I MODDED My M1 MacBook Air & Got 20% Performance Increase!

The MacBook Air thermal pad mod has been around for a few months now, but very few people have attempted it on the new (fanless) 2020 M1 MacBook Air. Several forum users have reported significant performance increases after doing this mod, so I decided to try it myself to see if I could increase the performance and speed of my own MacBook.

The results were very surprising, I noticed a significant boost to benchmark tests and an even bigger increase in render speed. In this video I talk about how to do the mod, some more testing, and also some drawbacks (notably the extra heat the MacBook will produce).

► Equipment used in this video (Amazon links):

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00:00 Introduction
01:02 Initial Benchmarks
02:05 Modding the M1 Heatsink
03:09 Results
04:46 How Hot Will The Modded Air Get?
07:51 Final Thoughts

#m1macbook #moddedmacbook #createdtech
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[CreatedTech]

Equipment used (Amazon links):

I'll also be doing further videos on this topic, including using a laptop fan cooler with the mod. I will also try to water cool the M1 MacBook Air so make sure you are subscribed!

[CreatedTech]

To answer the inevitable comments - yes I saw that Linus uploaded a video on this a few hours ago. I've been working on this video for a few weeks now, and when I saw Linus' video I kicked my arse into gear to get my version finished ASAP. Linus didn't go into too much detail on his video, I have FLIR thermal imaging and render tests which I think you will find interesting. Stay tuned for more videos on this topic including seeing if the laptop cooling fan makes a difference.

Equipment used (Amazon links):

[karamhasan]

Dude, with the release of the new M1 MacBooks your channel skyrocketed. I remember you were the first one to post a video about the m1 air on YT. That’s how I got to know your channel, and I’ve been watching you ever since.

Keep up the good work! I really like your channel and your content.
Keep making videos that you LOVE to make. Not videos that you need to.

I can really see your passion in your videos. Keep it up and good luck.

[larsmuller]

It would have been interesting to see the exact battery max temperatures with and without the mod.

[amazingpeople]

I think this is the most easiest way to convert macbook air to pro. 😁

[M_kavi]

I’m going to do this when the warranty is expires to breath new life into it

[WilliFromEarth]

Great video. Love the simple modding and the demonstrated drastic performance increase! Well done! Thank you. As a physicist and engineer I have done my own fair share of FLIR thermal imaging and accompanying theoretical analyses and I was hence particularly intrigued with the side-by-side comparison of the actual temperature of the back- and frontside before and after the modding. This shows diligence. In this context, typically, a change of heat flux can be given in percent. For temperature changes, however, % are typically not use, due to the arbitrariness of the Celsius scale. A change in percent can be physically related to an actually measurable process like heat flux, rather than the resulting arbitrary value, the temperature. In any case, great mod, great details provided with the FLIR, and even more impressive performance change with thoroughly executed benchmarking. I prefer these real world comparisons. Thank you!

[denverag]

If you want to take this to the extreme, you can get a 200x200mm 1mm thick thermal pad, and then between that thermal pad and the bottom shell, place graphene pads. these transfer heat extremely quickly across their surface(several times faster than aluminium) making for a much more even distribution of heat across the bottom, instead of a painfully hot spot right next to the CPU

[AA-dquo]

It would be really nice if you could do a comparison of the battery temperature before and after the mod

[berketuran]

you call 63 degrees toasty?

*laughs in gaming laptop*

[theonetobii]

Did this with my 2017 13" MacBook Pro and decreased my Temp from 90°C while doing stuff to 60°C, so it also works with older models ! Thanks for the Idea!

[tejmatronic]

I'd love to see the same tests while actively cooling the bottom of the laptop, with AND without the heat sink pads. Could be an inexpensive and non invasive way to boost performance.

[carl-ixcc]

Just bought my MacBook. Now, all of your videos will be useful for me😆

[jeffyu]

The temperatue increase is due to contact point. This is actually more efficient. Otherwise, heat is trapped in the air in the case, spearding more evenly, but more slowly as well.

[shahedhasnat]

I hope someone makes a replacement bottom cover for Macbook Air with heat management system without burning the user.

[devjon]

There are a couple of threads on the MacRumors forum detailing both this mod and the same mod on the 2020 Intel MacBook Air. It includes details of the screwdrivers required ( with the Intel Mod some people replaced the thermal paste on the processor as the stock application was pretty rubbish ) plus the optimum cooling pad thickness. There's an excellent step by step video guide by one of the forum members on the forum.
I modded my M1 Air a few weeks ago. I have the base model with 8/7 cores. I didn't bother to put a thicker pad on the lower square part of the heatsink, just a 2mm pad on the higher part as this is directly over the M1 chip.
I've run many Cinebench R23 tests, from individual runs to 1 hour continuous. Scores are usuaklly around 7700-7800.
One thing to be aware of is that Cinebench R23 shows a cumulative average of the scores on a multi run test. Some of the guys on the forum have done some pretty deep analysis on this. One commenter has run Handbrake converting his video collection on his base M1 Air overnight. Once the M1 Air reaches equilibrium it stays there indefinitely.

[bibasik]

The battery in my 2015 MacBook Pro expanded. Specifically, the cell that is closest to the CPU. Heat and batteries don’t mix.

[simar]

i'm waiting for the "water cooling my M1 Macbook Air" video

[scottcoulter]

I did this mod, and I saw battery temps DECREASE by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit. CPU temp decreased from 180 down to 154 running the same game. I did this mod no so much to increase performance (it was fine before), but to decrease CPU temp. The fact that battery seemed to also show better temps was pure bonus!

[computernerdinside]

Makes sense. If it has more surface area so saturate with heat, it will definitely feel warmer, but will possibly have better performance as it now takes much longer to get to whatever core temps it would throttle at.