M2 MacBook Air Gets the iFixit Teardown Treatment, Revealing Lack of Heat Spreader, an Accelerometer, and More

The M2 MacBook Air has been taken apart before, revealing a fanless cooling solution, but none of those attempts are as meticulous as the executed by iFixit. Though the teardown experts took longer than others to publish their video, their disassembly reveals some additional ports, including an accelerometer.

M2 MacBook Air Also Reveals a Single 256GB NAND Storage Chip Instead of Two, Which Limits Read and Write Performance Significantly

Prior to iFixit’s M2 MacBook Air teardown, an earlier in-depth look showed that the redesigned portable Mac features a single NAND flash chip with 256GB of onboard storage. On this occasion, iFixit found no differences in the storage components between other M2 MacBook Air models, which is disappointing since Apple’s latest decision limits read and write performance. Other components include a Thunderbolt 3 driver, along with a USI Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip, plus an accelerometer. iFixit has not stated why this accelerometer is in place, but we will find out in the future.

Coming to the cooling solution, the M2 MacBook Air teardown found no heat spreader, which would explain why the M2 gets unforgivably hot when running intensive workloads. iFixit mentions that the chassis is lighter than the M1 MacBook Air, so it is possible that Apple deliberately left out some cooling components to bring down the weight, though it will result in higher temperatures, leading to severe and more-than-occasional thermal throttling.

In fact, the M2 MacBook Air loses around 25 percent performance in multi-core tests compared to the new MacBook Air, which features a cooling fan. The situation can get worse if a user lives in a country with a hotter climate most of the time. There is some easy repairability, as the redesigned MacBook Air features easy adhesive pull tabs to remove the battery without damaging the chassis or the other components.

Apple also increased the battery capacity from 49.9WHr on the M1 MacBook Air to 52.6WHr on the M2 MacBook Air, giving users extra runtime. For a closer look at the teardown, watch iFixit’s video below and let us know in the comments what you thought.

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