely they are to get audible...

Cant get them to run at all actually. I've tried TWO HD videos from youtube, nothing comes on.

 

[hachre]

Cant get them to run at all actually. I've tried TWO HD videos from youtube, nothing comes on.

Open Terminal (Spotlight or from Utilities), paste this and press enter:

while true; do true; done & while true; do true; done &

It should respond two numbers.. Just wait and leave it open for a few mins. The fan comes on for me in about 1 min with that. Once you quit the Terminal app it will stop again.

 

[tivoboy]

tried it

I tried this, I can hear SOMETHING if I put my head down near the back, but nothing compared to anything else, like MBP at 2000 even. Are the numbers fan speeds?

Is there something which needs to be done to REVERSE this effect?

 

[hachre]

I tried this, I can hear SOMETHING if I put my head down near the back, but nothing compared to anything else, like MBP at 2000 even. Are the numbers fan speeds?

Is there something which needs to be done to REVERSE this effect?

Just quit the Terminal app. Nothing else needs to be done.

No the numbers are the numerical ids of the two programs that command starts... It basically does nothing in a loop that goes forever, which uses 100% of each CPU core you have.

That is good news!! It means the CPU being at full usage alone doesn't suffice to get it sweating! So the GFX have to be involved too... Probably at 1080p playback for a good while or something...

On my MBP doing that I have the fans at 5000 within 1 min... And 6200 is the max...

 

[MacModMachine]

yes, it will

the macbook air 2010's cooling system is much different then the old one which had no copper cooling fins, but a cooling plate. The cooling system also has a longer cooling cycle, the heat will have room to travel and giving the fan a much longer chance to cool the heat generated by the components.

The cooling system has many fins at the end of the heatpipe, this means the heat will have more area to dissepate, The cooling fan is a bit larger also.



im no engineer but have worked with laptops for a very long time, this cooling system looks efficent and very well laid out compared the the old airs.

 

[snowman1]

yes, it will

the macbook air 2010's cooling system is much different then the old one which had no copper cooling fins, but a cooling plate. The cooling system also has a longer cooling cycle, the heat will have room to travel and giving the fan a much longer chance to cool the heat generated by the components.

The cooling system has many fins at the end of the heatpipe, this means the heat will have more area to dissepate, The cooling fan is a bit larger also.



im no engineer but have worked with laptops for a very long time, this cooling system looks efficent and very well laid out compared the the old airs.

woah! this is interesting but if the new macbook air's are thinner...doesn't that mean the heat has less room to travel?

 

[MacModMachine]

woah! this is interesting but if the new macbook air's are thinner...doesn't that mean the heat has less room to travel?

Sorry, I did not explain it well.

What I met was the air now has a heat pipe which allows for a proper thermal cycle to happen , where as before the air was just ramping up to full speed cooling a plate mounted to both the gpu and CPU and would never cool once the plate heated up.

Hope this is a better explanation.

 

[ghileman]

yes, it will

the macbook air 2010's cooling system is much different then the old one which had no copper cooling fins, but a cooling plate. The cooling system also has a longer cooling cycle, the heat will have room to travel and giving the fan a much longer chance to cool the heat generated by the components.

The cooling system has many fins at the end of the heatpipe, this means the heat will have more area to dissepate, The cooling fan is a bit larger also.



im no engineer but have worked with laptops for a very long time, this cooling system looks efficent and very well laid out compared the the old airs.

that sounds promising. would be also great to hear some real world confirmation.

 

[cmascatello]

I ran multiple instances of the Yes command in /dev/null on a 13.3" MBA on Friday and had a barely noticeable increase in heat on the bottom of the machine under the 1,2,3,4 numeric keys. This was after a good 3 minutes of running. I was surprised at how cool it stayed.

 

[lily69]

I ran multiple instances of the Yes command in /dev/null on a 13.3" MBA on Friday and had a barely noticeable increase in heat on the bottom of the machine under the 1,2,3,4 numeric keys. This was after a good 3 minutes of running. I was surprised at how cool it stayed.

Good news for us who ordered 13"!

 

[KPOM]

Good news for us who ordered 13"!

x2. Hopefully we see better performance even with the same chips as the old 13" because the processor won't need to throttle down as much. That, the faster SSD, and the GeForce 320m might make these new models quite a bit faster for everyday tasks even though they don't look faster on paper.

 

[stoleyrbike]

tell me what to throw at it, and I'll give it a try

I only have the 13" 128BG version.

Try the Big Buck Bunny vid in 1080p (make sure it's flash, not HTML5), and let us know which version of flash you're using.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSGBVzeBUbk

 

[gwsat]

"Speaking of heating issues, Flash heat-ups aside, the Air sits noticeably cooler in the lap than the MacBook Pro does. And the thing runs absolutely silently. Even when I had Flash blaring, there was just heat, no noise."


http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/21/new-macbook-air-review/

My Santa Rosa MBP gets so hot that I routinely keep a coffee table book between it and my lap. I don't think it would burn me without the book being there but I prefer the book, unless it's a really cold day. If the new MBA runs no hotter than my MBP I will be satisfied.

I thought the writer of the TechCrunch piece knew what he was talking about, in stark contrast to some of the nonsense I have seen about the new MBA from some other members of the technical press. Earlier today, I saw another knowledgable writer's take on the new 13 inch MBP on the MSNBC.com site. Highly recommended.

 

[robeddie]

Short answer - no.

Don't see how it could.

But maybe... a little

Then again, could run hotter.

It's not as if they listen to the customers or something like that.

WRONG!

I spent an hour yesterday playing FarCry in bootcamp. On my old MBA (rev. 2, 1.86 ghz) it would get extremely hot within about 5 minutes and the frames would start to hiccup.

With my measly 1.4ghz MBA it ran FarCry for an hour and the machine was just warm, not hot. Plus, the framerates were silky smooth at full detail and max resolution.

I would say this machine is much cooler, and much faster than my old MBA.

 

[ghileman]

well, there are reports of the 11" heating up

"The Air definitely heated up when the video was playing, and its fan kicked in" while streaming an episode of Terriers from Hulu

http://www.macworld.com/article/155186/2010/10/macbook_air.html

 

[eba]

I bought the 13 "ultimate" version today (2.13 GHz, 4 GB) to replace my rev C MBA. Fans kick in a bit more often during high 3D use, but it runs much cooler. My old MBA sometimes got almost too hot to hold in my lap; no such problem with the new machine.

So sometimes louder; always cooler.