How hot does your m2 MBA run? Doing what?

[0906742]

The lag is when loading up a webpage. Sometimes using the mail application and other applications where you are loading content. This is where the M2 air was noticeably faster. Webpages load almost instantly with the air. While the M1 MBP 16“ M1 max would not.

Again I am not saying the M1 was slow but when you buy a very expensive and supposedly pro laptop you expect everything to be instantaneous. Maybe that is a little unrealistic but that was my expectation.

When using the M2 everything is pretty much instantaneous including app switching.

I definitely find the M2 air to be faster while browsing but I don’t ever have more than 5 or so tabs. The M1 Max with 32 gb ram was slower in browsing than my M2 air with 16gb ram. Now neither is slow so let’s make sure that is stated.

Sounds like Pro you were testing was faulty or something in the settings / OS. I have never seen my MBP 14" Base lagging in anything, no lag in web site loading or app switching, all happens instantly.

Regarding settings, I have noticed that using Monterey hide my ip functions, causes obvious lag sometimes but that is more due to lags coming from this additional routing this function causes, and likely it may differ depending on which country you live in. I remember when this function first come, it did not work for me at all, nothing was loading in any of my Apple gear. Just recently tested it again, and it works now but there is this lag sometimes from this. But without this never any lag in MBP for me. Also some ad blocker might cause delays as well as browser plug ins.

 

[Johnnyseeth]

No I don’t have a hundred tabs open on either. Lol.

Promotion is good when slowly scrolling a web page and for animations feeling a little smoother. However in real world usage the animations feel the same on both.

Honestly I often wondered what the 120hz was doing. Like was Promotion using the higher refresh rate and when since it is a dynamic system that adjusts in real time depending on usage. A lot. Of the times I felt like it was scaling back to save power. So in day to day usage I really didn’t notice a difference from my 60hz windows laptop or M1 MBP Scrolling would be the only time I saw a difference but if I scrolled fast both displays would blur text so in my opinion the difference is minimal. Really the difference shows mostly on a tablet or phone.

No lag when resizing windows or switching tabs on either pro or air at all.

The lag is when loading up a webpage. Sometimes using the mail application and other applications where you are loading content. This is where the M2 air was noticeably faster. Webpages load almost instantly with the air. While the M1 MBP 16“ M1 max would not.

Again I am not saying the M1 was slow but when you buy a very expensive and supposedly pro laptop you expect everything to be instantaneous. Maybe that is a little unrealistic but that was my expectation.

When using the M2 everything is pretty much instantaneous including app switching.

I definitely find the M2 air to be faster while browsing but I don’t ever have more than 5 or so tabs. The M1 Max with 32 gb ram was slower in browsing than my M2 air with 16gb ram. Now neither is slow so let’s make sure that is stated.

You got to ignore the trolls. They be trolling, trolling, trolling……Lol. It is crazy on this forum how people just want to argue instead of help.

My experience as well.

 

[erasr]

My M2 Air is notably faster than the M1 Pro on loading web pages. Done quite a few side by side tests.

If I was wanting a Pro now, I'd wait for the next model.

Loading web pages is this most common thing I do (and I'm sure most people too), so speed makes a big difference.

My M2 Air has never got hot either.

 

[jdb8167]

iPad Pro M1 loaded page in 5.6 seconds where MBP 13" M1 took 8 seconds. That is like night and day difference.

What page? Is it loading a full desktop page on the MacBook and a mobile page on the iPad? Did the page have ads? If it had ads, were they the same ads? Or was an adblocker used? If so, is it the same adblocker to eliminate potential performance differences? Other than that, a very credible report that shows no signs of confirmation bias at all 🤣

 

[Technerd108]

Sounds like Pro you were testing was faulty or something in the settings / OS. I have never seen my MBP 14" Base lagging in anything, no lag in web site loading or app switching, all happens instantly.

Regarding settings, I have noticed that using Monterey hide my ip functions, causes obvious lag sometimes but that is more due to lags coming from this additional routing this function causes, and likely it may differ depending on which country you live in. I remember when this function first come, it did not work for me at all, nothing was loading in any of my Apple gear. Just recently tested it again, and it works now but there is this lag sometimes from this. But without this never any lag in MBP for me. Also some ad blocker might cause delays as well as browser plug ins.

