The CHEAP but GOOD Thermal Pads we used ➡ geni.us/svrKr7 In Stock M2 MacBook Air ➡geni.us/r11XV For most people, if you need the most performance you should just go for a 14", but some people want a thin and light machine and need a bit more consistent performance instead of hitting 108F after 28 seconds when your doing a heavy CPU load like exporting photos.
It is a relief to realize that the real world use case for this M2 air is actually solid and these thermal issues and memory concerns are unlikely to affect the 99.9% of users such as myself.
Not only sustained test, but burst tests simulating real life tasks as well. Keeping in mind a lot of people buying this would use them for burst tasks. For example, a startup editing a 10 minute-ish product intro video in 4K, or an amateur photographer exporting 10s not 100s of high res pictures. If the 10 core provides meaningfully better performance in burst effort but flatters in sustained efforts, it may still makes sense for these people to buy the 10 core. Also, goes without saying please compare them at suitable specs. So both at 16/512 configurations.
@@suisinghoraceho2403 we already know it does. There’s no limitations on the M2 in the Air except for thermal capacity, which doesn’t kick in before 5 minutes
@@thor.mukbang True, but I guess devil is in the detail. Would we change recommendations for people to buy 10-cores? Or the short term burst isn’t that meaningful?
Wow what a huge difference as the one cinebench test progresses! That makes me wonder: can I do this thermal mod in a MacBook Pro, despite it already having the active cooling? Apple takes so long to ramp up the fans that it almost seems pointless to have them; it’s like they’re only there to keep it from literally burning me or something.
As some other have said, I would be slightly concerned about heat going into the other parts. How's the M1 MBA doing after the pads? Otherwise, nice to see such a simple solution for the heat!
hey Max... when are you going to do the full review of the M2 Macbook Air... the whole thing... Screen, speakers, webcam, mics, batery life, etc... not only performance and temperaature and thermals... i'll be waiting for that video !!
I bet the new Macbook Air M2 15 will not have ANY performance upgrade coming on June 5th, but your thermal tape will give it a performance boost until the late 2024 update. Way to go.
Maybe using one of those thermal bases for laptops, that feature a fan, would help with sustained loads for these thermal pad setup? That would be really cool to see!
Even if you put the MBA on top of a laptop stand without a fan, it might help dissipate heat away from the chassis by increasing air circulation underneath the laptop. And if the laptop stand were made of metal, it might also draw heat away from the chassis.
With the thermal mod you should also re-measure the skin temperature to make sure it doesn't exceed mandatory limits. (I think 45c/113f is what it used to be). Doubt the apple silicon stuff ever hits that though.
@@PlayJewel Not burn to death, but using a laptop with that hot of a skin temperature is a horrible experience on your actual lap. It's just hot and even burns your bare skin a bit if in shorts. Also if using in bed it makes things super hot. I definitely care - this is a LAPtop, not a desktop. I say this while using a 2019 16" intel laptop now burning my lap.
@@neilquinn yea thats true. Also ive read from people on reddit who modded their m1 airs and use for a long time, their battery health dropped much faster. It seems the heat is transferred from the chassis to the battery at least somewhat. I was getting this but then got thinkpad with ryzen 6850u, sustained performance at cool temperatures, no throttling.
It seems crazy that’s all it took to boost the thermal performance of the M2 MBA… surprised apple engineers didn’t test this simple mod more when they were designing it!
The M1 was definitely an amazing deal with price to performance. To me the only major selling feature is MagSafe, but I don't feel it's worth the price increase. M1 is still crazy good.
Lol that's the most important part of the mod that they skipped! Buying a pad that is too thin would be useless, and buying a pad that is way too thick might put too much pressure on it.
Based on your analysis, I think the 10 core model will throttle more. I would love to see a stress test of M2 8 core vs M2 10 core MBA models. Keep it up guys and I will pray to God, that your channel hits the target of 1M subs by 25 July 2022. All the best!!!
There is a video on youtube of someone comparing the two and you're right, the 10 core does throttle more. The tested tomb raider and the 8 core ended up scoring a few frames higher.
@@longdang2681 If there will be problem with VRMs that's mean the design is really bad. I'm sure this will not happen. I have thermal pads even in my 14" pro. Less heat means longer live for components and also less use of battery.
@@FlopsPL In this specific case the VRMs are likely to heat up more as they are required to supply extra power, unless they get additional cooling. In the case of your 14" pro it might be different. I think there was a mod for the steam deck that resulted in the APU being cooler but the VRMs running hotter.
It would be really nice if Apple could just add there own thermal pads so that people wouldn't need to open up their mac and probably void their warranty.
there's regulations about how hot the surface of the laptop is allowed to get for a manufacturer to sell it. It has to do with potentially burning the user's skin and nothing to do with the safety of the computer itself.
@@jakeave so you saying all those burning gaming laptops passed that heat test??? Even the i9 from apple just a few years ago had way higher surface temp levels. It IS about the safety of the computer itself.
