2020 Air Heatsink Modification Thread

[throAU]

Sounds good, thanks for checking!

I edited my post above with confirmation I see dropped frames too in Brave. I think its because macOS probably doesn't support vp9 in hardware (even though the CPU does).

edit:
google vs. apple shenannigans

Codec wars — Apple drops the hammer on VP9, chooses H.265 and takes a decision for the industry

Codec wars — Apple drops the hammer on VP9, chooses H.265 and takes a decision for the industry It seems funny, but this year’s Apple’s WWDC was one of the most import yet, but not due to …

medium.com

edit2:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding

Given vp9 is brand new to ice lake, and ice lake (these 2020 airs are the only ice lake machines - the update to the 16" pro won't even have vp9 support as they're Cooper lake) is brand new to macOS - support probably isn't in macOS yet, even if it ever comes.

I'd say hold out for a software update and/or use h.265 instead (which Apple do hardware acceleration for). Kinda sucks that 4k YouTube is now only vp9 though.

Looks like apple aren't planning to support vp9 at all, given CPUs since Kaby Lake support it and macOS doesn't support it in hardware yet.

 

[amit81]

I edited my post above with confirmation I see dropped frames too in Brave. I think its because macOS probably doesn't support vp9 in hardware (even though the CPU does).

edit:
google vs. apple shenannigans

Codec wars — Apple drops the hammer on VP9, chooses H.265 and takes a decision for the industry

Codec wars — Apple drops the hammer on VP9, chooses H.265 and takes a decision for the industry It seems funny, but this year’s Apple’s WWDC was one of the most import yet, but not due to …

medium.com

edit2:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding

Given vp9 is brand new to ice lake, and ice lake (these 2020 airs are the only ice lake machines - the update to the 16" pro won't even have vp9 support as they're Cooper lake) is brand new to macOS - support probably isn't in macOS yet, even if it ever comes.

I'd say hold out for a software update and/or use h.265 instead (which Apple do hardware acceleration for). Kinda sucks that 4k YouTube is now only vp9 though.

Looks like apple aren't planning to support vp9 at all, given CPUs since Kaby Lake support it and macOS doesn't support it in hardware yet.

Ahh interesting...well thanks again for checking. I'll try to get my buddy with his Macbook Pro to check tomorrow.

 

[throAU]

Ahh interesting...well thanks again for checking. I'll try to get my buddy with his Macbook Pro to check tomorrow.

MacBook Pro may have enough CPU to brute force it without hardware support. I suspect yes if its a 16", maybe/maybe not if its a 13" (depending on age - probably just if its a quad, likely not if it's a dual core).

 

[nnoob]

you can disable vp8/vp9 codec with an extension called h264ify.

 

[throAU]

you can disable vp8/vp9 codec with an extension called h264ify.

I'm not sure that YouTube stream 4k in h.264 any more. I just tried that in brave and instead of getting 4k I now can only get 1080p with it.

If they streamed h.264-4k it would probably work, but I think google stopped doing it. Unless you've tested it yourself recently and can confirm you can get 4k with it?


edit:
just checked, if you enable that plugin, it disables 4k YouTube.

 

[nnoob]

I'm not sure that YouTube stream 4k in h.264 any more. I just tried that in brave and instead of getting 4k I now can only get 1080p with it.

If they streamed h.264-4k it would probably work, but I think google stopped doing it. Unless you've tested it yourself recently and can confirm you can get 4k with it?


edit:
just checked, if you enable that plugin, it disables 4k YouTube.

Yeah, it disables 4k playback. I use that extension to enable efficient/low power and stutter free youtube. We will see who wins the codec wars..

 

[KPOM]

Can you check one thing for me, i have the 2020 MacBook Air with i5, but when i play a 4k 60fps video in chrome, i get dropped frames. Can you see if the same occurs on your Macbook Pro? For instance, the following video is what i used to test.

I have a Surface Pro with a mediocre m3 process with only 4gb of ram, and the same video performs a little better on that machine than the new 2020 Macbook Air. Still get dropped frames, but not as many.

Thanks!

The Pro can handle 4K. The Air is fine at 1080p but it buffers a lot at 4K.

 

[amit81]

The Pro can handle 4K. The Air is fine at 1080p but it buffers a lot at 4K.

