M2 MacBook Air throttling is being vastly over-exaggerated

[darngooddesign]

...And in all honestly, I really like the form factor of the MBA M2 (lightweight, slim, portability etc.). So it might not bother me to upgrade the ram as well - but at what point should I consider MBP M1 14"?

Battery life. You mentioned 6-8 hour sets, that might be pushing the 14's battery life while the Air will keep going. I remember from my days of DJing, finding an available outlet in a club booth can sometimes be a challenge.

Any reason why you're not considering getting a less expensive M1 Air considering all the abuse laptops get under these conditions?

 

[Droid13]

Also starts at $2,500 for 16/512 on Lenovo's website 🥴

There is a deal for 16/512 on the UK site - £1897.49 down from £2,529.99.
For reference MBA 16/512 is £1749 (+£219 for AppleCare is £1968).

Need to find out about battery life and performance next before trying to compare though.

EDIT: Prices updated. Also battery life 14 hours, 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor (E-cores up to 3.40 GHz P-cores up to 4.70 GHz), looking up some benchmarks and data on throttling.

 

[darngooddesign]

2.7 pounds isn't light. Thinkpad X1 Nano Gen 2 is 2.14 pounds and includes a fan.

If its anything like my work Thinkpad T14, it requires a fan and is lightweight is due to all the plastic, unprotected plastic covered screen which can be scratched, and flexy chassis.

But that X1 better be lighter what with it costing a grand more.

 

[mi7chy]

If its anything like my work Thinkpad T14, it requires a fan and is lightweight is due to all the plastic, unprotected plastic covered screen which can be scratched, and flexy chassis.

But that X1 better be lighter what with it costing a grand more.

Pretty sure X1 Nano is magnesium, carbon fiber and mil-spec. Not recycled soda cans.

 

[NT1440]

Pretty sure X1 Nano is magnesium, carbon fiber and mil-spec. Not recycled soda cans.

I just bought myself a fully loaded X13 (AMD) for my new work machine. Bottom case is magnesium.

I also would never describe my current T490, or any of the T series I deploy daily as “flexy”. I explicitly moved my company from HP Probooks to ThinkPads *because* they are much better built machines. No idea what that poster is talking about.

Are they as solid as MacBooks? No, but they are definitely well made business oriented machines.

 

[Droid13]

Pretty sure X1 Nano is magnesium, carbon fiber and mil-spec. Not recycled soda cans.

I am yet to find a review or assessment of this thing that goes into it to the same depth as the MacBook Air M2 reviews. I have found a few videos and they are anecdotal and not exactly positive, and that is it.

If you know of one please do share. I would like to learn more about this laptop and what compromises were made to build it.

 

[thenewperson]

There is a deal for 16/512 on the UK site - £1897.49 down from £2,529.99.
For reference MBA 16/512 is £1749 (+£219 for AppleCare is £1968).

Need to find out about battery life and performance next before trying to compare though.

EDIT: Prices updated. Also battery life 14 hours, 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1260P Processor (E-cores up to 3.40 GHz P-cores up to 4.70 GHz), looking up some benchmarks and data on throttling.

Apple care for Apple's, why? Does the Lenovo's price come with extended warranty? Also, you could probably find deals for Apple's; it is a newer machine (and an Apple one at that) so probably not anywhere to that level.

Also that's an Alder Lake machine with slightly-less battery capacity than the MBA so I'm curious about the real world battery life on this.

 

[Droid13]

Apple care for Apple's, why? Does the Lenovo's price come with extended warranty? Also, you could probably find deals for Apple's; it is a newer machine (and an Apple one at that) so probably not anywhere to that level.

Also that's an Alder Lake machine with slightly-less battery capacity than the MBA so I'm curious about the real world battery life on this.

I am trying to be fair but it is hard to find a well-matched machine. On the UK site it came with some kind of premium three-year warranty but I don't know how it compares to AppleCare; put both prices in for that reason.

