MacBook Air (M1, 2020): Is the cooling sufficient?

[doolar]

Yes I would say so, easily at least for the intended purposes. My old 2017 MBP 15" would spin fans quite often, and was basically always hot. When I used it in clamshell mode connected to a TB dock it would always make noise AND be quite warm, hot even depending on the workload and ambient temps.

My M1 Air? It's cool to the touch. I've had it become warm-ish on a few occasions, mainly in clamshell mode. But it is usually surprisingly cool when I disconnect it to put it in my backpack after a full day at the office in clamshell mode. I can't really convey how nice it is to have a quiet computer, that still stays cold almost like an Ipad. It's wonderful!

 

[Sinfonist]

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.

The Apple pencil is great for making quick sketches. For note taking, I mostly prefer physical pen and paper (and OCR or scanning then works quite well if you need to upload), and I have a glass whiteboard for working out ideas. The iPad note taking experience is a bit awkward for me (changing pen colour can be a pain, for example; the pencil feels a bit imprecise; and the iPad is too small for some uses and doesn't work well in really bright light) so I don't use it as much as I'd expected. I have tried to use the iPad for remote collaboration apps, but you often get some lag from those and the resolution is usually poor, so the experience can be a bit frustrating! We generally resort to drawing on paper and then sharing.

Lidar and that. Mmm maybe although I never found much use for that either.

Lidar is a bit niche at the moment. It will be interesting for measuring distances (including mapping out 3D spaces), but it's probably most useful on smaller devices than the IPP (eg a Watch). You could imagine it being very useful for assistive living, for example, and it will be great on autonomous devices.

A camera? Well, again. If you teleconference then a maybe as the 720p is still good enough for most people but I get it.

I have an external 4K camera for recordings, but I use the built-in camera on the MBA for most calls, which is fine. For recordings I also use a studio light and microphone setup. Not sure you can run all that off the iPad
(and you would want to be able to position the camera on a tripod or mount anyway, so the internal one would not be very useful)? I have used the IPP for some teleconferencing calls, but you really need to support it on a stand to get the height and angles right.

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.

The MBA screen quality is definitely good enough for my uses (writing, software development, work calls, browsing, slack/mail). I don't watch a lot of video content, though (I have TVs/big monitors for entertainment, and I find work-related videos generally have low information content, so I avoid them).

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.

Yes to this. I have both an iPad Pro and an M1 MBA - the M1 MBA is my go-to device for most things. The iPad Pro could be more useful to me if the multi-tasking was better, it had good software development tools (including a CLI), the keyboard was fully functional (the cursor key support drives me crazy!), and it had multi-user support (I don't want to accidentally show emails etc when presenting, for example; and I sometimes need to play around with different setups/configurations, or lend the machine to someone). But then you basically end up with the MBA 🙂

I forgot to say that the MBA audio is very impressive. They have somehow managed to make it three-dimensional (perhaps by using reflections off the display?)

 

[InspectHerGadget]

Yes to this. I have both an iPad Pro and an M1 MBA - the M1 MBA is my go-to device for most things

I haven't had any temptation yet to re-acquire an iPad Pro. I love the MBA, it is just one of those devices that hit the spot in so many ways.

I try to imagine how an iPad Pro might be better for me or fill a need but I can't. I know many users love the iPad Pro and have definite uses for it but I don't.

It saved me a lot of money selling the iPad Pro and in fact selling it covered the cost of the MBA with money to spare. The problem with the iPad Pro is it is so damned expensive you had better have good cause to own one. The MBA though is half the price of my windows laptop and is a better machine.

 

[Parikshit Panwar]

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.

Bro you will be fine, I live Dehradun India where temperatures mostly are 31-33 celsius and I think my mac handles pretty good in those temperatures. I have started to learn video editing on final cut pro and I have to say it get hot sometimes but if I’m using it with my air conditioner on the temps goes as high as 55-60 with ideal temperature of 29 degree celsius. There sometimes when the temperatures rise to like 70 degree even 90 but then they drop to like 45-50.

