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Love my Air! One question.

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unloader

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2013
6
0
Hey everyone. New to the forum. Bought the 13" Air recently and absolutely love it. I am an over the road truck driver and having a battery that lasts as long as this does (even when playing games I still get decent battery life) is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Anyway, when I load up WoW and start playing, the upper part of the keyboard gets really, really hot. Like damn! kind of hot. My question is, if I continue to game it up for long periods of time do I run the risk of burning out some component inside the machine? Secondly, is there a cooling mat or something of that nature that any of you would recommend?

Thanks for any advice you guys can offer up. :)

unloader
 
M

mattferg

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2013
380
22
unloader said:
Hey everyone. New to the forum. Bought the 13" Air recently and absolutely love it. I am an over the road truck driver and having a battery that lasts as long as this does (even when playing games I still get decent battery life) is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Anyway, when I load up WoW and start playing, the upper part of the keyboard gets really, really hot. Like damn! kind of hot. My question is, if I continue to game it up for long periods of time do I run the risk of burning out some component inside the machine? Secondly, is there a cooling mat or something of that nature that any of you would recommend?

Thanks for any advice you guys can offer up. :)

unloader
Click to expand...

No risk of damaging anything - the Air will automatically switch off if it gets too hot. As for a keyboard cover, something like this would prevent some of the heat but probs not all of it:

http://www.amazon.com/UPPERCASE-Ult...71&sr=8-1&keywords=macbook+air+keyboard+cover

Don't know about cooling mats, never really thought them effective or worth it tbh.
 
C

Confusius

macrumors regular
Mar 24, 2012
131
0
New York
I used to use this one with my old MacBook Pro: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002MU1ZRS/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1374799693&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX110_SY190
I hope you're not going to use your computer while driving the truck (all sorts of bad things could happen)...
 
U

unloader

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2013
6
0
Confusius said:
I used to use this one with my old MacBook Pro: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002MU1ZRS/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1374799693&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX110_SY190
I hope you're not going to use your computer while driving the truck (all sorts of bad things could happen)...
Click to expand...

Haha, definitely don't use the thing while driving. But the battery life is where its at. Don't have to idle the truck to even charge the Air as it charges really fast. I haven't timed it, but I would swear the it charges up in like 30 minutes.

Ill check out that mat. Thanks.

unloader
 
I

inodes

macrumors newbie
Jan 31, 2011
17
0
unloader said:
Anyway, when I load up WoW and start playing, the upper part of the keyboard gets really, really hot. Like damn! kind of hot.
Click to expand...

No risk. The fans and the aluminium body do the work. Work in a well ventilated area (inside a house with a fan or inside the trunk with air con).

I've been playing Wow on mine for over 2 years without issue.
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
P

phrk

macrumors member
Mar 26, 2012
47
3
Germany
mattferg said:
No risk of damaging anything - the Air will automatically switch off if it gets too hot. As for a keyboard cover, something like this would prevent some of the heat but probs not all of it:

http://www.amazon.com/UPPERCASE-Ult...71&sr=8-1&keywords=macbook+air+keyboard+cover

Don't know about cooling mats, never really thought them effective or worth it tbh.
Click to expand...

Since the MacBook Air sucks in the air through the keyboard this will have a negative effect on the airflow.

EDIT: I was misinformed - read my statement below.
 
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I

irDigital0l

Guest
Dec 7, 2010
2,901
0
Just don't play for a long time and really Macs weren't made for gaming.

I would just let it cool down for a while, don't want to overwork it.
 
S

SpoekGTi

macrumors regular
Jul 2, 2012
132
3
The Netherlands
Here is a good tip:

Don't buy any extra coolings, just make sure in your settings of your WoW set your FPS limited to 30fps on background and foreground. This will keep the temps within limits and even keeps your fan quiet.
 
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J

James717

macrumors regular
Jul 1, 2013
162
10
Man, games use a lot of the battery.

I can play FB flash games all day long, but on air, 4-5 hours seem to be the limit. Flash is a battery eater.

I also watch movies that are streamed from the web. Again, I think it eats up 30% per movie. The 2013 is great for netbook like functions, but it is certainly not an entertainment unit.
 
S

SpoekGTi

macrumors regular
Jul 2, 2012
132
3
The Netherlands
James717 said:
Man, games use a lot of the battery.

