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Comment by ianferrel

2 days ago

Making the bottom case a heatsink and then putting a plastic insulator around it seems to defeat the purpose of the whole attempt?

13 comments

ianferrel

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manaskarekar  2 days ago

It's pulling the heat away from a concentrated region into a larger region.

Performance numbers reflect the optimization. I personally haven't done it for fear of affecting the battery lifespan (and possibly other components' lifespans.)

Really hard to resist due to its simplicity and noticeable improvements.

  • Fluorescence  1 day ago

    I can't say I am tempted. When I played a game on an M1 Air, the underside became unbearably/worryingly hot anyway. I accept it's not for sustained load.

    I still have pads left over from trying my damnedest to reduce fan noise on a Dell XPS. Used pads on every hot stop and didn't help.

    • manaskarekar  8 hours ago

      Thanks for the anecdote. I like the simple, well designed, silent, cool and fanless design.

      If I were to need any more performance I'd just swap it out for a newer MBA or a MBP with a fan.

delusional  2 days ago

I take him saying:

> a longer maximum performance before throttling.

As implying that the purpose is to increase the thermal mass, not necessarily the dissipation. It should still be able to reach maximum performance for longer, it will then just also take longer to settle back down again.

  • zdw  2 days ago

    This is the correct interpretation - you get a bit longer max clockspeed due to the thermal mass (and thus more heat overall).

    Is the added plastic shell case a "bandaid on a bandaid" sort of solution to deal with that heat? Absolutely. But you might want that case anyway - I've had several laptops that would have had broken screens or were yanked off a desk by an attached cable and survived by the sacrificial plastic shell taking the impact.

    Like all things, it's a tradeoff to consider.

exe34  2 days ago

Reminds me of the advice given for outdoor electronics: make sure your enclosure is absolutely watertight, and then drill a hole in the bottom to drain any residual buildup from humidity.

  • testing22321  1 day ago

    The air box in your car has holes to drain any water that finds its way in there…, not great for deep water crossings