We recently reported on the issues heat suffocation who suffers MacBook Air M2. Despite the negative connotation it has acquired, the fact is that heat suffocation it’s a protective mechanism that causes a loss of performance when the processor exceeds certain temperatures to cool it down or at least prevent it from getting even hotter. However, when it occurs, it is a sign that the dissipation mechanisms in place are not sufficient to keep the processor at relatively optimal temperatures.

The MacBook Air M2 uses passive dissipation, or what is the same, does not use a fan. This provides silence and is less affected by the accumulation of dust and dirt, but if the mechanism does not dissipate the heat until it reaches temperatures that are within the limits, what happened to the MacBook Air M2 will happen.

Does the problem have a solution? heat suffocation What affects the MacBook Air M2? The Mach Tech YouTube channel showed what could be considered a mitigation rather than a solution. For that he achieved insert thermal pads into the gap between the back panel and the electromagnetic shield. As a result, the pads were a little tight inside the laptop, but after reassembly everything worked without a problem.

The thermal pads used by Max Tech are from Thermalright Extreme Odyssey, and according to their specifications, they are 1.5 millimeters thick and offer a conductivity of 12.8 watts per meter Kelvin (W/mK). The same company offers another line of pads called Valor Odin, which increases the conductivity to 15W/mK.

The heating pads have achieved very good results. For example, when exporting 50 images with Lightroom Classic, time reduced from 2 minutes 55 seconds to 1 minute 56 seconds. This improvement also allows the MacBook Air to beat the MacBook Pro M2, which according to Max Tech achieved 2 two minutes. This big reduction in time is due to the fact that the pads keep the processor within optimal limits so that it does not lose performance.

Max Tech also ran synthetic tests with Cinebench to stress the processor and 3D Mark to do the same for graphics. The former shows an improvement, but not as eagerly as the Lightroom Classic export shows, while the 3D Mark mats manage to maintain performance better.

In summary, depending on the context, adding heating pads can go somewhere between significantly reducing and eliminating the problem heat suffocation by dragging the MacBook Air M2. yes indeed Doing such a modification yourself will void the warranty., so if you decide to add them, you need to be very clear about the risks you are exposed to. We’ll leave you with the Max Tech video.