I had a 14" MBP M1 Pro, a 16" MBP M1 Pro and lastly a M1 Max 16" MBP I don't think they were all faulty.

Do you have a M2 MBA? Have you had a lot of time with a M1 MBP and a M2 MBA and can compare? I have and notice a difference. If I can notice a difference in loading times it is not my imagination? Also I never said the M1 was slow or lagging just that there is a difference. I have had several M1 machines over the years and the browsing speed is fast but there are still times when pages take some time to load up. When some applications take a bit of time to load. Being spoiled by the M1 performance now anything that is not instantaneous is noticeable.

There have also been benchmark tests on browsing speed and the M2 is the fastest of any laptop. So it is not just something I have observed it is something that has been tested and benchmarked to be true.

 

[0906742]

What page? Is it loading a full desktop page on the MacBook and a mobile page on the iPad? Did the page have ads? If it had ads, were they the same ads? Or was an adblocker used? If so, is it the same adblocker to eliminate potential performance differences? Other than that, a very credible report that shows no signs of confirmation bias at all 🤣

Of course testing with the same settings and the same page.
Seems that truth is hard to accept

Anyway, shows very weill that iPad Pro M1 and Air M1 are leaps ahead in web browsing speed compared to Mac.

 

[Technerd108]

Of course testing with the same settings and the same page.
Seems that truth is hard to accept

Anyway, shows very weill that iPad Pro M1 and Air M1 are leaps ahead in web browsing speed compared to Mac.

I have an M1 iPad Air and I love it. It is a beast of a tablet but it doesn't load webpages faster than my M2 MBA?

Off topic. I bought an iPad Air off Amazon and then returned it. The speakers were not very loud and battery seemed not so great. Later I got one through Apple and the speakers are seriously much louder. Battery life is good too. It is like a different tablet. Now it is the absolute perfect tablet.

 

[Chateaunole-du-Pape]

I have an M1 iPad Air and I love it. It is a beast of a tablet but it doesn't load webpages faster than my M2 MBA?

Agree. I have both, and the M2 Air is far faster.

 

[0906742]

I had a 14" MBP M1 Pro, a 16" MBP M1 Pro and lastly a M1 Max 16" MBP I don't think they were all faulty.

Who knows, maybe a bad batch or bad luck. when I mentioned MBA M2’s being flimsy, I was suggested by some MBA owner here if I did test 200 000 units (if I recall, anyway suggested number was extremely high) to make sure that units I happen to test were not just faulty units.

Anyway, more likely some setting or os glitch must have been issue in yours.

Do you have a M2 MBA? Have you had a lot of time with a M1 MBP and a M2 MBA and can compare?

I don’t own MBA M2 becauce I hate it how flimsy it feels among many other things worse than in MBP 14”, but I have spent a lot of time with comparing MBP 14” and MBA M2 side by side using several different demo units in different places.

I have and notice a difference. If I can notice a difference in loading times it is not my imagination? Also I never said the M1 was slow or lagging just that there is a difference. I have had several M1 machines over the years and the browsing speed is fast but there are still times when pages take some time to load up. When some applications take a bit of time to load. Being spoiled by the M1 performance now anything that is not instantaneous is noticeable.

If difference is really noticeable in everyday use, and especially if you had obvious sporadic lag in app loading times with MBP, there must have been something wrong with them. I haven’t experienced a single lag with anything on my MBP 14” base I’ve had for about 1.5 month now, absolutely none.

There have also been benchmark tests on browsing speed and the M2 is the fastest of any laptop. So it is not just something I have observed it is something that has been tested and benchmarked to be true.

As I said earlier, that benchmark is synthetic test and does not really tell everything. Like that iPad Air M1 is much faster in web page loading than any Mac, despite my iPad Air M1 gives a slightly lower test result that my MBP 14” in that web benchmark test. So the same M1 CPU can actually perform much faster in tablet than actual computer when doing exactly the same task in real life. I guess another variable besided OS and apps is simple things like screen resolution making a difference, MBA M2 has lower resolution than in MBP 14” or 16”….

 

[0906742]

I have an M1 iPad Air and I love it.

Same here, but I’ve been considering exchange it to Pro 11” instead, not sure yet.

