4 ms·
If you have any of the Air models which lack fans, there's a common hack of putting thermal pads between the CPU heatspreader and case, effectively turning the
by zdw 1y ago
If you have any of the Air models which lack fans, there's a common hack of putting thermal pads between the CPU heatspreader and case, effectively turning the bottom case into a large heatsink, and giving your system a longer maximum performance before throttling.
The downsides is that this makes the bottom of the case quite hot on a place you can touch, but putting a plastic hardshell over the entire laptop deals with that, and also gives protection.
- evanjrowley 1y agoThanks for that info. I've been interested in this hack and use plastic hard shells, but have been concerned that the plastic covering might prevent proper heat dissipation. It sounds like the tradeoff is worth it.
- ianferrel 1y agoMaking the bottom case a heatsink and then putting a plastic insulator around it seems to defeat the purpose of the whole attempt?
- delusional 1y agoI take him saying: > a longer maximum performance before throttling. As implying that the purpose is to increase the thermal mass, not necessarily the dissipation. It should still be able to reach maximum performance for longer, it will then just also take longer to settle back down again.
- zdw 1y agoThis is the correct interpretation - you get a bit longer max clockspeed due to the thermal mass (and thus more heat overall). Is the added plastic shell case a "bandaid on a bandaid" sort of solution to deal with that heat? Absolutely. But you might want that case anyway - I've had several laptops that would have had broken screens or were yanked off a desk by an attached cable and survived by the sacrificial plastic shell taking the impact. Like all things, it's a tradeoff to consider.
- ianferrel 1y agoMakes sense.
- manaskarekar 1y agoIt's pulling the heat away from a concentrated region into a larger region. Performance numbers reflect the optimization. I personally haven't done it for fear of affecting the battery lifespan (and possibly other components' lifespans.) Really hard to resist due to its simplicity and noticeable improvements.
- Fluorescence 1y agoI can't say I am tempted. When I played a game on an M1 Air, the underside became unbearably/worryingly hot anyway. I accept it's not for sustained load. I still have pads left over from trying my damnedest to reduce fan noise on a Dell XPS. Used pads on every hot stop and didn't help.
- manaskarekar 1y agoThanks for the anecdote. I like the simple, well designed, silent, cool and fanless design. If I were to need any more performance I'd just swap it out for a newer MBA or a MBP with a fan.
- exe34 1y agoReminds me of the advice given for outdoor electronics: make sure your enclosure is absolutely watertight, and then drill a hole in the bottom to drain any residual buildup from humidity.
- testing22321 1y agoThe air box in your car has holes to drain any water that finds its way in there…, not great for deep water crossings
- fph 1y agoNot to mention paying premium for an extra-thin computer and then making it thicker with a plastic hardshell.
- adastra22 1y agoHow is buying the cheapest Mac laptop paying a premium?
- gruez 1y agoStill a premium compared to bargain basement windows laptops.
- adastra22 1y agoWhich is an apples to oranges comparison on two fronts. On software of course because they can’t run the same things, and on hardware because a MacBook Air does not run on budget specs.
- thfuran 1y agoThe cheapest Mac laptop isn’t remotely the cheapest laptop.
- phoronixrly 1y agoI hope apple engineers see this and cringe as hard as I do each time people have to come to such hacks to work around their infamous thermal design... Take the product expected to have top-notch design with best in its class UX and discover you need to open it up and make a hardware modification and then cover its metal body with a cheap-looking plastic case... If you run Asahi on it as well, at this point why even bother with Apple...
- j45 1y agoWhen resting on a fixed position on a desk, You can also put cabinet fans under the macbook to draw air away. AC Infinity ones are nice for that. Had to do that with an old i9 macbook pro that was completely incapable of cooling itself due to being too thin.