Docker on the M2 MacBooks - is this a clear go Pro differentiator?

[4pp13]

Is wanting to run Docker something that is just a default go Pro? Say someone also wants to add K8s to this scenario?

I have read so many multiple accounts of people saying these types of things are fine assuming you go for 24gb on the air. But is throttling an issue when it comes to this? Do you notice performance hits when an M2 Air throttles?

Are any issues with Docker down to Docker itself rather than which laptop it is run on?

I don't care about price differences when "speccing up". I really want the portability aspect. I have a fair idea about how heavy the M2 Pro is going to be in terms of in hand feeling. I know so many people say it's "negilgible" but really, the weight difference is nearly as much as my iPad which I will be carrying for sidecar a lot of the time so it's not entirely insignificant imo.

So yeah, how does the M2 Air do with stretching it into what really is Pro type work?

 

[4pp13]

Bonus question as well - is the M2 Max specifically any better at these types of things? EG - is that something that should specifically be in consideration when thinking about Docker/K8S?

Between M2, M2 Pro and M2 Max the thing that seems potentially like it could make most difference is perhaps the memory speed - 100 vs 200 vs 400 I believe.

 

[dgdosen]

Assuming this is just for a development environment... As for my experience, I see higher memory 'pressure' when spinning up Docker (Docker Desktop) with Kubernetes and my specific projects. I never `feel` any throttling though. I wonder if that's limiting the useful life of the SSD. What would be ideal would be to compare your use case on two different hardware specs (memory options/core options)

 

[4pp13]

Assuming this is just for a development environment... As for my experience, I see higher memory 'pressure' when spinning up Docker (Docker Desktop) with Kubernetes and my specific projects. I never `feel` any throttling though. I wonder if that's limiting the useful life of the SSD. What would be ideal would be to compare your use case on two different hardware specs (memory options/core options)

Yeah, I only have my current machines to go with which are both Pro and both Intel. It seems like the fans never stop spinning. This is what makes me worried, but apparently the world has changed entirely with silicon Macs.

Good question about life of SSD - I had been assuming take backups and if it goes belly up then AppleCare should ideally cover it.

I know I could just buy everything and directly compare but I was trying to avoid the hassle/expense of that if it's just quite reliably clear what the answer is.

 

[dmccloud]

Assuming this is just for a development environment... As for my experience, I see higher memory 'pressure' when spinning up Docker (Docker Desktop) with Kubernetes and my specific projects. I never `feel` any throttling though. I wonder if that's limiting the useful life of the SSD. What would be ideal would be to compare your use case on two different hardware specs (memory options/core options)

SSD lifespans are orders of magnitude higher today than they were even 5-6 years ago. In fact, the failure rate of SSDs seems to be lower than that of traditional HDDs according to the most recent Backblaze report:



The other consideration is that while manufacturers use MTBF (mean time between failures) to denote a specific SSds reliability, other parties use TBW (terabytes written) to assess realiability. If you're doing a lot of reads and writes to and from the SSD, then that TBW figure can build up quickly. However, even on the consumer side, the Samsung 990 Pro 1TB has a TBW of 600 TB, meaning you could completely rewrite the entire drive 600 times before it would fail.

 

[jdb8167]

But is throttling an issue when it comes to this? Do you notice performance hits when an M2 Air throttles?

In my M2 MBA testing, throttling loses about 15% CPU. This testing wasn’t with Docker but I can’t see any reason why it would be different with Docker producing the load. I bought the 24 GB upgrade for Docker but my use of Docker has remained more moderate than I expected and I could get by with just 16 GB.

 

[4pp13]

The other consideration is that while manufacturers use MTBF (mean time between failures) to denote a specific SSds reliability, other parties use TBW (terabytes written) to assess realiability. If you're doing a lot of reads and writes to and from the SSD, then that TBW figure can build up quickly. However, even on the consumer side, the Samsung 990 Pro 1TB has a TBW of 600 TB, meaning you could completely rewrite the entire drive 600 times before it would fail.

Really helpful info - sounds like this is probably on a much lower end of concern for sure.

In my M2 MBA testing, throttling loses about 15% CPU. This testing wasn’t with Docker but I can’t see any reason why it would be different with Docker producing the load. I bought the 24 GB upgrade for Docker but my use of Docker has remained more moderate than I expected and I could get by with just 16 GB.

Thanks for some real world feedback. Especially good to hear moderate Docker is not killing the machine. This is personal rather than work so I can't imagine going to extreme, but not having the ability to do so would be a deal breaker. Sounds like it also means an M2 Max would be completely unnecessary overkill which I suspected as much already since the benefits seem to be much more on the GPU side for that.