Does MBA get unbearably hot like R-MBP?

NevaKee said:

I understand *why* it gets hot, I just want to know if the MBA gets as unbearably hot as the R-MBP.

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It depends on the workload you put on it. Yes, it can get as hot. Whether it will or not depends on what you're running.

From what I read - the next gen MacBook Air will be fan-less, with substantially lower temps, even at max.
No fan, completely silent.
I'd have to see that (and feel it ) to believe.

DeltaMac said:

From what I read - the next gen MacBook Air will be fan-less, with substantially lower temps, even at max.
No fan, completely silent.
I'd have to see that (and feel it ) to believe.

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You and I wish, however not holding my breath.

Jobs was famous for "No Fan!" and even him relented, so I don't know why Cook and co would have better magic.

To OP: Everything run hot when pushed, specially in a small package with limited heat dissipation means. Laptops such as the Macs are not game machines.

The future, the Neuron Computer will have power but consumes a fraction of electricity hence less heat.

It can get hot, though I wouldn't call it unbearable.

I was playing Bioshock Infinite on my MBA. Yeah, the fan kicks in for sure, but it's not obnoxious. What I didn't like was how hot it got above the upper left, between the keyboard and screen. It was so hot I couldn't touch it. Temperatures looked fine though, and this is to be expected from an ultra book.

It gets really hot if you play CPU intensive games on it at high settings. It gets hot to the point where if I put it on my thighs, it would burn.

I never game on them for this reason. I think it kills your laptop faster with all the heat.

Macs run hot, Apple designs them to. The harder you push one the hotter it gets till it shuts down, that's Apple's solution. My MBA and MBPR run fast and hot, you get used to it.

NevaKee said:

I understand *why* it gets hot, I just want to know if the MBA gets as unbearably hot as the R-MBP.

Thanks!

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I don't game, but I used to have a mid 2013 MBA 13.

For non-strenuous use (Web, movies, etc.) the MBA is virtually silent and stays cool enough to stay on your lap, even wearing shorts.

The next MBA may be fanless, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will run cooler than an rMBP with one - just that it doesn't reach temps requiring a fan.

Not really possible to make predictions about the next-generation fanless from the fan-using current generation.

I've got both and while the MBA can certainly get hot as well, particularly between the top of the keyboard and the hinge, it get's no where near as not as my rMBP on the bottom when running intensive tasks.

Always use my Air on the couch or in bed for this reason. If the rMBP isn't burning my legs, it's making me sweat. Just a bit annoying

Unbearably...I'd say so.

I just got back from returning my 21.5" iMac (i5, 8GB, 750M, 1TB HDD) and while playing Diablo III for hours on end the temp never rose above 65C. It was very quiet and very comfortable playing on a desktop.

With my MBA, if I play using the built in keyboard, yes, it does get uncomfortably hot on the top left side, enough to make my palm sweat.

IF you really wanted to make your MBA crunch numbers for long periods of time I'd definitely recommend standalone keyboard.

I guess it's just what Apple and Intel decided to do, but to keep the system quiet (and in the thermal constraints of a laptop), I have noticed that the MBA idles from 42C to 45C with the fans at ~1200RPM and the iMacs idle at 37C-40C with the fans at ~1400RPM.

These laptops are made of metal, which conducts heat to your skin better than plastic.

As the smart elite tend to say, dealy bro.

Mrbobb said:

You and I wish, however not holding my breath.

Jobs was famous for "No Fan!" and even him relented, so I don't know why Cook and co would have better magic.

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Well, but it's important to remember that during the period of Job's reign, Intel and AMD were still primarily focused on performance. Now they're pushing for greater and greater efficiency in order to compete with ARM processors.