The M5 Max , relying on two low-profile fans and a single heatpipe, is bound to run into overheating issues, and that’s exactly what one MacBook Pro owner experienced. The only difference here is that those high temperatures apparently caused the backspace key, which is labeled “delete,” to get inside the chassis, forcing the owner to visit Apple’s retail outlets, which quoted him a near-$900 bill if the machine wasn’t in warranty.
Thanks to the new Fusion Architecture, previous stress tests have shown that the M5 Max has slightly better thermals than the M4 Max , but when putting the MacBook Pro through its paces, running taxing workloads, even these machines can easily cross the 100°C ceiling in several seconds. For Redditor “rinsewin,” the higher temperatures likely wouldn’t have bothered him if the delete key hadn’t gotten caught on the chassis.
His belief is that, since this key is right next to the exhaust vent, it’s most susceptible to warping and getting stuck inside the chassis. Since Apple has stuck with this cooling design for years, the power limits of its chipsets continued to increase without any improvements to the design, which will explain why the company is rumored to introduce vapor chamber cooling in its newer models finally.
The worst part about this incident is that this is the second time that it’s happened to rinsewin, and had his M5 Max MacBook Pro not been in warranty, he’d have had to pay $895 for repairs. At the same time, some individuals have stated that heat distorting the keys is just an isolated incident, “ImpressiveHair3798” has said that these cases are increasing because the custom configurations allegedly shipping from China are prone to exhibiting such defects.
The only other incident that we’ve reported on that’s specifically related to the M5 Max MacBook Pro heating issues, causing damage to another part of the machine, was when there was a display discoloration effect that another owner talked about. However, whether the damage inflicted on the mini-LED panel was due to a hardware defect or excessive heat is something we cannot confirm.
Other overheating incidents on the M5 Max MacBook Pro include the NAND flash reaching 100°C during demanding AI workloads. Then again, these machines are kitted out with PCIe NVMe Gen 5 SSDs, so higher temperatures are to be expected. Even if Apple’s latest chipsets are designed to run toasty for hours on end, that doesn’t mean a beefy cooling design shouldn’t be given priority.
Not everyone is comfortable seeing chips reach 90°C, and touching or crossing the 100°C mark will make anyone nervous. If excessive temperatures have caused your MacBook Pro’s delete key to warp and get stuck in the chassis, let us know in the comments. As for everyone else, we recommend giving the keyboard a thorough cleaning once in a while to prevent dust specks from getting trapped inside the individual key membranes.
News Source: Reddit
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