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Tikatika

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 12, 2012
712
797
Northern California
What is an acceptable level of CPU heat on the 2020 MacBook Air? I have watched countless YT videos and read all the threads here but nobody has answered this basic question for me.

i have a base machine. I3, 8GB, 256 SSD. I write, surf, play WoW (never raid or group) at low settings. Am coming from a similar 2017 Air that did all these things coolly and flawlessly.

This new one...I open Safari, one tab, temp shoots up to 80C. Word kicks it up to 100 and I can’t even play two minutes of WoW without fans going nuts.

i am not going to open it and do the paste and copper things to try and correct this. So, my question...is this heat ok? Will it affect the longetivity of this laptop? Should I return it? I’ve been an Apple faithful for years and have everything they currently make...but have never experienced a concerning issue like this. Be kind with your opinions please 😁
 
Im surprised to hear the temps with minimal usage on the i3. Are you experiencing this with only the power adapter plugged in or running on battery with no connections?
 
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look at your activity monitor app in utilities and make sure you don't have some app eating up your resources. Check CpU and Energy.

I could see if it spikes for a few seconds when you open up the Word or Safari but it should settle right back down. That is how it is supposed to work. As far as Wow, IDK, I never play games on a laptop.
 
Im surprised to hear the temps with minimal usage on the i3. Are you experiencing this with only the power adapter plugged in or running on battery with no connections?

I did an experiment based on your question. There is no doubt it runs much cooler on battery alone. There is a good 15 degree difference. Had many tabs open and played WoW for an hour and it never got above 80 which isn’t too bad. I also read today that plugging the power into a port on the left side is what causes the increase in heating. can you explain why that would be? Of course, we have no choice but to do that on the Air.
 
Honestly I think you should call Apple and explain to them what you said in your last post. It should not be that way. You either have a defective cable, power adapter, or laptop. They will send you a replacement while you keep the current one.
 
As above poster says. Must be something wrong with yours. Have had my base model for over a week and it stays in the range around 40C-50C du ring normal operation. Only time it reaches close to 80C, is when I use video conferences with MS Teams at which point the fan kicks in at around 2600 RPM.
 
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What is an acceptable level of CPU heat on the 2020 MacBook Air? I have watched countless YT videos and read all the threads here but nobody has answered this basic question for me.

i have a base machine. I3, 8GB, 256 SSD. I write, surf, play WoW (never raid or group) at low settings. Am coming from a similar 2017 Air that did all these things coolly and flawlessly.

This new one...I open Safari, one tab, temp shoots up to 80C. Word kicks it up to 100 and I can’t even play two minutes of WoW without fans going nuts.

i am not going to open it and do the paste and copper things to try and correct this. So, my question...is this heat ok? Will it affect the longetivity of this laptop? Should I return it? I’ve been an Apple faithful for years and have everything they currently make...but have never experienced a concerning issue like this. Be kind with your opinions please 😁
I think better go with the MBP if you plan to play WoW (or better yet get a PC to play game, I'm using my old Mac Pro 2010 to play game as I've installed windows 10 in it)

I've got MBA 2020 i5 16G, it runs cooler when not being plug-in and not connected to external monitor.
But if I connect to external monitor and charging it at the same time it become hot, even when not doing much the CPU temp goes to 60-75C, while the fan spin at minimum rpm (around 2700 rpm), so yes it does run hot.

If your usage involve with plugging it with power frequently then I think MBP would be a cooler option.
I've got Macbook 12 inch which unfortunately just died a few weeks back (it dies after a little more than 3 years) it suffer the same heat problem with this MBA 2020, so from my experience I think the heat will definitely impact the longevity of the machine.
 
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What is an acceptable level of CPU heat on the 2020 MacBook Air? I have watched countless YT videos and read all the threads here but nobody has answered this basic question for me.

i have a base machine. I3, 8GB, 256 SSD. I write, surf, play WoW (never raid or group) at low settings. Am coming from a similar 2017 Air that did all these things coolly and flawlessly.

This new one...I open Safari, one tab, temp shoots up to 80C. Word kicks it up to 100 and I can’t even play two minutes of WoW without fans going nuts.

i am not going to open it and do the paste and copper things to try and correct this. So, my question...is this heat ok? Will it affect the longetivity of this laptop? Should I return it? I’ve been an Apple faithful for years and have everything they currently make...but have never experienced a concerning issue like this. Be kind with your opinions please 😁

MBA plugged in (as I'm writing this) same number and types of apps open (minus WoW) as you noted above. Status: MBA is cool to the touch apart for right above the function key and no fans. Typical behavior for me. Only thing - for me at least - that spins up the fans is me doing screen sharing during Skype or Teams calls.
 
MBA plugged in (as I'm writing this) same number and types of apps open (minus WoW) as you noted above. Status: MBA is cool to the touch apart for right above the function key and no fans. Typical behavior for me. Only thing - for me at least - that spins up the fans is me doing screen sharing during Skype or Teams calls.
Correct, the top middle part (F5 - F6) will be warm, and while you might not hear the fan it doesn't mean not running.
If you want to confirm, you can install 'Fanny' which will shows you the CPU temp and the FAN rpm.
I wouldn't be surprised the CPU temp will be around 65-74C when you check and the FAN spin around 2700rpm.
 
