Depends on the video chat service being used, but in some cases you can force them to use a codec with GPU accelerated encode/decode by running the web version in Safari, which reduces CPU load and heat a lot.

It might’ve changed since then but the difference was pretty pronounced with Google Meet a few years ago. In Chrome it roasted laps but in Safari it barely moved the needle.

Right, so don’t buy an Air if this is a regular part of your workload. You paid less for an air and you are getting less performance under heavy extended load. Sounds about right.