Like you, I wondered whether using thermal pads inside the MacBook Air might be bad for other components in the laptop - but unlike you, I didn’t publish a video whose title claims that I ruined an M2 MacBook Air, when I actually didn’t. Shame on you for that.
You say in the video *"I didnt try such temperings with my new M2 MacBook Air"* and Your video title says "I killed my M2 MacBook Air following Linus & Max Tech's advice!". Totally MISLEADING!! Even though the content was informative but..
So you didn’t actually kill your M2? Jokes aside, it looks like there are some variations on temperature measure of other components when the mod is added. I wonder if there is a tolerance variation and battery of some individual laptops maybe touching the bottom case (which would be a very bad situation).
This shameless pos wasted our time It's not even bad for a lithium ion battery, l-ion batteries are all perfectly capable of reaching 45°c when charging and 60°c when draining the battery
Great Video! Just saw this after putting out our video testing a laptop cooling stand and a Magsafe cooler which had really good results and helped everything stay cooler than factory! I wish you tested out the M2 Air though, because the results are a lot different than with the M1 Air! First off, Apple allows everything to get hotter with the stock M2 Air than with M1 and faster at that. You're right about the batteries needing to not get too hot, and thankfully Apple has full control of that no matter what you do which is why even if you use the thermal mod if the batteries, charging chips, ssd, or chassis get too hot they will slow down the chip to keep them in the proper range. In fact, in many of our extended tests (even longer ones than the showed on screen) the hottest point in the system along with the bottom cover never went over 47C which is the same temp that it reaches with the M2 air stock. At first we were surprised by the CPU throttling even if it wasn't running at the full 108C that Apple now allows for the chip instead of 100C for the M1 Air, but it was because the other components were reaching their Max temps like they would with the stock M2 Air. After that, the M2 chip actually ran cooler than factory, and the bottom case was at the same temp as a factory M2. Using the pads and a cooling fan was really quiet even though we used a thin one, and the whole system ran really cool. Its great for extended workloads especially gaming on an M2 Air which ended up running more consistently than even the M2 Pro as well as running cooler. Fantastic video production, and ether way like we said in our review, for most its best to just stick to the stock system and enjoy what it is!
Been runing my m1 MBA with thermal pad mod for 2 years. Playing Dota 2 everyday for a few hours, and everything is working fine. Battery health is 86% at 300 cycles. Not sure it's normal, time will tell.
I love seeing the youtube mac community working towards finding out the issues, finding solutions, finding issues within those solutions, discussing it, problem solving, its great. Its about integrity and working with the goal of benefitting all of us and keeping apple accountable. Would love to see colabs done with tests, compare each others findings then report them to the community together, discuss the thought process and the results. It may even hold more weight against the haters.
Glad to see your comment below our video! Just watched your new test, awesome! MagSafe cooling is definitely my favorite now, I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for explaining your tests, looks like it could really work in some scenarios. If I had to choose, I'd go with the second option with the external fans. Because that way you don't have to disassemble the laptop while still cooling it down. And that is the option I would recommend to most people. But it's always nice to have options! Anyway, this is more of an exception, and a fun experiment. We both agree that it's best to choose the right configuration for your work from the beginning, without gimmicking your new laptop. Thanks for your content! It's always nice to share results in the community 🙂
I disagree strongly with the "don't take apart your macbook" advice. That is how you stay dumb and get price gouged by Apple. Get comfortable with taking apart your laptop apart SAFELY, and enjoy learning where the parts are. Use your incredible mind to come up with SMART modifications that improve performance without causing any long-term damage. One idea: Buy a new base plate, install a perforated grill into the area around the processor, then use a cooling pad to blow air up through the grill as you use your macbook. That will improve performance and INCREASE the longevity of your hardware. Or course, keep your original base plate so you can put it back on to get any warranty work done through Apple later on.
I have done the thermal mod to my M2 MacBook Air and the battery temps have not reached over 37 degrees under stress test in the last 7 days. I think this video may be a little exaggerated. Have a look at the temps in test with thermal pad mod and a laptop cooler!
The temperature registered lower without the Mod because there is a Gap between the back panel and the CPU and the heat is in fact trapped inside the laptop causing the batteries to heat even more. Once you apply the Mod, the heat is transferred to the back lid causing the internal temperature to drop while increasing the lid temperature. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I’d guess that since the CPU doesn’t throttle as much, the overall heat created is more. If the CPU is outputting 15w continuously instead of throttling down to 9w, that’s a significant amount of extra heat. Sure, the case will be dissipating extra heat, but it’s entirely plausible there would be some excess heat overall. Hopefully someone does a more conclusive test.
Did you NOT SEE the long list of various INTERNAL component temps when using thermal pads? I'm surrounded by idiots. The pads conduct heat throughout the inside instead of isolating it to the chips.
I done that mod to a friends M1Air but i installed heat shield in the batteries due to this. You use the gold tape heath shield used in automotive competition and apply it to the various components around does a huge diference, also cut a grill for air using a laser cuter and applied a filter. Overkill but does the job.
I have thermal pads installed on my m1 air since 1 year now and it's working great. Battery still at 100% and says "normal status". However, when playing metro exodus, it gets super hot, so I would not recommend doing that.
That's the effect "However, when playing metro exodus, it gets super hot, so I would not recommend doing that." and this happened "I have thermal pads installed on my m1 air since 1 year now and it's working great. Battery still at 100% and says "normal status", because you don't actually need that mod, because you actual don't need it in the first place. Doesn't make sense at all.
@@xbxb and most important, you can just put a laptop cooler underneath when you're at home and want to game and get maxed out performance constantly without overheating
@@blitzcrank1459 maybe just maybe, you could’ve just apply a gold tape heat shield on some components you don’t want to get affected by the high temp due to the application of thermal pad and see how it works for you.
Yeah sure when the battery is charging for most safe and effective charge temps should be under 45°c but when it's draining it's perfectly fine for it to even reach up to 60°c
It does sucks that the MBA M2 is a downgrade from the MBA M1, but it’s clear that having a perfect laptop (nearly) to the point that it shuns the others (the then MBP M1) isn’t the strategy for profit.