 

[EuroChilli]

Bro you will be fine, I live Dehradun India where temperatures mostly are 31-33 celsius and I think my mac handles pretty good in those temperatures. I have started to learn video editing on final cut pro and I have to say it get hot sometimes but if I’m using it with my air conditioner on the temps goes as high as 55-60 with ideal temperature of 29 degree celsius. There sometimes when the temperatures rise to like 70 degree even 90 but then they drop to like 45-50.

I am indeed fine, at least the computer is.

In Spain right now, temp in my caravan/trailer: 40°C. The laptop is only as hot as the table it's on, which is 40°C. Watching Netflix, web browsing, photo/video editing, all the usual stuff that would otherwise make the fan in my old 2011 MBP scream has no noticeable effect on the fanless M1 Air.

So yes, the cooling in the M1 Air is sufficient for all your everyday tasks, and then some.

PS: the fan you see in the one image is for me, not the computer, because I’m the one breaking the torrential sweat.

 

[sahni130]

I specifically sold the 2019 MBP because it was so dang loud and hot and my new M1 Air is the complete opposite. It never gets more than slightly warm and so far I have only felt that when updating the OS. Love this little guy.

 

[sahni130]

I haven't had any temptation yet to re-acquire an iPad Pro. I love the MBA, it is just one of those devices that hit the spot in so many ways.

I try to imagine how an iPad Pro might be better for me or fill a need but I can't. I know many users love the iPad Pro and have definite uses for it but I don't.

It saved me a lot of money selling the iPad Pro and in fact selling it covered the cost of the MBA with money to spare. The problem with the iPad Pro is it is so damned expensive you had better have good cause to own one. The MBA though is half the price of my windows laptop and is a better machine.

Well said! Exactly my thought, for what they are worth.

 

[EuroChilli]

Well said! Exactly my thought, for what they are worth.

I really think they are worth what we pay for them (the M1 Air) which is pretty much the same price I paid for my 2011 back then, yet now I have a whole lot more computer. Apple have really outdone themselves this time, and in a good way, which is why I'm going to let all these so called 'scandals' slide.

 

[ignatius345]

I'm trying to find out what M1 Air owners who have since used this thing daily feel (especially those that can directly compare it to its direct Ice Lake predecessor.

I had the last MacBook Air before this one (i5) and upgraded to the M1 version a couple months ago. There's no comparison. The Intel Air would regularly get very warm to the touch, fans blasting, battery life plummeting, things bogging down. I'd find myself trolling through Activity Monitor looking for the culprit. The M1 just never breaks a sweat. I've felt mine get mildly warm on a couple occasions, but that's it. I just use it and it stays cool and I never think about heat or power consumption.

Just as a point of consistent reference I used CoconutBattery on both machines, which among other things lets you see your power consumption in watts. In my experience, the Intel Air would frequently consume 10-15 watts, rarely below 10 watts. The M1 Air often sits at 5 watts, or even down to 2-3 watts under light usage with the screen brightness ~50%. As you can imagine, heat is vastly lower at that rate, and battery life shoots through the roof. Seeing this performance on my wife's M1 was what drove me to replace that fairly new Intel Air with the M1.

 

[lJoSquaredl]

This thing flies for any gaming/editing needs I've had. Honestly after using this, like I wanna get a 14/16" but dammit, not sure I can ever go back to using fans again after experiencing this laptop. Definitely no issues for me with anything I throw at it, it's really shocking and can only get better it seems with 3nm coming and probably a newer case design.

 

[CE3]

I finally started putting my Air to the test last night for photo editing. My workflow is Adobe Bridge > Camera Raw > Photoshop .. and once in Photoshop I often go back and forth between Camera Raw & Luminar as PS plugins.

Unfortunately, even though Photoshop is now optimized for M1, Luminar is not, so I still have to run Photoshop through Rosetta. But other than one crash, performance was impressive.

These are large 61 MP RAW image files, and I was opening 6+ images in Photoshop at a time. The MacBook Air kept up with my demands, battery life was solid, and it only ever got slightly warm at the bottom. And, of course, it was also completely silent the whole time.

Fanless laptops forever.