Thanks for checking, my friend checked on his 2019 Macbook Pro i5 as well, and it was fine for him, just 3 dropped frames initially and after that all smooth.

So annoying that the 10th gen cpu in the Air is good enough to handle the 4k, but the thermal limits it. Disappointing in that regard.

 

[throAU]

So annoying that the 10th gen cpu in the Air is good enough to handle the 4k, but the thermal limits it. Disappointing in that regard.

Nah. It's Google not using h.265 / Apple not exposing VP9 acceleration that's inside the CPU that limits it. If you run apple software and use h.265 codec 4k will be fine as it decodes that in hardware. Youtube with VP9 isn't really a fair test on any apple machine, but the high end machines can do with doing it in software without the acceleration the machine has.

If you run windows on the new air it should do it just fine as Windows uses the hardware acceleration the CPU has for VP9.

 

[amit81]

Nah. It's Google not using h.265 / Apple not exposing VP9 acceleration that's inside the CPU that limits it. If you run apple software and use h.265 codec 4k will be fine as it decodes that in hardware. Youtube with VP9 isn't really a fair test on any apple machine, but the high end machines can do with without doing it in software without the acceleration the machine has.

If you run windows on the new air it should do it just fine as Windows uses the hardware acceleration the CPU has for VP9.

Makes sense.....just for the heck of it, going to install Windows 10 and see how it goes.

 

[KPOM]

Makes sense.....just for the heck of it, going to install Windows 10 and see how it goes.

Please report back. I’ve been using Windows 10 in Parallels Desktop for the last few years (I really only use it for Quicken for Windows, which is still better than the Mac version). I got tired of the activation nonsense every time I switched Macs, and so stopped using Boot Camp. Parallels somehow is able to avoid letting Windows 10 know it’s running on new hardware.
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MacBook Pro may have enough CPU to brute force it without hardware support. I suspect yes if its a 16", maybe/maybe not if its a 13" (depending on age - probably just if its a quad, likely not if it's a dual core).

The base 13” MacBook Pro is a quad-core i5. it can brute force 4K video through the CPU since it is able to run at 3GHz for sustained periods.

 

[amit81]

Please report back. I’ve been using Windows 10 in Parallels Desktop for the last few years (I really only use it for Quicken for Windows, which is still better than the Mac version). I got tired of the activation nonsense every time I switched Macs, and so stopped using Boot Camp. Parallels somehow is able to avoid letting Windows 10 know it’s running on new hardware.
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The base 13” MacBook Pro is a quad-core i5. it can brute force 4K video through the CPU since it is able to run at 3GHz for sustained periods.

So i installed Windows 10, ran the same video in Chrome with the following results.

I do get a few dropped frames, but it stabilizes after a bit and the video never stutters and plays smoothly. The average CPU temperature is around 85-89 degrees and it stays around 1.1-1.3 ghz, sometimes it spikes to 2ghz then back down.

On Mac, the video playback is choppy at times and it keeps dropping frames throughout the video. The CPU temperature is pretty steady at 99-100 degrees and it turbo boost to 1.8-2 ghz.

 

[KPOM]

So i installed Windows 10, ran the same video in Chrome with the following results.

I do get a few dropped frames, but it stabilizes after a bit and the video never stutters and plays smoothly. The average CPU temperature is around 85-89 degrees and it stays around 1.1-1.3 ghz, sometimes it spikes to 2ghz then back down.

On Mac, the video playback is choppy at times and it keeps dropping frames throughout the video. The CPU temperature is pretty steady at 99-100 degrees and it turbo boost to 1.8-2 ghz.

Yes, Chrome for Mac is pretty bad. Not surprised you got better performance under Windows. On a side note, did you run Geekbench? I’d be curious how it compares under Windows vs. macOS.

 

[joeybuckets]

 

[Jimmy James]

I'm sorry but you are so off here. The Air is an entry level computer designed for folks like myself, my counterparts at work, my wife, etc which means a traveler who uses Office, some PDF manipulation, web, email, an occasional photo edit, messaging, calendar, streaming some Netflix or watching a movie or playing some music.

How you don't; get this is beyond me. The cooling is fine for its target market which as I just said is someone like me. AS someone just posted you want to do 4K video, large image edits, etc then move to a pro.

The fact that people who should have a pro are trying to push it to do more is irrelevant.