Since you did 2 mods on this M2 (Thermal Paste and Thermal Pads). I would like to see how much of a difference the Thermal pads make with the stock thermal paste. I don't think many would want to mess with their macbook air too much just to change the thermal paste, however the thermal pads seems like a very simple fix that many would be willing to do.
@@bradyhunsberger Agreed, I am just curious on how much of a performance boost it is. I wonder if the majority of the heat concerns are due to bad paste or just adding in a thermal pad can fix a bulk of the issue. Also what if the only fix needed is the Thermal Pads and the stock paste is fine? That would be really interesting to find out.
You channel is awesome and i guess your were the first to do such a comprehensive test on Apple m2 silicon based macbook and found out its flaw. Hope your channel crosses 5 million next year.
I never would have guessed that those thermal pads would have made such a difference. I think Apple should find a way to implement them in future macbooks, without surpassing the legal limit.
@@thelogoth I just watched a video by Rene Ritchie (whose channel I love), calling these tests toxic. He has some good points but I still appreciate having the benchmarks available and think he should defend apple if he feels the need instead of trying to shut other channels up.
@@gonzalezm244 Thanks for the reply. :). I did not see his video.. but my immediate thought is that it seems a bit unreasonable to call someone's attempt at a thermal mod toxic. If he was pushing us to buy said thermal pads... I could maybe see why it could be seen as negative.. but from my point of view, I learned that I could perhaps even improve the thermals of my own none apple laptop.. nothing toxic in any of that..or what did I miss?
The MacBook Air M2 is just amazing. Great design and great performance especially the 512gb ssd version. 👍🏻 Just the price should have been under $999 for base model.
Thermal pads are doing a really good job keeping the M2 chip cool. But the question is when you put it in your lap is it much hotter because we spread more heat to the case? Is it uncomfortable feeling in the lap if you do it for a longer period of time?
Hello, which would be the best thickness to order for the thermal pad? 0.5mm, 1.0mm or 1.5mm. Has anybody tested with different thickness of the thermal pads?
I was hoping that you were going to use thermal pads to see if heat dissipation would occur more quickly to avoid a slow down of the M2 MacBook Air. I really appreciate all the testing you’re doing and providing us with relevant results.
I was just watching MKBHD’s video, and agreed with the point about how it is amazing that we have even gotten to the point of testing a MacBook Air against the same things as MacBook Pro. I also can’t believe how well the thermal pads worked! Love the videos, keep it up!
I’m enjoying these more measured and qualified videos. This looks like a good mod, but I hope the increased heat spread doesn’t affect the lifespan of other components.
@@benlappin The more the heat is spread the lower overall increase would be, plus the heat would spread out eventually in such a small enclosure. It’s likely not an issue, or maybe a very small concern. But I think it’s worth considering.
Thanks for the data. However I think there should be more emphasis on the non-performance-related QOL effects of the mod. Using the chassis as an extended heatsink surely helps thermals but may significantly impact the subjective experience for those who rest the laptops on their bodies, even if the end result is under the legal temp limit. After all, hotspot locations and surface temperature can greatly affect user experience.
We assume someone who would have the knowledge to proceed with this mod would have sufficient common sense to know the consequences of having a 50℃ laptop placed on their laps.
@@gigihanmandarin i would assume that people who would proceed with this mod would not assume people to have the common sense to assume that people have common sense. ...or something like it i lost my thought as well while re-reading xD
@CR Hillwithout thermal mod, I edit video all day on M2 and CPU temp is at around 40~45℃, outer shell is barely warm. only during export the temp shoots up. No one with MBA is exporting all day, so thermal pad mod will be fine for the batt.
That’s exactly what I’m doing. 😀 My MBA M1 is on a cooling pad right now. I’m trading in mine because the trade-in value is $490 and the M2 hardware improvements (NOT the base model 😆) are just what I need. So if I can delay throttling for an extra 10mins, that perfect as I only render shorter training videos and run Parallel’s - ‘cause I need to run apps like Articulate Storyline.
Been watching you guys for a few years now. Always enjoy your comparison and stress test videos. They're helping me decide whether I want the new M2 Macbook Air over the 14 inch M1 Pro. Thanks for all your work, guys!
Didn't expect to see such a big difference in performance with such a simple fix. Can't wait to see the comparison between the 8 core and 10 core. Keep up the great work guys😁
I'm guessing Apple didn't do it because it makes the bottom of the body too hot. I almost never rest it on my lap so I would definitely take that tradeoff for better performance.
@@lambert1024 This is the issue. There is a legal limit to how hot the bottom of a laptop can get (isn’t there always a law?) to keep people from getting burned. I believe Max mentioned it last time in his mod on the M1 Air video. Apple probably would have done it if not for the law. There’s nothing to stop you from doing it yourself. Apple can’t, but you can. I’m considering doing it myself since I have a bunch of thermal pads in a drawer from some GPU modding on Nvidia cards.
