Does the new i7 MacBook Air run hot ?

I'd like to share some info, since I was at the Apple store yesterday with the express purpose of testing how hot the 13" MBA got.

First, let me say that my goal was not to measure absolute temp, but simply to see if the chassis became too hot to say, comfortably hold it on your lap.

This test was done on a MBA 128 with a Toshiba drive.

First, I opened i Tunes and played a 4 min video. Machine did not get noticeably hot. Then, with the video running, I opened Safari and then opened about 15 tabs, including NYT. CNN, ESPN, etc--basically all the usual stuff that they put in Safari on machines in the stores. Still cool to touch.

Then, I noticed that not only this machine but NO MBA 13s in the store had Flash installed. Imagine that!

So, I requested that they install it, so I could test, and they did.

Well, as has been reported, w/i 5 mins of a Flash video playing, the machne got hot. The area of the case just above the keyboard was VERY hot. The casing on the bottom was pretty if not very hot. Stopping all Flash caused the machine to cool within a few minutes.

Because the store was noisy I could not hear the fan, but I'm sure it was on.

So, this clearly seems like an issue with Lion and Flash, and not necessarily the processor, since running QT video did not cause the machine to heat up.

I still plan to buy it! But this is a problem that needs to be fixed.

Here is a Google search for around the same time SL was released: (You can set the date range of the results...)

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Mac+OS+X+Snow+Leopard&ie=UTF -8&oe=UTF-8#sclient=psy&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A5%2F28%2 F2009%2Ccd_max%3A10%2F22%2F2009&source=hp&q=Mac+OS+X+Snow+Leopard+Heat&pbx=1&oq= Mac+OS+X+Snow+Leopard+Heat&aq=f&aqi=g-v1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=19300l20487l0l20788 l5l5l0l1l1l0l167l539l1.3l4l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=cb92f75dab847a5c&biw =1342&bih=652

Does this look familiar?

I think this has to do with Lion, I'm sure they are working hard on it and future updates will fix these issues...

When I see people return i7s for i5s, I always think that they are going to be disapointed when a future update fixes i7 heat issues...

I think it's both Lion and the new chips from Intel with onboard graphics that run hot, especially in cramped enclosure like that of MBA. I hope they come up with some kind of a "fix", but I doubt it will be a drastic improvement. So far, they're not even acknowledging the issue, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

Woah guys, its fun to see how people are scared of 80-90 C temperature of macbook air.

I played for 3 hours Heores 4 on BootCamp Windows at the temperature 97-98 degrees C 😀

MBA 2011 i7

Haaa, anyway is normal for Mac Air to have such a high temperature

Recently, my 13" i7 MBA's CPU temperature will sometimes idle around 80+ deg C. This is with no applications open and no observable load on the processor. Strangely, the fan does not usually kick in, but stays at idle, around 2000RPM. I don't recall it doing this for the first month or two, except in relation to this BTSever issue (in which fans defintiely ran full-bore, around 6000RPM).

Rebooting usually seems to bring it back down to a more-normal 35-45 deg C. It's rather odd, and I can't pinpoint how to reproduce it.

• Is it wake-from-sleep related? I hardly ever turn it off...
• Is it heat generated from charging? I often use the higher-wattage 2010 MBP charger...
• Is it purely a software issue? Perhaps some service is eating CPU time but not showing it?

Has anyone else noticed this happening? It doesn't seem to be hurting anything...probably.

Ok, I we have the same MBA models so I hope my thoughts on your questions might help you. So.....step by step

1) Somebody told me.....that you have a girlfreind that looks like a boyfriend.....oops, somebody told me that i7 is hotter, then i5. So don't pay attention to the temperature, that owners of i5 MBA link.

2) 80+ with no apps opened? Ok, a noob advice - since macos was new for me, I realised only in a week, that to CLOSE app you need to use combo Command+Tab to learn, what apps are opened. Otherwise you may have opened tons of applicatins and you wont even notice it. Reboot wont rly help because it suggests you to reopen all the apps after the reboot

If you are not new to MacOs and you are rly sure, that all apps are closed, the only reason MBA getting hot - it is situated not on the solid square surface (for example - a table). If MBA is turned on and lies on a....bed, it will heat up more and more, its just a question of time. I bought a cooling bar to solve this issue.

3) Fans will run at 2000RPM +- untill MBA is RLY HOT and the CPU temperature is higher then...I would say 85-90 degrees (C). As for me...I would play a game at 95-99 C and only in 30-60sec fans will start rotating full power.

4) IDK if it is wake-from-sleep related or not, but I do really NEVER turn it off. I payed the **** ammount of $ for flash memory to make MBA start in 1-3sec + macos eats only 3% of the battery per day while MBA is sleeping. SO it would be pretty stupid to nevermind this advantage and still to turn it off just like any other PC....

5) When MBA is charging, as for me, is DOES heat up. Pretty much. But I charge it only at night when I'm sleeping so whatever. . .

6)"Is it purely a software issue? Perhaps some service is eating CPU time but not showing it? " If Command+tab did not help you (btw command+option+esc also works) Activity monitor will dispel your doubts.

And download iStat program anyways.

