Wish it would warm up a bit. Cold on my lap 😂
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MacBook Air (M1, 2020): Is the cooling sufficient?
- Thread starter Yebubbleman
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Intel idles at 35-45. Under my workload it’s at 55-75.
M1 idles at 25. Under my workload it’s 35-50.
M1 idles at 25. Under my workload it’s 35-50.
I sold my iPad soon after getting the Air and it paid for the Air with some money left over.
I expect that the M1 will eat iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard owners like myself for lunch. The iPad is nice but unless you really need a touch screen and a pen, it is not worth the cost, even if the screen is slightly better. The iPad Pro is very expensive, add in the world's most expensive tablet keyboard (that needs weight or ballast in the base for stability), you end up with a lovely but very expensive tablet that is more expensive and heavier. The M1 Air also does more things and to be honest, I don't miss the touch screen either. I find the M1 Air to be more functional and does more things and is almost as good as an iPad for lying on the sofa.
I own the MBA 8-core GPU/8GB/512GB. Compared to the previous Intel MBA and Pro 13 I have owned, the MBA runs amazingly cool. A good example is when installing a Mac OS update. Intels would get quite warm and fans would run on high, at least for a few minutes. The M1 MBA barely gets warm.
I was going to suggest since you seem so darn picky about the answers to your question.. you do a survey, and look there it is! BTW, the you tubers who review and comment exhaustively on the thermal issue DO own one (or at least have it in their possession) so not sure why you discounted their comments which are very very thorough on the point.
BUT
Yep, I actually owned the 2020 intel MacBook Air version (gave it to my wife) and switched to the M1 MacBook Air just out of curiosity. Night and day difference on the thermals. The Intel did get hot and thermal even with just safari, the M1 does not. Ever. Photoshop, Lightroom, the Intel would get hot. M1 not. So there you go my anecdotal observations.
Don't tell my wife please.
I would say more, but eh, don't want to get yelled at for straying from the question.
at the risk of straying from the OP's question, glad you like the M1 MacBook Air over the iPad Pro, but nope, doubt your prediction of the macbook air eating iPad Pro sales. They really are two different devices for two different uses and those that can, will, own both if they want an iPad. And not all iPad users will want a touchless device that is awkward to read on the couch with. Yep, I tend to reach for my MacBook Air when I need to do MS word or powerpoint, but I reach for my iPad Pro when I want to go through my latest photoshoot and edit the pics. When I am e-mailing, its whatever device is closest (usually the iPad). On vacation, I bring only the iPad. On work travel I bring both. It is nice to have choices.
Coming from a 16" to this Air.. It's ridiculous lol. Like I'm connected to my external ultra wide and absolutely 0 heat when compared to my previous machine.
Honestly this is my first time giving a go at a fan less machine and I gotta say I'm super excited for the future, because right now this M1 base model is more than enough for me on the CPU side just need a bit more GPU and be able to connect to an external display and 16GB of RAM and we are gold for me.
Honestly this is my first time giving a go at a fan less machine and I gotta say I'm super excited for the future, because right now this M1 base model is more than enough for me on the CPU side just need a bit more GPU and be able to connect to an external display and 16GB of RAM and we are gold for me.
It is nice to have choices.
Apple and Steve Jobs have always said that they are happy for one product to cannibalise another.
In this case, I happily sold my iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard, and I'm sure others have done the same thing.
They have always upsold the iPad...to the Pro...then a very expensive keyboard. They are great but also IMHO very overpriced when a much cheaper and more versatile option such as the M1 MacBook Air is available.
I use my Windows Lenovo laptop for work and my Apple laptop won't replace that, I decided.
Once I got the iPad Pro and the Magic Keyboard, I realised just how nice it was to have a keyboard, a good one. I then rarely used it without the keyboard.
I got the M1 Air, it ran very cool and had a longer battery life than the iPad Pro. The screen was bigger and the keyboard and trackpad were bigger and better. It also had more power and more RAM.
There is always the argument to have the lot...of course. I get it and everyone's situation is different but for casual use and lying on the sofa or with it on my lap (where it really is better than an iPad with keyboard), the M1 does well.