@@micosstar It also sucks that the price of the M2 MBA is high enough that you would rather go for the M1 MBP 14”. 256GB SSD should not exist in 2022. The minimum storage capacity of any Apple laptop should be 500GB.
@@duartefilipepereiraneves6933 I can understand people on the budget but what Apple can do is remove 256 GB and put at least 512 GB SSD as the minimum storage with the same entry price point as the 256 GB model.
but people are dumb, when someone brings a possible solution to a problem a lot of people will not hear the risks or downsides. How many people do you know that reads medicine leaflet?
How about sticking the thermal pads and laying a thin insulator over the batteries to shield it from the heat now spreading over the entire bottom lid of the machine?
You can make the thermo-mode, and when you need more performance, put the macbook on a laptop stand with fans. Then the lid will be cold, and productivity will not fall. Without heat transfer to the bottom lid by thermal padding, such stands are practically useless for MacBook Air. Because the M1/M2 radiator has no direct contact with the lid, and there are no holes from below for the movement of the cooling air flow inside the MacBook.
Better yet, buy an extra base plate to add a perforated grill to. Put that on the laptop stand with fans and air will get right into where it needs to be.
@@MaxTechOfficial You just finding and figuring out the solutions created with the mods. But you still not admitting that you don't do in depth results in what will happened with the battery over time.
I have used an M1 air for software development for about 2 years with thermal pads, I am not saying that I used always all the capabilities of the M1 chip thus the benefits of the pads, but when i had ran some performance intensive tasks which used all the resources of the M1 chip - usually not for long times - that was a huge difference and the air 's battery is now at 80% so that 20% degradation maybe in two years is expected in factory conditions as well.
I'm a game developer who regularly works on large projects that demand both the GPU for testing the game in simulators and the CPU to build projects in Unity, Xcode, and Android Studio. My MacBook Air M3 was suffering a lot due to throttling, often reaching more than 95 degrees Celsius. This modification made my top temperature go down to 86 degrees Celsius. The MacBook is running approximately 11 degrees Celsius cooler on average. The batteries never reached more than 41 degrees Celsius in the worst-case scenario. I totally agree that this modification is not something you should consider if you are not a heavy user. But if you do use heavy tasks like video encoding, game development, or building projects, you will get way more out of your hardware by doing it. Additionally, it cools down much faster when I finish heavy tasks. It used to take forever to bring it below 80 degrees Celsius; now it's almost instantaneous.
@@LordTrayusnowadays Im more a business guy than a regular developer. A lot of traveling, meetings, so the air is way more lightweight with about 2 pounds less than pro and it still can deliver almost the same performance. I still develop sometimes but its not that often.
Video content: Tampering with the thermal engineering of your device could shorten its life, and you should trust that the engineers know what they're doing. TH-cam video title: i kIlLEd mY mACbOoK aIr aLMoST DIeD HaUNtEd GoNE sEXuaL aT 3am
this is misleading. mod or unmodded, heat will eventually spread on other components. you didn't even bother to measure the heat on unmodded one and make a comparison to it which makes it more sus.
What do you think of the idea of drilling small holes into the underside of the (of course, not original) case? These should provide additional air circulation. Of course, dust could also get into the case, but this could be countered with a mesh or filter and regular cleaning with compressed air. It would be interesting if you started a test with this.
Meh. Unnecessary fear mongering. My M1 has been modded for more than a year now with no repercussions. I’m not the only one either. Just check the macrumours forum where this mod originated. A year later and my M1 is still at 100% battery capacity.
Nice video, but where did you get the info about the temperature of li-ion battery? I've seen around the internet that the working temperature is up to 55 degrees.
what is the reference for lithium polymer batteries degrading after 46deg during discharge? Almost every battery manufacturer states lithium polymer can safely discharge up to 60deg celsius before degrading, well within the mod limits. I would be interested to see where this information came from?
04:49 "the lithium polymer battery can withstand up to 46°C" Adelaide, South Australia January 24, 2019 maximum ambient temperature that day, 48°C. And yet there's still an Apple store and Apple still sells their laptops there.
What? Apple never said "wherever we sell our laptops it should withstand the ambient outdoor temperature." Idk why you thought otherwise. It should be self evident if it's that hot out you shouldn't be using your MacBook outside nevermind a passively cooled one.
@@who_what if you turned on that laptop on that day, it would be well above ambient temperature. that battery *apparently* can't even withstand being kept on a shelf that day.
@@doccdisrepecc7307 are you saying Australia doesn't have air conditioning or something? Especially at an apple store? you know ambient temperature is not the same thing as outside temperature right?
@@doccdisrepecc7307 unless you're telling me apple is selling MacBooks in a store with high enough temperatures to give half of its customers heat strokes.
I saw someone do a "life hack" on their asus zephyrus g14 in which you put a small piece of paper between the trackpad and the battery, in order to make the trackpad quieter. And it works! Only time will tell if this affects the trackpad's usefulness.
Been runing my m1 MBA with thermal pad mod for 2 years. Playing Dota 2 everyday for a few hours, and everything is working fine. Battery health is 86% at 300 cycles. Not sure it's still normal, time will tell.
i've never really had problems with throttling on my m1 air and i can't say i've ever even felt it get very warm. However it sounds to me that people might be expecting a bit more from the macbook airs than what is reasonable to expect from a thin and light with passive cooling. also if i recall correctly the throttling wasn't even all that bad in the benchmarks especially compared to other thin and light laptops that throttle just as much or even more while also having fans blaring. Sounds more to me like people bought the wrong type of laptop for their use case, and were disappointed when that laptop was in fact the wrong laptop for their use case.
People have the right to do what they want with their own hardware. It doesn't matter what is expected or not; if there is a mod that can increase performance, some people will want to do it. Of course that should come with appropriate warnings about the risks.
@NormansRare_Guitarssure bud, why not just send us your bitcoin wallet address and we’ll cut to the chase and send you a few bitcoins? Thanks bud, you take care now
The thermal pad hack is a neat trick that works. The problem is that tech reviewers are doing this on throwaway laptops, because nothing gets used regularly for more than a year. The typical viewer who is trying to save money by buying an MB Air for professional use as their only system may not be in that same "I buy and use a new laptop every product refresh cycle" category as they guy who buys and reviews products for a living. In fact, they probably aren't. Kudos for being the ONLY tech reviewer to point out the trade off cost of the hack.
it would take more than 80 degrees celsius to cause any harm to the batteries. if they reach that temperature, you probably have bigger problems to worry about.
