News Modded M3 MacBook Air outperforms the more expensive M3 MacBook Pro — supercharged cooling solution delivers big performance

[Admin]

YouTuber has figured out how to rectify the new M3 MacBook Air's passive-cooling drawbacks by installing two modifications that substantially boost its sustained performance.

Modded M3 MacBook Air outperforms the more expensive M3 MacBook Pro — supercharged cooling solution delivers big performance : Read more

 

[Neilbob]

It doesn't have enough curvy corners, it's more than half an inch thick, it has far too much practicality, it's not shiny enough and it costs less than $500. None of these things resonate with the average Apple consumer.

 

[Notton]

That is weirdly expensive for a slab of cast aluminum and a sheet of thermal pad.

You can get a 120x120x20mm flat aluminum heatsink for what... $10?
A 120x120x2mm thermal pad is likely going to cost around $20.
If that's not enough, point a $10 USB fan at it?

 

[hotaru251]

i said it in a past thread about M3.....Apple's never cared for cooling their chips.
Form is their #1 priority and they have always had lackluster cooling that if you modded would gain more performance than stock.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

I love how people think Apple's Air design is a design fault instead of a proper design choice. Why would you buy a Pro variant if the much cheaper Air variant could perform just as well? The lack of active cooling is product segmentation.

 

[brandonjclark]

Started.. To.. Watch.. The... Video..... But... I... Just... Couldn't... Deal... With.... How... This.... Max... Guy... Talks....

 

[lenslens007]

When the original Air came out I stress tested it for 8 hours/day and when I turned it off I noticed the fan turned off immediately which would result in a thermal shock. It failed after 7 days. Also you would have to be careful not to block the cooling path with cloth - an easy thing to do when using a laptop. I presume that nowadays the cooling is well designed and throttling is properly implemented. However, messing with the thermal characteristics in previously untested ways is a risky proposition.

 

[bit_user]

Even if you went with just the thermal pads, the M3 MacBook Air gains back most of its sustained performance loss.

Presumably, the reason Apple didn't do this was to avoid burning people's laps? Also, it seems to me like a more direct-coupling between the CPU and laptop shell could make the PCB more prone to damage in a fall.

I wonder if there's some way you could build a big vapor chamber with enough flex to avoid the "physical coupling" problem. If it were a large enough in area, that could reduce the risk to laps.

 

[M0rtis]

Presumably, the reason Apple didn't do this was to avoid burning people's laps? Also, it seems to me like a more direct-coupling between the CPU and laptop shell could make the PCB more prone to damage in a fall.

I wonder if there's some way you could build a big vapor chamber with enough flex to avoid the "physical coupling" problem. If it were a large enough in area, that could reduce the risk to laps.

From what I understood, the heatsink is just soaking up the heat that is getting transferred from the chip to the aluminium back panel anyway so that area is pretty hot and is just as likely to burn the users lap

 

[Amdlova]

Apple resolve the bad motherboard issues with heat. How many dead macbook because the motherboard it's corrode with humidity.
Now without fan at 100°c don't have any issues burn the user and make the humidity not a problem anymore.
Apple products are perfect...

 

[bit_user]

From what I understood, the heatsink is just soaking up the heat that is getting transferred from the chip to the aluminium back panel anyway so that area is pretty hot and is just as likely to burn the users lap

If you improve heat conduction between the SoC and the case, then the case will get hotter. They say the the SoC throttles less, so that means it's churning out more heat. That heat is going somewhere (i.e. the case).

 

[M0rtis]

If you improve heat conduction between the SoC and the case, then the case will get hotter. They say the the SoC throttles less, so that means it's churning out more heat. That heat is going somewhere (i.e. the case).

Thats correct but is the temperature higher with or without the heatsink ? I think not

Without the heatsink, lets assume the M3 is running a benchmark at full tilt. Say its getting 1000 points and is at 100 *C and that is its max performance. In stock form that heat is getting transferred to the aluminium back panel and it is getting dissipated into the atmosphere. This is what is touching your lap. The hotspot might be 80*C or so.

Now with the heatsink, Heat is going from the processor to the aluminium back panel and then to the heatsink. There has to be a temperature differential for this to happen. So it would be like 100*C CPU (but higher clock speeds and sustained boost with an improved benchmark score of 1500 or whatever), CPU transfers heat to back panel with 80*C hotspot and back panel transfers heat to heatsink which will be 60*C or something. The flow of heat energy is continuous and the heatsink is most likely going to be cooler or at the same temperature as the hotspot on the back due to the inefficiencies of the TIM which cant carry away 100% of the heat energy