Nope not tempted to get an iPad, just too similar to the M1 Air.
Obviously if everyone thought the same way as me, everyone would sell their iPad and just use the M1. I know not everyone will agree with me but that is fine.
I can't help think that with the iPad they have milked the cow one time too many. The M1 genuinely is well priced and versatile. A coup and a tip of the hat to Apple.
Yes choices. It really depends on need.
Need pencil?
Need to hold in bed or sofa?
Need a touch screen?
Need accelerometer?
Need portrait mode? One critique I have of attachable keyboards is you can't use the iPad how I use with external keyboard in "Document" mode.
Need better than a 720 camera that only faces the user?
Need Lidar?
Need Pro Motion?
Despite the advances in M1 laptop, which brought the laptop to battery and performance of the iPP without the features above, it has a very different use case.
If you don’t require legacy technologies, the iPad is more advanced and more likely the future of computing.But we all win as we get choices.
I have been down that rabbit hole...
Yes, if you really need touch and a pencil, I fully agree. I guess I never did.
I was thinking, if I were a student and really needed to annotate notes then an iPad or Surface or other touch device would be perfect but it is a particular use case.
Lidar and that. Mmm maybe although I never found much use for that either.
A camera? Well, again. If you teleconference then a maybe as the 720p is still good enough for most people but I get it.
Pro Motion? I had the Samsung S10 then got the S20 to get the Pro Motion then got the Apple 12 Pro Max which didn't have it. I suppose that kind of states what I think of Pro Motion. Nice to have but lots of things are more important.
A lot of differences such as screen quality and refresh rates are really not as important is people make out or companies make out in advertising as the human brain adapts to what you have. I really didn't care much in the end about 120Hz refresh rates. It was nice to have but if I turned it off I didn't notice most of the time.
If I get a device with all these things on it, it would be nice but probably not that important.
Marketing is about creating wants for needs you never realised you had. I guess I have had enough technology to avoid going for every feature that is offered.
The big deal with the M1 is it is fast, runs cool, has an excellent screen, keyboard and trackpad and does everything the average person wants. If they want all the above you mention then they end up paying almost twice as much for an iPad Pro with keyboard that is in some ways, discussed, more limited.
I was sold on the iPad Pro and Magic keyboard and happily sold it...
Absolutely 0 issues however I do a lot of admin / coding / office stuff. 8GB is also enough for me.
Agreed and well put. I can see why some would come to the conclusion about M1 air killing the IPad. Yet, as I am also a user of both, your usage descriptions are mostly spot on for me too. The couch, in bed, vacation for iPad — MBA is work tasks, home bills/organizing, editing lots of files, videoconf, taking iPhone calls — yet both I use for email, watching tv or music. The difference in user experience between the two are fairly substantial.
And as a user of a touchscreen windows PC in the past, touch for the laptop just was never a useful fit whatsoever. So, at least for me, any plans to add touch to an MB wouldn’t change my need for both devices.
Of course it will cannibalise sales...it did for me and I doubt I am alone. The question is how much?
It really is an open question and it depends on what you want from your device and how much money do you have to spend. Cost is a factor too with these expensive devices. It is for me. If money were no consideration whatsoever, I might have an iPad as well.
Yes it could cannibalize sales. That’s anyone’s guess and TBD. However, cutting into sales, if in fact it does, is not “killing the IPad” (as was posted).
The two are different statements.
The iPad is here to stay for the foreseeable forecasted future, robustly so. Further, the opposite point is one that also has plausibility; in the near future IPad could cut into MBA sales. With the M chip series power, lower wattage consumption and cooler operation, an M1 IPad Pro and a keyboard and stand could be MBA comparable especially if apps converge across the two OS (which I suspect wil continue to occur over time).
I think you said "killing the iPad"...not my exact words.
I agree that the iPad isn't going anywhere, just that it will make some inroads on iPad sales.
The funny thing is hearing the iPad having the M1...weird when it was already more or less the M1, just a slight re-label.
The two are converging and now closer than ever but the real differences remain with iPad, touch based from the ground up and the MacBook...just isn't.
