MacBook Air Overheating

The more I wanna buy the Macbook Air and love it to death, the more I feel tempted to check out the official macbook air forums only to find people complaining about heat, core shut-down etc issues, which actually sends me back to square one, leaving me with only a 5.4 LB but newer and powerful MBP. I'm planning on adding to my life two Macs and they have to be notebooks/laptops, not desktops such as imacs. I already have a dell PC.

I was planning on using the MBP as a primary desktop replacement at home for gaming and what not, while the MBA could have been a great buddy on the road be it music, videos, PDFs etc. But the more I look at these issues, the more frustrated I be.

I'm a recent Apple-convert and hence I am asking this: has apple ever really released one single flawless product at the very beginning of its introduction? Even the first batch of MBPs were flawed while the latest Penryn-based ones are doing great.

some people in this forum has been able to shut down one of the two cores on a macbook air that was on display at an apple store. If that's really true, it would be really embarrassing.

So what's up with people that have bought the MBA in the past couple of weeks? are the newer batch of MBAs flawless? Is it safe to pick up an unit now? I'm calling Apple every night to check store availability, but the only thing holding me back are the issues

Armand Loonux: I'm in the same state as you. I read these varied posts and get cold feet. I'm sure Apple would replace units that were as bad as some have here, BUT my main concern is if I get one that is marginal. Then it would be possibly a harder to convince Apple to replace it. Like if light work is done on the unit and it turns the fan on full but not shut down. It would be annoying for the fan to run a lot vs. a unit that was sound and most light to medium work would not even increase the fan speed.

So I guess I will wait it out and read the forums and see what happens.

When was your 3rd machine built? Check thru this website:
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

In addition to heat/fan problems, my machine, a week 7 build, SSD, also has Airport issues. I just got a verbal okay to get it exchanged. Since it is a CTO, the local store could not help me and it took a little begging on the phone to get an okay for a new one. Unfortunately have to send it away and wait for the replacement. As I type this, the only program up is the single Safari window and the temp is 86 degrees celsius with the fan blasting at 6200rpm.

I got the SSD because I thought I would have a silent machine without the whirr of a hard drive. My mistake.

If the new machine is good, hopefully I will be able to post back that Apple takes care of us "early adopters" if we get a unit that is not up to snuff. We'll see...

And when was your 3rd MBA built? And is it a SSD?
Check on: http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

Hi,

I am not sure how much to trust the chipmunk service. It made my 1.6 GHz model to a 1.8 GHz model.... and that was the only thing apart from "Model: Macbook air" that I could easily check.

cheers,
volker

the part of their service that you can count on is the manufacture location, the year and the week of build. My 1.6 also shows up as 1.83; that is partially due to their info coming from other users. The date and manufacture location are known commonalities for apple products serial numbers.

Hi.

I'm having the same problem.

See also this thread about core shutdowns because of the heat:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6895591#6895591

If I may cite part of my own posting there:

"Same problem here. Youtube Videos or normal videos played either with mplayer or vlc.

I didn't buy a laptop so I can't watch movies.

It's winter in Europe now; what's going to happen in summer? The core shuts down while opening a few RSS feeds in Safari?

Menumeters is a very useful freeware to see directly when a core is deactiveated:



I totally regret buying the MBA right now and I'm very thankful for finding this thread to see that it's a general construction error and that I'm not alone.

Cheers
M

P.S.The freeware temperature monitor shows the temperature of the processor and has been updated for the MBA:

<Edited by Moderator>

I'm not positive, week 11 MBA and having these issues..

Any app (especially video) that drives the CPU will cause the MBA to heat up. Mine doesn't get terribly hot unless I am "burning CPU". Though mine doesn't get that hot compared to what you've posted. You may have a problem with the battery, how long does your battery last? There is a post on Products about heat and non-optimal batteries, though its talking about Dell laptops. I'd bring your MBA to an Apple store and let them see what you see. They can't change out the battery unfortunately.

