Fixing Apple's GOOD Engineering - M1 MacBook Air thermal pads

Interesting video about how the only reason you even need a fan in the mac book pro is because how hot the shell of a laptop is allowed to get is legislated so you don't burn yourself on it. [VIDEO]

For a layman's overview of this, Linus from LinusTechTips gives a basic rundown of the relevant safety regulation and some numbers in one of his videos featuring the M1 Macbook Air and its cooling solution.[1] [1]: [VIDEO]

LTT Tech literally did a video with an identical thermal pad mod a year and a half ago with the M1 Air. [VIDEO] TLDR - Adding the thermal pads wouldn't pass regulatory muster.

To be clear, the real reason Apple don't do this themselves, is because there are legal regulations preventing them from selling products that are any hotter to the touch. According to the IEC, metal contact surfaces on machines are considered unsafe above 55.5C. And unmodded, Apple's notebooks already scrape up against that upper limit. With the mod, they go quite a bit over it — well into "causes pain to touch" territory. (See: [VIDEO] )

The same “issue” was present on the M1 air. LTT did a video on it. Same as this article. He didn’t recommend the mod. [VIDEO]