@@thor.mukbang That’s the top of the case. They didn’t measure the bottom where it’s all aluminum, not the top, which is mostly plastic where it’s hottest. Last time when Max did this with the M1 Air, the bottom was scorching hot, well past the legal limit. He didn’t talk about it this time, except for one line about the law. Even 50C is still 122F, which is really, really hot. EDIT: I just had a thought that I may have taken your comment wrong. Were you quoting the legal limit? If so, never mind. I read that as 50C isn’t a big deal.
Wow, great video! I'm worried this mod will heat up the battery. Batteries and high temperatures don't go well together. Is there any way to see if the battery gets significantly hotter with the thermal pad mod?
That’s an awesome improvement. My concern with this thermal pad mod, and the main reason why I’ve not done it on my M1 MacBook Air, is about if all this heat transfer spread across the bottom case cover would end up affecting the lifespan of the battery cells, because as we all know these batteries are sensitive to heat and longtime exposure could end up killing the battery. Based on your IR Cam measures of the bottom cover, do you think this could happen?
@@sublimetulii23 exactly. The Mac Air line already did a fantastic job in widening its capabilities. People just got spoiled by the M1. I don't think I've encountered a review saying that the M2 Air still runs cool to the touch at basic productivity and media consumption.
@@sublimetulii23 I kinda agree, but then why would Chevy put a V8 in a corvette without a radiator? Part of the responsibility is on Apple getting our hopes up with these fancy specs that are designed more to bait us than to perform.
@@dylbertiii yes, that's a good point too. I understand why a lot of tech-savy users are disappointed in the Air. We know that the M2 chip can go much further, but the new chassis just wasn't built for it. I actually think that the M2 can perform a bit better on the old chassis because of that big chunk of metal acting as a heat absorber. The bad engineering choice reminds me of the last Intel Macbook Air wherein the fans were not even connected to the heat sink. If we stick to the average demographics of the Air, there shouldn't be any problem. But yes, I do think Apple short-changed its more tech-savy Mac Air users this time. Especially that their ads were aimed specifically at more media production users.
Love your videos MT! - but on your next video could you just hold it in different possess to get a sense of the look and feel? Maybe one where you hold it on your side, next to your hip, like you hold a book when you are walking to class. And maybe another one holding it up against your chest like a 50’s girl waiting near her locker talking about her crush… hopefully this made sense. Thank you in advance.
Thermal pads are smart to use in general b/c the MacBook Air doesn’t have a fan! I never have my laptop on the table, I use an open backed stand so air can escape!
As an engineer this seems great results but there must be some sort of reason why apple didn’t do this directly it could possibly cause the battery to heat up or other components that they wanted to separate
I'm an electrical and computer engineer, and you're spot on. Adding these pads distributes the heat throughout the inside of the laptop. In the long run, this can have an effect on the battery over time. It's irresponsible to make this type of modification to a machine without understanding the long-term effects.
Be aware that the heat transfer will be greatly dependant on the thickness of the thermal pad. If the thermal pad is thicker it may be possible to overheat more as the contact between the two surfaces will be larger and heat dissipation will be less efective. Therefore I advise everyone to use less thick thermal pads to have as much pressure as possible. (Feel free to test de difference in performance vs thickness)
@CR Hill I was talking in general about the application of thermal pads for heat dissipation, regarding the battery of the macbooks, if the thermal pad doesn’t have direct contact with the battery, it won’t have any impact in longevity…
@CR Hill Didn’t thought about this but I get your point. Probably a rubber band or similar could be used to isolate heat in the contours of the battery but after heavy loadworks it would still be hotter than stock
Max Tech is my favorite RUclips channel because they always give pros and cons about all products. So, I wish all the best for the all of you guys for the MacBook Air M2 give away and Max Tech.
I can’t believe how well that simple modification worked! I’m unfamiliar with thermal pads, will they leave residue or any kind of sign after being used? If so, I imagine Apple would void all warranties for such a maneuver if any problems were to arise down the road.
Cool video! It would be interesting to get more analysis on the impact of doing this in terms of how hot can the chassis get as a result and whether it raises the temperature of other components (specifically the battery).
After watching this video, I came across a person on reddit that measured their battery temps after doing this trick for the M1Air. They warned against it for battery longevity reasons, as it increased the batteries temperature 5-6*C. Someone asked about putting an insulating pad between the battery and chassis but there was no follow up to that. I'm not sure if that would be better or worse. If this channel would go as far as recommend this fix, I would hope they look into these things for a follow up.
I’m trying to continue with higher education and I am in need of a new laptop. I’m currently working to pay off my bachelor’s degree student loan and I do minor design and graphic work on the side as well but my current machine cannot keep up. Winning this machine would be the most amazing thing ever.
great video! What's the best way to open the bottom without damaging it? I'm nervous that when I open it I'm going to break the clips. Any tips or ticks will be appreciated. Thanks!
You guys are doing a great job with the in depth analysis and comparisons. Keep up the great work. It is invaluable when choosing a machine to fit your workload and knowing it's limitations.
Just bought the M1, first macbook ever since I was annoyed of my windows notebook freezing during Photoshop / Illustrator. Think it will do it job. But nice video for all heavy users. Thumbs up for that mod
Really debating between getting the M1 Air or the M2 Air. But I’ll probably end up getting the cheaper M1 because it’s still more than enough powerful for the work that I need it to do and would still be a massive upgrade to my current machine.
