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2012 MBA Fan Noise
- Thread starter JasonR
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I have a 2011 MBA and just purchased a 2012 MBA last Thursday. I run Win7 in VMware and typically the fan would kick in after 5-6 hours of work. It never kicked in if I didn't boot Windows. I've only been using the 2012 for a couple days but the fan has not been heard yet. Both MBA's are the top of the food chain I7's.
Mine has been quiet all weekend. I had it on the same powered cooling pad my original and 2010 MBA used and finally just stopped using that today because it doesn't seem to need it.
Keep in mind that hot to touch is a good thing: heat is being dissipated. It is alarming, but at the same time the heat is there with any CPU and this architecture moves it externally pretty efficiently.
Keep in mind that hot to touch is a good thing: heat is being dissipated. It is alarming, but at the same time the heat is there with any CPU and this architecture moves it externally pretty efficiently.
I just bought a 2012 13inch MBA(i5) yesterday, the fan is very quiet when doing web/office/movie. however it went into full-speed when playing diablo3 with default settings. and it is a bit uncomfortably noisy.
I can't speak for Apple on this, but venting from the bottom of a laptop can make for some very uncomfortable laptop use when you're using it on your lap. It can also lead to overheating if the laptop is on a fabric surface (e.g. bed covers, or a blanket) without backup ventilation. I've worked with a few PCs that vented this way and I've got mixed feelings about it.
Then again, I suppose it also depends on how hot that laptop runs.
I compiled some programs (Python Imaging Library, lxml, MySQL bindings --for those interested in the details) that always heated up the 2011. Now, the fan stays silent.
I'm slowly starting to believe my empiric results that 2012 > 2011 with a noticeable difference heat/noise -wise.
I'm slowly starting to believe my empiric results that 2012 > 2011 with a noticeable difference heat/noise -wise.
Thunderbolt Display + Air i5 = Fan Noise
My 2012 Air is hooked up to the Thunderbolt display and the fan runs almost all the time above 6k rpm. Even though the CPU is idle and the CPU temp is around 60 deg C. When it is not connected to the external screen my CPU temp can be around 75 without the fan going beyond 2300 rpm.
Not sure if it is the lack of dedicated GPU but this machine can supposedly drive 2 TB displays (http://9to5mac.com/2012/06/20/retin...eshed-airs-get-dual-external-display-support/)
Very annoying...
My 2012 Air is hooked up to the Thunderbolt display and the fan runs almost all the time above 6k rpm. Even though the CPU is idle and the CPU temp is around 60 deg C. When it is not connected to the external screen my CPU temp can be around 75 without the fan going beyond 2300 rpm.
Not sure if it is the lack of dedicated GPU but this machine can supposedly drive 2 TB displays (http://9to5mac.com/2012/06/20/retin...eshed-airs-get-dual-external-display-support/)
Very annoying...
not heard a peep from my 11" MBA yet 
i don't think its gone much above 2500rpm. Only used for web browsing and iTunes thus far though.
i don't think its gone much above 2500rpm. Only used for web browsing and iTunes thus far though.That's odd. My few day old 13" 2012 Air (4GB) spins up like crazy as soon as I click on any video files. The thing heats up pretty good after 3-5 minutes of watching small sized non HD material. I don't want to even try fullscreen HD!!!!
Sounds like something is not right with your machine. I drive a TBD off my 2011 Macbook Pro and the only time I ever hear a fan spin up at all is when watching video Flash content or when playing a 1080p video. During normal usage I never hear it. Your 2012 MBA should be handling this much better than my machine.
A little vocal in all the right places
I just got my i5 13". When not doing anything particularly tedious she's whisper quiet. I've played a bit of Limbo and that's still whisper quiet but Kerbal Space Program will get the fans going for the get go.
Kerbal Space Program is a 3D space simulator - it's not super advanced but it does have to render the world/solar system/rocket.
I'm glad the fans work as without them, thermal dissipation would be poorer under stress. At the end of the day, I hardly kick up the fans at all unless I make her work hard.
I just got my i5 13". When not doing anything particularly tedious she's whisper quiet. I've played a bit of Limbo and that's still whisper quiet but Kerbal Space Program will get the fans going for the get go.
Kerbal Space Program is a 3D space simulator - it's not super advanced but it does have to render the world/solar system/rocket.
I'm glad the fans work as without them, thermal dissipation would be poorer under stress. At the end of the day, I hardly kick up the fans at all unless I make her work hard.
I would've thought so myself, but I'm having the same issue as the previous poster. I had a 2011 MBA which I used with my TBD and the fans would only come on in the situations you describe. However, I just replaced it with a 2012 MBA and my fans run constantly above 6K. I'm not sure what to do at this point.
I have a 13" 2012 and have only heard the fans while initially syncing my iPhoto library to my iPad and iPhone, as the resizing of all the photos maxes out the CPU while the photo cache is built. Otherwise during normal operation the fans spin around 2k rpm and I don't hear them.
I've yet to hear the fans. It feels a bit warm in the center of the bottom, but nothing uncomfortable on my lap. It just feels like a laptop that is running, as opposed to something running hot. I'm super impressed with how cool it runs compared to my old dell
I can barely hear the fans on my 2012 11' i7 even going at 6500 rpm compared with my old Alienware M18x. Its not as bad as people make it out to be.
I still have to decide between the 13" Air (2.0GHZ, 8GB RAM) and the Retina Macbook Pro.
My last MacBook was the 2010 MacBook Air 11" (2GB RAM) and back then i switched to a windows notebook for different reasons. One reason was the noise of the MBA when having 4-5 browser tabs open with flash content in Google Chrome (i do a lot of sports betting and always have some sites open for live betting). The MBA got very hot and noisy.
So I'm not sure if the 2012 MBA could deal better with this stuff. Is the flash problem also RAM related?
My last MacBook was the 2010 MacBook Air 11" (2GB RAM) and back then i switched to a windows notebook for different reasons. One reason was the noise of the MBA when having 4-5 browser tabs open with flash content in Google Chrome (i do a lot of sports betting and always have some sites open for live betting). The MBA got very hot and noisy.
So I'm not sure if the 2012 MBA could deal better with this stuff. Is the flash problem also RAM related?
My fans on my 2012 mba were running loub at 6501 rpm just for watching videos but after i restarted it stopped.
I just want to check with you guys if this is normal fan behavior:
I watch streaming movies in full screen, and everything is fine until about 10 minutes before the battery runs out. Then the fan sets in while I charge the MBA 11", and it's quite loud. It's so loud I would be uncomfortable sitting in a library etc. The noise only occurs when I watch movies.
I'm asking because I never had an Air before, and I'm traumatized from a Toshiba Satellite a decade ago when it comes to fan noise. My MBA has a Toshiba disk.
Should I stop worrying?
I watch streaming movies in full screen, and everything is fine until about 10 minutes before the battery runs out. Then the fan sets in while I charge the MBA 11", and it's quite loud. It's so loud I would be uncomfortable sitting in a library etc. The noise only occurs when I watch movies.
I'm asking because I never had an Air before, and I'm traumatized from a Toshiba Satellite a decade ago when it comes to fan noise. My MBA has a Toshiba disk.
Should I stop worrying?