14'' MBP M2 Max - Benchmarks, Battery, Thermals?

[mamamro]

For those that have the M2 Max 30 (or 38 core) on a 14'' MBP... can you share your experience on battery life/heat?

It seems that the sweet spot for the M1 Max's was the 24 core GPU when it comes to balancing performance vs. battery life. The M1 Max 32 core is more powerful but runs into thermal issues + bigger battery drain.

Given that the M2 Max chip is more powerful (more heat) and Apple hasn't supposedly made any notable improvements in the cooling systems, I've read that the combination of a small chassis 14'' and the M2 Max chip is a bad combo. The larger body 16'' might be ok but the 14'' is too small to handle it.

If anyone has some benchmarks, curious how battery life stacks up on the 14'' M2 Max 30 core vs.
- 14'' M2 Max 38 core
- 14'' M1 Max 32 core
- 14'' M1 Max 24 core
(running the same activities of course)

 

[Kardoth]

I am looking for the same info!

 

[maflynn]

For those that have the M2 Max 30 (or 38 core) on a 14'' MBP.

Search is your friend
M2 Max 38-Core Benchmarks
M2 Max 30-core Benchmarks

Google is also known to help in such efforts
MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 Pro and M2 Max benchmarks — here's how fast it is
MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 Pro and M2 Max benchmarks — we tested them both and the results are shocking
Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 Max review

 

[Yebubbleman]

For those that have the M2 Max 30 (or 38 core) on a 14'' MBP... can you share your experience on battery life/heat?

It seems that the sweet spot for the M1 Max's was the 24 core GPU when it comes to balancing performance vs. battery life. The M1 Max 32 core is more powerful but runs into thermal issues + bigger battery drain.

Given that the M2 Max chip is more powerful (more heat) and Apple hasn't supposedly made any notable improvements in the cooling systems, I've read that the combination of a small chassis 14'' and the M2 Max chip is a bad combo. The larger body 16'' might be ok but the 14'' is too small to handle it.

If anyone has some benchmarks, curious how battery life stacks up on the 14'' M2 Max 30 core vs.
- 14'' M2 Max 38 core
- 14'' M1 Max 32 core
- 14'' M1 Max 24 core
(running the same activities of course)

Apparently, part of why the M1 Max was a bad idea in the MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) is that they used the same cooling system for both M1 Pro and M1 Max. With the MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) they used two different cooling systems - similar to what Apple did with M1 Max and M1 Ultra Mac Studio models having different cooling systems.

Frankly, I'm generally wary of 14-inch MacBook Pros for battery/cooling. Not because I think they'll fail or be insufficient. (I don't, for the record.) Them having the worst battery life of the bunch and running chips clearly engineered for the 16-inch MacBook Pro first and foremost doesn't sit well with me. But cool that it exists for those that are cool with those things!

 

[maflynn]

that they used the same cooling system for both M1 Pro and M1 Max

I heard that the 14" M1 Max runs hotter, then the 16" version

 

[dmccloud]

I haven't had my 14" MBP long enough to do a full assessment of battery life, performance, etc., but I did notice last night that when I had my external drive plugged in to migrate some stuff over from the old Mac, the battery drained noticeably faster than without that drive connected. I had similar experiences with my M1 Pro, where having an external monitor and/or HDD connected to it would also lead to faster battery drain. With that being said, I did verify that charging the 14" Pro via USB-C works similarly to charging via MagSafe (assuming the wattage of the former is comparable to the latter), so that gives me some additional flexibility in terms of where I can charge and what I can use to charge the laptop.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I heard that the 14" M1 Max runs hotter, then the 16" version

Exactly. They used two cooling systems for the MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021); one for M1 Pro configurations and one for M1 Max configurations. For the MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021), they just used the same cooling system for the M1 Pro models on the M1 Max models.

 

[dmccloud]

Here are my results for Geekbench 5 and 3D Mark Wild Life...