I remember this trend started in _early 2020_ when Macs were _all in Intels_ and the Air had the worst cooling out of all MacBooks. Performance increase was substantial for those x86 chips. Considering the $1199 model has a "slower SSD" I think comparing its thermal modded version against a thermal modded 10th gen Intel MacBook Air would be interesting.
@CR Hill oh funny, literally none of what you said is true lol. Except for apple trying to void your warranty, they'll say that on just about everything, even so far as to just lie and say the user caused moisture damage on a known manufacturing issue.
The CHEAP but GOOD Thermal Pads we used ➡ geni.us/svrKr7
In Stock M2 MacBook Air ➡geni.us/r11XV
For most people, if you need the most performance you should just go for a 14", but some people want a thin and light machine and need a bit more consistent performance instead of hitting 108F after 28 seconds when your doing a heavy CPU load like exporting photos.
108C :)
Great video….I’d love one of these especially with the thermal mod
Love ur videos
can we see the thermal capacity with an off the shelf notebook cooler?
I need that MacBook!
So once everyones Warranty is up on the M2 MacBook Air, we all know what we will be doing - "Thermal Pads on Standby!!!' 🔥😁
Yes but I won't do it cuz I won't buy one
This mod looks completely reversible, just open it up and remove the pads. Or am I missing something?
@@Chrsly warranty apple knows if u even opened it
Why would the warranty be voided by just opening up the case? That seems rather odd.
@@dlysele they don't do this. :)
It is a relief to realize that the real world use case for this M2 air is actually solid and these thermal issues and memory concerns are unlikely to affect the 99.9% of users such as myself.
That doesn’t get clicks though. I don’t think anyone is rendering 8k videos with a MacBook Air
I Love how this channel just gets to the point from the start and shows everything very clearly and detailed. Keep up the great videos.
What thickness of the thermal pads are you suggesting? There's 1.5mm, 1.0mm, 2.0mm, 0.5mm, 2.5mm and 3.0mm.
Please compare the 8-core and 10-core GPU in a sustained practical test 🙏
Not only sustained test, but burst tests simulating real life tasks as well.
Keeping in mind a lot of people buying this would use them for burst tasks. For example, a startup editing a 10 minute-ish product intro video in 4K, or an amateur photographer exporting 10s not 100s of high res pictures. If the 10 core provides meaningfully better performance in burst effort but flatters in sustained efforts, it may still makes sense for these people to buy the 10 core.
Also, goes without saying please compare them at suitable specs. So both at 16/512 configurations.
@@suisinghoraceho2403 we already know it does. There’s no limitations on the M2 in the Air except for thermal capacity, which doesn’t kick in before 5 minutes
@@thor.mukbang True, but I guess devil is in the detail. Would we change recommendations for people to buy 10-cores? Or the short term burst isn’t that meaningful?
Luke miani has done it
@@AviationForever it wasn’t sustained
I hit 8740 on cinebench r23 thermal mod, on my first run mba m2 15 inch. Really happy with this mod
Wow what a huge difference as the one cinebench test progresses! That makes me wonder: can I do this thermal mod in a MacBook Pro, despite it already having the active cooling? Apple takes so long to ramp up the fans that it almost seems pointless to have them; it’s like they’re only there to keep it from literally burning me or something.
As some other have said, I would be slightly concerned about heat going into the other parts. How's the M1 MBA doing after the pads? Otherwise, nice to see such a simple solution for the heat!
What other parts, it goes to the alu case. Only downside, case may be warmer in lap.
hey Max... when are you going to do the full review of the M2 Macbook Air... the whole thing... Screen, speakers, webcam, mics, batery life, etc... not only performance and temperaature and thermals... i'll be waiting for that video !!
I haven't listened to the speakers yet. Saving that for the first comparison and we are shooting that today!
I bet the new Macbook Air M2 15 will not have ANY performance upgrade coming on June 5th, but your thermal tape will give it a performance boost until the late 2024 update. Way to go.
It's very simple, everyone should do it 😀
Maybe using one of those thermal bases for laptops, that feature a fan, would help with sustained loads for these thermal pad setup? That would be really cool to see!
My thoughts exactly
Third that ))
@@mereobserver1727 I think they have the fans. Blowing the wrong way on them
Even if you put the MBA on top of a laptop stand without a fan, it might help dissipate heat away from the chassis by increasing air circulation underneath the laptop. And if the laptop stand were made of metal, it might also draw heat away from the chassis.
With the thermal mod you should also re-measure the skin temperature to make sure it doesn't exceed mandatory limits. (I think 45c/113f is what it used to be). Doubt the apple silicon stuff ever hits that though.
you mean 45c right?
@@landon1136 Ooops correct - 45c/113f
Its 50 to 55 degrees Celsius depending on country. And who rly cares even if it exceeds after mod? Not like ur going to burn to death.
