Make your M2 MacBook Air FASTER for $8?!

It's no secret that the MacBook Air M2 has some thermal throttling issues, so today we're going to try to fix that! With just a few dollars, can thermal pads save the day? To get a thorough answer we're going to try multiple thermal pad applications to see what method works best for improving the cooling in your new M2 MacBook Air thermal throttling fix.

Time stamps
0:00 Intro
1:08 The experiment
3:06 Control test
4:07 Sponsor segment
5:03 Opening procedure
6:19 Installation
7:57 Test run 1
9:03 Test run 2&3
9:18 Test run 4 and final results
10:55 Blender test
12:34 Lessons learned

Gear:
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[MaxTechOfficial]

Great test! We used 1.5mm thermal pads for $15 which are very well rated, so I wonder if that allowed better contact with the back plate on the M2 MacBook Air which could've allowed more heat transfer. We noticed some pretty huge performance differences in our test.
Nevertheless, it's awesome to see that there's an easy and simple way to handle this thermal throttling problem. Cheers!

[rkilbrai]

So, the obvious question: why didn’t Apple do this?

1) It gets the bottom case too close (or over) the legal allowed limit?

2) It transfers the heat to other parts that will be damaged or reduced in life span, such as the batteries or other components?

So, while some improvements may be gained (in the short term), could this actually be bad for the longevity of the MacBook or certain parts?

It’s an honest question as mine arrives next month.

[iHorus]

The base model was faster because 1.5mm thermal pad was actually making good contact between the bottom plate and the M2 cover. 1mm cheap pad still probably had some air left between the M2 and the plate, thus causing worse thermals. So I would suggest GO FOR 1.5mm thermal pad.

[booneh]

I got my M2 MacBook Air to completely shut down all cores just by putting it in the microwave for a few minutes. I can’t believe Apple considers this a pro device.

[lazzercat]

Linus did this with m1 air, and also first 4 run test results has different text spacing.

[tupublicoful]

If you want to perform experiments changing two independent variables you need to run all the combinations to reach a conclusion. 1 Small Pattern/Blue Pads, 2 Small Pattern/Silver Pads, 3 Large Pattern/Blue Tabs, 4 Large Patter/Silver Tabs. Otherwise it’s impossible to ascertain what if anything made a difference. Might have to even consider Pad Thickness another independent variable, then requiring 8 experiments.

[Traegorn]

"Shorten your M2 MacBook Air Lifespan by YEARS for $8" would be more accurate. This is how you cook a battery, causing it to expand, and killing the whole thing. The air gap is on purpose, to isolate the heat from the battery. Thermal pad modifications will kill so many MacBook Airs years before they would have.

Do not do this to your Mac. If you don't want your computer thermal throttling, buy one with a fan -- that's literally why they still make them.

[Techtype_]

Max Tech got even better Benchmarking results with his Thermal Pad mod! He did change the Thermal Paste out for Arctic MX-4 tho, that also played a role in it.

[uaIgorGorbunov]

this is killing battery, it gets over 40 degrees celsius, and gets extra run out. Show battery temps also

[MoraFermi]

You should check if the 1mm pads were actually thick enough to contact the bottom case! Your inconsistency could be explained by simply having the extra thermal capacity in the heatsink, coupled with very thin (but still there) air gap.

[tomsun]

The mod leads to a new problem, the thermal load is better distributed (so no downclocking in short time), i leads to more thermal stress for the battery (and the temperature for the battery can get to high). The temperature of the battery is tracked in terms of warranty, but the measurements of battery temperature seems no to be used for controlling speed of CPU. If the battery temperature is also integrated into cpu speed management, it would be a good solution. At this point its more an optimization if warranty behaviour from apple is not an issue for you (like also not covering micro fissures in the display (its ALWAYS customers fault and NO warranty)

[mikeinva]

This is total BS. I have both the M1 and the M2 MacBook Air and have never ever experienced overheating with normal every day use. I use adobe in design and Photoshop and I've never once had an overheating issue. All these benchmarks where they're running them six or eight times in a row of course they're going to overheat no shit. All this again is BS you should not have to put thermal pads in there if you're using it for normal use that it was designed for. If you're using it for editing v4K video.and stuff like that this is not the laptop for you, upgrade to a MacBook Pro, pro as in profession use. ALSO doing this fix is going to drastically shorten the lifespan of the batteries. Think about it you're transferring the heat to the bottom cover which has direct contact with the batteries therefore you're making the batteries run hot and everybody knows heat is not good for batteries,

[AndeyKurniawan]

add furniture feet pads to tilt the laptop slightly. provide more airflow over the base. you should measure the table surface where your laptop is on. it soaks up the heat and once equal, it also degrades peformance

[benji_tunez]

this seems like a awesome fix. Do be careful with the placement because I saw a video that critique linus tech tips for doing a similar mod that revealed that doing this can lead the heat towards the battery, which for the uninitiated, heat + battery = boom boom

[lazerbeam]

Two points. Although the thicker thermal pad is harder to get the rear shell back on, the physical contact between the pad and the shell will conduct the heat away better. The whole point of thermal pads and pastes is to provide a continuous media between to objects to facilitate the transfer of heat. The firmer the contact the better. Secondly, the thermal emissivity (blackbody effect) of the midnight-colored case is less than the lighter colored case. Although the difference is minute, cumulatively it shows up in your testing.

[mdsmithson]

maybe this is an obvious question.. but does this void warranty?

[aykuttasdelen]

What are the temperature differences of the "ssd", "battery" and other sensors with and without thermal pad?

Some users have given feedback that the heat pressure on other parts increased after the thermal pad application.

[geek-channel]

I would have a concern on battery longevity when the heat is transferred to the bottom of the case. There is probably a reason why engineers did not remove the heat from the CPU to the battery via the bottom of the case. But it is really impressive to see how much performance gain you could get just f a better CPU cooling. Nice job!

[afc]

I would add a thin copper heatsink outside of the case as well. I'll be adding a stand/riser to prop it up anyway, so I'll probably add 1 or 2 rectangular heatsinks alone the riser, would be great if you could test it.

[THEBAD]

Would have loved to see if a laptop cooling pad with a fan would have increased performance even more.