Performance Comparison: M3 MacBook Air Falls Behind M3 MacBook Pro Due to Fan-less Cooling Design
Apple’s latest M3 MacBook Air models may offer completely silent operation with their fan-less cooling design, but they come with a significant trade-off in terms of performance. In a series of tests conducted by YouTube channel Max Tech, it was revealed that the M3 MacBook Pro, which features a single fan, outperforms the M3 MacBook Air in sustained workloads.
The M3 MacBook Air, despite its impressive performance in Geekbench 6’s single-core, multi-core, and Metal benchmarks, struggles to maintain its performance in demanding tasks. This is especially evident when running 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress test. The M3 MacBook Air reaches high CPU temperatures of up to 114 degrees Celsius and GPU temperatures of 102.9 degrees Celsius. As a result, the chipset’s power draw decreases significantly to prevent overheating, making the MacBook Air 33 percent slower than the MacBook Pro, despite both models having the same M3 chip with an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU.
One of the drawbacks of these high temperatures is the discomfort it causes for users. The M3 MacBook Air’s aluminum chassis conducts heat well, resulting in exterior temperatures reaching between 45 and 46 degrees Celsius. This can be highly uncomfortable for users who need to keep the laptop on their laps while running intensive workloads. It is worth noting that Apple has not made any changes to the internal design, as the previous M2 MacBook Air also suffered from high temperatures and performance loss compared to the MacBook Pro.
However, there is a solution to mitigate the high temperatures and improve performance. Max Tech managed to lower the temperatures of the M3 MacBook Air by modding the heatsink with $15 thermal pads. While the thermals remained the same as the previous generation M2 MacBook Air under stress, this time the M3 MacBook Air could sustain its performance for longer periods. Users who are familiar with this process can purchase thermal pads from Amazon at an affordable price and enhance the performance of their M3 MacBook Air.
In conclusion, while the M3 MacBook Air offers a fan-less cooling design for silent operation, it falls behind the M3 MacBook Pro in terms of sustained performance. The high temperatures reached by the M3 MacBook Air not only affect its overall performance but also cause discomfort for users. However, with a simple mod using thermal pads, users can improve the thermals and get more out of their M3 MacBook Air. Apple may need to address these issues in future iterations to provide a better balance between performance and cooling in their MacBook Air lineup.