You can use the side of a wrench to hammer in a nail but it isn't the right tool or the best tool. Use it for what it is. What you are arguing is akin to saying the side of your wrench isn't a very good hammer.

But it’s not priced like an entry level computer. Apple has engaged in a long-term trend of price escalation and taking the rest of the market with it. Inflation adjusted its a similar price to the 2012 13” pro. While that wasn’t a high end laptop it certainly want entry level. If you want to call it entry level then price it accordingly.

 

[rbf1138]

I'm sorry but you are so off here. The Air is an entry level computer designed for folks like myself, my counterparts at work, my wife, etc which means a traveler who uses Office, some PDF manipulation, web, email, an occasional photo edit, messaging, calendar, streaming some Netflix or watching a movie or playing some music.

How you don't; get this is beyond me. The cooling is fine for its target market which as I just said is someone like me. AS someone just posted you want to do 4K video, large image edits, etc then move to a pro.

The fact that people who should have a pro are trying to push it to do more is irrelevant.

You can use the side of a wrench to hammer in a nail but it isn't the right tool or the best tool. Use it for what it is. What you are arguing is akin to saying the side of your wrench isn't a very good hammer.

Why is Apple selling two higher-powered models if the tasks they’d be used for are incapable of functioning? The idea of putting more powerful hardware in the computers is to say “you can do more with this machine than the lower priced and less powerful models.”

 

[nnoob]

https://vimeo.com/channels/4k/93003441 this is 4k H264.. it is buttery smooth..

 

[throAU]

So i installed Windows 10, ran the same video in Chrome with the following results.

Thanks for confirming. Definitely seems that on macOS VP9 codec is unusable (at least with hardware acceleration).

Yes, Chrome for Mac is pretty bad. Not surprised you got better performance under Windows. On a side note, did you run Geekbench? I’d be curious how it compares under Windows vs. macOS.

This isn't Chrome for Mac at fault here really. This is Apple not supporting/exposing the processor's VP9 hardware to the OS, because they are pushing h.265 as the compression standard they want to be industry standard. We're in the middle of a CODEC war here between Apple and Google.

Due to heavy involvement with Hollywood, Apple might win this. They might not and end up having to support VP9, but right now they're trying to kill it. Right now though, the customer loses.

https://vimeo.com/channels/4k/93003441 this is 4k H264.. it is buttery smooth..

To be expected. Apple support h.264 and h.265 acceleration hardware 🙂

That the 13 MacBook Pros can just struggle through 4k without their CPU's hardware acceleration doing it isn't exactly a great situation either. Instead of breezing through it and not killing battery, system responsiveness, etc.; they're being brought to their knees.

This is probably a large part of why people complain about chrome being a pig on MacOS, killing battery life, etc. Because it's forced to play video the dumb way due to a war between Apple and Google.

 

[amit81]

Yes, Chrome for Mac is pretty bad. Not surprised you got better performance under Windows. On a side note, did you run Geekbench? I’d be curious how it compares under Windows vs. macOS.

MAC
Single Core - 1045
Multi Core - 2856

WINDOWS
Single Core - 980
Multi - 2420

Ran it twice, weird Windows score so low.

 

[HopelesslyConfused]

This is probably a large part of why people complain about chrome being a pig on MacOS, killing battery life, etc. Because it's forced to play video the dumb way due to a war between Apple and Google.

So if I'm understanding you right, MacOS doesn't support the codec that Google is using on Youtube to support 4K video, forcing users using MacOS to brute force the playback using hardware acceleration?

That would explain the complaint of the Video That Started It All - 'One 4K YouTube video and it's already at 100 degrees and the fan is so loud!' It'd be interesting to see him do the same video on Windows (from what one of the posters here has said, cool temps, smoother playback, because VP9 is supported by the OS).

So it could be reframed from 'playing YouTube in 4K on Chrome makes the Macbook Air to heat up insanely!' to 'playing Youtube in 4k on Mac OS devices forces greater CPU usage and stress than on other OSs, as Mac OS doesn't support the codec that is used by default for Youtube 4K playback'

Either way the consumer loses in this case, but I think it does take some of the heat (pardon the pun) out of the completely broken thermal design hyperbole.

 

[Bolanders]

Why is Apple selling two higher-powered models if the tasks they’d be used for are incapable of functioning? The idea of putting more powerful hardware in the computers is to say “you can do more with this machine than the lower priced and less powerful models.”

