The M5 MacBook Air will only be a spec bump, but there is one improvement I really want to see

In many of its recent hardware launches, including the iPad Pro and iPhone 17 Pro, Apple has prioritized one thing the most: thermals. As powerful as Apple Silicon can be, adequate cooling is essential for fan-powered devices.

There is one important product line that has been missed so far in this treatment: the MacBook Air.

Previous hot development

As mentioned earlier, the iPad Pro and iPhone 17 Pro both received a nice thermal upgrade – to solve complaints about overheating.

In the case of the iPad Pro, Apple has installed graphite sheets in the main housing, and used copper inside the Apple logo, which allows for more efficient heat dissipation. With these two improvements, Apple was able to achieve 20% better thermals in the new iPad Pro.

With the iPhone, as overheating complaints increased with the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple tackled the problem in two rounds: a new internal design in the iPhone 16 for better heat dissipation, and a full redesign in the iPhone 17 Pro – with a vapor chamber and aluminum unibody.

Despite these hot steps throughout the iPad Pro and the iPhone, Apple has never brought these improvements to the MacBook Air, one of its smallest and lightest computers with the heaviest silicon.

MacBook Air hot issues

Apple redesigned the MacBook Air in 2022 with a much smaller and lighter design, and moved from a large metal heatsink to a thin graphite sheet with no real heat spreader. This was a problem, because it meant that the M2 MacBook Air could move faster than the previous MacBook Air model, depending on the workload.

When Apple announced the M4 iPad Pro with its copper heat spreader in the Apple logo, I hoped that this was an important indicator of what was to come later in the MacBook Air. That’s yet to come, but Apple still has another shot with the M5 MacBook Air. It doesn’t have to invest in a copper heat spreader like the iPad Pro. Apple may just want a vapor chamber like the iPhone.

Despite Apple Silicon becoming more powerful, the MacBook Air’s thermals haven’t improved at all, which has led to the MacBook Air arguably not being optimized for chips like the M4. That problem will only get worse with the M5 if nothing changes.

Finish it

One could argue that most MacBook Air users don’t need continuous operation – and that would be a valid point. However, if the iPad Pro can have a more sophisticated cooling system while running iPadOS, I don’t see why the MacBook Air should miss out.

Apple is set to launch a new entry-level MacBook model sometime this year with the A18 Pro chip. That device will definitely be cooled a bit, but adding better thermal management to the MacBook Air will give it a leg up against the budget MacBook for some buyers.

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