2012 MBA Fan Noise

[DeBilbao]

My experience so far with my 13" MacBook Air (mid-2011) with an Intel Core i5-2557M running at 1.7 GHz, 4 GB of RAM and 256 GB Samsung SSD drive is that it will be noisy... if you pull the trigger demanding intensive tasks.

When using it doing common tasks, browsing the web, using office tools and so on, it will be running around 45º-50º Celsius (113-122 Fahrenheit) and the fan will spin at 2000 rpm with no noticeable noise.

Playing a simple YouTube video was a pain before, but now I'm using the latest Mountain Lion Developer's Preview 4 (Update 1) with the new Safari 6 and the latest Adobe Flash Player plug-in 11.3.300.257 and the temperature will rise just a few degrees and the fan will be still spinning at 2000 rpm. A huge improvement in comfort while browsing the web.

Try any intensive task, such encoding a video and the temperature will rise up to 94º celsius - 201 Fahrenheit and you will begin to listen the exhausting system and feeling hot over your lap.

Until it reaches 3000 rpm it is still unnoticeable, but if you mantain the activity, it will go up and after 4000 rpm it will noticeable. Push it more time and it will spin faster, reaching 6500 rpm and it will be really noisy.

It just depends on what you do with your MacBook Air. It can be dead quiet or disturbingly noise.

 

[norneDK]

It just depends on what you do with your MacBook Air. It can be dead quiet or disturbingly noise.

I just checked the CPU and Firefox uses almost 98%. I'll try to compare with Safari later on. I'm hoping Mountain Lion can help in the future, it's really quite loud, I must say. As long as it will only happen at the end of a movie, I guess I can live with it.

 

[DeBilbao]

I just checked the CPU and Firefox uses almost 98%. I'll try to compare with Safari later on. I'm hoping Mountain Lion can help in the future, it's really quite loud, I must say. As long as it will only happen at the end of a movie, I guess I can live with it.

Using the latest Firefox 13 and Adobe Flash plug-in 'm getting the same temperatures - or slightly higher - and fan speed around 2000 rpm while playing YouTube videos with the latest release of Mountain Lion DP4 Update 1.

 

[norneDK]

Using the latest Firefox 13 and Adobe Flash plug-in 'm getting the same temperatures - or slightly higher - and fan speed around 2000 rpm while playing YouTube videos with the latest release of Mountain Lion DP4 Update 1.

I tried using Safari for streaming movies today, and the fan didn't set in at all, not even at the end when the MBA ran out of battery. It could be luck, but the computer doesn't feel as hot as yesterday when the crazy fan started.

Let's hope this quietness continues, I haven't changed any settings but just switched from Firefox to Safari.

 

[MrSwann]

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.

That's interesting, I just got a 13" i7, and after 5mins playing Limbo I noticed a hiss, thought it was in the game, cut the speakers, was the fan, making a not too dissimilar noise to the guy earlier with the Fifa game. I wonder why this is?

 

[dieselee89]

I tested Fifa on my 13" MBA and the fans kicked in (noticeably). Skip to 2:36


YouTube: video

that's.. LOUD AS ******* lol