M2 MacBook Air Teardown Confirms Laptop Doesn’t Cool That Much

Like the previous 24-inch iMac, the MacBook Air is mostly filled with… a lot of empty space. The battery dominates inside the device, but beyond that we’re mostly just looking at the mechanisms for the trackpad, keyboard and small logic board.

Upon opening, thermal paste and graphite tape were found, but there was no active cooling, not even a heat spreader. iFixit notes that the machine is more likely to overheat, which we found in our throttling tests.

Otherwise, for Apple laptops there is a common thing. iFixit notes that it appears to have an Apple-made Thunderbolt 3 driver, not Intel, which is interesting. It is curious that there is also an accelerometer, but it is not clear why it is in a laptop.

The MacBook Air M2 has a different speaker design than its predecessor, and iFixit has taken a look at the new system. The new Air omits the perforated speakers on either side of the keyboard that we’ve seen before, instead sounding out through small slots between the chassis and the display. iFixit also notes that the speakers look “small”.

The main purpose of these disassembly articles and videos is to evaluate maintainability, and there are some good signs here: for example, you only need four screws to get into the device. But there is still an agonizing pulling process in the beginning, and you must handle it carefully.

For more photos and details, go to the iFixit teardown.