What you need to know
- Thermal monitoring app Hot has been updated to add Apple M1 support.
- The app will show how fast your CPU is running and whether it's being throttled as a result of heat.
Popular thermal monitoring app Hot has been updated to add support for M1 Macs, including the new M1 iMac and other similarly speedy machines.
The update, which is available for download now and doesn't cost a penny, can display how hot your M1 chip has become as well as its current rate of throttling. Spoiler – it doesn't seem to throttle, even in the most toasty of portable machines.
From our MacBook Air review:
There's no more deciding which variant of Intel's inefficient Core CPUs would overheat inside this narrow chassis (as many MacBook Air owners complained about over the last two years). Instead, the M1, built on a 5nm manufacturing process, is so efficient and outputs such little heat, that Apple felt it reasonable to remove the damn fan.
Now run the same test on an Intel MacBook Air or MacBook Pro and weep as you see that performance graph drop as the temperature rises.
Apple's M1 chips have been lauded for their speed, but it's their continued strong performance even when hot that puts them head and shoulders above Intel's chips for many people. Apple's portable machines have long suffered from varying degrees of thermal throttling at load, but there are no such problems with M1 Macs and, presumably, we shouldn't expect any with future Apple silicon machines either.
Want to taste a little bit of that M1 magic for yourself? Check out our list of the best MacBook deals and see if you can snag yourself an Apple silicon bargain!
