MacBook Air 15" M2 Thermals - it *should* run cooler

[phillytim]

The 15" MacBook Air M2 should run cooler than the 13" Air M2, wouldn't you expect?

With a greater amount of case, Apple should be able to provide better passive cooling.

Hopefully tests will bear that out, once folks get their hands on it next week.

 

[TSE]

Yes, I'd think so, too. Physics and all. They hit a homerun with the 15" Air. Not many companies would choose to cannibalize sales on their most expensive, already selling well big screen laptop with one half the cost.

 

[ignatius345]

Yes, I'd think so, too. Physics and all. They hit a homerun with the 15" Air. Not many companies would choose to cannibalize sales on their most expensive, already selling well big screen laptop with one half the cost.

Apple plays a very calculated game. I assume they worked it all out and decided the anticipated number of $1300+ 15" Airs would yield them more profit than however many $2000+ 14" or $2500+ 16" Pros they would have sold.

Also, every single Mac sold is potential profit toward Services, regardless of the Mac being low-end or high-end. If they can lure in another Windows user or even just someone with an older Mac, who goes in on iCloud and starts buying software off the App Store, that's all profit independent of the hardware sale.

But yeah, I'm very pleased with this turn of events too. A big-screen consumer MacBook at a decent price point is perfect for so many uses.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

Apple plays a very calculated game. I assume they worked it all out and decided the anticipated number of $1300+ 15" Airs would yield them more profit than however many $2000+ 14" or $2500+ 16" Pros they would have sold.

Also, every single Mac sold is potential profit toward Services, regardless of the Mac being low-end or high-end. If they can lure in another Windows user or even just someone with an older Mac, who goes in on iCloud and starts buying software off the App Store, that's all profit independent of the hardware sale.

But yeah, I'm very pleased with this turn of events too. A big-screen consumer MacBook at a decent price point is perfect for so many uses.

Exactly. Take me, for example: I would never buy the big, heavy, clunky, powerful 16" MBP because I do not need the power.
I need a light and snappy computer with screen as big as decently possible for my kind of "single-core workflow". Therefore, I ordered the 15" MBA that will replace my 13" MBP from 2015 (back then, I chose the MBP over the MBA because of the Retina display).

 

[chrono1081]

There's no problem with the thermals of the 13 inch, despite the claims of trash tech channels on YouTube. I do all kinds of stuff on mine people would never think a MacBook Air could do (Final Cut, Houdini, Blender, Logic, Xcode, etc) and it runs just fine and doesn't throttle.

 

[Falhófnir]

It's got a bigger surface area, so it should have more capacity to radiate away heat, and it has more mass, so it should take longer to become saturated (and therefore for the chip to begin to throttle). The question is how much of a difference it is in reality.

 

[JPack]

It might take longer before throttling, but I doubt it’ll run cooler.

 

[phillytim]

At least we should soon have a better indication of tested heat & throttling in a few days, as review NDA's expire and the 15" Air is delivered to users on/after tomorrow.

 

[Algus]

haha I ordered the moment orders opened and its still telling me between tomorrow and Thursday. Hoping to have it in hand well before Friday.

We'll see. Although I expect to have to go out of the way to heat mine up. I just do office work and my now ancient 2012 Mac mini can actually do my work still.

 

[Zest28]

The 15” Air thermal throttles less according to MKBHD.

 

[Sowelu]

I don't remember what the net findings were, but is there not a heat-spreader in the M2 Airs, or is it just that it's a different kind (thinner, lighter) spreader, and not your typical piece of metal? If there is a heat-spreader, you'd think that a larger one would equate to a slightly cooler running M2.

Then again, my 13" M2 Air, for what I use it for, is always cool to the touch and never exceeds the 30's (degrees C) with normal usage. I've only seen it go into the 40's and beyond in short bursts while copying data or running brief heavier than usual tasks, etc. I am always surprised at just how fast it shoots back down to cool temps with no fan.

 

[chrfr]

The 15” Air thermal throttles less according to MKBHD.

He also said that the difference would be imperceptible and the numbers are very marginally different.

 

[madat42]

Another review (Dave2D) says performance and throttling are the same as the 13" MBA. Most consumers won't notice this anyway, they just want a bigger screen. BUT, if you're looking for sustained performance and/or more GPU cores then Pro models are the way to go. Personally, with news of the Apple game porting toolkit allowing Windows DX games to run on M-series, I'm thrilled about playing Windows games (even old titles that I missed) on the Mac.

 

[BigMcGuire]

My 16' MBP M1 Max runs a lot cooler - never heard the fans on it vs the 14' MBP M1 Max with same workload that I had for a few weeks (ended up returning the 14 for a 16). Not a DIRECT comparison, I know. I do think the 16' MBP has more heat management than the 14' MBP.

My guess is because it's a MBA it'll be very similar to the 13'.

I always look forward to the tear downs.

 

[cigz]

At least we should soon have a better indication of tested heat & throttling in a few days, as review NDA's expire and the 15" Air is delivered to users on/after tomorrow.

Don't worry, pretty sure MaxTech is already filming the same 26th video of how trashy the new 15" Air is by doing the same benchmarks all the time 🤩🥳

 

[LeeW]

All of the reviews so far suggest it runs about the same temp. Probably makes sense really, I get why you may think it would be better with more overall area to dissipate heat. Not that it should really matter too much, it performs perfectly well as is.

 

[JPack]

If you look at the headspreader on M2 MBA 13, it's a sliver of metal. The bigger chassis (and maybe longer heatspreader) on 15-inch won't appreciably change the situation. You need more mass or active cooling to make a difference.

 

[russell_314]

If you look at the headspreader on M2 MBA 13, it's a sliver of metal. The bigger chassis (and maybe longer heatspreader) on 15-inch won't appreciably change the situation. You need more mass or active cooling to make a difference.

You are correct because it's designed not to transfer heat to the bottom of the case. Apple prioritized user comfort over 4k render times for the Air

 

[Sowelu]

Not sure if anyone has taken the bottom cover off of the 15" MacBook Air yet, but considering that both the 13" and 15" have the same exact SoC, one can assume that they both have the same exact heat spreader and the extra space was used only for the additional speakers. If this is the case, both models running at very similar temps makes sense. Just a thought that popped into my head.

 

[russell_314]

Not sure if anyone has taken the bottom cover off of the 15" MacBook Air yet, but considering that both the 13" and 15" have the same exact SoC, one can assume that they both have the same exact heat spreader and the extra space was used only for the additional speakers. If this is the case, both models running at very similar temps makes sense. Just a thought that popped into my head.

Here is a short and to the point YouTube review confirming that they both have the same performance. He said he was expecting some difference but no, it’s the same.