MacBook Air's cooling system is... terrible...

[Pro7913]

I have no idea why Apple did this but take a look.

Can you believe it? Literally, it's a fan-less laptop. It has a heat sink on the CPU while a cooling fan doesnt even linked to the CPU's heat sink with a heat pipe.

This is what MacBook Air suppose to have.

This is a previous version of MacBook Air! You see, a new MacBook Air designed so poorly.

How come Apple designed MacBook Air like this? Any idea?

 

[reukiodo]

It may not have a heat pipe, but it also is not intended to be used without the cover. In general, the airflow is designed as a whole, not only the grill directly on the fan vent.

If you take a look at how the Mac Mini was designed, it takes in air under the chassis, where the cover blocks air from goig directly to the fan, but forces the air to flow around the front and over the components before reaching the fan and finally through the heatsink grill before out of the case.

I have not inspected a heat-pipe-less MacBook Air yet, but I can imagine that the airflow design has similar considerations as the Mini, forcing incoming air around the internals, over components, prior to reaching the fan.

 

[revmacian]

How come Apple designed MacBook Air like this? Any idea?

What makes you think that a fan pulling air through the entire chassis isn’t going to cool the CPU?

 

[Pro7913]

It may not have a heat pipe, but it also is not intended to be used without the cover. In general, the airflow is designed as a whole, not only the grill directly on the fan vent.

If you take a look at how the Mac Mini was designed, it takes in air under the chassis, where the cover blocks air from goig directly to the fan, but forces the air to flow around the front and over the components before reaching the fan and finally through the heatsink grill before out of the case.

I have not inspected a heat-pipe-less MacBook Air yet, but I can imagine that the airflow design has similar considerations as the Mini, forcing incoming air around the internals, over components, prior to reaching the fan.

It does not have proper airflow. How can you even pull heated heatsink out without a heat pipe?

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The discussion at iFixit describes it as a case ventilation/exhaust fan. The discontinued 12" MacBook 2017 with 5W CPU was completely fanless. The 13" MacBook Air 2018/2019 has a 7W CPU. One commentor says it's reasonable to believe that the fan and case design provide sufficient airflow for the slight increase.

You do realize that some of the Apple engineers who work on the mechanical design have PhDs, yes? And that they use Computational Fluid Dynamics software to perform detailed analyses? And that some of these people have received patents for their work?

It's not like they dump a pile of components into a case then say, "Hey look, there's a space over here, let's put the fan there."

It's worth noting that my MacBook Air's fan is off under a light work load. My gut feeling is that Apple actually knows what they are doing most of the time.

Cant innovate any more lol.
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What makes you think that a fan pulling air through the entire chassis isn’t going to cool the CPU? Any idea?

As I attached a link above, it is not cooling.

 

[Spudlicious]

The proof of the pudding is in the heating. Does the (properly assembled) computer exhibit cooling issues such as CPU throttling in 'normal' use? Whereas I don't have mystic faith in Apple engineers, the whole dodgy keyboard fiasco was too memorable, I also don't think a computer cooling system can be assessed just by looking at it.

 

[sentential]

The proof of the pudding is in the heating. Does the (properly assembled) computer exhibit cooling issues such as CPU throttling in 'normal' use? Whereas I don't have mystic faith in Apple engineers, the whole dodgy keyboard fiasco was too memorable, I also don't think a computer cooling system can be assessed just by looking at it.

I like Rossman, I do but this is disingenuous.

MacBook Air 13" Retina 2018 Teardown

After years of neglect, Apple has finally updated the widely-beloved MacBook Air. Does this new lightweight have what it takes to keep up with...

www.ifixit.com

Look at the underside of the bottom lid. There is a raised fan shroud that covers the length of the logic board connecting the rear ingress vent going the width lengthwise to the egress vent where the fan is so that all the thermal air movement is contained to the rear of the chassis. This kind of fan ducting is common practice in 1U blade servers because it can compactly route cooling in environments that have limited space.

Do I wish it had a physical heat pipe, yes. Does this technique work effectively yes. Does it work as effectively as people want it to? No, but this is a Y series chip not a U

 

[Erehy Dobon]

.

 

[Pro7913]

I like Rossman, I do but this is disingenuous clickbait at its worst

MacBook Air 13" Retina 2018 Teardown

After years of neglect, Apple has finally updated the widely-beloved MacBook Air. Does this new lightweight have what it takes to keep up with...

www.ifixit.com

Look at the underside of the bottom lid. There is a raised fan shroud that covers the length of the logic board connecting the rear ingress vent going the width lengthwise to the egress vent where the fan is so that all the thermal air movement is contained to the rear of the chassis. This kind of fan ducting is common practice in 1U blade servers because it can compactly route cooling in environments that have limited space.

Do I wish it had a physical heat pipe, yes. Does this technique work effectively yes. Does it work as effectively as people want it to? No, but this is a Y series chip not a U

It doesnt matter whether it's Y or U. Clearly, Apple poorly designed MacBook Air. Why dont you build a desktop and put a heatsink without a fan while a rear case fan is the only way to pull hot airs out? There is no way to transfer hot temperature from MacBook Air's heatsink and this is why a heat pipe is important.

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There is more than one way to cool electronic components.

And Rossman is an attention mongering idiot. Occasionally entertaining but an idiot nonetheless.

