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ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 10, 2008
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I can’t seem to locate a post reporting what would be considered the normal range for an i7. Let me know if one of you knows off hand or can direct me. In the mean time I’ll keep looking. There was a point in my life I wanted to know every detail about how things work and would follow every thread and post on the subject, but I have other interest now.

I received a refurb 1.2 GHz i7 with 16GB RAM and 1TB drive 2020 MacBook Air the other day. The fans were blaring and it became quite toasty when migrating. I’m coming from a loaded late 2013 15 inch Retina MacBook Pro 2.6GHz Quad-core i7, and this little Air seems to run quite warm in comparison. Not a big issue, but I was thinking about returning it and then I started reading some of these temperature threads.

I installed TG pro. On battery power, it seems to run less than 50 degree C idling and light word processing, 60 degrees surfing the web or watching QT HD video, and will quickly reach 100 degrees when downloading files from the web, or watching security camera video via Safari. It quickly returns to 60 or so after the download completes. Plugged in, the case feels much warmer but the temperature of the CPUs doesn’t seem to change much. Fans don’t seem spin at idle, sometimes 2700rpm, 3000 when pushed a little, I see 4500 rpm after extended (10 second) downloads. Reported temp stays near or at 100, but fans will continue to ramp up until the download is complete. I’m seeing little energy or CPU stress in activity monitor, however. When sharing a FCPx movie, activity monitor shows pegged energy and CPU %, but it doesn’t seem to warm up that much during 10 seconds exports.

Is this just the way it is? Or should I spend more time investigate before deciding to return or keep? I would rather live with it if its running as expected, or return it, than opening it up.

Here’s some screen shots, idle, working a little, download, in the red.
1 Idle.png2 Working a little.png3 Downloading.png4 In the Red Downloading.png
 
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It is the way it is and its totally normal for MacBook 2020 i7. If you are one with the fan noise like I am, you can use the Automax feature in TG Pro and set the fan for any temperature above 70 deg Celsius . That way for me, my temperature always remain below 70 degree all the time. Even watching YouTube on Safari will not go beyond 70-80.
 
Base model(i3,8GB), with 20 odd tabs open in Safari.

Memory pressure is green, fan idle(2700rpm), and temperature hovering in the mid 50s.
 
Base model(i3,8GB), with 20 odd tabs open in Safari.

Memory pressure is green, fan idle(2700rpm), and temperature hovering in the mid 50s.
It is known that the MBA 2020 models with i5 and i7 CPUs have heat issues while the i3 doesn't (not as much). If you have a look at the CPU/heatsink vs fan placement with no connection between the two then you know why.

I am getting great results with a simple thermal pad. i5/8/512. I idle around 35-40 and under normal load 50-65. Usually GB5 at 3K.
A thermal pad should not be necessary for normal everyday use. My 2020 MBA i5 is getting hotter aka the fan is turning on more often while my 2015 MBA didn't do this with the same tasks, same OS. Safari, however, is not one of the issues. If the fans would have turned on while browsing I'd have returned my MBA.
 
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It is known that the MBA 2020 models with i5 and i7 CPUs have heat issues while the i3 doesn't (not as much). If you have a look at the CPU/heatsink vs fan placement with no connection between the two then you know why.


A thermal pad should not be necessary for normal everyday use. My 2020 MBA i5 is getting hotter aka the fan is turning on more often while my 2015 MBA didn't do this with the same tasks, same OS. Safari, however, is not one of the issues. If the fans would have turned on while browsing I'd have returned my MBA.
Maybe not but I wanted to do it anyways.
 
I'm guessing that putting a case on one of these is not a good idea from a running temperature standpoint?
 
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