Still unable to find any in-depth reviews so have given up for now. Things to do. Will revisit later.

EDIT: Lenovo Site (UK)

 

[darngooddesign]

I just bought myself a fully loaded X13 (AMD) for my new work machine. Bottom case is magnesium.

I also would never describe my current T490, or any of the T series I deploy daily as “flexy”. I explicitly moved my company from HP Probooks to ThinkPads *because* they are much better built machines. No idea what that poster is talking about.

Are they as solid as MacBooks? No, but they are definitely well made business oriented machines.

I'm talking about if I pick up my T14 with one hand at the palm-rest I can feel it flexing. It's well made, but it's still plastic.

Maybe I'm just used Apple's metal laptops, but the results of it being plastic are obvious to me. To be fair, my old white plastic MacBook flexes more than my Lenovo.

 

[thenewperson]

I am trying to be fair but it is hard to find a well-matched machine. On the UK site it came with some kind of premium three-year warranty but I don't know how it compares to AppleCare; put both prices in for that reason.

Still unable to find any in-depth reviews so have given up for now. Things to do. Will revisit later.

EDIT: Lenovo Site (UK)

That makes sense. Tried to look for in-depth reviews as well and that didn't really go anywhere either.

 

[alexonline]

The Mac Book Air is basic device for simple web browsing and simple things like that! It's for old and young kids and not for audio/video production! I still don't understand some of web so-called tech writers can't seem to understand that fact is making me not to trust them anymore!

This is just the biggest load of BS. I do tons of video production on an M1 MBA with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD, and used to be it on the Intel-based MBA’s before it, that had those horribly noisy cooling fans that I hated.

I have ordered the M2 MBA in Midnight with 24GB RAM and 1TB SSD and will do even more video production on it.

Fanless M-series designs are great! Some YouTubers seem to have become brainless though. Weird!

 

[alexonline]

And professionals who have never needed (and will never need) to edit 20 minutes of (or any) video. I guarantee that there are way more of us in the world than there are YouTube-ers 🙄🙄

Can we please cut it out with the “for kids and grandmas” BS? Most computer users in the world (including most “technical” computer users) will be perfectly fine in—if not amazingly well-equipped for—their quite professional jobs with the M2 MBA.

I second this. I have used MBA models for years for professional work. People who say you can’t do this exemplify the statement “Tell me you know nothing about using the MBA for professional work without telling me you know nothing abojt using an MBA for professional work.” 🤣😂

 

[darngooddesign]

And Apple literally gave it the MBP's media engine so it would be even better for video work.

 

[satcomer]

This is just the biggest load of BS. I do tons of video production on an M1 MBA with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD, and used to be it on the Intel-based MBA’s before it, that had those horribly noisy cooling fans that I hated.

BS? Are you crazy and believe every reviewer on net is honest?

 

[Abazigal]

No you don’t want it to happen. You want a chassis that is appropriately designed for the chip. But I know that Apple customers find it normal as Apple has a long history of designing computers that are not appropriate for the chip inside.

And not all chips are thermal throttling. Apple Silicon computers (except for the MBA and the 14 MBP with the 32-core GPU) are not thermal throttling. The fans don’t even turn on some Apple Silicon models.

That is what is attractive about Apple Silicon computers in general, they stay silent and cool while delivering all that power. Laptops with a RTX 3080 sound like jet engines by comparison and are super hot. If you let computers like the 16” M1 Max MacBook Pro thermal throttle (and thus being hot and loud like PC’s), what’s the point then?

Like you said - in order for the M2 chip to not throttle in any meaningful fashion, you will need a form factor more akin to the 14" MBP, which would amongst other things, make it thicker and heavier.

However, for a product like the MBA, its form is its function. People want a thin and light form factor that they can easily slip into a backpack and bring around with them. Which means no fan and a smaller thermal envelop. To them, it's an acceptable tradeoff, because the MBA still has exceptional battery life, and the M2 chip continues to deliver great performance even when throttled.

