MacBook Air keys getting too hot

[TinyHulk]

Something odd I noticed when I play World of Warcraft the Air becomes heated.

And if you use the W,A,S,D keys and press them you can feel the heat.

Anyone experiencing the same? I dont think its a dealbreaker though.

 

[Kafka]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; fr-fr) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

That's normal, the CPU is in the top left corner.
It's even worse on the 15" Pro.

 

[TinyHulk]

I see but I never got this problem with my MacBook from 2006.

And boy that thing could get really hot..

 

[Paulywauly]

If your really worried about it getting too hot try an app which monitors your CPU temps etc (such as iStat)

Remeber though, your old 2006 Macbook was probobly hotter inside than your Air. The Air is made totally out of aluminium which conducts any heat inside AWAY from the components inside keeping them cooler, unlike plastic.

Your Air has built in safetys which will shut the thing down if it gets too hot

 

[KPOM]

The keyboard area is vented since the design uses that for heat management. It's normal.

 

[Gav2k]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

If your at home then it would be wise to use an external keyboard. Much better from a comfort point.

 

[YEEZY]

I got this too! I think it's a smarter idea to use an external keyboard because you won't feel the heat, and hopefully it's more comfortable for you.

 

[Kafka]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

If your at home then it would be wise to use an external keyboard. Much better from a comfort point.

Agreed!

 

[squaremon]

Something odd I noticed when I play World of Warcraft the Air becomes heated.

And if you use the W,A,S,D keys and press them you can feel the heat.

Anyone experiencing the same? I dont think its a dealbreaker though.

it gets hotter around F1-F10 key

 

[marrzie]

i7 or i5 ?

 

[GGJstudios]

The keyboard area is vented since the design uses that for heat management. It's normal.

This is false. There is no venting through the keyboard, as there is a solid sheet under it, preventing any meaningful airflow. All the venting, both intake and exhaust, is at the rear, near the hinge. Heat radiates in all directions, which is why the keyboard and the base can get uncomfortably warm, but neither are used as vents.

 

[BrownManUPS]

Yea, I noticed the W key gets very hot (I was playing a game, KOTOR, that uses W to move forward).

I may get a keyboard skin for gaming purposes. In general, I don't experience too much heat for me to be annoyed by the machine, though.

 

[vitzr]

Something odd I noticed when I play World of Warcraft the Air becomes heated.

And if you use the W,A,S,D keys and press them you can feel the heat.

Anyone experiencing the same? I dont think its a dealbreaker though.

Welcome to the world of sealed case Mac's. Without venting on the sides, as well as using aluminum for the case, you have the ingredients for a very warm computer. It's normal for Apple. No big deal. Get used to it.

 

[3bs]

Usually the hottest part of my laptop is the hinge and the part of the keyboard frame right next to it. The keys don't get that hot on mine.

 

[zicoos]

Since I don't have an external keyboard that I want to use with my air.. (but I might get one just cause its more comfortable for mashing buttons in WOW) I usually reduce the frame rate when running in foreground to like 50 (still very nice feel) also reduce the resolution a little, it makes the keys get not so hot. Also, I think a good, quality cooling pad would help for playing graphic intensive games.

<3 my MB Air! Best investment in a long time.

 

[orfeas0]

Since I don't have an external keyboard that I want to use with my air.. (but I might get one just cause its more comfortable for mashing buttons in WOW) I usually reduce the frame rate when running in foreground to like 50 (still very nice feel) also reduce the resolution a little, it makes the keys get not so hot. Also, I think a good, quality cooling pad would help for playing graphic intensive games.

<3 my MB Air! Best investment in a long time.

+1 for that comment.

If you don't mind playing with lower fps, you can reduce it with /console maxfps 30 (for wow). Lower fps = lower temperature. It may seem bad at 30 fps but you can set it to 40 or 45 which is perfectly fine to play with.