You can shut down your MacBook Air by holding down the power button for 10 seconds. You should only do this when necessary, as it will not let you save any files you were working on, safely exit apps or even corrupt files within your operating System.
My name is Ty, and I have been working within the IT field for the last few years and have dealt with a plethora of not only Tech related but MacBook Air-centered issues.
In this article, I will go into the methods you can take to power off your MacBook Air if it has become unresponsive and frozen.
Contents
Key Takeaways
- Hard resetting your MacBook Air is when you force it to power off.
- Holding down the power button will force your MacBook Air to restart.
- Leaving your MacBook Air on to drain the battery will also force it to power off.
Is Your MacBook Air Frozen?
It is possible that your Macbook isn’t frozen, but the app that you are using has seized up. To check your app to see if it has unexpectedly stopped working, you can check this through the activity monitor.
To open the Activity Monitor, use the critical combination of cmd+space to open up the spotlight. You can then type in Activity Monitor and check your apps to see if the one in question is unresponsive.
Select the App in question, and click the X to force the app to stop. Another way to force quit an app, you can click the Apple logo on the top left of the screen and select Force Quit.
The first, most common, and relied-upon method to force your MacBook Air to shut down is holding down the power button.
Hold the power button for ten seconds to force your MacBook Air to shut down. Sometimes it may take an extra few seconds, but keep the control held down until the device completely powers off.
The power button on the MacBook Air is on the top right of the keyboard; it doubles as the Fingerprint scanner in most models. It is directly above the power button.
Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Shutdown Your MacBook Air
There are two combinations of keys that you can use to shut down your device when it has become completely unresponsive.
The first key combo will attempt to safely close all apps and shut off your MacBook Air. Press Control + Option + Command + Power simultaneously. Unfortunately, there is a chance that this will not work, meaning you will have to result to the other Key Combination.
Press Control + Command + Power simultaneously, and continue holding them down until the device powers off completely.
Let the Battery Drain
The final method you can use to get your Frozen MacBook Air to power off is simply letting it drain its battery. Unplug the charger from your device, leave it to drain slowly, and power it off.
This could easily be the most time-consuming method; a full MacBook Air battery could last anywhere from 12-15 hours. Once the battery drains in its entirety, plug the power adapter back in, allow it some time to charge, and power it back on.
Final Thoughts
If your MacBook Air is refusing to work, and you are stuck on a frozen screen, don’t fret. There are many ways you can manually hard reset your device.
You can hold the power button for ten seconds to shut down your frozen MacBook Air. There are two keyboard commands you can use as well, Control + Option + Command + Power and Control + Command + Power. The last, least savory option is simply letting the battery drain.
