Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

phillytim

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 12, 2011
1,784
1,272
Philadelphia, PA
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

macrumors 601
Jun 25, 2007
4,024
3,529
St. Paul, Minnesota
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

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
7,574
12,923
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.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Cape Dave

nothingtoseehere

macrumors 6502
Jun 3, 2020
455
522
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).
 

Falhófnir

macrumors 603
Aug 19, 2017
6,146
7,001
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.
 

phillytim

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 12, 2011
1,784
1,272
Philadelphia, PA
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.
 
Last edited:

Algus

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2014
353
330
Arizona
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.
 

Sowelu

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2008
813
1,012
New York City
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.
 

madat42

macrumors 6502
Mar 25, 2011
326
127
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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigMcGuire

BigMcGuire

Cancelled
Jan 10, 2012
9,832
14,032
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.
 

LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,341
9,442
Over here
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

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,469
26,071
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

macrumors 604
Feb 10, 2019
6,640
10,228
USA
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
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigMcGuire and LeeW

Sowelu

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2008
813
1,012
New York City
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.
 
Last edited:

russell_314

macrumors 604
Feb 10, 2019
6,640
10,228
USA
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.

 
  • Like
Reactions: BigMcGuire
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.