Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

GooseInTheCaboose

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 2, 2022
361
222
How hot does the M2 MBA get? What kind if work is it doing when it gets hot?

Do you find rhe heat annoying or tolerable? Or hardly noticeable?
 
  • Like
Reactions: samuellavoie
Mine is so not hot I literally feel like it isn’t a computer in the traditional sense. I also do basically nothing computationally stressful, but that’s my experience. It was NOT my experience on intel MacBooks!
your air is running hot? what apps are you running? & worth checking activity monitor, see what might be 'stressing' your air...
 
Haven’t noticed any heating. I do most of my work on a web browser or on LibreOffice, but I occasionally do some work on Photoshop and Illustrator as well.
I come from a 2019 MBP 15” that felt like a burning stove only from being connected to an external display. My MBA now uses that display.
 
  • Like
Reactions: samuellavoie
My runs cool until I load up Civ3 via Wineskin then it gets hot like a cast iron skillet. For regular tasks there are no issues. I haven't run Adobe software, yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: samuellavoie
Why would you do that ridiculous mod when your MBA is NOT overheating?
A fan in a laptop cooler isn’t that ridiculous if you do very intensive CPU/GPU things occasionally. They are inexpensive and can definitely help cool a passively cooled notebook.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: appltech
Why would you do that ridiculous mod when your MBA is NOT overheating?
I just bought a $15 $20 laptop cooler with a couple of fans. When I get it I'll run some tests to see if it reduces or eliminates the M2 MBA throttling. The only conceivable use for me though would be some sort of game. I really don't run many games but if No Mans' Sky is actually released for macOS, I might pick that up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tagbert
IMG_3271.jpeg
Mine stays very cool on my laptop stand (right hand side of the pic)... along with the rest of my M2 "tools".
😀
 
Mine hasn't broken 70C since I brought it home 3 weeks ago. This is even when running Windows 11 in Parallels, a server running a React app within Node, plus a local nosql instance. -- it just idles along and never gets much warmer than room temp on the bottom. And the battery lasts an entire 10 hour day with plenty to spare.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rmadsen3
Mines barely ever gotten warm, and I use it most of the time on my lap or onto of a pillow on the couch. Something you can't due on most windows laptop unless you need a heater
 
I just bought a $15 $20 laptop cooler with a couple of fans. When I get it I'll run some tests to see if it reduces or eliminates the M2 MBA throttling. The only conceivable use for me though would be some sort of game. I really don't run many games but if No Mans' Sky is actually released for macOS, I might pick that up.
How does the user know when throttling occurs? Is there a visual indicator such as a menubar icon or, perhaps, a notification? Is there a fixed threshold--for internal temperature--beyond which throttling occurs? Thank you!
 
How does the user know when throttling occurs? Is there a visual indicator such as a menubar icon or, perhaps, a notification? Is there a fixed threshold--for internal temperature--beyond which throttling occurs? Thank you!
It really depends what you are doing. The device if throttling should be warm under the center of the laptop. The cpu will lower it's maximum frequency so that it doesn't heat up to a point that would cause thermal damage. You might notice a delay in the responsiveness of your applications and then again you might not even know it is occurring.

I really think the throttling issue is way overblown on the M2 MBA. Of course if you run multiple pro level applications at the same time for an extended period of time or heavy gaming and multiple heavy applications then you are going to have the device throttle. It is not designed for that level of work. However a lot of YouTube reviewers have done just that and I think the most it will throttle after like an hour was 17-30%. You can as others have suggested get a laptop cooler and some people have reusable ice bricks with a towel and that will stop or reduce throttling.

If you don't want a 14" or 16" MBP then the 13" MBP with M2 is better slightly because it has a fan. You can check activity monitor and watch your cpu frequency. If after you are working a bit you notice said drop in frequency for a while then it could be throttling. I believe the temp is around 100 degrees Celsius or around that mark that throttling will occur.

With mine the only time it gets warm is when charging with the fast charger or when running a stress test or benchmark otherwise it is cool or at least not even warm.

Also in my experience for an m series processor having had the M1 13" pro and M1 Pro 14", M1 Pro 16" and M1 Max 16" the air feels just as fast and in some cases like web browsing faster.
 
It really depends what you are doing. The device if throttling should be warm under the center of the laptop. The cpu will lower it's maximum frequency so that it doesn't heat up to a point that would cause thermal damage. You might notice a delay in the responsiveness of your applications and then again you might not even know it is occurring.

I really think the throttling issue is way overblown on the M2 MBA. Of course if you run multiple pro level applications at the same time for an extended period of time or heavy gaming and multiple heavy applications then you are going to have the device throttle. It is not designed for that level of work. However a lot of YouTube reviewers have done just that and I think the most it will throttle after like an hour was 17-30%. You can as others have suggested get a laptop cooler and some people have reusable ice bricks with a towel and that will stop or reduce throttling.

If you don't want a 14" or 16" MBP then the 13" MBP with M2 is better slightly because it has a fan. You can check activity monitor and watch your cpu frequency. If after you are working a bit you notice said drop in frequency for a while then it could be throttling. I believe the temp is around 100 degrees Celsius or around that mark that throttling will occur.

With mine the only time it gets warm is when charging with the fast charger or when running a stress test or benchmark otherwise it is cool or at least not even warm.

Also in my experience for an m series processor having had the M1 13" pro and M1 Pro 14", M1 Pro 16" and M1 Max 16" the air feels just as fast and in some cases like web browsing faster.
How do you find the m2 air to be faster than the m1pro when web browsing? I would have thought the pro-motion etc would have made the 14” feel superior? Do you get lag with 100s of tabs open on the m1pro but not on the m2 air? Is there lag when resizing windows or switching tabs?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.