Among the controversial design decisions made by Apple in recent years, one relatively little commented on the positioning of fan in the current MacBook Air. Unlike basically any computer, the cooler it is well away from the machine's CPU, which significantly decreases its limited cooling power, here, at about 10W, much less than the segment average.
Thinking about it, Linus Sebastian, from Linus Tech Tips, went to the field: the YouTuber conducted a series of experiments, trying to apply different cooling methods to the 2020 MacBook Air. Its goal: to determine whether the cooling design chosen by Ma actually limits the machine's performance.
Linus' methodology was simple: first, he measured the computer's standard performance (with the Cinebench R20). Then it ran the same benchmark with a series of cooling settings:
- a stand with an external fan at the bottom;
- The same configuration, but without the bottom cover of the computer;
- A new internal configuration of the computer, made by applying new elements of thermal dissipation;
- Another configuration, applying thermal paste to the chassis;
- A water cooling system.
The numbers do not lie: with a more competent cooling system, the MacBook Air achieved an improvement of up to 14% in performance. Ultimately, the results were as follows:
Obviously, not all the scenarios tested here are feasible, it is very difficult, after all, to apply a liquid cooling system on an ultra-thin and ultralight machine, for example. Some users will also consider that, for the target audience of the MacBook Air, the performance gain is not so significant: users of the machine prefer to have something thinner and lighter, without much concern for raw processing power.
Still, the tests show that Apple could have done a better job: without significantly altering the device's chassis and changing only its internal configuration, it would be possible to move the fan closer to the CPU and achieve a cooling capacity. more competent.
Perhaps Ma's engineers have something to say about this, some technical explanation, justification, limitation that led them to choose the design in question. As long as they remain silent, however, the configuration will continue to be seen only in this way: as a failure.
Who knows the transition to Apple chips will not solve this.
MacBook Air
in Apple
Price view: from R $ 9,269.10Installed price: in at 12x R $ 858.25Colors: space gray, gold or silverRelease: 2020
tip from Caio Gomides