In car industry user accessible metal surface is considered to fail temperature test, if its temperature is measured higher than +45 °C, when ambient temperature is +20 °C. I think the same applies to consumer electronics. Have being run these tests muself, I can say, that +45 °C feels extremely uncomfortable.
So why iPad pro with the same M1 chip can have motherboard directly contact with the back chassis? Bare in mind that the iPad also have Lithium battries.
I added a magsafe ring in the back of my macbook air m1 and then a magnetic fan. Now the temperature of the back cover stays low if high performance is required
The secret way to defeating this battery heating issue is by beating the thermal deficiency all together, the absolute best thermal compound is kyronaut extreme, get a copper plate/OR GRAPHENE/ OR fujipoly extreme pad at least if u don’t want to use copper or can’t afford graphene pads, slap it on, and jab some more kryo extreme on the backplate to finish the job, the laptop won’t be able to produce heat fast enough at 15-20w with this mod since the heat is expelled well before throttling ever starts
I can confirm that Linus and Max Tech's advise was perfect and there is nothing worth watching in this 9 minute long video. I have used the modded M1 macbook air for 2 years straight with running iOS builds with no problems on the battery end whatsoever so yea.. nothing is wrong with that. The laptop cooling pads don't work because the bottom of the laptop is not even directly connected with the heat sink. So NO! cooling pads won't work.
If we agreed u r right .. how about combining two methods ..thermal pads and fans stand so that the temperature of the lower cover disapates so fast thus it will be no longer battery rising Temps transferring from lower cover
OK so this isn't exactly correct. Apple could not use a thermal pad as there are laws about heat from a mobile computer. The bottom of the case can't go over a certain temperature,
i think with such large surface area of the back plate part of the heat would dissipate partly before it reaches the battery area. they're like 2-3 inches apart. or you could just use smaller thermal pads so that only part of the heat got transferred to the back plate. it would keep the cpu slightly cooler while still making use of small area of the backplate to dissipate the cpu heat.
The intel mac predecessor battery temp always go above 50c under load so i dont think this is really a problem. You know that Its hot like this or even more than this for over 10 year when its intel base right?
M1 Air thermal mod has been here for quite a long time - why not to do some real research/statistics from people using it for a long time instead of "what might theoretically happen in a system that's built to manage cumulated heat anyway"?
What if it’s on out of home situation? Should we also carry the fans with us everywhere we go? That will definitely kill the purpose of having a go-to-laptop.
The masses are always misinterpreting these creators. These DIY projects are purely for fun and experiments, but the audience draw the conclusion that an M1 or M2 MacBook Air cannot function without these quirks. These laptops still provide great performances on their own and people can still use them for their workflows.
I actually bought the base model MacBook air m2. I upgraded from MacBook air 2018(i5 intel). This MacBook is amazing so far, I have played cs:go at low settings and it has not throttled but it does get warm, warm not hot) if you are doing light editing, gaming, This MacBook is great.
1. Most lithium batteries have temp sensors. Mac's in particular used to be prone to that kind of shut down in the sun. 2. Where do you think that heat goes when it's not transferred to the lid? It stays in the laptop. Builds up in the empty space and the processor throttles to cool that space. It's still going to do that with more heat being transferred outside the laptop. It just has higher thermal headroom. As the empty space is no longer absorbing as much heat. 3. Air is an insulator it actually doesn't conduct heat well. So the pocket between the battery and the outside of the case could be significantly cooler than the outside of the case. Also, the heat is going to go to the place with the most thermally conductive environment which is going to be the cooler air outside of the laptop, not the internal air. 4. It would be a cool video to do the cooling mat with the thermal pads. That's the case is acting like a giant heat sink and then you're just putting active cooling on it. You could probably even write a script to control the fans on the cooling pad based on the internal temperatures of the MacBook Air. PS. Thermal pads aren't magic. They're very commonly used, including in a lot of Apple product over the years. They're cheap because they've been around for years and have been used in industrial applications. A lot of times it's how the processors in your cars are cooled.
Good video. I think the bottom line is that Apple engineers designed the M2 Air to work a certain way for a certain group of intended users based on a certain price point. If you try and mess with the engineering and try to alter that formula to make it work like a Pro on the cheap, you are bound to cause trouble. If you want more in a computer, reach down into your pocket and find the money for a MacBook Pro or other more powerful computer.
Partially agree with you but maybe people find their way into content creation because they now have a very powerful but efficient Laptop and try to make it cooler. I have to say though the first step always should be external. Maybe they get a fan stand like shown in the video. If thats not enough maybe then they consider buying a new Macbook with fan.
This is a misinformed opinion. Based on your logic, it is more likely that Apple engineers intentionally inhibit the real limits of the laptop in order for it to run within certain parameters for the user, with that parameter being comfort in a sleek package. If they improved the heat dissipation and the performance, the computer would get so hot on the bottom that it would be inherently uncomfortable for people to use their LAPTOPS on their LAPS. The chips can definitely run hotter, the batteries can definitely run hotter without damaging themselves, it's obviously capable of handling it no problem, and there are tons of examples online of people using this modification for years now with no issues. Also, Macs know when they are getting so hot they might damage themselves. Trust me, if you get any critical components up to an actually damaging/dangerous temperature, the computer WILL stop
I’ve been using the thermal pad mod for over a year on my M1 Air and even though the top battery gets hot up to 50c during heavy renders, i havent had any issue yet. The battery health is at 91%
What about using thermal glue to add an SSD heatsink to the bottom where the sticker would be? I know, not "aesthetic" but we're not talking about that here.
Hmmm. Maybe insulating the cover with graphene adhesive sheets, that have heat shielding from the battery side and graphene heat spreading from the cover side would help. And would help with the hot spot, spreading the heat evenly on the backside. But to be honest, I would rather buy a notebook with active cooling, or would do this mod only with some CPU power limits, limiting it to the standard operating values. Only to enhance the lifespan of the CPU. It is nothing new to Apple, that Macbooks Air die of overheating after a much shorter period, than actively cooled models, working constantly at the temp. limit and throttling.
