In many of its latest hardware launches, including the iPad Pro and iPhone 17 Pro, Apple has given one thing a big priority: temperatures. Given how powerful Apple Silicon can be, it’s important to have adequate passive cooling for fanless devices.
There is one key product line that until now has lacked this treatment: the MacBook Air.
Previous thermal upgrades
As previously mentioned, the iPad Pro and iPhone 17 Pro have received fairly significant thermal improvements – to bad complaints of overheating.
In the case of the iPad Pro, Apple incorporated graphite sheets into the main casing and also implemented copper into the Apple logo, allowing for much more efficient heat dissipation. Thanks to these two upgrades, Apple was able to carry 20% better thermal properties in the new iPad Pro.
On the iPhone, when complaints about overheating with the iPhone 15 Pro increased, Apple tackled the problem in two rounds: a new internal design of the iPhone 16 for better heat dissipation, and a complete redesign of the iPhone 17 Pro – with a vapor chamber and an aluminum body.
Despite these temperature jumps across the iPad Pro and iPhone, Apple never brought such improvements to the MacBook Air, one of its thinnest and lightest computers with very demanding silicon.
MacBook Air temperature issues
Apple redesigned the MacBook Air in 2022 with a much thinner and lighter design, switching from a large metal heatsink to a thin sheet of graphite without a real heat spreader. This was a problem because it meant that the M2 MacBook Air could thermally throttle faster than the previous MacBook Air depending on the workload.
When Apple announced the M4 iPad Pro and its copper heat spreader in the Apple logo, I hoped it was a key indicator of what was to come on the MacBook Air later. That’s yet to come, but Apple has yet another chance with the M5 MacBook Air. They don’t even have to invest in a copper heatsink like the iPad Pro. Apple could just use a vapor chamber like the iPhone.
Despite Apple’s silicon becoming more powerful, the MacBook Air’s thermal performance has not improved at all, which means that the MacBook Air is probably not ready enough for chips like the M4. This problem will only get worse with the M5 if nothing changes.
Wrap
One could argue that most MacBook Air users don’t need sustained performance – and that might be fair. However, if the iPad Pro can have a sophisticated cooling system while running iPadOS, I see no reason why the MacBook Air should miss out.
Apple is set to introduce a new entry-level MacBook with the A18 Pro chip sometime this year. This device will inevitably be passively cooled, but adding better thermal management to the MacBook Air would give it an edge over the budget MacBook for some buyers.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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