Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Using the equivalent of modern solitaire to benchmark your $3000 computer.

This entire thread is funny.
that's a good point, why does this 3k computer get so hot for playing solitaire? I mean.. why do I need a cooling pad, just to play solitaire?

sorry apple, back to the drawing board.

this post was really insightful.
 
How do to test according to OP:

- Start testing at different charge battery level on each model
- Test them with similar tasks but not exactly the same
- Run the test for various durations, not the same duration on each model
- Open some tab and browse on one of the machines
- Check the temperature of the machines, but put them on a cooling pad

Come to the conclusion that the same keyboards are somewhat different.
 
Last edited:
I wonder why does this thread even exist?
you recorded the temperatures without the FPS, the background tasks are different too.
what’s the point are you trying to make here?
 
I prefer the keyboard on the Max a little more, a bit more resistance, perceived travel.
Yea, me too, i prefer the keyboard of the 16" M1 Max instead the keyboard from my 16" M1 Pro mac
On M1 Max i can double stun with lux in 1 second, while with the M1 Pro i cant
 
  • Like
Reactions: wonderbread57
How do to test according to OP:

- Start testing at different charge battery level on each model
- Test them with similar tasks but not exactly the same
- Run the test for various durations, not the same duration on each model
- Open some tab and browse on one of the machines
- Check the temperature of the machines, but put them on a cooling pad

Come to the conclusion that the same keyboards are somewhat different.

I started each test for LoL at 100%. It would have been better to play continuously for 30 or 1 hour, but note I cannot control the game length, but like the idea of a uniform cutoff. Also I was more interested in temperature than battery. The mistake of not closing out all other tabs for the non-gaming usage makes the data points less useful, I agree. Atop that, it is likely there were more background processes running on the Max that I did not control for. I did intend on measuring the temperature with and without the cooling to cover my workflows, to each their own. Sure the comment on the keyboard was a bit non-sequitur, point taken, I am trying to take the entire experience into account. I didn't collect FPS because it is constant for both laptops (~70-90 fps), this is a cpu-intensive not gpu-intensive game, for instance ~50 threads running 100% on one core.

If you do want conclusions, the Max does get hotter but only noticeably on the top vs. the bottom (bottom matters more for "lap" use), and it evens out over time, while the Pro maintains and sneaks up over time. Honestly if I was executing other non-game cpu intensive tasks over sustained periods, if I'm using it on my lap, I'd use the cooling pad for that as well. At light usage they are the same temp and battery usage. In the second round of non-game tests, for the 30 min duration, battery usage was even after i killed the extra tabs and background processes. At this time don't plan on repeating any of this, and I do appreciate the feedback on the attempted experiments. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
I started each test for LoL at 100%. It would have been better to play continuously for 30 or 1 hour, but note I cannot control the game length, but like the idea of a uniform cutoff. Also I was more interested in temperature than battery. The mistake of not closing out all other tabs for the non-gaming usage makes the data points less useful, I agree. Atop that, it is likely there were more background processes running on the Max that I did not control for. I did intend on measuring the temperature with and without the cooling to cover my workflows, to each their own. Sure the comment on the keyboard was a bit non-sequitur, point taken, I am trying to take the entire experience into account. I didn't collect FPS because it is constant for both laptops (~70-90 fps), this is a cpu-intensive not gpu-intensive game, for instance ~50 threads running 100% on one core.

If you do want conclusions, the Max does get hotter but only noticeably on the top vs. the bottom (bottom matters more for "lap" use), and it evens out over time, while the Pro maintains and sneaks up over time. Honestly if I was executing other non-game cpu intensive tasks over sustained periods, if I'm using it on my lap, I'd use the cooling pad for that as well. At light usage they are the same temp and battery usage. In the second round of non-game tests, for the 30 min duration, battery usage was even after i killed the extra tabs and background processes. At this time don't plan on repeating any of this, and I do appreciate the feedback on the attempted experiments. Thanks.
It's basically the same conclusion I came to a few days back, the Max has basically the same battery life as the Pro for day-to-day use. It will use more when you ask for more because there is actually more powerful. You will still see people claiming that the Max has horrible battery life, but you will see a similar claim with people with Pro, that always been and will always be no matter the product (watch, phone, computer, etc.)

I did order the Pro 32gb and max 24c 32gb, but I canceled the order for the Pro, now waiting for my Max to arrive. Now kind of regret not spending the extra for 64gb... ho well.

Which one are you going to keep?
 
  • Like
Reactions: yurkennis
It's basically the same conclusion I came to a few days back, the Max has basically the same battery life as the Pro for day-to-day use. It will use more when you ask for more because there is actually more powerful. You will still see people claiming that the Max has horrible battery life, but you will see a similar claim with people with Pro, that always been and will always be no matter the product (watch, phone, computer, etc.)

I did order the Pro 32gb and max 24c 32gb, but I canceled the order for the Pro, now waiting for my Max to arrive. Now kind of regret not spending the extra for 64gb... ho well.

Which one are you going to keep?

leaning towards the 24c max. I like the headroom-- ie ability to go a third monitor or play around with music production or unity game dev to use the dormant gpus, even if it takes me a few years to actually use it that way. and I like the keyboard better : ) but who knows, I'm getting the 32c variety this week and will do one more test...
 
leaning towards the 24c max. I like the headroom-- ie ability to go a third monitor or play around with music production or unity game dev to use the dormant gpus, even if it takes me a few years to actually use it that way. and I like the keyboard better : ) but who knows, I'm getting the 32c variety this week and will do one more test...
Are you getting the 32gb or 64gb? I don't need 64, but when you are paying $4000 for a machine your are kind of thinking twice, what if?
 
Are you getting the 32gb or 64gb? I don't need 64, but when you are paying $4000 for a machine your are kind of thinking twice, what if?
I am getting the 32gb regardless. Most of the time 16gb is enough, and occasionally 32gb is helpful. I will never need 64gb, so I don't buy it. Also if it matters to you, larger memory does sap power, this is well-covered in another thread. Similar thought process with 1 vs. 2 vs. 4tb hard drive. The 2tb size is the right size for me. Keeping as close to 3k - 3.5k is also better financially than jumping to 4k land.
 
so playing the same game on my m1 air the top doesn't get hotter than 81F. There's a case for a 15" air. I wonder if the 16" m1 max will run cooler if I run it in lower power mode?
 
Same frame rate ~70fps and default settings. I’ll have to check resolution but they are both default on respective laptop.
Would be something wrong if you're getting the same frame rates at the same resolution with those two machines, at least something wrong with the way the game uses available resources.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.