I tried to cool it, i putted ice under my macbook (no fan design late 2017) Its a big diy stuff, it didn't thermal throttle, but whats the point of it? If you buy macbook air you buy for its design, aka light and thin
People have been doing this to the Intel-based MacBook Pro 16 well before even the M1 Macs came out to stop thermal throttling. They all said the bottom corner was too hot when they applied thermal pads to the VRMs. They also claimed battery temperature was not affected. However, no hard data was ever shown for that model. I wonder if a TH-camr could revisit Intel 16” and do a similar test on that model, so we could know if the active cooling could mitigate the battery temperature issue. Testing how M1 Max would react to this, especially 14” with 32-core GPU, would be interesting too.
You don't know what you're talking about. li ion batteries can work at up to 60c. above 45c is not ideal because it will increase the discharge rate. And to lower the overall temps with a fan it is better to first transfer the heat to the chassis.
Batteries will be fine when used for the more common use cases imo. They are insulated and slightly air-gapped from the chassis. For small bursts of usage this wont degrade anything. I'd be more concerned about the M1 / M2 chips heating up excessively when performing small burst tasks because they have no place to sink the heat into. I'd trade the CPU bursting to only 85-90 degrees over 95-100 degrees for quick 5 minute tasks as these high heating and cooling cycles put more stress on the smaller individual components in and around the CPU. These short bursts ideally shouldn't last long enough to saturate the chassis, and should be seen more as using the chassis as extra thermal headroom to prevent excessive wear to the CPU, rather than a way to outperform an M1/M2 Pro in an Air form-factor.
What you said that Apple won't accept your laptop with a sticked thermal pad is not quite right: I returned my M1 laptop with failed screen and Apple replace it despite having that thermal pad in it (they didn't touch it).
Good view of the problem, I think it is fun to look at Max Tech's video on adding thermal pad to increase the performance of MBA, but you get a good point, it is not worth to put the machine in risk just to squeeze out it's performance.
👉 Click to start TH-cam Channel with my team salebot.site/kozwin_yt_6?S_MVDoaIoM
The content is good but when the title and description are lies, my reaction is to avoid channels that do that.
The entire video is made of bullshit... except his point about the void warrenty.
Sure.. the guy just lied in plain sight..
Thanks for warning. Ima head out
Yea he did even ignore the fact that the intel base mbp battery used to go hot at the temp way higher than this 45c°
Not only that but the way he lays out informations in the video so as to push you watch unecessary talking.
Like you, I wondered whether using thermal pads inside the MacBook Air might be bad for other components in the laptop - but unlike you, I didn’t publish a video whose title claims that I ruined an M2 MacBook Air, when I actually didn’t. Shame on you for that.
So do it but add vapor chambers everywhere and that fan
You say in the video *"I didnt try such temperings with my new M2 MacBook Air"* and Your video title says "I killed my M2 MacBook Air following Linus & Max Tech's advice!". Totally MISLEADING!! Even though the content was informative but..
Correction, he didn’t try such temperings with his MacBook Hair, with his MacBook Air however… That’s a whole other story. =P
@@nogoodname8133 nonsense... where did his M2 die as a result of the modification?
@@maxxwellwalt Clearly his MacBook HAIR is still intact, so he didn’t modify it in any way…
@@nogoodname8133 trueeee
good info, but i didn’t see your air killed
So you didn’t actually kill your M2?
Jokes aside, it looks like there are some variations on temperature measure of other components when the mod is added. I wonder if there is a tolerance variation and battery of some individual laptops maybe touching the bottom case (which would be a very bad situation).
You saved me from wasting 9 minuets of my life, bless.
well, he is clickbaiting using big youtubers name
This shameless pos wasted our time It's not even bad for a lithium ion battery, l-ion batteries are all perfectly capable of reaching 45°c when charging and 60°c when draining the battery
@@vnzandroid sadly he doesn't know how to pronounce them.
thanks for saving me time
Great Video! Just saw this after putting out our video testing a laptop cooling stand and a Magsafe cooler which had really good results and helped everything stay cooler than factory! I wish you tested out the M2 Air though, because the results are a lot different than with the M1 Air!
First off, Apple allows everything to get hotter with the stock M2 Air than with M1 and faster at that. You're right about the batteries needing to not get too hot, and thankfully Apple has full control of that no matter what you do which is why even if you use the thermal mod if the batteries, charging chips, ssd, or chassis get too hot they will slow down the chip to keep them in the proper range.
In fact, in many of our extended tests (even longer ones than the showed on screen) the hottest point in the system along with the bottom cover never went over 47C which is the same temp that it reaches with the M2 air stock. At first we were surprised by the CPU throttling even if it wasn't running at the full 108C that Apple now allows for the chip instead of 100C for the M1 Air, but it was because the other components were reaching their Max temps like they would with the stock M2 Air. After that, the M2 chip actually ran cooler than factory, and the bottom case was at the same temp as a factory M2.
Using the pads and a cooling fan was really quiet even though we used a thin one, and the whole system ran really cool. Its great for extended workloads especially gaming on an M2 Air which ended up running more consistently than even the M2 Pro as well as running cooler.
Fantastic video production, and ether way like we said in our review, for most its best to just stick to the stock system and enjoy what it is!
Been runing my m1 MBA with thermal pad mod for 2 years. Playing Dota 2 everyday for a few hours, and everything is working fine. Battery health is 86% at 300 cycles. Not sure it's normal, time will tell.
I love seeing the youtube mac community working towards finding out the issues, finding solutions, finding issues within those solutions, discussing it, problem solving, its great. Its about integrity and working with the goal of benefitting all of us and keeping apple accountable. Would love to see colabs done with tests, compare each others findings then report them to the community together, discuss the thought process and the results. It may even hold more weight against the haters.
2+ years with thermal pad mod on MA 2018 - all great, battery 90% (648 cycles)
everything you say should simply be ignored
Glad to see your comment below our video! Just watched your new test, awesome! MagSafe cooling is definitely my favorite now, I'll have to give it a try.
Thanks for explaining your tests, looks like it could really work in some scenarios. If I had to choose, I'd go with the second option with the external fans. Because that way you don't have to disassemble the laptop while still cooling it down. And that is the option I would recommend to most people. But it's always nice to have options!
