MacBook Air 2009 - CPU Fan Speed

I am not saying this is completely your problem, but your specs look to be barely capable of operating the Lion OS let alone anything else. What really ***** is you really can't upgrade anything (i.e. RAM).

Here is a quote I found on your model of MBA:

"Just like the original MacBook Air, the NVIDIA/Late 2008 "MBA" systems are not designed for those with high-performance needs. The MacBook Air line was designed for those who place a premium on size and weight rather than performance."

You are so very welcome. I am just sorry to be a barer of potentially bad news. I would definitely go back to SL, so you can actually enjoy yourself without frying your machine and try Lion again in a couple months to see if the updates have improved your performance issues.

However, taking into consideration to what type of machine you have to work with I am really not sure if any updates will be able to help you, as your machine is already setup for failure on the performance side of things. IMHO, I strongly believe that they should have given MBA the iOS, as it is really crippling to think that because of their design they may not be able to take advantage of any of the new features offered in Lion or any future OS.

Keep in mind that just because someone else is saying they are having similar issues doesn't mean that they are having the issue for the same reason. There are so many variables that can be at play that could cause similar issues for different reasons. Some of these variables which differ from user to user is the machine the user is using, their settings, their type of network and the devices they are using, their added hardware/software, etc. Not to mention what they could have or couldn't have done during their installation of the OS.

The Lion OS is definitely setting the bar for current and future OS, which unfortunately is giving plenty of people issues even if they were successful with installing it correctly because 1) A lot of hardware/software wasn't updated or is no longer supported under Lion 2) The default settings for Lion differ from SL thus having most users in panic because things are not working or looking the same as they did before 3) Change is never an easy thing for some people, so it is natural for some to fixate on issues that they are just now paying attention to and blame it on the newest thing instead of embracing the change and looking into what could be the real issue.

Undoubtedly, these sort of things happen every time something new and innovative is released and I don't foresee it ever changing, as it is the nature of the society we live in. Again, I personally haven't had any issues on any of my machines running Lion, but I also have taken a more hands on approach and proactive stance on learning what I could about the new Lion OS before I actually installed it. This allowed me to have very few surprises if any in making sure my experience with the new OS was and is a positive one.

Again, I truly hope for a miraculous Lion update for you in the near future that will allow you to use it on your MBA with out taxing your machine. However, considering the machine you have I am not too positive it will work out in your favor. What you can do between now and then is set up an appointment with an Apple Genius and show them how taxed your machine is with using the Lion OS and see if they can confirm if it is in fact because of the specs of your machine or possibly because of some other issue that you failed to trouble shoot.

I'm experiencing the same overheating/loud fan issues following the upgrade to Lion, and my system is definitely capable of handling the OS from a hardware perspective. I tried resetting the SMC (shut down, take out the battery, hold down the power button for a few seconds, replace the battery and power on), but the problem returned the next morning. It also appears that I don't have a com.citrix.agadminservice.plist file in /Library/LaunchDaemons, so I'm out of luck there (per this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3191543?start=60&tstart=0). I wonder if we're all looking at the correct issue for a long-term fix for this issue? If it's one process running out of control, that's easy. But for those of us still experiencing the problem even without Citrix installed, is it a larger problem with Lion not managing runaway processes well enough?

Does anyone have a working fix for those of us without the Citrix .plist file?

Thank you!

I had the same problem Mac late 2010, 2.13 Intel core duo 4GB RAM 2

Lion was installed as update.

as result:

CPU on 80 °C and to keep it between 70 and 80 °C fan had to work on 6500 RPM.
I used Istat.
repaired permissions, no result, reset the SMC and so on... no results.
lately reading also other posts, I started to disable 1 by 1 the start up items.
the antivirus Sophos + the time machine auto back up -on off was quite successful
now I have a 4000 RPM = quite decent as noise level and CPU at 40-47 °C.
had nothing to do with the flash or browsing.
Spotlight, yess is pushing the temp up, but is not running 24/7
Check your startup items, the answer can be there
Maybe helps
Good luck!
Lucian