M2 MBA faster than 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro .... really Apple?

[Zest28]

Thanks to the latest MacOS update, one of my Logic projects I was working on no longer runs fine on my 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro as I get audio crackles.

But what makes this so hilarious is, my M2 MacBook Air can still run the project fine.

Guess I will have to make time this weekend to completely wipe my 16" M1 Max MacBook and reinstall MacOS and all software which hopefully fixes this issue.

 

[senttoschool]

Yes really. M2 has faster ST speed and a faster neural engine.

 

[Tagbert]

Yes really. M2 has faster ST speed and a faster neural engine.

Yea, I don’t see what is surprising or disturbing about that. The MBA has the newer processor generation and the older MBP does not. Of course, if they were doing anything requiring multi-threaded work or GPUs the MBP would outpace that MBA.

Isn’t Logic multi-threaded or maybe only for some things?

 

[Zest28]

Guys, really. The M2 MBA shouldn’t be “faster”.

Apple messed up something in the software as the project was running fine before the MacOS update.

And Logic is multi-threaded ofcourse.

 

[mabaker]

I think the OP meant that the newest Logic update made the M1 Pro slower?

 

[MayaUser]

Yes, i think is still an MacOS issue since 2018 with audio cracking

 

[stevemiller]

i sympathize with the audio crackle issues, as it is definitely an issue with these machines. i'm confused though, is it actually running slower too? or is the M1 pro just unusable because of the new audio crackle?

 

[MajorFubar]

I think the OP meant that the newest Logic update made the M1 Pro slower?

No he meant exactly what he said: the new MacOS update has caused his M1 MBP Max to start dragging its heels playing Logic projects it ran perfectly fine before.

The fact his M2 Air has no issues is actually is kind of irrelevant. A MacOS update shouldn't suddenly make your older machine behave like a dinosaur, yet I've seen this all the time, albeit that it's usually the aggregate deterioration of 2 or 3 OS's later before you start to really notice it.

 

[vigilant]

Guys, really. The M2 MBA shouldn’t be “faster”.

Apple messed up something in the software as the project was running fine before the MacOS update.

And Logic is multi-threaded ofcourse.

Are you running the Beta OS? It definitely sounds like a bug that will be fixed.

 

[Zest28]

I wasn't running the beta. But doing a clean reinstall of my entire 16" M1 Max MBP fixed it.

Now the 16" M1 Max MBP is faster than the M2 MBA again with the same project, as the CPU meters are lower as expected and no more audio crackles.

 

[Kazgarth]

Thanks to the latest MacOS update, one of my Logic projects I was working on no longer runs fine on my 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro as I get audio crackles.

But what makes this so hilarious is, my M2 MacBook Air can still run the project fine.

Guess I will have to make time this weekend to completely wipe my 16" M1 Max MacBook and reinstall MacOS and all software which hopefully fixes this issue.

The M2 Air has next gen N5P cores and new Neural engine, obviously it will be faster if the task is not CPU core count limited.

 

[ian87w]

That's concerning. Are we entering the days of having to clean install macOS whenever there's an upgrade, just like Windows? How sad this is.

 

[maflynn]

People are complaining that Apple's newer chips are faster then their older ones?

 

[Zest28]

Really guys. Just use some common sense. A M2 MBA is not supposed to be faster than a 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro.

And a complete reinstall of my 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro fixed the issue, so there is that.

So the topic can be closed as I already found the solution.

 

[maflynn]

A M2 MBA is not supposed to be faster than a 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro.

Why not?

I'm not trying to be coy, its a serious inquiry. Its very possible that the Apple made some really cool innovations in the M2 or the encoding in the M2 that handles things a lot more efficiently then the M1.

I don't know, I don't own either but what I do expect is that a new generation chip is expected to be faster then the prior generation. I know there's a huge difference between M1, M1 pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, but at the most basics it ought to be a faster processor.

 

[jdb8167]

I don't know, I don't own either but what I do expect is that a new generation chip is expected to be faster then the prior generation. I know there's a huge difference between M1, M1 pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, but at the most basics it ought to be a faster processor.

The M2 (unthrottled) will be faster at any non-GPU task that uses 4 or fewer cores than even an M1 Ultra. The M2 has faster single-core performance than any of the M1 cores.

 

[theorist9]

Why not?

I'm not trying to be coy, its a serious inquiry. Its very possible that the Apple made some really cool innovations in the M2 or the encoding in the M2 that handles things a lot more efficiently then the M1.

I don't know, I don't own either but what I do expect is that a new generation chip is expected to be faster then the prior generation. I know there's a huge difference between M1, M1 pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, but at the most basics it ought to be a faster processor.

According to this, Logic Pro can be configured to use one core for each track. So if the OP is doing this, and processing a sufficiently large number of tracks, the M1 Pro will be faster than the M2...unless the M2 comes with a dedicated audio coprocessor that enables it to be more than about twice as fast, per-core, for running Logic Pro than the M1 Pro...which seems unlikely.

Logic and multi-cores

I am thinking of upgrading from my late-2015 27" Retina iMac (4.0GHz Intel Core i7 with 32GB 1867 MHz DDR3 RAM) to the iMac Pro 8-core I use NI Reaktor and Kontakt and they take a bit to load in (I get the rainbow wheel for about 15 seconds) However, I am unsure if more cores equals better Logic ...

www.logicprohelp.com

 

[Sydde]

The M2 (unthrottled) will be faster at any non-GPU task that uses 4 or fewer cores than even an M1 Ultra. The M2 has faster single-core performance than any of the M1 cores.

More importantly, the GB5 multi-core / single-core ratio has improved by around 10% for the M2 over the base M1. What does this mean? It means the performance of the little cores has improved considerably. If your heavy work starts to edge into using little cores, you will not see as much of performance decline.