Anyway, this is more of an exception, and a fun experiment. We both agree that it's best to choose the right configuration for your work from the beginning, without gimmicking your new laptop.
Thanks for your content! It's always nice to share results in the community 🙂
I disagree strongly with the "don't take apart your macbook" advice. That is how you stay dumb and get price gouged by Apple.
Get comfortable with taking apart your laptop apart SAFELY, and enjoy learning where the parts are. Use your incredible mind to come up with SMART modifications that improve performance without causing any long-term damage.
One idea: Buy a new base plate, install a perforated grill into the area around the processor, then use a cooling pad to blow air up through the grill as you use your macbook. That will improve performance and INCREASE the longevity of your hardware. Or course, keep your original base plate so you can put it back on to get any warranty work done through Apple later on.
Hey, I think this is an amazing idea and I wanted to replicate it. Any websites that sell that kinda thing?
@@jayavionharriseBay
as soon as they started soldering things i kinda lost interest in apple but they are so good and stable to do anything besides 3d gaming
I have done the thermal mod to my M2 MacBook Air and the battery temps have not reached over 37 degrees under stress test in the last 7 days. I think this video may be a little exaggerated. Have a look at the temps in test with thermal pad mod and a laptop cooler!
The temperature registered lower without the Mod because there is a Gap between the back panel and the CPU and the heat is in fact trapped inside the laptop causing the batteries to heat even more. Once you apply the Mod, the heat is transferred to the back lid causing the internal temperature to drop while increasing the lid temperature. Correct me if I'm wrong.
yea this guy doesn't know what he's doing.
Exactly 💯 without the thermal pads it's like a oven inside
I’d guess that since the CPU doesn’t throttle as much, the overall heat created is more. If the CPU is outputting 15w continuously instead of throttling down to 9w, that’s a significant amount of extra heat. Sure, the case will be dissipating extra heat, but it’s entirely plausible there would be some excess heat overall. Hopefully someone does a more conclusive test.
In Czech Republic you don’t dissipate the heat, the heat dissipates you! 😂
Did you NOT SEE the long list of various INTERNAL component temps when using thermal pads? I'm surrounded by idiots. The pads conduct heat throughout the inside instead of isolating it to the chips.
I done that mod to a friends M1Air but i installed heat shield in the batteries due to this. You use the gold tape heath shield used in automotive competition and apply it to the various components around does a huge diference, also cut a grill for air using a laser cuter and applied a filter. Overkill but does the job.
You mean, you've cut the bottom panel of the air?
@@blitzcrank1459 same reaction, I am not doing that to such an expensive machine lol
This solution i’ve never thought of before. Thanks man!
BS
So, you cooled "your friend's" macbook air spending about the difference of getting a pro... I call BS
Good video! I’m a subscriber. But you didn’t actually kill your M2 MBA like the title says.
I have thermal pads installed on my m1 air since 1 year now and it's working great. Battery still at 100% and says "normal status". However, when playing metro exodus, it gets super hot, so I would not recommend doing that.
That's the effect "However, when playing metro exodus, it gets super hot, so I would not recommend doing that."
and this happened "I have thermal pads installed on my m1 air since 1 year now and it's working great. Battery still at 100% and says "normal status",
because you don't actually need that mod, because you actual don't need it in the first place. Doesn't make sense at all.
@@xbxb And what about video editing, CAD or lighter gaming where it pushes the power effectively?
@@xbxb and most important, you can just put a laptop cooler underneath when you're at home and want to game and get maxed out performance constantly without overheating
Same, but my battery 91% now. But, to be honest, I have 30-35 degree Celsius outside, I think that’s the reason.
@@blitzcrank1459 maybe just maybe, you could’ve just apply a gold tape heat shield on some components you don’t want to get affected by the high temp due to the application of thermal pad and see how it works for you.
Yeah sure when the battery is charging for most safe and effective charge temps should be under 45°c but when it's draining it's perfectly fine for it to even reach up to 60°c
Excellent video! There is really no point in getting an MBA and expect it to perform like MBP. Let the laptop work as designed.
It does sucks that the MBA M2 is a downgrade from the MBA M1, but it’s clear that having a perfect laptop (nearly) to the point that it shuns the others (the then MBP M1) isn’t the strategy for profit.
@@micosstar It also sucks that the price of the M2 MBA is high enough that you would rather go for the M1 MBP 14”. 256GB SSD should not exist in 2022. The minimum storage capacity of any Apple laptop should be 500GB.
@@iamBede you can perfectly live with a 256GB SSD MacBook. It's it's not ideal but for someone on a budget it might be the only option.
@@duartefilipepereiraneves6933 I can understand people on the budget but what Apple can do is remove 256 GB and put at least 512 GB SSD as the minimum storage with the same entry price point as the 256 GB model.
@@iamBede which is what I did, straight to pro, no stress.
Didnt linus also say specifically say he wouldnt do it because it heats the case too much
but people are dumb, when someone brings a possible solution to a problem a lot of people will not hear the risks or downsides. How many people do you know that reads medicine leaflet?
He did.
Yes
Dude did something dumb and blamed someone else for it
How about sticking the thermal pads and laying a thin insulator over the batteries to shield it from the heat now spreading over the entire bottom lid of the machine?
I hope arthur winer amd maxtech answet me. Thanks!
You can make the thermo-mode, and when you need more performance, put the macbook on a laptop stand with fans. Then the lid will be cold, and productivity will not fall. Without heat transfer to the bottom lid by thermal padding, such stands are practically useless for MacBook Air. Because the M1/M2 radiator has no direct contact with the lid, and there are no holes from below for the movement of the cooling air flow inside the MacBook.
Yes, we just tested this and it works REALLY well! Even better than when we adde a fan to it, and we used a cheap slim laptop cooler.
Better yet, buy an extra base plate to add a perforated grill to. Put that on the laptop stand with fans and air will get right into where it needs to be.
@@MaxTechOfficial You just finding and figuring out the solutions created with the mods. But you still not admitting that you don't do in depth results in what will happened with the battery over time.