For me, I like that my M1 MBA is able to run zoom on 9 hours on a single charge while not plugged into a power outlet (maybe a bit less now that the battery has been through 1.5 years of wear and tear). While staying cool enough that I can rest the laptop on my naked laptop without any discomfort whatsoever. Whether this is despite the M1 chip being throttled to whatever extent, I literally could not care less.

Suggestions like adding some thermal pad to increase the rate of heat dissipation completely miss the point as to why the MBA exists and who the product is for, and I for one am glad that these people are not real engineers working at Apple.

 

[Zest28]

In the end, the consumers have spoken. Apple just suffered a huge drop in Mac sales. The Mac is now back at the same level as the iPad again.

So Rene, the youtubers and Apple shills who say it us that are the problem, the people like me who don’t want to spend $1200 for a base M2 MBA with a slow SSD (while the M1 MBA was $999 with a fast SSD).

And that we should simply spend $1500 to fix Apple their mistakes, but then being stuck with a very expensive laptop that has
- a bad screen
- thermal throttles
- has 2 slow ThunderBolt 3 (not 4) ports.

which is not worth the money. The MBA only made sense at $999.

People don’t seem to understand that the only reason why the MBA was succesful was because it was cheap, not because it was the “thinnest” laptop that Apple had. And the MBA is no longer cheap, especially when you have to fix Apple their mistakes with expensive upgrades.

 

[jav6454]

Pretty sure X1 Nano is magnesium, carbon fiber and mil-spec. Not recycled soda cans.

Carbon fiber was the material choice if I'm not mistaken.

 

[bcaslis]

In the end, the consumers have spoken. Apple just suffered a huge drop in Mac sales. The Mac is now back at the same level as the iPad again.

So Rene, the youtubers and Apple shills who say it us that are the problem, the people like me who don’t want to spend $1200 for a base M2 MBA with a slow SSD (while the M1 MBA was $999 with a fast SSD).

And that we should simply spend $1500 to fix Apple their mistakes, but then being stuck with a very expensive laptop that has
- a bad screen
- thermal throttles
- has 2 slow ThunderBolt 3 (not 4) ports.

which is not worth the money. The MBA only made sense at $999.

People don’t seem to understand that the only reason why the MBA was succesful was because it was cheap, not because it was the “thinnest” laptop that Apple had. And the MBA is no longer cheap, especially when you have to fix Apple their mistakes with expensive upgrades.

Macrumors logic at it's best:

1. Sales were down 10% because Apple could not get enough parts. It has nothing to do with demand.
2. The quarter sales only cover until the end of June 2022. Before the M2 MacBook Air was even available to order. No matter what anyone thinks about the M2 MacBook Air, it had zero impact on the past quarter.

I'm only grateful that most of the people that post here don't work at Apple and have no opportunity to affect what happens.

 

[Tagbert]

In the end, the consumers have spoken. Apple just suffered a huge drop in Mac sales. The Mac is now back at the same level as the iPad again.

So Rene, the youtubers and Apple shills who say it us that are the problem, the people like me who don’t want to spend $1200 for a base M2 MBA with a slow SSD (while the M1 MBA was $999 with a fast SSD).

And that we should simply spend $1500 to fix Apple their mistakes, but then being stuck with a very expensive laptop that has
- a bad screen
- thermal throttles
- has 2 slow ThunderBolt 3 (not 4) ports.

which is not worth the money. The MBA only made sense at $999.

People don’t seem to understand that the only reason why the MBA was succesful was because it was cheap, not because it was the “thinnest” laptop that Apple had. And the MBA is no longer cheap, especially when you have to fix Apple their mistakes with expensive upgrades.

