Taking Aim at Apple’s Fanless MacBook Airs With Fans

Andrew Cunningham, writing for Ars Technica:

One caveat that I hadn’t seen mentioned in Microsoft’s presentation or in other coverage of the announcement, though — Microsoft says that both of these devices have fans. Apple still uses fans for the MacBook Pro lineup, but the MacBook Air is totally fanless. Bear that in mind when reading Microsoft’s claims about performance.

Are any of today’s first batch of “Copilot+ PCs” fanless? If not, can any of them truly be said to have “taken aim” at the MacBook Air?

  • Acer Swift 14 AI: I couldn’t find any mention of fans or cooling, which makes me think it has fans.
  • Asus Vivobook S 15: “Plus, dust filters for both fans keep your laptop pristine.”
  • Dell: No mention.
  • HP: No mention.
  • Lenovo: No mention.
  • Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge: Only mention of “fan”: “Galaxy Book4 Edge also brings fan-favorite features, Chat Assist and Live Translate, to the PC.”

If any of these are fanless, I’d expect that to be a touted feature. If I’m wrong and one or more of these are fanless, let me know and I’ll post an update. But if they’re not fanless, it’s hard to say they’re MacBook Air peers.

★ Tuesday, 21 May 2024