@@PlayJewel Not burn to death, but using a laptop with that hot of a skin temperature is a horrible experience on your actual lap. It's just hot and even burns your bare skin a bit if in shorts. Also if using in bed it makes things super hot. I definitely care - this is a LAPtop, not a desktop. I say this while using a 2019 16" intel laptop now burning my lap.
@@neilquinn yea thats true. Also ive read from people on reddit who modded their m1 airs and use for a long time, their battery health dropped much faster. It seems the heat is transferred from the chassis to the battery at least somewhat.
I was getting this but then got thinkpad with ryzen 6850u, sustained performance at cool temperatures, no throttling.
It seems crazy that’s all it took to boost the thermal performance of the M2 MBA… surprised apple engineers didn’t test this simple mod more when they were designing it!
Great cooling idea, definitely buying those pads for my MacBook! The performance improvement is higher than I anticipated.
This was an effective mod. It would be interesting to see a custom CNC base plate designed to be a proper heat sink!
The M1 was definitely an amazing deal with price to performance. To me the only major selling feature is MagSafe, but I don't feel it's worth the price increase. M1 is still crazy good.
And the complete redesign. Better screen, 20% better performance headphone jack and much better webcam.
The link to the thermal pads are broken, what thickness pads do you reccomend?
Lol that's the most important part of the mod that they skipped! Buying a pad that is too thin would be useless, and buying a pad that is way too thick might put too much pressure on it.
Nice to see a solution that doesn’t cost the earth to fix the issue somewhat 👌🏻
Based on your analysis, I think the 10 core model will throttle more. I would love to see a stress test of M2 8 core vs M2 10 core MBA models. Keep it up guys and I will pray to God, that your channel hits the target of 1M subs by 25 July 2022. All the best!!!
There is a video on youtube of someone comparing the two and you're right, the 10 core does throttle more. The tested tomb raider and the 8 core ended up scoring a few frames higher.
@@TheDeathReap Yea, here: ruclips.net/video/lTiDnh8g3ss/видео.html
I'm about to change my order from 10 to 8 GPU cores. 😕
GregsGadgets did a video already fyi
@@TheDeathReap But the 10 core did better on pretty much all the other tests
@@TheDeathReap Thank you for the information.
Surprised to see they having such a high impact on performance. Worried about heating other parts that weren't supposed to be so hot.
better not to touch anything
Mod will be only beneficial to rest of components. And for sure laptop will last longer with this modification.
@@FlopsPL This is not always true. For example a cooler CPU can throttle less and cause the VRMs to run hotter than original.
@@longdang2681 If there will be problem with VRMs that's mean the design is really bad. I'm sure this will not happen. I have thermal pads even in my 14" pro. Less heat means longer live for components and also less use of battery.
@@FlopsPL In this specific case the VRMs are likely to heat up more as they are required to supply extra power, unless they get additional cooling. In the case of your 14" pro it might be different. I think there was a mod for the steam deck that resulted in the APU being cooler but the VRMs running hotter.
It is amazing how something that is so simple can have such a big impact on performance. I really like your content.
This pads are actually a great idea, the difference is pretty high for that price
It would be really nice if Apple could just add there own thermal pads so that people wouldn't need to open up their mac and probably void their warranty.
there's regulations about how hot the surface of the laptop is allowed to get for a manufacturer to sell it. It has to do with potentially burning the user's skin and nothing to do with the safety of the computer itself.
@@jakeave so you saying all those burning gaming laptops passed that heat test??? Even the i9 from apple just a few years ago had way higher surface temp levels. It IS about the safety of the computer itself.
Since you did 2 mods on this M2 (Thermal Paste and Thermal Pads). I would like to see how much of a difference the Thermal pads make with the stock thermal paste. I don't think many would want to mess with their macbook air too much just to change the thermal paste, however the thermal pads seems like a very simple fix that many would be willing to do.
Even if not doing the thermal paste replacement results in a slight drop in performance, there is no denying the thermal pads made a difference.
@@bradyhunsberger Agreed, I am just curious on how much of a performance boost it is. I wonder if the majority of the heat concerns are due to bad paste or just adding in a thermal pad can fix a bulk of the issue. Also what if the only fix needed is the Thermal Pads and the stock paste is fine? That would be really interesting to find out.
You channel is awesome and i guess your were the first to do such a comprehensive test on Apple m2 silicon based macbook and found out its flaw. Hope your channel crosses 5 million next year.
The inside of the M2 MacBook Air looks so clean
I never would have guessed that those thermal pads would have made such a difference. I think Apple should find a way to implement them in future macbooks, without surpassing the legal limit.
they won't do that due to regulations. Manufactutrers are required by law to keep the bottom surface of the laptop below 45 degrees celsius.
Apple doesn't do it for that very reason. They don't want the chassis to get hotter than it does, even at the cost of performance.
Many content creators are calling you guys “toxic” but we appreciate the info so we can make informed purchase decisions!
May I ask who these creators are? I had no idea this was the case..
Yeah who said it?
Funny cause they are the ones being toxic about it.