And you are defending Apple's stupid design? Gosh. It is not the first time and Apple is well known for having issues with the cooling system for a long time. Nothing new at all.

 

[revmacian]

I like Rossman, I do but this is disingenuous clickbait at its worst

MacBook Air 13" Retina 2018 Teardown

After years of neglect, Apple has finally updated the widely-beloved MacBook Air. Does this new lightweight have what it takes to keep up with...

www.ifixit.com

Look at the underside of the bottom lid. There is a raised fan shroud that covers the length of the logic board connecting the rear ingress vent going the width lengthwise to the egress vent where the fan is so that all the thermal air movement is contained to the rear of the chassis. This kind of fan ducting is common practice in 1U blade servers because it can compactly route cooling in environments that have limited space.

Do I wish it had a physical heat pipe, yes. Does this technique work effectively yes. Does it work as effectively as people want it to? No, but this is a Y series chip not a U

My MacBook Air seems to be chugging along quite well, even under heavy load, without issues. It seems that the active cooling system in these machines is working as they were designed. Airflow is indeed important.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

.

 

[Pro7913]

I believe Apple's design for the MacBook Air 2019 is adequately executed. I've owned Apple notebooks since 2002.

I am satisfied with this device. For sure, its fan runs far less frequently than the one on my 12" PowerBook G4 did.

The signal-to-noise ratio on Reddit is quite low. Not unlike many Apple discussion sites...

lol good luck with MacBook Air with a poorly designed cooling system.

 

[redheeler]

The current MacBook Air uses a low-power dual-core i5 so this is probably adequate for cooling the CPU. The older models used CPUs that ran hotter so a heat pipe was necessary.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

.

 

[Pro7913]

The current MacBook Air uses a low-power dual-core i5 so this is probably adequate for cooling the CPU. The older models used CPUs that ran hotter so a heat pipe was necessary.

Like I said, that doesnt justify a fan-less design. Intel CPU tends to have overheated due to 14nm.

 

[DeltaMac]

I suppose the take-away here is that the OP either bought a new MBAir (and is finding it grossly under-powered for his needs), or is refusing to buy one because of his opinion about the cooling. There's nothing wrong with having an opinion. Being right (or wrong) is not necessarily required when you already have an opinion.
OP, perhaps you need to look beyond the MBAir for your next purchase.

 

[redheeler]

Like I said, that doesnt justify a fan-less design. Intel CPU tends to have overheated due to 14nm.

It's not fanless. The lack of a heat pipe doesn't change the fact there is a fan actively moving air through the heatsink.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Have to agree with the other posters here. You came here bashing, believing hype, wanting to smash a company then get all upset when you can't find anyone that agrees with you.

As a former MBA owner, I've gamed on it for years - it did very well. And that's coming from someone who has 20+ years in IT, I've built more systems than I can count, and I have an XPS desktop with most of its internals replaced by yours truly.

And yet, I'd drop $ on a MBA anyday.

 

[Pro7913]

It's not fanless. The lack of a heat pipe doesn't change the fact there is a fan actively moving air through the heatsink.

It is. That fan does NOT cool down the heat sink at all.

 

[DeltaMac]

Test that theory:
Unplug the fan connector, so there's no fan running at any time.

I suspect that you will discover that the fan does a pretty good job.

 

[Pro7913]

Test that theory:
Unplug the fan connector, so there's no fan running at any time.

I suspect that you will discover that the fan does a pretty good job.

We are talking about efficiency. A fan with a heat pipe will do BETTER than that.

 

[redheeler]

It is. That fan does NOT cool down the heat sink at all.

Air is drawn in through the open vent on the right, passes over the heatsink, and exits through the fan on the left. That's clearly how this is set up so the heatsink is actively cooled.

 

[Pro7913]

Air is drawn in through the open vent on the right, passes over the heatsink, and exits through the fan on the left. That's clearly how this is set up so the heatsink is actively cooled.

Do you really think that heat sink without a heat pipe will do better? Gosh. A heat generated from CPU does not transfer EFFICIENTLY. The airflow on this laptop is meaningless since there is no way to cool CPU down cause that fan is not able to cool it down directly.

A piece of heat pipe! Is it really hard to put that?

 

[DeltaMac]

There's no choice on that MacBookAir for a "fan with a heat pipe".
That would likely be better cooling (more efficient), no doubt.
But, you made the statement that the fan does not cool down the heat sink at all, which is certainly not accurate, unless you have tested it both with, and without the fan... (I wouldn't try it without a fan at all, but it's on you, I suppose, to test it out)

 

[lambertjohn]

My 2018 Air has zero cooling issues. Run Photoshop, Office, cruise the web -- no issues at all. I'm guessing the Apple designers knew what they were doing with the cooling design.

 

[Pro7913]

My 2018 Air has zero cooling issues. Run Photoshop, Office, cruise the web -- no issues at all. I'm guessing the Apple designers knew what they were doing with the cooling design.

And thermal throttling...
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There's no choice on that MacBookAir for a "fan with a heat pipe".
That would likely be better cooling (more efficient), no doubt.
But, you made the statement that the fan does not cool down the heat sink at all, which is certainly not accurate, unless you have tested it both with, and without the fan... (I wouldn't try it without a fan at all, but it's on you, I suppose, to test it out)

Like I said more efficiency. It just proves that Apple engineers are dumb. Oh well, they messed up with Mac Pro 2013 anyway.