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iPad iPad Air ventilation

P

PalacePlayers

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 5, 2011
106
3
Does the iPad Air ventilate through its speakers? I'm currently using my iPad Air with it resting on my belly in a such way that it's speakers is covered (but little else). It's getting pretty hot, defenetly so hot it's uncomfortable. Ao my question is, is it hot because I cover the speakers? For the record, I'm just browsing Safari and listening to some music via AirPlay.

I've tried a reset and to lie it down a little while. Still hot.
 
Could your belly be contributing to the heat? My iPad Air does not ever seem to get hot. But I'm usually holding it in my hands. Never resting on my belly.

Is your belly flat or rounded?
 
I'm no power user, but nothing I've done with the iPad Air so far has made it get warm let alone hot. Most of the time the aluminum case and glass screen are cold to the touch - lukewarm at best.
 
PalacePlayers said:
Does the iPad Air ventilate through its speakers? I'm currently using my iPad Air with it resting on my belly in a such way that it's speakers is covered (but little else). It's getting pretty hot, defenetly so hot it's uncomfortable. Ao my question is, is it hot because I cover the speakers? For the record, I'm just browsing Safari and listening to some music via AirPlay.

I've tried a reset and to lie it down a little while. Still hot.
Click to expand...

Unlike the iPad 3 and 4, I don't think the Air should get hot at all. At least mine never has...
 
I've watched movies for hours and my Air has never gotten hot. You might want to let Apple run some diagnostics on it if you're concerned.
 
herdnerfer said:
Neither the original Macintosh or the G4 Cube had a fan but yet they both ventilated.
Click to expand...

Both were based on aesthetic decisions that were, quite frankly, poor choices. And the G4 cube was intended to move air based on convection.

In any case, an iPad is not an original Macintosh or G4 cube. Their power usage profiles are different and so is their design. The speaker "vents" on an iPad are just to let sound propagate, NOT for ventilation. That's all there is to it.
 
pat park said:
Could your belly be contributing to the heat? My iPad Air does not ever seem to get hot. But I'm usually holding it in my hands. Never resting on my belly.

Is your belly flat or rounded?
Click to expand...

Also, is this after you have eaten? When you eat a large meal, you automatically get a large flow of blood to your stomach, since it is doing a lot of work digesting what you just ate. That makes your belly pretty warm, and this heat may be contributing to what you're feeling on the iPad.
 
My iPad it's not uncomfortable to hold, even after a quite long session of real racing 3 ... Are you sure your is ok ???
I use it mainly landscape, but it is warm at best, never hot.
 
Skika said:
This thread took an interesting turn.
Click to expand...


I know right!

Never the less, my AIR hasn't even gotten warm after hours of heavy use, even after sitting on my stomach after a meal watching YouTube for hours by the fireplace. My stomach is flat for the most part though. ;)
 
Skika said:
Whatever dude
Click to expand...

Its called passive cooling.

MacBook Pros, for example, vent heat through the keyboard even though the fan is pointed elsewhere. I'm not saying the iPads do, I'm just saying that you don't need a fan to cool a device, you can let the heat escape through an external opening.
 
darngooddesign said:
Its called passive cooling.

MacBook Pros, for example, vent heat through the keyboard even though the fan is pointed elsewhere. I'm not saying the iPads do, I'm just saying that you don't need a fan to cool a device, you can let the heat escape through an external opening.
Click to expand...

MBP vents heat through the keyboard ? I don't think so ....
 
Max(IT) said:
MBP vents heat through the keyboard ? I don't think so ....
Click to expand...

They used to, not sure about the current ones. Going further back, the G4 Cube was an example of passive cooling. It used convection and an opening in the case to keep it cool. Dell had a few fan-less netbooks.

Regardless, I wasn't saying that the iPads do this, just that you don't need to have a fan to cool a computer.
 
The aluminum shell of the iPad is an excellent heat sink. There is really no space to move the air inside the iPad so the speakers holes event if they are vent holes would not be at all effective.

Your belly temperature is at least 90F. Since you feel the heat on your iPad, it's warmer than your hand.

Slightly off topic, but I use an iPad pillow with my Air, not because of heat issue, but for the adjustable angle.
 
The aluminium construction of the iPad acts like a heatsink, I had a discussion about it with a very nice Apple store guy, he was expressing the iPads build and heat distribution.

Buy a leather case for it, I recommend labato cases, they are very nice. Check them out.
 
meistervu said:
The aluminum shell of the iPad is an excellent heat sink. There is really no space to move the air inside the iPad so the speakers holes event if they are vent holes would not be at all effective....
Click to expand...
Agreed. In fact, blockage of the ports is the least of it.

The "belly effect" is not new. You have two objects - the iPad and your body - that both need to radiate excess heat, and both are being frustrated in their ability to do so. You'd feel similar with just about any laptop or tablet.

Our bodies don't do a very good job of drawing warmth away from the skin; that would raise core temperature, which is usually not a good thing. They're a good bit better at radiating unneeded heat - first, by increased blood flow through the capillaries (convective cooling). When that's not enough, perspiration kicks in to provide evaporative cooling.

The presence of that iPad/laptop blocks the body's convective and evaporative cooling processes. Meantime, the presence of the body blocks the iPad/laptop's convective cooling. Heat from both builds up.

You'll feel this most acutely if your skin is bare and the heat-generating object resting on it is smooth and non-porous. Not only are you without the insulation provide by clothing, but there's nearly no convective airflow, and perspiration can't evaporate. Worse, the film of perspiration provides a heat-conductive seal, something like the silicon "grease" used to maximize heat flow between chips and heat sinks).
 
darngooddesign said:
MacBook Pros, for example, vent heat through the keyboard even though the fan is pointed elsewhere. I'm not saying the iPads do, I'm just saying that you don't need a fan to cool a device, you can let the heat escape through an external opening.
Click to expand...

Macbook Pros never used the keyboard for any cooling purposes. Only the non-unibody used the keyboard and only as an air intake vent, not an output.
 
Mine never gets warm and I use it heavily. That A7 must be really efficient. I never did know how iPads ventilated.
 
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