It is a beast of a tablet but it doesn't load webpages faster than my M2 MBA?

I does quite noticeable. I mean MBA M2 vs MBP 14” side by side are practically identical but in iPad you notice even not side by side. See the test I linked earlier in this thread. It was like MBP M1 load non previously cached web page in 8 seconds where iPad Pro M1 only took 5.6 seconds. That is much bigger difference than was even seen in ”respected reviewer Ella’s” video of MBP 14” vs MBA M2 web page loading test (difference there was like blink of an eye between the two).

Off topic. I bought an iPad Air off Amazon and then returned it. The speakers were not very loud and battery seemed not so great. Later I got one through Apple and the speakers are seriously much louder. Battery life is good too. It is like a different tablet. Now it is the absolute perfect tablet.

Mine came from Apple directly and has excellent Sunwoda battery with great battery life. Not sure about the speakers, they sound fine but obviously million miles behind MBP 14 speakers. Screen is almost fine maybe a bit darker right side (USB-C connector side) when holding in landscape mode. That shows only when staring at full screen white image for a while to allow eyes to adjust.

 

[1BadManVan]

I’ll have to test this, I have an m1 11” pro and an m2 MacBook. I don’t see any noticeable difference for web pages on either one but I’ll have to do a quick side by side now lol

 

[0906742]

I’ll have to test this, I have an m1 11” pro and an m2 MacBook. I don’t see any noticeable difference for web pages on either one but I’ll have to do a quick side by side now lol

Interesting, as ”official” opinion in MBA M2 thread is that M1’s are noticeable slower and laggier in web browsing…

 

[Technerd108]

Who knows, maybe a bad batch or bad luck. when I mentioned MBA M2’s being flimsy, I was suggested by some MBA owner here if I did test 200 000 units (if I recall, anyway suggested number was extremely high) to make sure that units I happen to test were not just faulty units.

Anyway, more likely some setting or os glitch must have been issue in yours.


I don’t own MBA M2 becauce I hate it how flimsy it feels among many other things worse than in MBP 14”, but I have spent a lot of time with comparing MBP 14” and MBA M2 side by side using several different demo units in different places.


If difference is really noticeable in everyday use, and especially if you had obvious sporadic lag in app loading times with MBP, there must have been something wrong with them. I haven’t experienced a single lag with anything on my MBP 14” base I’ve had for about 1.5 month now, absolutely none.


As I said earlier, that benchmark is synthetic test and does not really tell everything. Like that iPad Air M1 is much faster in web page loading than any Mac, despite my iPad Air M1 gives a slightly lower test result that my MBP 14” in that web benchmark test. So the same M1 CPU can actually perform much faster in tablet than actual computer when doing exactly the same task in real life. I guess another variable besided OS and apps is simple things like screen resolution making a difference, MBA M2 has lower resolution than in MBP 14” or 16”….

Crazy how we perceive things. I don’t find the MBA M2 flimsy at all. I can pick it up from a corner and there is no flex or creaking at all? Lol

They are all retina screens? I don’t think there is a noticeable difference in resolution?

I was thinking the same thing about M1 iPad Pro or air and I like the air a lot. The speakers were my big issue which seems resolved in the last one I got.

I would like promotion but there was a $217 difference for Promotion, Face ID, quad speakers and slightly brighter screen and for me I just couldn’t justify the extra cost for what I use the iPad for. If I was an artist then it would be a no brainer the Pro would be better.

 

[0906742]

BTW, here is again this link comparing web browsing speed between iPad Pro M1 and MBP 13” M1 where difference in speed is obvious: https://www.techrepublic.com/articl...ipad-pro-which-is-quickest-in-the-real-world/

 

[0906742]

Crazy how we perceive things. I don’t find the MBA M2 flimsy at all. I can pick it up from a corner and there is no flex or creaking at all? Lol

I would not even considering picking up that machine from the corner after seeing how much it bend in my bending test.

They are all retina screens? I don’t think there is a noticeable difference in resolution?

There is difference in pixel count of course, MBP being the highest. In MBA M2 it is so small that using 2x scaling would result too low desktop screen estate even, where in MBP 14” that is just right.

