Why do you think the MBA is hot all the time? It only hits the thermal limits when you push the cores to the max and keep them there for several minutes at a time. Most of the things that people do with their MBAs don’t do that. As others have said, if you are constantly doing tasks like that on the MBA, you are using a screwdriver for a hammer. It can be done but there are better options.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iFixit Tears Down M2 MacBook Air, Finds Accelerometer and Adhesive Pull Tabs for Battery
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
1. Well, accelerometer sensor indeed can be used for navigation. It's called dead reconning.
2. Really concerned about heat dissipation design. Since I don't have the MBA M2 hope that someone can examine heat signature under load using a thermographic camera.
Possibly using aftermarket dock-type active cooling solution for high load tasks seems very feasible.
3. Paint Protection Film can add the barrier for weak surface protection from wear and tear that could've been resolved with an extra coating of hardened clear top coat of paint. Scotchguard 3M paint protection film is one option, it is cut to work with the curves and angles conforming to the body to create a tight seal and providing protection while remaining virtually invisible. This film is also known as a clear bra and used in the automotive industry to protect car paint.
- In navigation, dead reckoning is the process of calculating the current position of some moving object by using a previously determined position, or fix, and then incorporating estimates of speed, heading direction, and course over elapsed time.
- Accuracy is limited by the sensor precision, with built-in magnetometer, magnetic disturbances inside structures, and unknown variables such as carrying position and stride length. Wonder if MBA M2 has a built-in magnetometer used in mobile phones in combination with accelerometer as a form of pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR).
- Networked games and simulation tools routinely use dead reckoning to predict where an actor should be right now, using its last known kinematic state (position, velocity, acceleration, orientation, and angular velocity. Then it might be preparation for Apple Augmenter Reality Device.
2. Really concerned about heat dissipation design. Since I don't have the MBA M2 hope that someone can examine heat signature under load using a thermographic camera.
Possibly using aftermarket dock-type active cooling solution for high load tasks seems very feasible.
3. Paint Protection Film can add the barrier for weak surface protection from wear and tear that could've been resolved with an extra coating of hardened clear top coat of paint. Scotchguard 3M paint protection film is one option, it is cut to work with the curves and angles conforming to the body to create a tight seal and providing protection while remaining virtually invisible. This film is also known as a clear bra and used in the automotive industry to protect car paint.
I find it offensive that you chose to use logic and intelligence in your post when you KNOW the MR rules prohibit this.
Delete your post and post something negative about the MBA immediately!
Yeah… much better just to blindly love Apples decision that SSD/RAM should not be upgradable.
I moved to Mac in 2011 and really love the design, quality and especially MacOS.
But I don’t get why people defend that storage/RAM cannot be user upgradable? SSD fails or the type of work you do changes so you need more RAM? You basically would need to buy a new computer. Just a waste of precious resources and money. Worst part is that other manufacturers are moving in that direction as well
Last edited:
It makes sense. 99% of people don’t change their system configuration. A considerable amount of device failures come from sockets and mechanical issues as well on RAM and SSDs (I’ve lost count of the amount of systems I’ve fixed by reseating RAM and cleaning connectors). So you increase overall reliability for 99% of users at the cost of 1% of the power users whining all over the internet.
Even as a higher end power user myself I haven’t really had to upgrade a system for about a decade. I know and buy what I need up front, use it until the risky ownership period is up (AppleCare runs out) and buy another one anyway.
If the SSD fails you get a warranty replacement. If you need more RAM you should have planned your workload better.
Really interested to know where you got that statistics from? I must know a lot of power users then. Upgrading ram used to be pretty normal where I’m from. What if the SSD fails just after the warranty expires? That’s normally 2 years. Then the rest of the computer is just trash, since a repair at apple would normally be same as a new computer. Don’t you think that’s a waste of resources? Perhaps you don’t care about this?
I don't have the source to cite from but statistics were reported from I think HP a couple of years back.
I have to ask the question though: what makes you think the SSD is going to fail before other components? There are hundreds of parts with their own MTTF figures which contribute to the complete demise of the machine.
Also statutory warranty under "fit for purpose" terms here in the UK is 6 years under Consumer Rights Act 2015.
We should concentrate on better consumer legislation. Minimum 6 years for hardware AND SOFTWARE. They will provide hardware and software that does not fail within the legislation window then. And force manufacturers to buy back the machines for the material value at the end of life to reduce environmental impact and prevent shifting corporate environmental responsibility onto local authorities.
It seems to be just buying into cult like thinking - hook, line and sinker
Folks who can't seem to find much occasion to be critical of Apple really should consider stepping back and analyzing the why and how on their Apple opinions.
Additionally, they should consider advocating more from personal desires and interests and not accept the framing of "good for Apple". Apple is a megacorp that prints money.
Just because Apple does something and/or something is good for them .. that in no way implies it's an actually good decision for users, or the environment or any other interests.
If I didn't know otherwise, I'd say that's the new Air on the top and the new Pro on the bottom..
I love the wedge shape
IFixit did some strange things with that tear down and performance test. They started by dong the tear down. Then they took off the heat spreader and wiped the thermal paste off of it and the SOC. They then decided that the heat spreader wasn’t a heat spreader because it was thinner and larger than the one in the M1 Air. There don’t seem to be any basis for that characterization. It is obviously designed to dissipate the heat from the SOC into the case. The same as the heat spreader in the M1. Yes, it was thinner but with a larger surface area, it would do a better job of transferring heat. Apple also added graphite tape to it that increase the heat transfer. Yes, they still proclaimed that it didn’t have a heat spreader.
Then they reassembled it and ran some performance tests. What!? They didn’t do their tests first. They disassembled it, put it back together and then tested it. Who knows what was different. It’s a very irresponsible way to handle testing. I’m not sure that iFixit had their A-team on this one.
Yes, the M2 did hit its thermal limits but not during normal operations. It was cool and fast until they ran a sustained test using all the CPU cores and all the CPU cores and then it warmed up. Eventually it slowed down to let itself cool off as it was design to do. That is how passive cooling systems work.
Last edited:
Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry Review – A very good, but too expensive daily MacBook
Notebookcheck reviews the new Apple MacBook Air M2 Midnight in the base-level spec with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD storage.
notebookcheck has the most detailed reviews for laptop. the temperature is on par with the previous M1 air.