$15 thermal pad can dramatically boost M2 MacBook Air’s sustained performance

Apple’s all-new M2 MacBook Air has no internal fan – which can cause the notebook to throttle down it’s M2 processor due to heat when running processor-intensive applications. But there’s an inexpensive $15 modification – a simple thermal pad – that can increase the sustained M2 performance of the MacBook Air.
A $15 thermal pad can dramatically boost M2 MacBook Air’s sustained performance
Filipe Espósito for 9to5Mac:

YouTuber Max Tech, who has already shared multiple videos of the 2022 MacBook Air’s internal components, decided to apply a cheap mod to his laptop to test whether it would result in more performance. Although Apple Silicon chips can run smoothly without an advanced cooling system, they still get quite hot depending on the tasks the user is working with.
As shown in one of his latest videos, Max has removed the bottom cover of the laptop to add a $15 thermal pad above the logic board, where the M2 chip is located. The thermal pad is able to quickly transfer the heat from the chip and logic board to the surface of the MacBook. As a result, the Mac is supposed to run even cooler, resulting in more sustained performance.
And it turns out, it really works. In one of his tests, the YouTuber exported 50 images of 42 megapixels each using Adobe Lightroom. The unmodified laptop took 2 minutes and 55 seconds to complete this task, while the MacBook with the thermal pad took only 1 minute and 56 seconds.

MacDailyNews Take: So, this is really only for those running processor-intensive applications over sustained periods of time, you know, things like rendering 4K videos all day long, so this is likely not an issue for MacBook Air users. Those users will already be on MacBook Pro units which contain active cooling fans.
The right tool for the job and all that.
However, if you’d like a simple, inexpensive way to increase the sustained M2 performance of your MacBook Air, you can get thermal pads starting under $6 via Amazon here.
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