After almost two weeks I have not had any overheating-problems yet. My MBA is week 8/2008 and I am really using it heavily (java/eclipse/compiling...I also watch movies!). Certainly, the device is getting hot sometimes (82 degrees celsius), but then the fan cranks up to 6400 rpm and temperature goes down again... the way it is supposed to do. No cure-shutdowns or whatsoever yet.

Cheers,
JB

My MBA has overheated a few times when the vents are blocked in some way and I'm demanding a lot (multitasking, video, etc.). You can notice the programs running slower and can even get to the point were the mouse moves slow. When it happens I simply clear the vents and the computer comes back to normal after cooling down. Closing programs you're not using also helps. I've had these issues with other notebooks I've owned in the past as well.

When the battery is charging and you demand a lot from the MBA the left top corner will heat up. That's were the power source is located and I find it normal. Apple's design calls for a slow charge that demands less current. This allow us to enjoy a smaller AC/DC adapter than you usually get with other notebooks. Its hard to find the perfect balance for current demand, charging time, heat, battery size, etc... I believe Apple made a good balance with the MBA.

There are a lot of factors that can heat up a notebook and you simply have to use some logic and have basic knowledge on how they work to avoid overheating. I don't think the MBA has a design flaw like implied by some posts. I just love the MBA and believe it to be the perfect notebook for my needs.

A trick that might help some MBA owners that demand a lot from it is to place a wooden pencil under the notebook near the vents. This will lift it up a little bit and provide for better airflow. Also, when using on your lap try separating your legs and supporting the MBA on the sides, leaving the vents unobstructed.

Hope this helps!

I was one of the first to get the MBA and I did a review on the Typical Mac User Podcast months ago. One point I made was on this subject. It's nice to see I am not the only one. All you have to do is drag the Activity Monitor down to the dock. Then ctrl-click on the icon and click show CPU usage. The icon will then show the 2 cores. Now- go to Hulu or youtube or nbc.com and play anything using Flash for over 10 minutes. You will see the CPU usage start at 75% of both cores. Then it will rise to 100% . Finally one core will shut down due to over heating. There is no real argument. This is what happens. The fact that there was an SMC firmware just put out pretty much proves that Apple realizes there is a problem and they are trying to fix it. It might just end up that this machine was not built to play video. ***** but I have no other heating issues- well- with one exception. iWeb for some reasons causes the same problem.

You see, there IS an argument to be had here, as your experience is not typical of all Macbook Air owners. I have never had a core shutdown to date, and have run all the tests described in various threads on this forum. I have stressed the machine waaayy past what I would reasonably expect it to do. For instance:

Running 5 youtube movies at the same time, whilst running cpu vs cpu chess, Parallels and iPhoto. Sure the machine was a little slow due to all the hard disk thrasing, but the movies did not stutter. The cpu hit 90 degrees at one point ⚠, but no core shutdown.

I think the main issue here is poor ventilation - folks using the MBA on their bed - something I'm doing now in fact - but I make sure I'm not blocking the vents, and all is fine - temps at 45 degrees.

At least for the three machines that I have gone through it is NOT a ventilation issue. The two places that I do most of my work are:

A glass desk in a very cold room
A lacquered desk in a climate controlled office.

In both of these locations I can trigger the CDS very easily. Either run a full screen H264 video, play WoW, or just plug in a monitor for a while. I had the CDS kick in yesterday during a longer than normal Time Machine backup!

Unfortunately I cannot really afford to be without this machine until June otherwise I would have sent it back by now. After WWDC though, this machine is going to be sent in.

It is definitely better when on a table vs a couch or on some cloth material. I even said that in the review. I can even have multiple videos at one time while editing movies, etc. without a problem. The problem is in the time of usage. Even on a table top with adequate ventilation after an hour or so of watching Flash the temp is maxed out. I am another who cannot be without my Mac for a long period of time and I am not near an Apple store which makes it that much harder. Uggghhhh. I guess all I can hope for is we continue to get the word out. I am a Mac Podcast junkie and I have not heard one thing about this issue. However, if you Google it or look in these discussion forums you will obviously find that it is a prevalent issue. SPREAD THE WORD!!!