MBA 13" Going on Deployment

Hey guys, new to the Mac family just got my MBA on feb 26th. I normally use an alienware m17x-r2 for gaming but since it has every option someone could think about having with it, it's priced well over 5 grand and my wife refuses to let me take it on my upcoming deployment. So I purchased my mba, I have a few questions and I'm hoping there are a few military members here that can provide some help. One, how the hell do I clean the fan on this? I know it's there on the left side somewhere... but where do I use my canned air on it? Also I'm assuming the speakers on located in the similar area and I would like to use a perminant marker to mark where the speakers are from the case so I don't spray them with air and damage them. I've got with acc, over 2200 into this machine and want it to last. Lastly does anyone know how to sqeeze a little more power/performance out of the 320m, I'm replacing a gaming computer with this and trying to player games like borderlands and the such on it and with low settings I'm getting horrible game play... I mean it's playable but annoying. Thanks for any advice you give. Please PM me if you wish.

 

Installing MacBook Air 13" Model A1369 Right Speaker - Page 2 - iFixit

Heres the picture of your computer.

Now I have cleaned a lot of computers that are coming back from Iraq, and the biggest thing is gonna be the sand. And its not what you think, it will usually run just fine through the fans, and even on the computer, however, what usually happens is sand gets between the bottom case, and the batteries and scratches the crap out of them!

So basically what you want to do is get yourself a mini screw driver.

Amazon.com: Wiha 75093 Micro Bit Set with ESD Safe Handles, Slotted, Phillips and Torx, 16 Piece: Home Improvement

Thats the screwdriver I use.

Basically just take it apart every month or when you feel it may be dirty on the inside, and open up the bottom case, disconnect the power cable, and then blow out the computer. Make sure you DO NOT blow out the fan directly with the full pressure of the can. You can actually destroy the bearing inside the fan.

Just make sure if you do open your computer that you are extremely careful with all the screws, they are very small, and are very hard to get replaced.

 

Well Frozen, thank you VERY much on linking me to the ifix website, I've bookmarked it for future use. I'm shocked at the design of the speakers I assumed they were either in the screen bazel or at the very edge of the hinge. I'm glad to see they are fairly protected. I noticed your location is in Washington, where abouts are you? I'm at Lewis and might be needing your services when I get back since I don't want to send mine into apple just to get cleaned. Thanks.

 

My store is located in Everett Mall, which is just north of Lynnwood. Course most people know Everett for Boeing.

 

Oh okay, cool. Thanks. If you are still here when I get back I'll post about my experience downrange with the laptop and if you are still around I'll bring it in.

 

Sounds good

 

If you run bootcamp you can use EVGA Precision to overclock the 320m. But the problem with the macbook air is its size and the heat that it might generate from the overclock.

I can comfortably clock my 320m on my MBP 13" 2010 from 450 to 630 core clock and I used the linked setting so it automatically sets the clock for the shader too.

 

Thank you so much. I am bootcamping it, and have noticed a HUGE performance boost by simply playing my games from Windows. But I'll try that and see how it does. Thank you very much.

 

Hey Silent, thanks for the insight into the EVGA it works great, it's a rather large boost to my fps in windows I haven't tried it in mac yet. It does make the machine run much hotter. At 630 in borderlands it runs hot but within specs for intel and nvidia. But I got a full system lockup running a steam game. So I'm gonna do a little more work and fine tune it a bit. Thanks.

 

You should also download LubbosFanControl so that you can max out your fans while playing games.

The clocks I'm using do push my system to 80c while gaming without the fan control program, which is already very high.

Usually with a system you would want to stay under 70c, but I think it has to do with a combination of fan placement and the subpar job Apple does with the thermal paste.

Your sweet spot might be around 600 or 575. The best thing would be to start low and bump it up slowly 5 MHz at a time.

Hopefully you can find a stable overclock, that will give you a decent boost in FPS.

Goodluck with your deployment.