I have used an M1 air for software development for about 2 years with thermal pads, I am not saying that I used always all the capabilities of the M1 chip thus the benefits of the pads, but when i had ran some performance intensive tasks which used all the resources of the M1 chip - usually not for long times - that was a huge difference and the air 's battery is now at 80% so that 20% degradation maybe in two years is expected in factory conditions as well.
I'm a game developer who regularly works on large projects that demand both the GPU for testing the game in simulators and the CPU to build projects in Unity, Xcode, and Android Studio. My MacBook Air M3 was suffering a lot due to throttling, often reaching more than 95 degrees Celsius. This modification made my top temperature go down to 86 degrees Celsius. The MacBook is running approximately 11 degrees Celsius cooler on average. The batteries never reached more than 41 degrees Celsius in the worst-case scenario. I totally agree that this modification is not something you should consider if you are not a heavy user. But if you do use heavy tasks like video encoding, game development, or building projects, you will get way more out of your hardware by doing it. Additionally, it cools down much faster when I finish heavy tasks. It used to take forever to bring it below 80 degrees Celsius; now it's almost instantaneous.
how much degree in palm space in your macbook while the modification please
I do not perceived any difference in palm region. But to use it on your lap its necessary to put something bellow it.
As a game dev, why did you go with the Air? Wouldn't the Pro have been more suitable for your workload?
@@LordTrayusnowadays Im more a business guy than a regular developer. A lot of traveling, meetings, so the air is way more lightweight with about 2 pounds less than pro and it still can deliver almost the same performance. I still develop sometimes but its not that often.
Hey after long time, how is the device, also is the thermal pad on the tracpack cable hurt it?
Video content: Tampering with the thermal engineering of your device could shorten its life, and you should trust that the engineers know what they're doing.
TH-cam video title: i kIlLEd mY mACbOoK aIr aLMoST DIeD HaUNtEd GoNE sEXuaL aT 3am
this is misleading. mod or unmodded, heat will eventually spread on other components.
you didn't even bother to measure the heat on unmodded one and make a comparison to it which makes it more sus.
What do you think of the idea of drilling small holes into the underside of the (of course, not original) case? These should provide additional air circulation. Of course, dust could also get into the case, but this could be countered with a mesh or filter and regular cleaning with compressed air. It would be interesting if you started a test with this.
Meh. Unnecessary fear mongering.
My M1 has been modded for more than a year now with no repercussions. I’m not the only one either. Just check the macrumours forum where this mod originated.
A year later and my M1 is still at 100% battery capacity.
Hows your m1 today? Is it still working fine?
Nice video, but where did you get the info about the temperature of li-ion battery? I've seen around the internet that the working temperature is up to 55 degrees.
I know this may sound crazy.. but… what if… you place thermal pads on cpu and heat sinks and, you place thermal insulation adhesives on batteries?
It's not crazy, it makes sense. That will work. Just that other parts will still heat up like ssd and all
don't. if u do that batteries won't be able to cool down
what is the reference for lithium polymer batteries degrading after 46deg during discharge? Almost every battery manufacturer states lithium polymer can safely discharge up to 60deg celsius before degrading, well within the mod limits. I would be interested to see where this information came from?
Idk if that counts as advice
Since it's risking it's warranty
And these ppl assume you would buy a cooling pad anyway or a metal stand
Also look
A 1yr channel tries to be famous by bringing older, more famous team
Still going to report this vids anyway for misleading tifle
04:49 "the lithium polymer battery can withstand up to 46°C"
Adelaide, South Australia January 24, 2019 maximum ambient temperature that day, 48°C.
And yet there's still an Apple store and Apple still sells their laptops there.
Finally some one who lives in my situation.
What? Apple never said "wherever we sell our laptops it should withstand the ambient outdoor temperature." Idk why you thought otherwise. It should be self evident if it's that hot out you shouldn't be using your MacBook outside nevermind a passively cooled one.
@@who_what if you turned on that laptop on that day, it would be well above ambient temperature. that battery *apparently* can't even withstand being kept on a shelf that day.
@@doccdisrepecc7307 are you saying Australia doesn't have air conditioning or something? Especially at an apple store? you know ambient temperature is not the same thing as outside temperature right?
@@doccdisrepecc7307 unless you're telling me apple is selling MacBooks in a store with high enough temperatures to give half of its customers heat strokes.
I saw someone do a "life hack" on their asus zephyrus g14 in which you put a small piece of paper between the trackpad and the battery, in order to make the trackpad quieter. And it works! Only time will tell if this affects the trackpad's usefulness.
So drilling two small holes on oposite sides it will have better effect than thermal pads.
what if i add thermal pad by also cover gold/silver tape to the heat sensitive parts? does it solve the problem?
A custom bottom plate with thermally isolated sections could solve the problem with the battery.
Been runing my m1 MBA with thermal pad mod for 2 years. Playing Dota 2 everyday for a few hours, and everything is working fine. Battery health is 86% at 300 cycles. Not sure it's still normal, time will tell.
300 cycles feels low for 86% but 2 years is plenty of time. If you can find another laptop with no mod check it for cycles.
My base m1 air of two years is at 94% bh, no mods but also never played games so it’s not a fair comparison.
probably your battery longevity optoin is on. Go to System Preferences ---> Battery ---> Battery again ---> Battery Health
@@filip100janovic Yeah I also have a bad habits of running the battery to red before I charge, which dosn't help
@@official.EasyRock cant see longevity option anywhere
i've never really had problems with throttling on my m1 air and i can't say i've ever even felt it get very warm. However it sounds to me that people might be expecting a bit more from the macbook airs than what is reasonable to expect from a thin and light with passive cooling. also if i recall correctly the throttling wasn't even all that bad in the benchmarks especially compared to other thin and light laptops that throttle just as much or even more while also having fans blaring. Sounds more to me like people bought the wrong type of laptop for their use case, and were disappointed when that laptop was in fact the wrong laptop for their use case.
The M2 Mac's reach 100°C to 105°C in benchmarks, therefore thermal throttling badly!
People have the right to do what they want with their own hardware. It doesn't matter what is expected or not; if there is a mod that can increase performance, some people will want to do it. Of course that should come with appropriate warnings about the risks.
