3 ms·

From a performance point of view there's almost no point in the article. You want to do long running intensive work, get something with active cooling. Except.

From a performance point of view there's almost no point in the article. You want to do long running intensive work, get something with active cooling. Except... isn't 114 C a bit much for something that sits in your lap? How about on bed sheets? Could it melt some plastic-y table cover?

icegreentea2 3y ago
114C is the CPU temperature, we have no idea what the surface temperature of the MBA is. These types of safety considerations are normally bread and butter considerations to any electronics manufacturer - there are plenty of guidelines and standards for them to reference and test to. That said, the safety limits are that - safety limits. They are not necessarily comfortable. I think the safety limits for continuously held metal parts (so a MBA laptop) is like 55C. I think the rough guideline on "comfortable" is usually considered sub 40C.
GeekyBear 3y ago
> a bit much for something that sits in your lap Here's a review that tested sustained gaming workloads on the M3 Air. > During the game, the surface temperatures of the laptop certainly got warmer, though never uncomfortably hot. Many gaming laptops I’ve reviewed get much hotter (and louder, of course) during games. Looking at you, Razer Blade. https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/macbook-air-m3-gaming-performance/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/macbook-air-m3-gamin...
- nottorp 3y ago
  > never uncomfortably hot Well, that's like "never uncomfortably loud" for video card fans. In the eye of the beholder.
  - GeekyBear 3y ago
    Fearmongering aside, from what I've seen, the reviews say it gets warm but not hot. Tom's Guide broke out the thermal gun and said the hot spot on the bottom of the 13 inch model was about four degrees F above normal body temps while running Cinebench on a loop. The 15 inch one got about 9 degrees F above body temp. You certainly wouldn't need to worry about melting your table.

icegreentea2 3y ago

114C is the CPU temperature, we have no idea what the surface temperature of the MBA is. These types of safety considerations are normally bread and butter considerations to any electronics manufacturer - there are plenty of guidelines and standards for them to reference and test to. That said, the safety limits are that - safety limits. They are not necessarily comfortable. I think the safety limits for continuously held metal parts (so a MBA laptop) is like 55C. I think the rough guideline on "comfortable" is usually considered sub 40C.

GeekyBear 3y ago

> a bit much for something that sits in your lap Here's a review that tested sustained gaming workloads on the M3 Air. > During the game, the surface temperatures of the laptop certainly got warmer, though never uncomfortably hot. Many gaming laptops I’ve reviewed get much hotter (and louder, of course) during games. Looking at you, Razer Blade. https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/macbook-air-m3-gaming-performance/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/macbook-air-m3-gamin...

nottorp 3y ago
> never uncomfortably hot Well, that's like "never uncomfortably loud" for video card fans. In the eye of the beholder.
- GeekyBear 3y ago
  Fearmongering aside, from what I've seen, the reviews say it gets warm but not hot. Tom's Guide broke out the thermal gun and said the hot spot on the bottom of the 13 inch model was about four degrees F above normal body temps while running Cinebench on a loop. The 15 inch one got about 9 degrees F above body temp. You certainly wouldn't need to worry about melting your table.