I was thinking the same thing about M1 iPad Pro or air and I like the air a lot. The speakers were my big issue which seems resolved in the last one I got.

Yeah but still iPad Pro 11” has much fuller and better defined sound.

I would like promotion but there was a $217 difference for Promotion, Face ID, quad speakers and slightly brighter screen and for me I just couldn’t justify the extra cost for what I use the iPad for. If I was an artist then it would be a no brainer the Pro would be better.

I was about to pay that only for the Face ID alone. But this iPad Air M1 is a fine sofa surfing ”laptop” for me. I always found any Macbook is too much hassle for casual sofa surfing (for someone who takes care of their toys like I do), so I prefer iPad for that use. Using iPad Air M1 with Logitech Combo Touch is a great experience.

 

[Technerd108]

Interesting, as ”official” opinion in MBA M2 thread is that M1’s are noticeable slower and laggier in web browsing…

Well we are talking iPad OS based on iOS vs. MacOS as well and I am sure a lighter operating system with a mobile browser vs a full operating system with a full browser makes a difference too, completely independent of the hardware.

So the M1 is going to perform differently on different hardware. It would be interesting to see the new iPad Pro with M2 and browser results. I bet M2 iPad Pro will be faster and confirm the M2 MBA browsing speed.

Need to compare apples to apples to have a real world test.

Just because an M1 iPad might be faster than a M2 MBA doesn’t make M1 faster. We need to wait and confirm the results with M2 on IPad Pro first then we can actually see which chip is faster on both platforms.

 

[0906742]

Well we are talking iPad OS based on iOS vs. MacOS as well and I am sure a lighter operating system with a mobile browser vs a full operating system with a full browser makes a difference too, completely independent of the hardware.

Yeah, but we are still talking about both loading exactly the same full (not mobile) web pages, so it is fair comparison that way then.

So the M1 is going to perform differently on different hardware. It would be interesting to see the new iPad Pro with M2 and browser results. I bet M2 iPad Pro will be faster and confirm the M2 MBA browsing speed.

But again difference between MBP 14” vs MBA M2 is in the range of a blink of an eye difference. In iPad M1 vs Macbook difference is ”almost” something you use calendar to measure.

Just because an M1 iPad might be faster than a M2 MBA doesn’t make M1 faster.

I don’t mean so, but that there are variables and also that in Macbooks web browsing is such trivial task already there is not really notieable difference between M1 vs M2 in Mac, despite some here make it sound like it is very obvious. I’d say something seriously wrong with the machine or settings in that case if MBP 14” or 16” is noticeable laggy.

 

[Technerd108]

Yeah, but we are still talking about both loading exactly the same full (not mobile) web pages, so it is fair comparison that way then.


But again difference between MBP 14” vs MBA M2 is in the range of a blink of an eye difference. In iPad M1 vs Macbook difference is ”almost” something you use calendar to measure.


I don’t mean so, but that there are variables and also that in Macbooks web browsing is such trivial task already there is not really notieable difference between M1 vs M2 in Mac, despite some here make it sound like it is very obvious. I’d say something seriously wrong with the machine or settings in that case if MBP 14” or 16” is noticeable laggy.

Well I am not making up what I experienced but who knows.

As long as you are happy with what you got that is all that matters.

 

[0906742]

Well I am not making up what I experienced but who knows.

I never said so.

As long as you are happy with what you got that is all that matters.

Yeah, we are definitely on the same page on this.

 

[tharper]

16/512 here. LogicX, Chrome, Google sheets. Nothing too intensive. Never breaks a sweat.

Great stuff!

-Tristan

 

[1BadManVan]

I notice quite a few people prefer chrome, is that just simply for the plug ins? Its definitely more resource heavy and feels slower than safari

 

[Technerd108]

I notice quite a few people prefer chrome, is that just simply for the plug ins? Its definitely more resource heavy and feels slower than safari

I think it has to do with cross platform support as it can save your bookmarks and even place on one computer with another so you could go from a Mac to a windows computer to an android phone or tablet and everything is synced. You can't do that on Safari unless you are using all Apple devices.

I love Chrome for cross platform support and syncing but I hate it because it is like a Trojan horse for Google. It is a serious resource hog and has become bloated and less responsive over the years.

