MacBook Air M2 throttling

[Peter McMillan]

I plan to purchase an Apple MacBook Air M2, and I would LIKE for it to have thermal throttling for reasons that I do not want to get into.
I have seen that thermal throttling is a common feature on the M2 Airs, and that's fine with me.

However I wish to purchase a somewhat usable computer too, and I feel like 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage will not be enough.

My questions is - does the throttling problem persist on higher spec'd M2 Airs?
Say a 512GB storage, 16GB RAM, 10-core GPU, will it have the same throttling "performance" as a basic 256GB storage, 8GB RAM, 8-core GPU?

Also, I imagine there shouldn't be problems with using external monitors, in particular a 2560x1440 and 3840x1600 (not at the same time) should work well, right? It's an "Air" so I'm not sure if it's powerful enough (I guess by today's standards that should be fine).

 

[leman]

The performance of all M2 (10 GPU core) models are identical (unless one is looking at tests where more RAM/faster SSD plays a role).

 

[Peter McMillan]

My question is more related to thermal throttling - do all models exhibit the same behaviour, or is one more prone to overheating/throttling than the other? Variables being #GPU cores, RAM and storage.

 

[leman]

My question is more related to thermal throttling - do all models exhibit the same behaviour, or is one more prone to overheating/throttling than the other? Variables being #GPU cores, RAM and storage.

Thermal throttling behaviour is determined by the chassis and the chip power consumption. It's the same chassis and the same chip, so there won't be any difference between the models aside the usual silicon lottery.

 

[Peter McMillan]

Thanks !

 

[TSE]

If you really want your MacBook Air to throttle, I would also disassemble it and bend the heat pipes off the CPU and GPU.

 

[Camarillo Brillo]

Why do you want your macbook to throttle?

 

[1BadManVan]

Your post is a bit confusing, you want it to have thermal throttling but then go on to say it's a problem and asking if they all have this problem? Its not a problem, its a feature for any computer, the airs just throttle quicker due to the passive cooling.

 

[thecautioners]

MBA can only run 1 external monitor at a time without a workaround.

 

[1BadManVan]

MBA can only run 1 external monitor at a time without a workaround.

Says right in his post he wouldn’t be running them at the same time

 

[thecautioners]

Says right in his post he wouldn’t be running them at the same time

Glazed right over it. Maybe this M2 screen is affecting my eyes

 

[teh_hunterer]

I would LIKE for it to have thermal throttling for reasons that I do not want to get into.

Any chance we could convince you to go into those reasons? I'm utterly confused.

 

[Scarrus]

I'd hurry up if I were you... M3 version is presumably about to come out and that will throttle far less under the same conditions to to a smaller manufacturing node(3nm).

 

[windowsblowsass]

only reasons I can think someone likes throttling is they like it being quiet and don't like it getting hot. MBAs are passively cooled so they are always quiet and they are pretty hard to get hot

 

[Tagbert]

If you really want your MacBook Air to throttle, I would also disassemble it and bend the heat pipes off the CPU and GPU.

Is that you, Max Tech? 😆

Always do your disassembly before doing your performance testing and don’t forget to wipe off the thermal paste while you’re at it.

 

[neo_cs193p]

The 10-core GPU is likely to throttle earlier than the 8-core GPU, because it draws more power. Otherwise I would say RAM and SSD are not a factor in throttling/overheating (although they are factors in performance).

Also, getting the darker Midnight color and using it in direct sunlight will help with overheating. And make sure you stay away from Low Power Mode.

 

[Scarrus]

The 10-core GPU is likely to throttle earlier than the 8-core GPU, because it draws more power. Otherwise I would say RAM and SSD are not a factor in throttling/overheating (although they are factors in performance).

Also, getting the darker Midnight color and using it in direct sunlight will help with overheating. And make sure you stay away from Low Power Mode.

What's wrong with Low Power Mode?

 

[neo_cs193p]

What's wrong with Low Power Mode?

It will use so little power that it will prevent the MBA from ever throttling. The OP wants it to throttle.

 

[Scarrus]

It will use so little power that it will prevent the MBA from ever throttling. The OP wants it to throttle.

Lol, really? 'm getting my M1 soon, how's the performance?

 

[TSE]

Lol, really? 'm getting my M1 soon, how's the performance?

It's perfectly adequate on both my M1 and M2 MacBook Airs for things like Teams calls, Figma work, web browsing, video watching, etc. Low Power mode is the way to go.

 

[antiprotest]

Why do you want your macbook to throttle?

He said it's a secret.

 

[chrono1081]

I plan to purchase an Apple MacBook Air M2, and I would LIKE for it to have thermal throttling for reasons that I do not want to get into.
I have seen that thermal throttling is a common feature on the M2 Airs, and that's fine with me.

However I wish to purchase a somewhat usable computer too, and I feel like 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage will not be enough.

My questions is - does the throttling problem persist on higher spec'd M2 Airs?
Say a 512GB storage, 16GB RAM, 10-core GPU, will it have the same throttling "performance" as a basic 256GB storage, 8GB RAM, 8-core GPU?

Also, I imagine there shouldn't be problems with using external monitors, in particular a 2560x1440 and 3840x1600 (not at the same time) should work well, right? It's an "Air" so I'm not sure if it's powerful enough (I guess by today's standards that should be fine).

The thermal throttling literally isn't a thing unless you're running nothing but benchmark software that tries to cause it (and all chips throttle, it's a safety mechanism to keep it from overheating.

The M2 air is far more powerful than people (including some more famous YouTube channels) would have you believe because they don't actually know how to measure technology speeds and rely on silly benchmarks.

I have an M2 air (10 core GPU, 16 gigs ram, 1 TB drive) and some things I run on it just fine without throttling (and without barely getting warm) are:

-Houdini
-Final Cut (4k video)
-Logic (20 tracks with zero hiccups, I haven't gone higher because I got bored adding tracks to make it hiccup)
-Motion
-Blender
-Unity
-Godot
-Xcode
-Affinity Suite
-Various video games, mostly Final Fantasy 14

External monitors work fine (although support is limited to one external) and the machine is significantly more powerful than many windows laptops with intel chips. Apple M series chips are no joke.

If you want a good review on this machine, watch Mobile Tech Review 's review on it. She's actually accurate for real world usage. Oddly iJustine is too when she's using Final Cut to edit video.