This week, Apple released a new software update, weighing in at about 551kb, to the MacBook Air’s system management control (SMC) in hopes that it will finally put an end to frequent and annoying freezing and overheating issues that have troubled some early adopters of Apple’s newest line of notebooks.

The new update specifically fixes the speed and operation of the MacBook Air’s internal fan, which is responsible for cooling the notebook and preventing overheating issues. The fan has failed to perform properly before the update was released, which resulted in random intervals of freezing that left the MacBook Air unresponsive for 10 to 15 second periods (if not longer) at a time, according to several users who have posted on Apple’s support forums (see here and here).

One of the most frustrating things, has got to be when you are in the middle of an important project, and your keyboard randomly freezes. Sure the mouse still works, but none of the keyboard shortcuts work, and neither does any typing. This was a long-running problem with the MacBooks and MacBook Pros on Leopard. more »