For a few weeks the new MacBook Air range equipped with Apple’s M3 processor has been available on the market and, as usual, it does so with a very poor basic configuration with 8 GB of RAM Yes 256 GB of storage
Whatever Apple says, not having a cooling system is not a problem for this equipment to perform at its best, although this is associated with a high process temperature, even exceeding 110 degrees, which ends up having an impact on its performance.
This is the same processor that can be found in the range Macbook Pro with the same processor and which is much more expensive. With this in mind, YouTuber MaxTech set to work to see if he could achieve the same performance on the MacBook Air M3 than that offered by the Pro model.
Improve MacBook Air M3 performance
As we mentioned above, MacBook Air M3 does not come with any methods to help reduce CPU temperature when working at maximum power, their performance is affected as they heat up while performing heavy tasks.
However, the MacBook Pro with the same processor includes a active cooling thanks to two fans, fans that help you keep CPU performance at its peak for longer without affecting the CPU temperature.
To improve performance, MaxTech used a docking station with cooling function from the manufacturer SVALT, a docking station that performs cooling functions at the exact location where the device is located. M3 processor
This cooling base, called DHCR, keeps the equipment vertical on a flat surface, cooling the equipment’s aluminum chassis, which is transmitted to the processor, allowing for better performance according to the 3D Wildlife Extreme test.
Performance test
According to the tests carried out by the YouTuber, the MacBook Air M3 with the lid closed, after 20 minutes of performance testing, obtained a score of 4,198 points, a lower score than that obtained with the device open, which was 5 916 points.
Attaching the cooling base with the lid closed, after 20 minutes of testing, it achieved a score of 7,309 points, very close to the 7,933 points of the MacBook Pro with the M3 processor without the cooling base.
A new option was also tested to increase cooling power using heating pads located between the processor and the aluminum case of the MacBook Air M3. With this cooling system and using the SALV DHCR cooling base, after 20 minutes of performance, this equipment obtained a score of 8,062 points, MacBook Pro score improvement or 7,933 points.
If you want to improve the performance of your MacBook Air M3 You have a choice: use thermal pads (which means opening the device and losing the warranty) or buy this cooling base, which forces you to use the device only as a desktop computer. The DHCP SVALT cooling base is priced at 259.99 dollars and it’s only available on their website, although they ship internationally.