I wouldn't be surprised the CPU temp will be around 65-74C when you check and the FAN spin around 2700rpm.

My Air i3 base currently shows a temp between 65C & 75C (running an MS Teams call), but the fan is at 0 RPM. Not until it has stayed in this range for around 15 min or more will the fan kick in at around 2700 RPM it seems. Also, once it leaves this temperature ranges it takes around 2 min before the fan is turned off (0 RPM).
 
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My Air i3 base currently shows a temp between 65C & 75C (running an MS Teams call), but the fan is at 0 RPM. Not until it has stayed in this range for around 15 min or more will the fan kick in at around 2700 RPM it seems.
Yes, thank you for the confirmation.

Really tempted to add thermal pad hoping will make the CPU cooler but so afraid to open it up :)
 
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Really tempted to add thermal pad hoping will make the CPU cooler but so afraid to open it up :)

For my use case I don't see what I would gain by voiding the warranty. Video calls with MS Teams is the only app that pushes the CPU a bit for me, but even that is very light. For all other tasks the fan stays off.
 
Really tempted to add thermal pad hoping will make the CPU cooler but so afraid to open it up :)

As I mentioned in response to your other post - if what you need to do is so regularly pushing the CPU to sustained substantial load that you're contemplating hardware modifications, then IMHO the MBA isn't the correct computer for you and you should switch to a MBP. That model is intended to support the sort of CPU loads you're trying to get your MBA to do.
 
For my use case I don't see what I would gain by voiding the warranty. Video calls with MS Teams is the only app that pushes the CPU a bit for me, but even that is very light. For all other tasks the fan stays off.
You don’t void the warranty by adding a thermal pad between the heatsink and the back cover as long as you remove it before giving it to Apple.

But thermal pad alone doesn’t solve the issue of a very (relatively) wide gap between CPU and the heatsink. I was surprised to find out about it, and while this probably makes it easier for Apple to manufacture that, a huge blob of thermal paste introduces randomness to the whole setup. If it dried out or spread unevenly it would lead to the instant temperature spikes to 100 degrees C under moderate load. This was the situation with my MBA 2020 i7, where it got to 100 in about 3-5 seconds for practically anything.
 
You don’t void the warranty by adding a thermal pad between the heatsink and the back cover as long as you remove it before giving it to Apple.

But thermal pad alone doesn’t solve the issue of a very (relatively) wide gap between CPU and the heatsink. I was surprised to find out about it, and while this probably makes it easier for Apple to manufacture that, a huge blob of thermal paste introduces randomness to the whole setup. If it dried out or spread unevenly it would lead to the instant temperature spikes to 100 degrees C under moderate load. This was the situation with my MBA 2020 i7, where it got to 100 in about 3-5 seconds for practically anything.
Thank you, as you mentioned thermal pad can be easily remove whenever I need to send it to apple.
However how about the shim? I'm afraid even when we remove the shim and adding our own thermal paste, Apple might knows we've done some 'modification' and refuse to honour the warranty.
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As I mentioned in response to your other post - if what you need to do is so regularly pushing the CPU to sustained substantial load that you're contemplating hardware modifications, then IMHO the MBA isn't the correct computer for you and you should switch to a MBP. That model is intended to support the sort of CPU loads you're trying to get your MBA to do.
With such a bad default setup on the thermal design, even a light work-load will spike the CPU temp to 70-80 easily, you don't need 'sustain' load to reach that level.

Now compare to the temp on my Mac Pro 2010 (very old but I think one of the best computer APPLE ever made) which hover around 60C even when doing R20 Cinebench, 75C for light-work load definitely not a good one.

Also using zoom regularly will be my norm for the foreseeable future due to the WFH things, and having my CPU pegged at 70-80 just for that seems not a good condition for longevity of the whole system.
 
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Also using zoom regularly will be my norm for the foreseeable future due to the WFH things, and having my CPU pegged at 70-80 just for that seems not a good condition for longevity of the whole system.

What makes you say that? Is that outside the rated temperature range?
 
As I mentioned in response to your other post - if what you need to do is so regularly pushing the CPU to sustained substantial load that you're contemplating hardware modifications, then IMHO the MBA isn't the correct computer for you and you should switch to a MBP. That model is intended to support the sort of CPU loads you're trying to get your MBA to do.

This is the crux of the issue. It seems like it could be the right computer most of the time, even with some heavier usage, if it had the thermal capacity.

This limitation doesn’t appear to be rooted in parts or assembly costs. It seems solely based on product market positioning. So thermal limitations are being perceived as artificial.

I’d say if you’re regularly pushing a cpu to maximum sustained load then a laptop isn’t for you in the first place. If it needs to be portable then an air could be adequate for heavier consumer use. Instead, we’re directed to the more expensive MBP for what is essentially the absence of a heat pipe.
 
This limitation doesn’t appear to be rooted in parts or assembly costs. It seems solely based on product market positioning. So thermal limitations are being perceived as artificial.

Of course it is. The Air is effectively taking the place of the Macbook - lower cost entry point, longer battery life, aimed at the "masses" who have no idea what TDP is or means, and likely doesn't come to Macrumors.

All designs are some combination of compromises - coupled with product/market positioning vis-a-vis the other products in the lineup. Apple's not going to want to cannibalize MBP13 sales - so IMHO the MBA is functioning exactly as designed.
 
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