I live in India and here the climate is very hot. Where I live temperatures don't go below 30 Celsius. I normally use my Mac for zoom meetings and to watch video on YouTube(mostly on 4k). My Mac get little bit warm and sometimes get hot but not extremely hot, I mean I can still keep it on my lap. So if that's your usage and you live in a cold environment then MacBook Air m1 will be perfect for you. I also get 14 hrs of battery backup.
It gets warm like my 11 in iPad Pro. Right now using my iPad Pro and it’s warm. The m1 never hot. Hot being subjectI’ve. My 16 in gets hot but my m1 air gets warm.
Coming from a 16" the maximum I ever seen my M1 at is 50c...... That was the idle in my 16" in a good day.....
Oh for sure yes the m1 is a joy to use. Makes me wonder what the subsequent generations will behave.
I found that when playing graphically intensive games for extended sessions under Rosetta (eg: Heroes of the Storm), my MacBook Air would occasionally get stutters and pauses due to throttling after 45 minutes or so of play.
But I've since done the "thermal mod" (installed thermal pads on the M1 SoC), it no longer throttles at all and I don't get these pauses. The case can get pretty warm during these long gaming sessions, but never scaldingly hot like Intel MacBooks used to get. Under normal light use (web browsing, YouTube, etc) it barely gets warm at all.
But I've since done the "thermal mod" (installed thermal pads on the M1 SoC), it no longer throttles at all and I don't get these pauses. The case can get pretty warm during these long gaming sessions, but never scaldingly hot like Intel MacBooks used to get. Under normal light use (web browsing, YouTube, etc) it barely gets warm at all.
This is good to know. I divide my time between Belgium, where it seldom gets above 25°C, and the Costa Blanca in Spain, where it regularly goes above 30°C, and stays there for months on end. When I was last in Spain, my 2011 MacBook Pro would heat up to the point where it was uncomfortable on my bare legs doing only basic Wordpress web design or watching Netflix, so I had to use it on a table, but in the machines defence, there was hardly ever a lack of performance, the fan did its job. I've also used the old dinosaur in some even hotter and dustier places like Botswana and Namibia, and not once did I get a temp warning or have any significant performance issues.
Now I have my brand spanking new M1 Air and am on my way to Spain again in a few short weeks, so I'm keen to see how it'll hold up down there, but from what I've been reading, I should be fine.
But to answer the original question: Yes, I think the cooling is sufficient, for most use cases, and then some. If it isn't, I expect the machine will protect itself and go into limp mode, or shut down, like modern cars if they get too hot.
You'll be fine, don't worry. I live in Central Texas where the average daily maximum is 90F or above (or for those of you with a more sensible and less random temperature scale than Fahrenheit: 33°C) for a good 8-10 months and over 100F (or 38°C) for an average of 2-3 months each year and I've had exactly zero issues with the M1 Air.Now I have my brand spanking new M1 Air and am on my way to Spain again in a few short weeks, so I'm keen to see how it'll hold up down there, but from what I've been reading, I should be fine.
With that said we did have a bit if a cold front swoop in about a week ago with temperatures dropping from slightly over 100F to around 85F. As we speak it's 80F (27°C), I've been working with the M1 Air on my lap for the last ~5 hours or so (Office 365), and its barely warm to the touch. My 2017 MacBook struggled in the summer, my M1 Air doesn't even break a sweat when I sit outside and enjoy the lovely weather.
I think my M1 will indeed be fine, it's me that may well overheat. However, a few ice cold cervezas by the pool usually sorts that problem out quick enough.
Maybe a more apt name for this thread: Is the M1 MacBook Air sufficient? Short answer, yes, in all the possible ways, particularly the battery. At least 5 times what I ever got out of my 2011, and I thought that was good. My first laptop was a Windows 7 Compaq Presario, 2 hours, if I was lucky, and I could go have breakfast while I waited for it to boot up.
They apparently put a rocket on the moon with less computing power than we have in the average smart phone today. If we find we're making our home 'puters too hot, maybe we should leave sending rockets to the outer edges of the universe to the big boys and girls at NASA ;-)
