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M1 Air fan?

Grogu_the_Jedi

Grogu_the_Jedi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 10, 2021
13
18
Sweden
So I’m wondering, the chassis seem similar and the pcb looks to be very similar. What’s stopping us from sourcing a new heat sink (or reuse existing) and a fan? It clearly has a fan shaped cutout in the case that resembles the intel MBP of old and the M1

5v should be found somewhere on the board, perhaps from the USB C ?
Just a thought and after some searching I’ve found nothing online.

I mean apart from the other changes, the fan and thermal throttling is the only thing stopping the M1 Air. Why shouldn’t a decent company make a quick and easy mod kit to make your AIR A PRO? 😎
 
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There is a hack to add thermal pads to make the bottom case a giant heatsink. You could probably then put a fan (and battery) underneath and connect it via USB-C. You'd add cooling and battery life.

It's a nice thought exercise, but if you need the fan, probably best to just get the MBP.
 
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robco74 said:
There is a hack to add thermal pads to make the bottom case a giant heatsink. You could probably then put a fan (and battery) underneath and connect it via USB-C. You'd add cooling and battery life.

It's a nice thought exercise, but if you need the fan, probably best to just get the MBP.
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Yea I have seen the thermal pads mod, seems like a great mod. No moving parts and can dissipate that heat under heavy apps.

I mean, the AIR can game, but after 10-15 it starts to throttle. For 30-50$ a small heat sink fan kit is much more appealing than 300-400$ for a machine with half the storage. (I live in Sweden. The MBP base is the same price as the 8 core air with 512gb)

I don’t think after stickers, scratches and working 6 days a week on the air I would care about modding my shiny apple device.
 
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Temp sensors, that’s pretty dope for a stationary laptop, I do like the idea of a slightly cooler battery if using the thermal pad mod, I know batteries are not a fan of the heat
 
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Grogu_the_Jedi said:
Thermal throttling is a thing for prolonged work loads. 7 GPU cores or not the Air is just as capable. I would love to see a kit to make the 1000$ Air level with the MBP
Click to expand...

I have difficulty following your logic here. The MBP — with a fan — is just $200 more. Modding the Air to include a fan would require extensive modification to the chassis (you'l basically need to design and engineer a new bottom cover), component-level modification to the laptop power system (how are you sign to feed that fan?) and possibly some other invasive, hard to do things, not to mentioning voiding your warranty. And you somehow think that all those things can be done for less then $200???
 
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leman said:
I have difficulty following your logic here. The MBP — with a fan — is just $200 more. Modding the Air to include a fan would require extensive modification to the chassis (you'l basically need to design and engineer a new bottom cover), component-level modification to the laptop power system (how are you sign to feed that fan?) and possibly some other invasive, hard to do things, not to mentioning voiding your warranty. And you somehow think that all those things can be done for less then $200???
Click to expand...
Under 200$ easily. I was throwing a thought out there as no one else seems to have mentioned it.

tbh I’m shocked how many of you are so scared of a little soldering and voiding your warranty? Grab a multimeter, take a 5v and ground. Rig up a heat sink and fan.... not that big brain really.
look at the 2020 air. Had a fan lol

maybe I’m just expecting way to much of some people. Open minded brain storm, turn an idea in to a solution for the issue that is thermal throttling on the M1 air.

lastly. Here. The MBP more than $200 away from the air. A base model MBP is half the storage of the same priced pro. Why can’t we Jerry rig a fan? Comes down to personal choice and how much you care about your precious warranties
 
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Grogu_the_Jedi said:
So I’m wondering, the chassis seem similar and the pcb looks to be very similar. What’s stopping us from sourcing a new heat sink (or reuse existing) and a fan? It clearly has a fan shaped cutout in the case that resembles the intel MBP of old and the M1

5v should be found somewhere on the board, perhaps from the USB C ?
Just a thought and after some searching I’ve found nothing online.