@NormansRare_Guitarssure bud, why not just send us your bitcoin wallet address and we’ll cut to the chase and send you a few bitcoins? Thanks bud, you take care now
dude make a 9:30 min video with a 1:30 min worth of informations. gotta love the algorithm driven content
You can add foil shielding over the battery cells?
The thermal pad hack is a neat trick that works. The problem is that tech reviewers are doing this on throwaway laptops, because nothing gets used regularly for more than a year. The typical viewer who is trying to save money by buying an MB Air for professional use as their only system may not be in that same "I buy and use a new laptop every product refresh cycle" category as they guy who buys and reviews products for a living. In fact, they probably aren't.
Kudos for being the ONLY tech reviewer to point out the trade off cost of the hack.
Yeah this title is why I’m not going to tell TH-cam I’m not interested
it would take more than 80 degrees celsius to cause any harm to the batteries. if they reach that temperature, you probably have bigger problems to worry about.
what if you use less pads. Less extra performance but also no dangerous heat for the battery?
that is valid, but I was thinking if I can put in some heath shield tape on the battery this way it will lower the risk the battery overheating.
So would a cooling pad with fans under the MB Air provide sufficient enough cooling to help reduce thermal throttling?
Why not put heat shield in part where the battery is?
In car industry user accessible metal surface is considered to fail temperature test, if its temperature is measured higher than +45 °C, when ambient temperature is +20 °C. I think the same applies to consumer electronics. Have being run these tests muself, I can say, that +45 °C feels extremely uncomfortable.
all macbooks should have air exhaust ports on the bottom case to let some heat escape
So why iPad pro with the same M1 chip can have motherboard directly contact with the back chassis? Bare in mind that the iPad also have Lithium battries.
So where is the dead M2 Air?
I added a magsafe ring in the back of my macbook air m1 and then a magnetic fan. Now the temperature of the back cover stays low if high performance is required
Love the audio of your voice its strong can hear from lowest volume thank you!
I thought about the problem in the past and now I get an awnser. Thanks
The secret way to defeating this battery heating issue is by beating the thermal deficiency all together, the absolute best thermal compound is kyronaut extreme, get a copper plate/OR GRAPHENE/ OR fujipoly extreme pad at least if u don’t want to use copper or can’t afford graphene pads, slap it on, and jab some more kryo extreme on the backplate to finish the job, the laptop won’t be able to produce heat fast enough at 15-20w with this mod since the heat is expelled well before throttling ever starts
I can confirm that Linus and Max Tech's advise was perfect and there is nothing worth watching in this 9 minute long video. I have used the modded M1 macbook air for 2 years straight with running iOS builds with no problems on the battery end whatsoever so yea.. nothing is wrong with that. The laptop cooling pads don't work because the bottom of the laptop is not even directly connected with the heat sink. So NO! cooling pads won't work.
You can not get rid of throttling in the macbook. Because the maximum power limit is hard coded. Those CPU's are intentionally underpowered.
I use an M1 Air for work & I don’t see no over heating of any kind. With all the apps I have open still nothing. The laptop does not even get warm.
Same here. No idea what this fool is talking about with many people dealing with heat issues.
I wonder if there are any passive colling pads you can use externally, instead of those uaf bases with fans
this mod works great on the 2020 intel mba, 30-40 % performance increase. it also helps that the intel mba has a fan inside.
If we agreed u r right .. how about combining two methods ..thermal pads and fans stand so that the temperature of the lower cover disapates so fast thus it will be no longer battery rising Temps transferring from lower cover
Well done, thank you for stopping me from making a mistake.
I confess it did not occur to me about the battery....thanks for the efforts you made.
Use heat resistant tape over battery portion covered inside metal part
OK so this isn't exactly correct. Apple could not use a thermal pad as there are laws about heat from a mobile computer. The bottom of the case can't go over a certain temperature,
i think with such large surface area of the back plate part of the heat would dissipate partly before it reaches the battery area. they're like 2-3 inches apart. or you could just use smaller thermal pads so that only part of the heat got transferred to the back plate. it would keep the cpu slightly cooler while still making use of small area of the backplate to dissipate the cpu heat.
The intel mac predecessor battery temp always go above 50c under load so i dont think this is really a problem. You know that Its hot like this or even more than this for over 10 year when its intel base right?
50C on a Li battery is considered still within range of "ok" ish temp. Its on the higher end but still should be good to go
Canceled my M2 air with 16gb ram and 512ssd. Best buy has the 14'' Macbook Pro $300 off.
so much fearmongering about 5°c higher temps XD
why don’t you buy a MacBook Pro for the better performance? Why did this to MacBook Air hoping for the performance?
M1 Air thermal mod has been here for quite a long time - why not to do some real research/statistics from people using it for a long time instead of "what might theoretically happen in a system that's built to manage cumulated heat anyway"?
Jesus, could you make this video any longer? It could easily be half the length and not loose anything of value.
how did you kill you m2 macbook air after you firstly returned it to apple? You did a video saying you returned it before this. Right??? Right?
All for the Clicks
ssd like NAND flash works better when hotter, but not the battery that creates a higher internal resistance.
Thanks a ton for going so deep into temps! What are the usual temp of M2 Air vs M1 pro 14 inch?
All you have to do is put your MacBook onto fans after moding it. This will cool down the bottom shell and all components inside.
What if it’s on out of home situation? Should we also carry the fans with us everywhere we go? That will definitely kill the purpose of having a go-to-laptop.
@@TheBlackbird132 just get 1 magnetic laptop cooler which is about 150g and it is done
The masses are always misinterpreting these creators. These DIY projects are purely for fun and experiments, but the audience draw the conclusion that an M1 or M2 MacBook Air cannot function without these quirks. These laptops still provide great performances on their own and people can still use them for their workflows.
I actually bought the base model MacBook air m2. I upgraded from MacBook air 2018(i5 intel). This MacBook is amazing so far, I have played cs:go at low settings and it has not throttled but it does get warm, warm not hot) if you are doing light editing, gaming, This MacBook is great.
@5:24 that overlay of the internals on top of the casing really looks awesome! I’d love to see a translucent case on a MacBook!