The recent finanicial results for were Q3 which ran through May of this year. Apple had not even announced the M2 MBA. Those lower sales are mostly due to supply constraints with likely some slowness due to anxiety about inflation and recession. The big bump from the Covid lockdowns and work from home have tapered off and we are back to a more normal demand levels. Even so, most newer models are very supply restricted.

I’m not sure why you seem to care so much about the MBA. The screen is a little better than the M1. The thermal throttling is not a problem for most people. Thunderbolt 4 is no faster than Thunderbolt 3 (yes!). If this makes you sad, what makes you happy? What computer do you want? Why spend your time excoriating this one?

 

[Zest28]

The recent finanicial results for were Q3 which ran through May of this year. Apple had not even announced the M2 MBA. Those lower sales are mostly due to supply constraints with likely some slowness due to anxiety about inflation and recession. The big bump from the Covid lockdowns and work from home have tapered off and we are back to a more normal demand levels. Even so, most newer models are very supply restricted.

I’m not sure why you seem to care so much about the MBA. The screen is a little better than the M1. The thermal throttling is not a problem for most people. Thunderbolt 4 is no faster than Thunderbolt 3 (yes!). If this makes you sad, what makes you happy? What computer do you want? Why spend your time excoriating this one?

What computer i want? If Apple does a revision of the Base M2 MBA, and puts 2 NAND modules in it, I will buy the Starlight version.

That has been the model I have had my eyes on since the announcement. But I have had to cancel my purchase due to the slow SSD.

 

[alexonline]

I agree, but I’m betting that the refreshed mbp, whenever it comes, will see a price increase.
The timing is just a case of apple feeling like they can get away with it.

Apple jacked up the price? All those trillions Trump and Biden printed - let alone all the other governments around the world - didn’t have anything to do with price rises?

Apple makes a nice profit and it could have cut that profit, but why? It’s profits fund the next generation.

Apple didn’t jack up the price - the MBA M1 is still on sale at the same price. Apple is probably now dealing with a lower profit margin there.

The MBA M2 is a new kettle of fish. Global prices have gone up and Apple has priced accordingly.

 

[alexonline]

The recent finanicial results for were Q3 which ran through May of this year. Apple had not even announced the M2 MBA. Those lower sales are mostly due to supply constraints with likely some slowness due to anxiety about inflation and recession. The big bump from the Covid lockdowns and work from home have tapered off and we are back to a more normal demand levels. Even so, most newer models are very supply restricted.

I’m not sure why you seem to care so much about the MBA. The screen is a little better than the M1. The thermal throttling is not a problem for most people. Thunderbolt 4 is no faster than Thunderbolt 3 (yes!). If this makes you sad, what makes you happy? What computer do you want? Why spend your time excoriating this one?

Then we have doofuses going around suggesting Thunderbolt is slow, what planet are these people living on. Are they even Mac users? Or are they experts in Hackintoshes?

 

[alexonline]

What computer i want? If Apple does a revision of the Base M2 MBA, and puts 2 NAND modules in it, I will buy the Starlight version.

That has been the model I have had my eyes on since the announcement. But I have had to cancel my purchase due to the slow SSD.

“If Apple does a revision”…
Dream on baby. Stop being a cheapskate and just buy the 512gb version. Problem solved.

 

[alexonline]

I hear the M7 should be able to wirelessly connect to the Death Star. If you're into destroying planets that might be a useful feature

They want to throttle planets, surely… 😂🤣

 

[alexonline]

Not really. I only had time to watch the first half but it was pretty clear that he didn't really decide what he wanted to test. First it starts out as a battery test starting at 60% and in the XPS in the lowest power mode. Then he switches to the highest power mode. Then he notes that the performance of the Alder Lake SoC is limited when on battery. I don't know if eventually he tested with a power adapter but this was not a scientifically valid test. Choose your settings and stick with them. Then change things and try again. Then note the differences.

It's not better just because the MacBook Air is better on battery. Either do a single test or do something comprehensive but just randomly changing things isn't very helpful.

MaxTech sounds like a MaxTwit