New macbook air or macbook ?? Upgrading my Macbook Air 2011 i5. Want to lose big fan noise when stre

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited March 2015

 The only downside of my Macbook Air 2011 i5 is that the fans kick into high gear when I stream video to an external screen/tv. Otherwise I am amazed by how much it is capable of handling.  I am ready to upgrade, and  wondering if I want to lose the fan noise, do I have to move to the new fan-less macbook? I'm wondering if folks with more powerful macbook airs or recent macbook pros experience fan noise while streaming. Thanks for your responses.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    You won't have any fan noise with the new MacBook but it maybe slower. The Core M is a step down from the Intel I series. So it depends on which feature you value the most. You could upgrade to a newer Air or MacBook Pro. You probably won't hear fan noise because the processors are better and don't have to work as hard.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Some people here say their newer 2013/2014 Airs are very quiet while streaming:

    http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1248799

    Either the new Air or new Macbook should be ok. It will depend on if it's Flash streaming, Netflix etc. The Macbook adaptor setup to hookup to the TV might not be as straightforward due to the single port, assuming you aren't streaming via an Apple TV. However, the display quality on the Macbook will be a lot better and no fan means it can't make any noise under any circumstances.
  • Reply 3 of 5

    thanks for your link Marvin. good to read. it seems that the user experiences described refer to streaming on the laptop itself,  not to an external screen which, at least with the 2011 air makes the processor (s) work that much harder...

  • Reply 4 of 5
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by yoowho View Post

     

    The only downside of my Macbook Air 2011 i5 is that the fans kick into high gear when I stream video to an external screen/tv. Otherwise I am amazed by how much it is capable of handling.  I am ready to upgrade, and  wondering if I want to lose the fan noise, do I have to move to the new fan-less macbook? I'm wondering if folks with more powerful macbook airs or recent macbook pros experience fan noise while streaming. Thanks for your responses.




    My late 2014 Core i7 MBPr will run the fan sometimes for activity that doesn't strike me as too demanding.  Once in a blue moon this includes streaming to the external display but it's not normal and only notable because it's very rare. 

     

    I was writing code while a you tube video demonstration streamed on the external display.  It could be that something kicked off in background that hit some threshold.  It's never happens when just streaming a movie via HDMI but I don't actually do that very often.  

     

    Most likely Safari did something odd and the processor load went up.

     

    Not sure if this one data point is useful.  I guess you have to decide that if something causes the system to decide it's too hot whether fan noise or throttling and potentially dropping frames is the preferred route.  If you are only streaming neither is likely at all to happen with any of the current macs.

  • Reply 5 of 5
    yoowhoyoowho Posts: 4member

    Thanks nht, appreciate reading about your experience:)

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