Yeah and sory for my english

mine runs very hot and spins up its fans although the system appears to be idle. it only seems to happen at work - so far i've failed to find any other corrolation. seems that only a reboot will allow it to cool off. very annoying.

beyond that flaw (& it's a big flaw, sad to say), this is an incredible little machine.

Okay I finally sent my Macbook Air i7 back to the Apple Store for a repair...and they changed the IO-Board. It runs a lot cooler now...I think the issue could have been the thermal paste between the CPU and the heat pipe.

Cheers!

(Though my display is still yellowish =( which is highly annoying everytime I look at my iPhone and back to the Macbook Air whilst working)

Macbook Air i7 11 inch

LG Display

Samsung SSD 256GB

4GB Ram

Lion 10.7.2

I have this issue. Wake from sleep, and plugged in, + without closing apps before sleep.

i7 gets to 90degrees C.

But the CPU says 93+% idle...

I think there is something connected to the power/GPU because it cant otherwise get this hot while that idle.

Restart for me is only way to bring machine heat down to 40-60 degrees C

I tried closing all apps before sleep now...

But how crazy, all these features we have, window restore, sleep etc are defeated by this problem so I'd rather have less features and a cool laptop, thanks.

Cheers - keep the thread posted on any discoveries on preventing/reproducing with evidence.

Count me in! I bought the MacBook Air 13inch, i5 with 256GB SSD only two weeks ago for $1800 including taxes (I'm in Canada). I keep it on a cool, glass table most of the time. Other than that it is in my lap.

What I noticed (using iStat Pro):

• CPU Runs at ~55c Idle, browsing the web / light use.
• CPU is ~70c when Time Machine Backup is running or Securely Emptying Trash. These two tasks seem to make it run way hotter.
• Fan is a steady 2000rpm on avg. and kicks in rarely, keep reading.
• When running three 1080p HD YouTube videos and EDGE (humble bundle) at the same time the CPU shot upto 99c OUCH!!! The fan kicked in at ~3300rpm and RPM was rising.
• CPU is ~25% usage on average (Time Machine Running, Web Browsing and Microsoft Messenger running).
• Fan can get really loud. I am used to it being totally silent when its at 2000 RPM.
• Other than that, CPU is ~55-60c with normal web browsing, iTunes, Messenger etc.

My question is, Fan Control is a Mac OSX app that works with the Air. Does it violate your warranty? I rather use that and manually set the speed (can change in system preferences -> fan cooler) of the fan. BUT CAN WE?

Update: Just did some testing with Fan Control. Ran 4 x 1080p HD Trailers from YouTube on 4 Spaces. Temps with iStatPro. The CPU is pegged at 100% (99-100%).

Stock

• Initial temp is 99c.
• Temperature jumps down to 94c when the fans kick in and fans jump to ~3400 RPM.
• Temperature is 95c on average, 93c lowest, 99c highest.

With fan control installed and configured to max 6000 RPM at 90c, 2000RPM at 50c:

• Very Loud at highest RPM.
• Weird sound from the fan as well. DONT MESS WITH IT, TRUST ME.
• Temperature goes to 95c highest and averages at 94c.
• VERY LOUD AND DO NOT ATTEMPT IT.

Not worth it, there is just not enough space in such a compressed package for the air to cool the system. There is a weird, almost like a metal screeching sound / high pitched sound when the fan kicks to the highest with fan control. DO NOT ATTEMPT IT... I only had it for ~20 minutes, now back to normal. DISCLAIMER TO APPLE and everyone else, I used my friend's unit with the same specs. Not my unit. Anyways, it's not worth it. Don't do it.

i filed bug#10288361 with bugreport.apple.com and have run various and sundry tests as requested by apple engineering to no avail. the machine is essentially idle yet the cpu is cooking at 90°c and the fan roaring at 5000rpm. the only way to cool the machine off is to shut it down, go make a double espresso, play a couple games of solitaire on the ipod (which has a music player that crashes all the time), and then boot the thing. it lasts a few days and then overheats again, again idle. it's incredibly annoying and depressing. don't want to go to some windows trash or even linux, so what to do?

the machine came with a defective keyboard. after a pathetic attempt by a "genius" to fix it by prying off and resetting the broken key, apple support replaced the keyboard. wonder if when they put it back together they didn't put thermal paste on the cpu correctly. seems unlikely to be the problem given the machine runs cool for several days - if not cool, at least reasonable - and then has this runaway heat issue.

think it's time to ask apple to swap the machine since they seem unable to figure out its root cause ....

This describes my problems too, having already made a post on 'mysterious cpu/heat'.

Basically to solve this problem I have to restart the computer every time I open it up (in the morning) and plugin to power.

The CPU can be 100% idle, yet the CPU temp is 75-80C and fans 3k-4k...

Even after closing all apps, the heat persists.

Have sent logs etc but no tips yet.

I'll try permission repairs, but I really hate that all the great features in Lion are generally wishful thinking as I start new every day - no work space persistence, it's really really getting harder to work smarter with these kinds of problems and no obvious cause.

Tips welcome.

I think its a problem with the IO-Board. I had mine changed and its alright now. Most likely there was a problem with the thermal interface between the CPU and heat spreader. They make them in China..and fast...so I won't be surprised if some are bad.