I do not understand what you are saying. You need to put it in a way that can be understood by putting specifics
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But it’s not priced like an entry level computer. Apple has engaged in a long-term trend of price escalation and taking the rest of the market with it. Inflation adjusted its a similar price to the 2012 13” pro. While that wasn’t a high end laptop it certainly want entry level. If you want to call it entry level then price it accordingly.

It is entry level priced. Btw I have used my i5 2020 Air for a few days now and it has performed flawlessly. Silent and handles everything I have thrown at it.

 

[Jimmy James]

I think the problem is people see the quad core and think "Woah blazing fast sustained performance". But its a 10W chip. It cant do that. So I dont think Apple handicapped this to protect MBP or something. Its only meant to reach high performance in bursts. So Apple put in the limitations to improve the device's battery life and longevity.

It gets worse when all its competitors are using 15W chips like MBP, Dell XPS, HP x360 etc.

I don’t think the problem is absolute performance. The problem is the concern over achieving even potential performance.

 

[rbf1138]

I do not understand what you are saying. You need to put it in a way that can be understood by putting specifics
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By selling i5 and i7 versions, the implication is that they can handle more browser tabs, handle 4k video on Youtube, etc. If the idea is that buying the higher-powered i5 over the i3 is so that a user can more easily do those things, then it should be able to do those things! Otherwise what reason is there to offer better chips than the i3, if the computer is just going to hit a ceiling?

 

[Bolanders]

By selling i5 and i7 versions, the implication is that they can handle more browser tabs, handle 4k video on Youtube, etc. If the idea is that buying the higher-powered i5 over the i3 is so that a user can more easily do those things, then it should be able to do those things! Otherwise what reason is there to offer better chips than the i3, if the computer is just going to hit a ceiling?

Those are not the implications specifically. The implications are that they can handle more than the i3. Furthermore it also allows one to keep the machine for longer. I got the i5 knowing that in the next few years it can handle more than the i3. I have used Youtube, PDF software, had multiple tabs with multiple videos, excel, outlook, mail, messages, word and powerpoint all open with zero issues. No fan (or minimal fan), no noise, and no hiccups. Based on what I read on this forum and from watching some of the same YouTube videos you have watched I expected this thing to have a fan on 50% of the time and have massive heat problems. None of that. In fact I am typing on it as we speak with 3 tabs open, outlook, mail, messages, excel, nordvpn, and Wondershare pdf element all open and going back and forth between things. 42 degrees Celsius and 0RPM on the fan.

ETA: From 42-55 degrees with 0 RPM on the fan over the last few minutes.

 

[HopelesslyConfused]

42 degrees Celsius and 0RPM on the fan.

ETA: From 42-55 degrees with 0 RPM on the fan over the last few minutes.

Running all the tasks you're running on my 2018 i5, the fans definitely would have kicked in by now and the temps would be higher.

After reading all of the anecdotal posts on the 2020 i5, it looks like the MaxTech videos that sparked this thermal panic were pretty poorly framed. If you do things that push any laptop CPU to 100%, the 2020 i5 will be interally hot and externally loud.

The dude couldn't sustain 3.5ghz of boost when he 'water cooled' the chip, strongly suggesting that the clock boost stepping is built into the chip, and can't be fixed with home brewed thermal management solutions.

MaxTech: 'I can't sustain 60FPS on Fortnite with an eGPU, Geekbench and Cinebench make it really hot and loud, the fans kick in when I play a 4K video on an OS that doesn't support the codec from the streaming platform. A heat pipe would have solved all this. The only solution is disabling TurboBoost.'

From people that own the computer: 'After a day or two of indexing, it runs pretty much as warm and quiet as any Macbook Air since 2013, and there is a bit more power than there used to be. It gets hot or loud when you do CPU intensive tasks, but cools down quickly, and seems to multitask with what most people would consider everyday use just fine.'

I guess in conclusion -

- wait for the 2020 Macbook Pro if you want to do video editing, code compiling, etc.
- it still probably won't be able to run games like a Windows laptop or desktop PC.
- the 2020 MBA is considered by most users who've posted here to be a pretty good upgrade over the 2019, and the thermals are similar and not the end of the world as we know it. For more info,