The new MacBook Air runs so hot that it affects performance. It isn’t the first time [Updated]

A previous version of the article stated that the M2 MacBook Air didn't have any kind of passive cooling. Ars commenters have pointed out thatthermal paste does appear to bridge the gap between the M2 and the strip of metal above it, and that metal strip is likely to serve as a heat spreader.

The peak temperatures of the M2 chip in both the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air can be higher than the peak temperatures of the M1 chip. The M2 Air's thermal throttling can sometimes slow it down enough to make it no faster than the M1 Air it replaces, which is something many users will never experience.

The M2 Air's performance can be improved by adding more thermal pads to the heat spreader Apple has included.

You may have read that the M2 chip in the new MacBook Air has some issues with heat.

We noticed in our MacBook Air review that the M2 in the MacBook Pro could be as fast as the M2 in the MacBook Air. The Max Tech channel installed thin thermal pads on the MacBook Air's M2 that significantly boosted the chip's performance in both real-world and synthetic benchmark tests, while lowering the chip's maximum temperature from a toasty108 Celsius to a less

This mod is not something that we approve of. Adding thermal pads that conduct the M2's heat to the bottom of the laptop could cause a lot of problems, including making your lap really hot. Accidental damage to the M2 is a possibility. Please don't mod your new MacBook Air just because a YouTuber did it, at least give other people more time to discover all the side effects so that you don't have to.

All thermal pads, heatspreaders, and heatsinks conduct heat away from the processor by making close contact with it. It's easier to keep the processor cool when the heat is spread over a bigger surface area. The MacBook Airs have passive heatspreaders that conduct heat away from the chip, while the M1 and M2 MacBook Pros have active cooling systems that pull in cool air and expel hot air for better cooling.

The M2 version of the Air seems to have a harder time than the M1 version. The M2 needs to slow itself down more quickly because of the higher temperatures. It means that the M2 in the Air can't run as fast as the M1 can.

The 2020 Intel MacBook Air was capable of much better performance than it delivered, and the culprit was also the cooling system.

I modified my MacBook Air so I could speak with more authority about its heat issues. Too much thermal paste leads to a less efficient transfer of heat where a thin layer of thermal paste can fill in small gaps. Oops. Adding a thermal pad on top of the Air's heatsink is a possible fix for the issue.

The thermal problems in the two MacBook Airs are not related to each other. The company might think that the performance degradation won't be noticed by most people. Maybe the company doesn't think most people will use their MacBook Airs for sustained workloads that make the processor hit its thermal limits, since the company's renewed interest in gaming in macOS Ventura and the MacBook Air's position as Apple'

The hotter the computer components run, the faster they wear out. We'll probably live with this design for the next 3 to 5 years, going by precedent. For the sake of the hardware and the people who use it, Apple should be cooling these systems properly.