@@thelogoth I just watched a video by Rene Ritchie (whose channel I love), calling these tests toxic. He has some good points but I still appreciate having the benchmarks available and think he should defend apple if he feels the need instead of trying to shut other channels up.
@@gonzalezm244 Thanks for the reply. :). I did not see his video.. but my immediate thought is that it seems a bit unreasonable to call someone's attempt at a thermal mod toxic. If he was pushing us to buy said thermal pads... I could maybe see why it could be seen as negative.. but from my point of view, I learned that I could perhaps even improve the thermals of my own none apple laptop.. nothing toxic in any of that..or what did I miss?
These guys are amazing. Very detailed tests and comparisons. They really love their job!!! Great respect!
The MacBook Air M2 is just amazing. Great design and great performance especially the 512gb ssd version. 👍🏻 Just the price should have been under $999 for base model.
It would be interesting to see a comparison of the 8 core and 10 core models with thermal pads. Thermal pads might make the 10 core model worth it.
Thermal pads are doing a really good job keeping the M2 chip cool. But the question is when you put it in your lap is it much hotter because we spread more heat to the case? Is it uncomfortable feeling in the lap if you do it for a longer period of time?
I’m gonna guess it took 2 min 30 sec b4 you put the pads in?
Great vid so far, I just paused to answer your question!
Hello, which would be the best thickness to order for the thermal pad? 0.5mm, 1.0mm or 1.5mm. Has anybody tested with different thickness of the thermal pads?
Love how you work hard so we chose the correct laptop for each person.
Simple to apply, yet very effective.
This is the only peace of Gear from becoming a RUclipsr
The new MBA M2 is great for stundents everyday tasks, and i cant lie that it looks so great and aesthetic
I was hoping that you were going to use thermal pads to see if heat dissipation would occur more quickly to avoid a slow down of the M2 MacBook Air. I really appreciate all the testing you’re doing and providing us with relevant results.
Woah! This thermal mod is a game changer, highly stabilises the performance and is an absolute m2 MacBook Pro killer 😂
Would be really interesting to max out the heat pads. Maximizing the dissipation area could give even better results.
I was just watching MKBHD’s video, and agreed with the point about how it is amazing that we have even gotten to the point of testing a MacBook Air against the same things as MacBook Pro. I also can’t believe how well the thermal pads worked! Love the videos, keep it up!
I’m enjoying these more measured and qualified videos. This looks like a good mod, but I hope the increased heat spread doesn’t affect the lifespan of other components.
This was my immediate concern. I would be cautious of this “fix” until I found out if nearby components could handle the increased ambient heat.
When can we get a reply?
@@benlappin The more the heat is spread the lower overall increase would be, plus the heat would spread out eventually in such a small enclosure. It’s likely not an issue, or maybe a very small concern. But I think it’s worth considering.
@@benlappin trust me, it’ll be fine.
Dw, it’s fine.
My m2 air top spec coming in tm, def gonna do this mod
that is quite an ingenious solution... will try using thermal pads on my m1
Thanks for the data. However I think there should be more emphasis on the non-performance-related QOL effects of the mod. Using the chassis as an extended heatsink surely helps thermals but may significantly impact the subjective experience for those who rest the laptops on their bodies, even if the end result is under the legal temp limit. After all, hotspot locations and surface temperature can greatly affect user experience.
We assume someone who would have the knowledge to proceed with this mod would have sufficient common sense to know the consequences of having a 50℃ laptop placed on their laps.
The world would be a much better place if common sense was actually common
@@gigihanmandarin i would assume that people who would proceed with this mod would not assume people to have the common sense to assume that people have common sense.
...or something like it i lost my thought as well while re-reading xD
@CR Hillwithout thermal mod, I edit video all day on M2 and CPU temp is at around 40~45℃, outer shell is barely warm. only during export the temp shoots up. No one with MBA is exporting all day, so thermal pad mod will be fine for the batt.
I wonder how much of an improvement you could get with a cooling stand plus the thermal modification.
That’s exactly what I’m doing. 😀 My MBA M1 is on a cooling pad right now. I’m trading in mine because the trade-in value is $490 and the M2 hardware improvements (NOT the base model 😆) are just what I need. So if I can delay throttling for an extra 10mins, that perfect as I only render shorter training videos and run Parallel’s - ‘cause I need to run apps like Articulate Storyline.
Loving the comparison videos and thank you for all the hardwork that you guys put in :)
These thermal pads are going to be lifesavers!
Been watching you guys for a few years now. Always enjoy your comparison and stress test videos. They're helping me decide whether I want the new M2 Macbook Air over the 14 inch M1 Pro. Thanks for all your work, guys!
Didn't expect to see such a big difference in performance with such a simple fix. Can't wait to see the comparison between the 8 core and 10 core. Keep up the great work guys😁
I expected it though
Really cool how much that little upgrade affects it
Amazing videos maxtech. So much helpful when it comes to make decisions.
Thermal pads are really preventing the MacBook Air from throttling. Impressive!
Any idea if it will affect the warranty or not?