 

[1BadManVan]

I think it has to do with cross platform support as it can save your bookmarks and even place on one computer with another so you could go from a Mac to a windows computer to an android phone or tablet and everything is synced. You can't do that on Safari unless you are using all Apple devices.

I love Chrome for cross platform support and syncing but I hate it because it is like a Trojan horse for Google. It is a serious resource hog and has become bloated and less responsive over the years.

Makes sense, I’m all apple products. My wife uses chrome on her windows machine but takes advantage of the plug ins for her work so I knew why she used it lol.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I've now done some testing and the results are interesting. The M2 MacBook Air shows the throttling flag from the command line powermetrics tool much sooner than the M1 MacBook Air does when not using a fan running Cinebench or Wild Life Extreme. With a 30 minute Cinebench stress test the throttle flag shows up in about 4 minutes on the M2 where it takes over 10 minutes on the M1. But the M2 seems to maintain a higher performance with the throttle flag showing than the M1 does without.

The really interesting thing is using the cheap laptop cooler I can run a 30 minute Cinebench benchmark and the throttle flag never shows and I get a significantly higher score than without the cooler on the M2. On the M1 MBA on a 30 minute test without the cooler shows 6888. The M2 without the cooler shows 7342. The Cinebench results with the cooler are M1 7032 and the M2 MBA is 8106.

The M1 MBA shows almost no difference between using the laptop cooler and not. About a 2% speedup. The M2 MBA shows that throttling is more severe with a 10% speedup with the cooler. Even so, the M1 is still slower in all cases and even when throttled the M2 is faster than the unthrottled M1.

A graphics benchmark was also interesting with and without the cooler. The 10 GPU core M2 MBA without the cooler running the Wildlife Extreme Stress Test (20 minutes) showed throttling (again with powermetrics) after about 3 minutes. The final score was peak 6702 with the lowest 4365 with the average over 20 loops of about 4800. With the cooler, over 20 loops again, the range was 6711 to 6136 with the average about 6300. Interestingly, the throttling flag was set after about 5 minutes even with the cooler despite the test only showing a decrease of 8% vs 34% without the cooler.

With the M1 MBA on the cooler, the throttle flag never came on. Without the cooler the throttle flag came on after about 8 minutes. The 8 GPU core M1 MBA without a cooler showed a range of 4962 to 4105 with an average about 4380. With the cooler the M1 MBA showed a range of 4961 to 4786 with an average of about 4800.

Final thoughts, the M2 MBA with thermal throttling is at least as fast as the M1 MBA without throttling and in most cases faster for both CPU and GPU. For brief bursts, it looks like the extra 2 GPU cores help a lot but when the M2 is heat saturated, it looks like the 10 GPU core benefit is marginal at best. I don't have an 8 GPU core M2 to test on but I would love to see someone with an 8 CPU core M2 and a laptop cooler do similar tests. Ultimately, if you want to use your M2 MacBook Air for heavy GPU or CPU tasks, a laptop cooler can help a lot to keep your performance high over long tasks.

@jdb8167 I have also purchased a very cheap cooler (which is actually very quiet) for testing purposes and largely confirm what you report. It shouldn't be surprising that fanless computers which lose all the heat from the casing are much more sensitive to ambient temperature and the conditions around the casing, than internal cooled machine which pump the heat out in airstreams.

What I haven't got my mind round yet is that the fan cooler enables performance to stay high, but I also see the CPU temperatures staying high throughout long tests. Why doesn't it show them cooler?

I was reassured by the two hour Chess analysis and other long high load tests which showed that the CPU temps reported by Mx Power Gadget and iStat are being being reduced to a sustainable c80C. The 30 minute Cinebench run I just did with the cooler kept them over 102C. Not sure I feel comfortable about leaving it running for long periods like this, at least without understanding it.

Apple didn't design it to be sitting on a cooler so maybe it affects the throttling logic which enables it to protect itself in normal use during prolonged high load runs.

 

[compwiz1202]

Mine is so not hot I literally feel like it isn’t a computer in the traditional sense. I also do basically nothing computationally stressful, but that’s my experience. It was NOT my experience on intel MacBooks!

Yea, even my wife's M1 stays cool for CPU things. Now if I go GPU like CiV then it gets warm.