3 Things to Know About the MacBook Air’s Fanless Design

The MacBook Air has no fan, so it runs silently but cannot move heat away during heavy work. Casual tasks like browsing or streaming are fine, and the laptop stays cool.

Sustained heavy work like video rendering or compiling code causes the chip to throttle. Heat builds up, and the system slows down to protect itself after a few minutes.

The MacBook Pro with fans sustains higher performance by actively pulling heat out. If your work regularly makes a Pro’s fans spin for more than five minutes, buy the Pro.