1. Most lithium batteries have temp sensors. Mac's in particular used to be prone to that kind of shut down in the sun.
2. Where do you think that heat goes when it's not transferred to the lid? It stays in the laptop. Builds up in the empty space and the processor throttles to cool that space. It's still going to do that with more heat being transferred outside the laptop. It just has higher thermal headroom. As the empty space is no longer absorbing as much heat.
3. Air is an insulator it actually doesn't conduct heat well. So the pocket between the battery and the outside of the case could be significantly cooler than the outside of the case. Also, the heat is going to go to the place with the most thermally conductive environment which is going to be the cooler air outside of the laptop, not the internal air.
4. It would be a cool video to do the cooling mat with the thermal pads. That's the case is acting like a giant heat sink and then you're just putting active cooling on it. You could probably even write a script to control the fans on the cooling pad based on the internal temperatures of the MacBook Air.
PS. Thermal pads aren't magic. They're very commonly used, including in a lot of Apple product over the years. They're cheap because they've been around for years and have been used in industrial applications. A lot of times it's how the processors in your cars are cooled.
I can't help to think that this was a purposefully intended video for just views. Like how can put 0 thought into any of the possible risks involved.
Why not use the thermal pad and laptop bench
Good video. I think the bottom line is that Apple engineers designed the M2 Air to work a certain way for a certain group of intended users based on a certain price point. If you try and mess with the engineering and try to alter that formula to make it work like a Pro on the cheap, you are bound to cause trouble. If you want more in a computer, reach down into your pocket and find the money for a MacBook Pro or other more powerful computer.
Partially agree with you but maybe people find their way into content creation because they now have a very powerful but efficient Laptop and try to make it cooler. I have to say though the first step always should be external. Maybe they get a fan stand like shown in the video. If thats not enough maybe then they consider buying a new Macbook with fan.
This is a misinformed opinion. Based on your logic, it is more likely that Apple engineers intentionally inhibit the real limits of the laptop in order for it to run within certain parameters for the user, with that parameter being comfort in a sleek package. If they improved the heat dissipation and the performance, the computer would get so hot on the bottom that it would be inherently uncomfortable for people to use their LAPTOPS on their LAPS. The chips can definitely run hotter, the batteries can definitely run hotter without damaging themselves, it's obviously capable of handling it no problem, and there are tons of examples online of people using this modification for years now with no issues. Also, Macs know when they are getting so hot they might damage themselves. Trust me, if you get any critical components up to an actually damaging/dangerous temperature, the computer WILL stop
Sooo .... in the end if you need a speedy small system ... Do not by an Macbook ?????
hear me out, what about a actual new bottom for the laptop, probably slightly bigger than the original and with fans?
thermal pad plus drill a rectangular hole at the back to at least hot air to flow.
I’ve been using the thermal pad mod for over a year on my M1 Air and even though the top battery gets hot up to 50c during heavy renders, i havent had any issue yet. The battery health is at 91%
1 year and 9% are very high loss
@@acidnmusik It’s on 400 charging count right now. I dont think its a loss at all.
I still think the Thermal pad is way better because it lets the dust stay outside then I can change the cooling stand when I want.
Dude is saying that heating a back panel will degrade the battery but trapping heat inside the lid won’t ? Lol
What about using thermal glue to add an SSD heatsink to the bottom where the sticker would be? I know, not "aesthetic" but we're not talking about that here.
Hmmm. Maybe insulating the cover with graphene adhesive sheets, that have heat shielding from the battery side and graphene heat spreading from the cover side would help. And would help with the hot spot, spreading the heat evenly on the backside. But to be honest, I would rather buy a notebook with active cooling, or would do this mod only with some CPU power limits, limiting it to the standard operating values. Only to enhance the lifespan of the CPU. It is nothing new to Apple, that Macbooks Air die of overheating after a much shorter period, than actively cooled models, working constantly at the temp. limit and throttling.
I tried to cool it, i putted ice under my macbook (no fan design late 2017)
Its a big diy stuff, it didn't thermal throttle, but whats the point of it? If you buy macbook air you buy for its design, aka light and thin
People have been doing this to the Intel-based MacBook Pro 16 well before even the M1 Macs came out to stop thermal throttling. They all said the bottom corner was too hot when they applied thermal pads to the VRMs. They also claimed battery temperature was not affected. However, no hard data was ever shown for that model. I wonder if a TH-camr could revisit Intel 16” and do a similar test on that model, so we could know if the active cooling could mitigate the battery temperature issue. Testing how M1 Max would react to this, especially 14” with 32-core GPU, would be interesting too.
I did a cooling mod on my intel macbook pro 2019 by placing thermals do to some gaming. Battery grew and fried the motherboard.
Apple should really issue a statement advising people not to do this. So many people are gonna get injured following that advice.
Add thermal pad and down power mac(if its allowed, like undervolting and restrict power limit) to get more life and Performance :)
You don't know what you're talking about. li ion batteries can work at up to 60c. above 45c is not ideal because it will increase the discharge rate. And to lower the overall temps with a fan it is better to first transfer the heat to the chassis.
Hey, I want to buy a MacBook Pro with m1 max, can you give me some tips that I should know before buying?
Batteries will be fine when used for the more common use cases imo. They are insulated and slightly air-gapped from the chassis. For small bursts of usage this wont degrade anything. I'd be more concerned about the M1 / M2 chips heating up excessively when performing small burst tasks because they have no place to sink the heat into. I'd trade the CPU bursting to only 85-90 degrees over 95-100 degrees for quick 5 minute tasks as these high heating and cooling cycles put more stress on the smaller individual components in and around the CPU. These short bursts ideally shouldn't last long enough to saturate the chassis, and should be seen more as using the chassis as extra thermal headroom to prevent excessive wear to the CPU, rather than a way to outperform an M1/M2 Pro in an Air form-factor.
Disturbingly high temperature? When did that happen?
You can tell when a Techtuber is actually rather inexperienced with computer technology over time because they think 45c is dangerous lol
What you said that Apple won't accept your laptop with a sticked thermal pad is not quite right: I returned my M1 laptop with failed screen and Apple replace it despite having that thermal pad in it (they didn't touch it).
Good view of the problem, I think it is fun to look at Max Tech's video on adding thermal pad to increase the performance of MBA, but you get a good point, it is not worth to put the machine in risk just to squeeze out it's performance.