I mean apart from the other changes, the fan and thermal throttling is the only thing stopping the M1 Air. Why shouldn’t a decent company make a quick and easy mod kit to make your AIR A PRO? 😎
Click to expand...
Because it wouldn’t be quick and it wouldn’t be easy. If you add in the design/ manufacturer/ shipping/ costs and company overheads and profit margin it probably wouldn’t be any cheaper.
There’s a couple of threads 2020 Air heatsink and M1 Air Thermal pad mod on the forums. You might like to read through them to see what’s already been achieved
 
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Grogu_the_Jedi said:
Thermal throttling is a thing for prolonged work loads. 7 GPU cores or not the Air is just as capable. I would love to see a kit to make the 1000$ Air level with the MBP
Click to expand...
That means you need the Macbook Pro.
I mean it's one thing if Apple didn't make the Macbook Pro for people to mod the Air. But Apple does make an m1 mac with a fan, the Macbook Pro.

The themal pads mod made the under cover of the Air really hot that it's not possible to put it on your lap anymore. And if the whole body becomes a giant heatsink and heat up, that's not good for the whole laptop anyway.

Would you lose your warranty just to save yourself $200?
 
Tenkaykev said:
Because it wouldn’t be quick and it wouldn’t be easy. If you add in the design/ manufacturer/ shipping/ costs and company overheads and profit margin it probably wouldn’t be any cheaper.
There’s a couple of threads 2020 Air heatsink and M1 Air Thermal pad mod on the forums. You might like to read through them to see what’s already been achieved
Click to expand...
Thank you, I did have a quick look on my phone last night but couldn’t see any kind of thread. Will dig a little more.
 
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I don't get the negative comments.

When has modding stuff suddenly become a bad thing?

Not exactly the same thing, but a long while ago I modded a 1st gen ATV with a large fan after noticing slowdowns after it getting really hot along with the occasional artifacting, probably due to the age and the undersized fan Apple used.

After the mod, the fan was actually audible, but the slowdowns went away along with the artifacts. Well worth the little extra noise.

To the OP, look into the thermal pad mod, as that seems to improve things, and if you still experience throttling, maybe a fan might be a way to go.

timerickson said:
This may be one of the dumbest threads I've seen on this forum. Apple makes an M1 Air with a fan. It's literally the 13" MBP with M1. it requires more space and they gave you more battery life to accommodate the higher workloads you're describing.
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The M1 MBA is not a fan-less M1 MBP.

Some people really like the design of the MBA, and some really dislike the Touch Bar on the MBP.

timerickson said:
It's literally the 13" MBP with M1.
Click to expand...
eVbLBLt.gif
 
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You are missing the point. Fanless is a feature and the biggest reason for me to go with air over pro. Besides you will not have motherboard support for temperatur control, so you either need your own temperatur control or run at constant fan-speed.
 
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Fanless is better for many cases IMHO. The Air is fast enough to handle most general tasks easily. Certainly much better than the previous generation of Intel-based Airs and even the MBP 13s. And it can do this will no fan, so no noise. So if you can get the same work done without the fan, why have a fan? And if someone needs a more powerful system there is the MacBook Pro line.
 
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I like the idea of a thermal pad myself. I ordered the MBA because the Pro that I have now hurts my wrists when I type. I also like the idea of silent and no moving parts.
 
Grogu_the_Jedi said:
Under 200$ easily. I was throwing a thought out there as no one else seems to have mentioned it.
Click to expand...
It's not an easy task. You're oversimplifying it.
Grogu_the_Jedi said:
tbh I’m shocked how many of you are so scared of a little soldering and voiding your warranty? Grab a multimeter, take a 5v and ground. Rig up a heat sink and fan.... not that big brain really.
look at the 2020 air. Had a fan lol
Click to expand...
Are people not allowed to disagree with you? Furthermore why would you think someone who has spent over $1000 on their Mac would be willing to void their warranty? That's really just......🙄
Grogu_the_Jedi said:
maybe I’m just expecting way to much of some people. Open minded brain storm, turn an idea in to a solution for the issue that is thermal throttling on the M1 air.
Click to expand...
Again, not everyone needs to agree with you. It's open forum of discussion. Most people aren't having any issues or concern about the Air throttling. With a much faster processing time, twice the battery and no fan noise the M1 has address most people's concerns. You're looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist for the majority of M1 Air owners.
Grogu_the_Jedi said:
lastly. Here. The MBP more than $200 away from the air. A base model MBP is half the storage of the same priced pro. Why can’t we Jerry rig a fan? Comes down to personal choice and how much you care about your precious warranties
Click to expand...
Do what you please. No one is stopping you, but you shouldn't expect people to be wiling to void their warranties or agree with you on this.
 
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