An open letter to hardware manufacturers

Computers run on electrical energy, and most if not all the energy that runs their processing circuitry gets converted into waste heat. A computer with an under-powered cooling system is at risk of failure from overheating if it ever runs a program that puts a load on it. We don't see machines burning out often under load anymore because modern components have protections built in that will throttle down their speed if they run too hot and shutdown if they cannot keep themselves below the rated maximum limit. This does not give you a license to be lazy and pair a powerful component like a high end CPU with a poorly designed cooling system because the component will be slowed by thermal limits and the user will have wasted their money on an expensive part that will never reach its full potential. Users are not always told by sales people to consider their cooling solution and will therefore buy a computer that is heavily bottle-necked by a poor design, and any attempt by people like me to explain this is met with skepticism and in some cases accusations of brand loyalty against their decision. Users deserve to get their full value from their purchases and they aren't always educated on the complexities of picking the best product, this is not their fault as few people are an expert in all fields and most typically defer to those they trust such as you, the manufacturers.

I get that many users want thinner and lighter machines that are more powerful, but these are mutually exclusive traits. Most users will think that a MacBook Pro with a Core i9 will be faster than my desktop Ryzen 5 1600X due to the fact the laptop has a Core i9 but they'd be surprised when they end up thermal throttling and my much cheaper desktop takes the lead. You can have a powerful machine but if it cannot run at full speed due to thermal throttling, not only will it be a waste of money but it will also have a shorter service life and lose performance per watt ratings and therefore get less done with a given power supply. Many users are unaware of this fault of their gadgets, and won't notice until a properly built machine is shown to them. This ignorance it not their fault, and it's something we all need to help with. This however does not mean that you should sell them a shiny machine that won't perform at its full level.

In a laptop or small PC, keep thermals and power usage as a top priority and use parts with a lower TDP and increase the performance of the cooling system. Doing so will allow the machine to run faster, quieter, and more energy efficient. My PC for example has a CPU cooler that's about double what's required as that was the only cooler in stock at the time. Due to the overkill nature of the cooler, my CPU fans never spin up past 20% and my machine is quieter than an otherwise equal machine with a smaller cooler. This also leaves headroom to overclock and squeeze out a tiny bit more speed. My laptop suffered from overheating and a similar cooling system to the MacBook Pro line, I modified the cooling system, replaced the thermal compound, wired the fans together, and separated the intake and exhaust vents, and the result is a machine that is 10 degrees Celsius cooler, quieter, and more stable than the factory configuration. I should not have had to modify my laptop but it shows the gains are not only for an enthusiast machine as my laptop is never used for heavy loads now that I have a desktop. Users typically don't have the skill to pull off such a modification (I barely did), it's up to you to make a good product that won't need such a drastic step to keep it running as advertised.

I'm not asking to have the thin and light machines and tablets discontinued, I get that people like them, and I may buy one someday. What I'm asking for is appropriate design that takes engineering over a check box an a spec sheet. A user will be better served by a product that has a less powerful and power hungry CPU and GPU if their machine cannot cool the more powerful one. Maybe a user is better off to go with a dual core CPU on a small laptop than the six core inferno that will bake after a second or two of moderate load. Please design your products to run cooler and more efficiently before you slap a hot running CPU inside to check a box. I humbly ask that you be transparent about how and why devices run and why a more powerful CPU is not always faster. It makes the job of local nerds much easier when we don't have to explain the laws of thermodynamics to explain why a machine is running loud, hot, and slow.

I am humbly asking that you put engineering above the spec sheet, market cooling and/or real world performance as much as you market the weight and size. And maybe you'd consider making enthusiast and professional grade machines again, but maybe more professional or enthusiast grade with matching cooling, power, and balanced part selection. What used to be common sense should be common once again.