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The larger of Apple's MacBook Air laptops featuring dual microphones and 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity.

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Replacing termic paste. Recommendable? Necessary?

Hi team, I just have a simple (and may be newby) question? As all my live i've been a windows pc user and fixer. So i'm not very into mac.

In normal (pc) laptops it's quite recommendable to replace once a year or once every 2 years the thermal paste of the gpu.

But not sure if this is necessary or even recommendable in Mac? (As i know the cooling system, normally, is much better and eficent in MAC)

Well that's all.

Thanks a lot,

Marcos

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I've never heard of the idea that thermal paste should be periodically replaced. The only time thermal paste needs replacing is if there's a separation between the GPU and the heat sink. Otherwise, there's no need. Thermal paste doesn't "wear out" or get "less thermally conductive" with age.

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well.. may be not in Mac, but in normal PC, sometimes if the cooling system and/or the paste is not so good, thermal paste can be exposed to high temperatures, what "dries" it and make it rigid and less conductive, many times when laptops are overheated ofently, you can solve this problem and cool down the temperature a lot, opening it, cleaning it and replacing the dry thermal paste for a new one (specially if you use a good one like "Arctic Silver 5").

I just was wondering if this may happen to MAC devices.. any other opinion?

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Hi @markossampa90, Well, it depends, and especially at my country, which is humid all the time, and yes it can degrade as time past, it is actually more on a preventive maintenance. If the computer is often used up..... check and observe the temperature as it goes.

Using a anti static brush to remove the dusts that was collected at the heatsink / fan area / exhaust.

I agree on the arctic silver thermal paste is good.

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but my question is... (because one i un-stick the heatsink from the CPU I've to replace the paste) do you recommend me to replace it or to leave it like this? ( the mac has almost 4 years, and does not seems to be overheated)

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markossampa90 will be eternally grateful.
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