I can play FB flash games all day long, but on air, 4-5 hours seem to be the limit. Flash is a battery eater.

I also watch movies that are streamed from the web. Again, I think it eats up 30% per movie. The 2013 is great for netbook like functions, but it is certainly not an entertainment unit.
Click to expand...

I can play wow on my 2012 for 4 hrs, so yes its an entertainment unit. Flash is really the problem. Streaming video eats at it yes, you use WiFi intensively then and most webbased streaming services also use flash or silverlight which are both huge battery eaters.

I use plex for streaming and i can watch 5 movies on 1 charge
 
A

Appledreamer

macrumors member
Jun 16, 2011
90
0
Belfast
phrk said:
Since the MacBook Air sucks in the air through the keyboard this will have a negative effect on the airflow.
Click to expand...

Question, i have one of these key board covers the rubber type to protect the keys and keep **** and stuff outta under them, does the macbook air REALLY draw air in from the keyboard? are you sure of that? 100%......it does not pull it in from one end of the hinge and then exhaust it via the fan on the other side?
 
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jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
Yes, the air intake on the Air is through the keyboard as it is the largest open space on the computer. Intake has to be pretty minimal though as the machine is also designed to operate with the lid closed (plus there is a rubber gasket around the edge of the lid which creates even more of a seal). Fortunately, air molecules are also very tiny and can be sucked in through the smallest of gaps.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about damaging components. As several posters and I have stated, the CPU/GPU are designed to throttle down or shut down if they get too hot.
 
M

m98custom1212

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2013
287
1
Toledo, Ohio
irDigital0l said:
Just don't play for a long time and really Macs weren't made for gaming.

I would just let it cool down for a while, don't want to overwork it.
Click to expand...

Over work it? Where do you come up this stuff? As long the computer is staying in the thermal limits its fine. IE 100c I havne't tried but my guess the computer will throttle at 85c or so
 
J

johnjey

macrumors regular
Jun 17, 2013
245
2
Northern CA
jdechko said:
Yes, the air intake on the Air is through the keyboard as it is the largest open space on the computer. Intake has to be pretty minimal though as the machine is also designed to operate with the lid closed (plus there is a rubber gasket around the edge of the lid which creates even more of a seal). Fortunately, air molecules are also very tiny and can be sucked in through the smallest of gaps.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about damaging components. As several posters and I have stated, the CPU/GPU are designed to throttle down or shut down if they get too hot.
Click to expand...

Regardless, i bought the Keyboard COVER and WILL report heat result impact
 
I

irDigital0l

Guest
Dec 7, 2010
2,901
0
m98custom1212 said:
Over work it? Where do you come up this stuff? As long the computer is staying in the thermal limits its fine. IE 100c I havne't tried but my guess the computer will throttle at 85c or so
Click to expand...

He said his keyboard started becoming really hot.

Just because Apple stated a certain range of temperature doesn't mean you should try to max it out as much or see how far you can go.
 
P

phrk

macrumors member
Mar 26, 2012
47
3
Germany
Appledreamer said:
Question, i have one of these key board covers the rubber type to protect the keys and keep **** and stuff outta under them, does the macbook air REALLY draw air in from the keyboard? are you sure of that? 100%......it does not pull it in from one end of the hinge and then exhaust it via the fan on the other side?
Click to expand...

I was probably wrong. I don't know where I heard it, but this article shows the true airflow of a MacBook Pro: http://splurgebook.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/how-the-macbook-pro-13-cools-itself/

Since the keyboard is on the opposite side there is not much of a chance that a lot of air is getting through the keyboard. The MacBook Air uses probably the same technique except the setup of the internals is mirrored: https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/nmItfRdGJsVaLKcl.medium
 
H

hockeyfanatic

macrumors member
Feb 23, 2011
94
0
I noticed some less than expected battery performance.
What I mean by that, I did not time it, I went by overall expectation.

I read apple discussions about downloading being a big drain on battery. It was referencing an I7, but I think the I5 would apply here also. I was downloading about 8GB at 9MB/S.

I have 3 days left of the 14, I plan on letting it drain and recharge it.
Use it again without downloading and keyboard backlight off, while using accurate timing of the battery.

My laptop gets barely warm after watching movies or playing solitaire :rolleyes:. Such a small area that warms, I'm also touching the cool area at same time.
 
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