Laptop cooling for macbook air?

I have a late 2010 Macbook Air w/ 2.13 Core 2 Duo , 4GB DDR3, and 256SSD that came from the factory... and the heat and fan noise generated whenever using my mac to watch any kind of online streaming (youtube, videos, or playing mpeg4 Videos) would have the fans kick in to 6500rpm within a minute or so (iStat was registering the CPU temperature at above 90C, where it would be idling at 65-68C when not watching any kind of videos).

I eventually caved in, and decided to order the necessary screw drivers / bits to open up my macbook air and have a look inside. Was reading alot about how poorly the cpu's thermal grease was applied, and how others were reporting success. I tried the pram and smc resetting, but noticed no difference before or after.

Before redoing the thermal grease on my CPU / GPU my Temperatures reporting with iStat showed the following...

(no web browsing i.e. no emails, nor reading online...): Idle Temp 52C

(Web, reading emails, online, but no flash or streaming): Browsing Temp 68C

(Watching online streaming or playing MPEG Videos): Streaming Temp 92 - 95C

After applying thermal grease on CPU and GPU: 38*C / 46*C / 72**C (streaming within a window sized screen) 82***C (Streaming Full Screen).

Respecting Fan Speed:

* = 2000rpm steady

** = 3000 - 3250 rpm mildly varying below 3000rpm (can't hear it)

*** = 3800 - 4200 rpm variable (need to listen for it to notice it, but late at night with earphones on, I do not disturb the person sleeping next to me).

Before, I could not stream any kind of video without the fans kicking in and whurring away at 6500rpm.

I was planning on replacing my macbook late 2010 air, but after this very successful mod, I love it all over again (more than my 15" macbook pro retina).

Cheers,

LormaD

The MacBook Air cools by means of a fan, which draws air in one side of the rear of the hinge, and blows it out the other side. In doing so,air is flowed across the case components, and a radiator/heat pipe type of heat sink that directly cools the processor. Additional heat is transmitted directly through the case by convection and radiating it to air and surface on which it is set.

You are blowing air at, or away from a flat aluminum plate (the bottom of the computer). It would be a lot more efficient if the air were instead cooling an object with much more surface area. The temp went up, probably because the surface you were previously using transferred more heat from the case than air could alone. The temp would then rise using that surface, once the "heat sink" surface had absorbed enough heat to equalize with the case.

If you want a cooler to work efficiently, choose one with a heat sink design that then uses airflow on a high surface secondary heat exchange area to cool the heatsink.

I've used one of the heat-crystal absorptive type of notebook coolers, with better success than a plain fan. But it is only for sessions of relative short duration (no 4 hour gaming sessions), at which point the absorptive mat becomes less transferal of heat.

Here is a page that seems to understand the topic well. They have reviewed a couple that use direct heat transfer, with a fan in combination.