Fixing Apple's GOOD Engineering - M1 MacBook Air thermal pads on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2021–2023.
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Linus Tech Tips opens up an M1 MacBook Air to test whether better thermal pads could improve performance in the fanless design. It looks at what Apple left on the table.
It is linked in laptop thermal threads for a layman's overview of why Apple limits surface temperature and why the mod is not simple.
5 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
For a layman's overview of this, Linus from LinusTechTips gives a basic rundown of the relevant safety regulation and some numbers in one of his videos featuring the M1 Macbook Air and its cooling solution.[1] [1]: ▶ this video
in “Fix Intel CPU Throttling on Linux” · View on HN
Interesting video about how the only reason you even need a fan in the mac book pro is because how hot the shell of a laptop is allowed to get is legislated so you don't burn yourself on it. ▶ this video
in “How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops” · View on HN
LTT Tech literally did a video with an identical thermal pad mod a year and a half ago with the M1 Air. ▶ this video TLDR - Adding the thermal pads wouldn't pass regulatory muster.
in “Thermal Pad ‘Mod’ Makes M2 MacBook Air Faster Than 13″ M2 Pro” · View on HN
To be clear, the real reason Apple don't do this themselves, is because there are legal regulations preventing them from selling products that are any hotter to the touch. According to the IEC, metal contact surfaces on machines are considered unsafe above 55.5C. And unmodded, Apple's notebooks already scrape up against that upper limit. With the mod, they go quite a bit over it — well into "causes pain to touch" territory. (See: ▶ this video )
in “Thermal Pad ‘Mod’ Makes M2 MacBook Air Faster Than 13″ M2 Pro” · View on HN
The same “issue” was present on the M1 air. LTT did a video on it. Same as this article. He didn’t recommend the mod. ▶ this video
in “The new MacBook Air runs so hot that it affects performance” · View on HN