Why does my MacBook Air M4 heat up so quickly?

KiltedTim wrote:

So your hand is sensitive enough to determine the exact temperature then?

Well my hand feels it's not hot which is the adjective you put in the title. My hand also tells me that my iPhone gets hot sometimes. See my other answer for a Terminal command that I ran.

I 100% agree. Same thing on my 15 inch Air M4.

It gets noticeable hot super fast and the battery goes fast, opposed to all those Youtubers saying the battery is a lot better with the M4.

And this is all just with Safari/Chrome/Discord and a few other lightweight apps open.... I have put my M2 through a lot worse stress and never has it even reached the point where I could say it's getting hot...

Was expecting an improvement from my M2, but it feels like downgrade at this point...

Real questions is: Do we have a problem which is fixable, or should I just return the M4 and stick to my M2?

I just got a new 32GB RAM M4 Air after using a 16GB RAM M3 Air for a year. I transferred everything over with the migration assistant, so the apps are identical. My primary browser is Microsoft Edge, and I used it daily on my M3 air without issues, after opening up 2 Edge windows (my work and personal accounts) my computer immediately got noticeably warm in my lap, which I never experienced on the M3 Air. When I opened the Activity monitor it shows that 16.08 GB of CPU are in use with 2 Edge windows (44 tabs and 5 tabs) and 1 Safari window (2 tabs) open. I don't understand how the CPU usage can be so high when I had more Edge windows with more tabs running in the background of my M3 Macbook, and the 44 tab window was directly imported from the other computer. I only ran into CPU issues when I attempted to have my many browser windows run with multiple Excel and PowerPoint, and even then, the computer wouldn't heat up, it would just make me close some applications.

I am going to update the computer to the latest OS and test out using Firefox as my daily driver browser, but I am very concerned that this brand new computer is having so many issues with such a lightweight task, especially as I upgraded to a higher RAM model to accommodate my heavy workloads.

I want to know if this is a widespread issue with the new M4 Airs or if this is an issue that would warrant trying to get Apple to replace the computer.

I'm having similar issues on my 13" --upgraded memory and ssd too. I've noticed very light usage that would never cause any significant heat on my M1 air, will get really warm on the bottom in just a few minutes --my monitor shows 73C.

Is there a way to voluntarily under clock the M4 when you don't really need performance?

Exactly the same thing for me - Got my M4 air base today and the moment i turned it on noticed very high temperature with minimum usage + considerable lag with applications like chrome for even the bare min functions.

I have an M3 air base with half the ram (8gb) and its cold af with the same usage. Would really love if someone from the team shares if this is fixable or not?

Hey, what program are you using to monitor your temps ? Just got the m4 MacBook Air and am coming from long time windows. I too am curious how it works without active cooling and I’m just used to monitoring temperature is to know what a baseline is for things being OK

I’m experiencing the same issue. My brand new MacBook M4 15" frequently overheats, especially when using Figma or Photoshop. Temperatures regularly reach around 60°C, and can spike up to 80°C if the room temperature is above 25°C. This is a serious concern.

Thanks, does anyone know how to disable the messages app in Mac OS? I found that its the bottom of the screen on my MBA M4 15 inch that is overheating, and compare to my M1 MBA which never has overheating problems before.

I also have the same issues. I use both of my M2 and M4 Mac air. I use my laptop mostly open safari, some articles, Ai, and Mswords. I plan to give the M2 to my brother but i havent move the data yet to the M4. I use the M2 from 100% until 15% in Aircon room with no heat at all. After the battery low, i switch to the M4. I use it form 95% to 72% with heat all of the body (sides the trackpad, under the laptop, near the speaker and the keyboard even warm) I havent move any data. The strorage is still 50 gb. im not comfortable typing while there are heat on my palm

I've had mine for a day now and I've not seen any heat issues using Migration Assistant and Safari.

KiltedTim wrote:

Exactly how are you measuring the temperature?

My hand touching the underside of the MacBook Air where it feels cool rather than warm.

So your hand is sensitive enough to determine the exact temperature then?

KiltedTim wrote:

Exactly how are you measuring the temperature?

Do you have any suggestions on how to measure the temperature?

I wasn't talking to you. Please pay attention.