Crazy to think that performance was considerably higher with such an inexpensive mod. Great work folks👍
I'm guessing Apple didn't do it because it makes the bottom of the body too hot. I almost never rest it on my lap so I would definitely take that tradeoff for better performance.
@@lambert1024 yeah if it gets too hot it can cause burns, water can scald if it’s over 113°F
@@lambert1024 This is the issue. There is a legal limit to how hot the bottom of a laptop can get (isn’t there always a law?) to keep people from getting burned. I believe Max mentioned it last time in his mod on the M1 Air video. Apple probably would have done it if not for the law. There’s nothing to stop you from doing it yourself. Apple can’t, but you can. I’m considering doing it myself since I have a bunch of thermal pads in a drawer from some GPU modding on Nvidia cards.
@@techinrl9869 it’s 50C
@@thor.mukbang That’s the top of the case. They didn’t measure the bottom where it’s all aluminum, not the top, which is mostly plastic where it’s hottest. Last time when Max did this with the M1 Air, the bottom was scorching hot, well past the legal limit. He didn’t talk about it this time, except for one line about the law. Even 50C is still 122F, which is really, really hot. EDIT: I just had a thought that I may have taken your comment wrong. Were you quoting the legal limit? If so, never mind. I read that as 50C isn’t a big deal.
It sounds like Apple took the strategy of IKEA where you can buy a wood chair and paint it like you want :)
Opening up your macbook can be risky, but it's great to have this as an option
Wow, great video! I'm worried this mod will heat up the battery. Batteries and high temperatures don't go well together. Is there any way to see if the battery gets significantly hotter with the thermal pad mod?
The internal design on this new generation is a work of art
Do applying the thermal pads void the warranty?
Dang! Am I the only one who like how clean and almost seamless you placed the thermal pads here?!
Great job guys. Wondering how durable are those pads and if expanded heat distribution area may affect battery lifetime?
That’s an awesome improvement. My concern with this thermal pad mod, and the main reason why I’ve not done it on my M1 MacBook Air, is about if all this heat transfer spread across the bottom case cover would end up affecting the lifespan of the battery cells, because as we all know these batteries are sensitive to heat and longtime exposure could end up killing the battery. Based on your IR Cam measures of the bottom cover, do you think this could happen?
Great question. And does the bottom become uncomfortably hot?
@@ryanw8664 _it will, sadly_
but I never knew the batteries will get baked from this mod
@@sublimetulii23 exactly. The Mac Air line already did a fantastic job in widening its capabilities. People just got spoiled by the M1. I don't think I've encountered a review saying that the M2 Air still runs cool to the touch at basic productivity and media consumption.
@@sublimetulii23 I kinda agree, but then why would Chevy put a V8 in a corvette without a radiator? Part of the responsibility is on Apple getting our hopes up with these fancy specs that are designed more to bait us than to perform.
@@dylbertiii yes, that's a good point too. I understand why a lot of tech-savy users are disappointed in the Air. We know that the M2 chip can go much further, but the new chassis just wasn't built for it. I actually think that the M2 can perform a bit better on the old chassis because of that big chunk of metal acting as a heat absorber. The bad engineering choice reminds me of the last Intel Macbook Air wherein the fans were not even connected to the heat sink.
If we stick to the average demographics of the Air, there shouldn't be any problem. But yes, I do think Apple short-changed its more tech-savy Mac Air users this time. Especially that their ads were aimed specifically at more media production users.
Love your videos MT! - but on your next video could you just hold it in different possess to get a sense of the look and feel? Maybe one where you hold it on your side, next to your hip, like you hold a book when you are walking to class. And maybe another one holding it up against your chest like a 50’s girl waiting near her locker talking about her crush… hopefully this made sense. Thank you in advance.
Thermal pads are smart to use in general b/c the MacBook Air doesn’t have a fan! I never have my laptop on the table, I use an open backed stand so air can escape!
As an engineer this seems great results but there must be some sort of reason why apple didn’t do this directly it could possibly cause the battery to heat up or other components that they wanted to separate
I'm an electrical and computer engineer, and you're spot on. Adding these pads distributes the heat throughout the inside of the laptop. In the long run, this can have an effect on the battery over time. It's irresponsible to make this type of modification to a machine without understanding the long-term effects.
It’s pretty much of a guru to suggest this idea as there’s significant improvements in performance using the heat pad. Well done Max and team👏
I wouldn't do this because the heat is not good for the battery, if you use a fan to cool it okay but just the pads is not good
I enjoyed seeing how beautiful the macbook is on the inside.
Be aware that the heat transfer will be greatly dependant on the thickness of the thermal pad. If the thermal pad is thicker it may be possible to overheat more as the contact between the two surfaces will be larger and heat dissipation will be less efective. Therefore I advise everyone to use less thick thermal pads to have as much pressure as possible. (Feel free to test de difference in performance vs thickness)
I advise everyone NOT to mess around with their brand new Macs! Apple will strip away that warranty within a second! Don't tinker!
