MacBook Air Overheating

Unplug the power adapter and reboot. Keep the adapter unplugged and let me know if the issue settles down a bit.

You can also try a SMU reset while the adapter is unplugged and the MBA is shut down:

Hold down the left shift button, left control and left option, and press the power button once.

Message was edited by: Host

First, explain what you mean by overheating. Does the system shut down?

What do you mean by overheat? What does it do? Mine can get warm depending on what it's doing but it doesn't overheat.

Looks like we need to know what you mean by overheating, first 😉

Mine gets a LOT less warm than my MBP 😉

D

Normally I would say no it should not get this warm. Although it's tough to judge one feeling versus another. I have gotten it very warm when plugged in and doing things like playing a movie compressed in mp4. I would suggest you downlod the istat pro widget, you can use it to monitor the internal sensors temperatures and fan speeds. You can then get a more objective another on whether it's the same as others.

Looks fine to me.

Looks warm, but OK. Maybe hot but not overheating.

I think you will find the youtube video is what is driving up the heat. About the only thing that normally cracks up the fan on battery is compressed video (mp4, etc...) that I've noticed. Do all the other stuff you are doing without the youtube and you will see lower temps and the fan at 2500rpm. Start the youtube video and the fan will slowly start up as the temps climb.

Even so, the MBA runs much cooler to the touch than a MBP. Connect AC and run compressed videos on a MBP. Now that will get hot (burning) to the touch. The MBA is barely warm by comparison.

Well heat is certainly a subjective thing in terms of what is acceptable. I find the MBA runs much much cooler to the touch than any MacBook Pro model. I haven't tried a MacBook much but from what I remember I think it might be cooler than those also.

I ran istat widget and here are the results:
CPU fluctuated between 69-84 deg
Heat Sink 60 deg
Bottom Enclosure 39 deg
Exhaust Fan 6200rpm

Ok, should I be worried? the stats on my air:
CPU fluctuated between 146 deg
Heat Sink 121 deg
Bottom Enclosure 101 deg
Exhaust Fan 6200rpm

Seems a LOT higher than the stats above?! Thanks for any advice

This is pretty funny, but it sounds like you have iStat set on Fahrenheit! The first guy had Celcius. Here are my stats:

CPU: 327K
Heatsink: 322K
Enclosure:305K

OK, so just color me an idiot! I'm in the US and do have it set to farhenheit. It never even occured to me. Thanks for pointing it out in a gentle way 😉 (shuffling off in embarassment...)

I am having this same problem. It is very uncomfortable to the touch and the fan 'whirs' quite loud. A good friend of mines mentioned something about 'too much thermal grease'. I think I am going to take it to the geniuses...