Katie MarsalUsers of Apple's ultraportable Mac are increasingly reporting that a firmware update might be taming processor usage, but is still leaving many of their systems too hot to use and prone to software freezes.
This happens regardless of whether any peripherals are attached that might ask more of the system.
Others also notice that their systems are simply slowing down in different ways: instead of switching off a single core, a handful report their systems keeping both cores active under most temperatures but lowering the clock speed, producing much the same result.
"This 'update' is a farce - all that it does is step the processor down to 800MHz as soon as the [temperature] rises to some ridiculously low [level]," one Air user explains.
Common troubleshooting steps appear to rule out software as the cause, even with complete operating system reinstalls. A number of less cautious owners have taken to installing the unofficial third-party app CoolBook to adjust system voltages and force the system to run at full speed but at lower voltages and thus lower heat.
For those determined to get an official solution, Apple's frontline technicians have had little success. More than one customer bringing his MacBook Air to the Genius Bar was told that a hardware repair was unlikely to help and to hope for "a software update or some other word" from Apple to provide a more permanent remedy.
While candid, the response comes with no public Apple response and is described as little consolation to customers who feel the system either too hot or too slow to be workable in real conditions.
"How long am I expected to wait? Currently, my computer isn't fit for the purpose for which it was built and sold," an affected owner says.
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56 Comments
Hmm, that's unfortunate for the Air owners.
Maybe I missed something, but if a third party app is cooling the processor while maintaining performance, why can't apple do something similar? Anyone care to explain that one?
Jimzip
coolbook still works after applying the update. thank god!
I've never experienced such problems with my Air 1.8, so I decided to skip this update (for now). I think I'll keep it that way.
It gets hot when playing 3D games or watching HD video, but not unusably so, and I've never seen a core drop away in Activity Viewer.
If it ain't broke, I don't want to try to fix it!
Now, I HAVE had slow or failed WiFi connection issues--even though the signal is very strong and reliable once connected. I can walk a hundred feet way through concrete walls and not lose my WiFi--but establishing the connection in the first place, even 2 feet from the Time Capsule, takes some retries. I think it's a WiFi n issue, because my iMac once had a similar issue with n only--but the latest Airport software update fixed the iMac. The same update seemed to improve the Air but not fix the problem entirely.
I've been a MBA owner for three months now and have been very happy with it. I don't believe it to be as big a problem as some vocal people say it is.
I've noticed mine does get quite warm when I'm viewing videos. I just don't watch that many videos on mine anymore. No big deal. It's not meant to be my primary machine. The 99% of the time I use the MBA for what it is intended for. Low-performance office apps/email/browsing. For those things, it works just fine for me and heat is not an issue.
I could see it being a problem if it was in a hot environment like Vegas and no A/C. But I would think that would be a problem for most laptops.
Every other laptop I've owned from other manufacturers have always cooked my lap and ran hot. This is not any different so I'm not sure why the heat issues are focused on this particular laptop.
? The next MBAs should go from 20W to 17W so hopefully that will no longer be an issue.
? Is anyone use iStat and recording the system load and temps when it's acting up?