@CR Hill I was talking in general about the application of thermal pads for heat dissipation, regarding the battery of the macbooks, if the thermal pad doesn’t have direct contact with the battery, it won’t have any impact in longevity…
@CR Hill Didn’t thought about this but I get your point. Probably a rubber band or similar could be used to isolate heat in the contours of the battery but after heavy loadworks it would still be hotter than stock
Love to see the joy on your face while doing these tests. :) You guys are a daily source of entertainment.
Max Tech is my favorite RUclips channel because they always give pros and cons about all products. So, I wish all the best for the all of you guys for the MacBook Air M2 give away and Max Tech.
good luck guys! Max Tech rocks! best wishes to everyone
I can’t believe how well that simple modification worked! I’m unfamiliar with thermal pads, will they leave residue or any kind of sign after being used? If so, I imagine Apple would void all warranties for such a maneuver if any problems were to arise down the road.
They might be a little greasy, but it can be wiped off
Cool video! It would be interesting to get more analysis on the impact of doing this in terms of how hot can the chassis get as a result and whether it raises the temperature of other components (specifically the battery).
After watching this video, I came across a person on reddit that measured their battery temps after doing this trick for the M1Air. They warned against it for battery longevity reasons, as it increased the batteries temperature 5-6*C. Someone asked about putting an insulating pad between the battery and chassis but there was no follow up to that. I'm not sure if that would be better or worse. If this channel would go as far as recommend this fix, I would hope they look into these things for a follow up.
Loving these M2 MacBook Air technical reviews! Thank you Max & team!! Keep it up and let's go 1Million! :)
Talk about thermal improvements! Those pads are really good.
Hey max, was wondering if this combined with a laptop cooling pad would help the temps any further, nice job, keep it up
Absolutely! Hope Max or Vadim will see your comment. Makes for a good sequel to this upload ))
@@mereobserver1727 thanks mate
@@nguyenminh7780 ...and Max has done it! Check out his latest vid ))
Im realy impressed with how efficient these pads are. Thanks for the guide!
I’m trying to continue with higher education and I am in need of a new laptop. I’m currently working to pay off my bachelor’s degree student loan and I do minor design and graphic work on the side as well but my current machine cannot keep up. Winning this machine would be the most amazing thing ever.
great video! What's the best way to open the bottom without damaging it? I'm nervous that when I open it I'm going to break the clips.
Any tips or ticks will be appreciated.
Thanks!
Interesting! Didn’t think some thermal pads would have so much impact ^_^
Would there be any unintended impact on other components?🤔
same thing was on m1 macbook air and pro. on ltt was video about that and explaining why apple do that
You guys are doing a great job with the in depth analysis and comparisons. Keep up the great work. It is invaluable when choosing a machine to fit your workload and knowing it's limitations.
it's cool that this still works and it's a nice option to have if you don't mind the bottom of your laptop getting toasty when doing intensive tasks.
Thank you soo much for your tip, really needed it
Such useful in depth reviews and nerve-wracking tear downs! No other channel comes close to being as educational, informative and entertaining.
I'm curious if the thermal pads degrade over time after being exposed to heat over a long period of time
Just bought the M1, first macbook ever since I was annoyed of my windows notebook freezing during Photoshop / Illustrator. Think it will do it job. But nice video for all heavy users. Thumbs up for that mod
I love to see your animation with each degree more or seconds less 😄 keep it up
I love the work you guys put into making the most out of these machines
Really debating between getting the M1 Air or the M2 Air. But I’ll probably end up getting the cheaper M1 because it’s still more than enough powerful for the work that I need it to do and would still be a massive upgrade to my current machine.
u should get m1 max
@@mr.mister9099 nah he should get the m2 extreme ultra final apple chip coming soon!
@@mr.mister9099 You're suggesting Eryck gets a 3-4x more expensive macbook when the m1 is already enough for them... I don't follow the logic
@@DarthZackTheFirstI nahh he should wait atleast 50years to get m69 Ultra Sonic Mars pro black colour that would be more value for money
M1 air is more than good enough for 90% of people
Been watching this channel for a long time and will always be my go-to tech channel
This is helping a lot with the choice if I should get the M2 MBA or not.
I remember this trend started in _early 2020_ when Macs were _all in Intels_ and the Air had the worst cooling out of all MacBooks. Performance increase was substantial for those x86 chips. Considering the $1199 model has a "slower SSD" I think comparing its thermal modded version against a thermal modded 10th gen Intel MacBook Air would be interesting.
Great idea. But wouldn’t adding more pads also take longer for the chip to cool down at the same time.
They’re not insulating pads, heat would dissipate faster because it’s pulling heat to the chassis and thus the ambient air.
@CR Hill oh funny, literally none of what you said is true lol. Except for apple trying to void your warranty, they'll say that on just about everything, even so far as to just lie and say the user caused moisture damage on a known manufacturing issue.
yeah but this transfers heat to the battery
@5:23 and into the Battery.. battery gets above 46c it begins to DIE
Just ordered some 1.5mm gelid pads. Looking forward to do this simple mod!
Was 1.5 mm too thick ?
Loving these videos, and I'm surprised Apple didn't think of doing this themselves.