Hi everyone. Is there any helpful information from Apple or one of y’all intelligent TWiT fans that explains how hot the M1 can operate? I just got my MBA M1 (base model: 8gb memory, 256 ssd, 7 gpu cores) and when I played City Skylines for about 15 min, the computer was burning hot. iStats Menu showed 91 degrees Celsius. I’ve pored over countless comments and articles online about processor temperatures, along with every caveat under the sun (e.g. all processors are different, duration of temperatures is important, etc.). I realize Rosetta is working in the background. I just want to know if 91 degrees Celsius for 1 to 2 hours per day is anything to worry about. Anyone who has information will be my hero. Maybe there’s no answer. Maybe I just have to live my life not worrying about heat and just do what I want to do and see what happens.
If it matters: I use my MBA on an aluminum stand with cutouts at the base, so airflow is really good around the computer. The room is at 68 degrees Fahrenheit. No direct sun on the computer.
Thanks 
Hey fellow Skylines player!
I’ve got an M1 MacBook Pro. Skylines is the only thing that will really turn on the fans. I don’t think you’re doing any damage, as it should throttle down to protect itself. Maybe try running it at a lower resolution?
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Hi, @TheDaveAbides ! Thank you for this information, and I am so happy you play the game as well. The fans on my 2015 MacBook Pro gave out a couple months ago and I was so sad for many reasons, but mainly because I could no longer play Skylines 
I could only afford the base MacBook Air M1 at the moment and was so excited to play again.
I just got done texting Apple support and they gave me the following information…
Should I take their cautious advice and not play the game? This will be heartbreaking…
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That’s too bad! I don’t have an Apple but I do play Cities and with a large save file that game will definitely churn my CPU.
Here’s my question for Apple owners - if @GrandmaChaz chooses to run the game anyway, would that void the product warranty? They’re not overclocking or using the system in any abusive way so I can’t imagine it would.
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Quick update: I set the display resolution from the default 1440x900 to 1280x800. I also turned off some of the fancy settings, like anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. Finally, I refrained from using the 2x or 3x speed options. This resulted in the CPU staying under 80 degrees Celsius. Anytime I sped up the time to 2x or 3x, the temperature quickly approached 90 Celsius. Kinda sucks to limit these settings that were fine on my 2015 MacBook Pro (which had fans), but I guess that’s what comes with only being able to afford the cheapest M1 laptop model. At least the game is playable and after a few minutes, I didn’t realize the “downgrade” in visuals.
I would have a problem with being told I couldn’t use my computer whatever way I wanted. It should be throttling and slowing down (to maintain a safe temperature) rather than getting too hot and potentially running at unsafe temperatures. It sounds like the M1 without a cooling fan was not the right choice for your computing needs.
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How big is the city? And how many mods or assets are you using? Did you do a clean install, or use migration assistant?
I loaded my city for the first time in a month, 25k residents, several mods, possibly a few assets, highest resolution and high graphic settings. Temps did rise to 80, but it was perfectly playable. Fans didn’t even turn on yet, though it didn’t run for very long (it’s possible they were on low). Even though I’ve got the extra GPU core, RAM and fans, I wouldn’t think performance would be that much different. It looks like it uses quite a bit of Swap over expanding into RAM.
I doubt it…it would have to call that out in the warranty. Also, the MacBook Air should be throttling to lower the temperature. Sounds like a problem with that machine
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Or maybe they’ve gone light on the throttling measures for performance.
Or maybe they’re inexperienced at GPUs and they’re not measuring the proper temperatures while the GPU is in use, or maybe they are, but aren’t able to properly throttle it? (For example maybe they have a bug and throttle the CPU when temps are high, but not the GPU.)
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That’s very much bordering on the “you’re holding it wrong” response. I agree with others that say to send it in for warranty.
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Here in the Who that nation I had to run computers at temps like 60 C for 6 hours long doing heavy work. So I don’t see an issue. Of course no Audio CDs could be played on that system. The DVD-ROM drive was removed do that heat iusse so all apps where installed by USB DVD-ROM at collier temps like 20 C.
