Late to the Silicon Party…

[Dokk]

So I’m late to the silicon party. I got a new 16” Intel MBP in July 2020. It’s been great … I mean, aside from sounding like a jet engine. 😂

Anyway, for various reasons I needed to get a new laptop and I couldn’t resist the 14” M2 Max MBP. Wow. Just wow. I know this is old news for folks who’ve been on silicon for a while; but for anyone on the fence, take the plunge. You won’t be sorry. Everything is, essentially, instantaneous. I compared benchmarks with Geekbench and the new Mac clocks in at over 3 times the speed on basically every measure. It’s really unbelievable.

Also, the 14” MBP is really the perfect size. Everything about it feels great. It’s a husky little computer and a total powerhouse.

 

[wingennis]

I love seeing people happy with what they have!

 

[Cham2000]

So I’m late to the silicon party...

What are the specs of your new MBP? M2 Max? How many ram and ssd?

 

[BENCHPRESS]

Welcome. The silicon chips are seriously efficient. I can't even look at my intel Macs the same way anymore. The temperature differences are crazy.

 

[MBAir2010]

Yep, My MacBook Pro and Air form 2010 both whirl with intel beachballs
but I still use them for 32bit reasons and my attachment to them.
these new silicon MacBooks are incredible, as all their new products!
Tim Cook is now a likable and admirable CEO!

 

[dmccloud]

Welcome. The silicon chips are seriously efficient. I can't even look at my intel Macs the same way anymore. The temperature differences are crazy.

To me, it's not only the temperature difference, but the power draw as well. My old gaming PC was an MSI GS65 with a 9th gen i7, 16GB RAM, and a 1660Ti videocard, and even at idle it drew more power than my AS Mac under load. I replaced that with a homebuilt desktop PC, and it's probably even worse for power draw.

 

[GMShadow]

Have you found yourself missing the extra screen real estate at all?

 

[senttoschool]

The biggest difference between Intel and AS Macs is the heat and noise. By far.

 

[JohnnyBravo42]

I hear you, I got a refurbed 16" M1 Max 64Gb 1Tb late last year... the different over my old i9 is just. Wow. Crazy wow.
I am a software developer (Xamarin, .NET Maui) and I prefer Visual Studio for Windows over VSforMac. So I had Parallels on my i9 and ran it there, but the laptop ran SO hot, fans running constantly, it just wasn't a great experience and I would often flip back to VSforMac.
Now, I have Parallels running Windows 11 ARM, with a native ARM Visual Studio building Xamarin and .NET Maui apps and I don't hear the fan. Its silky smooth, its a game changer.
The only time I hear the fan is when I run a PS3 emulator on it, and then only when I mute the game!

 

[AdamBuker]

I was late to the Intel party. I was using a late 2005 Power Mac till about 2014 when it died. Then I was on a Powerbook G4 till 2018 when I got my 2009 Mac Mini. I got my 16/256 GB M1 mini in March of 2021. I spent less than three years on Intel macs. In terms of notebooks, when I get an AS laptop next, I will have skipped intel entirely 😂. My Powerbook still works fine and sees regular usage.

 

[Dokk]

What are the specs of your new MBP? M2 Max? How many ram and ssd?

I think it' just the stock 14" Max -- so 32GB ram, 1TB SSD, 12core, 30core gpu. The SSD is smaller than I had in my Intel by 50%; but everything is in the cloud anyway (eventually), so I have plenty of headroom.

Have you found yourself missing the extra screen real estate at all?

Nope. When I'm at a desk, I have it connected to a 27" 4k display anyway. The screen size difference isn't *huge* ... and the quality of the screen is a noticeable difference. Also, it's not *much* easier to have this on my lap in my car while I'm waiting for my kid; way easier to get in and out of my bag, etc. On balance, I'm really happy with my decision.

The biggest difference between Intel and AS Macs is the heat and noise. By far.

OMG. This thing has basically only ever been room temp and I haven't heard the fan once. It's unbelievable.

 

[satcomer]

I find owning an M1 Air I use the web site RoaringApps.com to see program has a Universal or Silicon version and try to keep Intel only apps off my Air!!

One free programs that both Universal are Meteorologist and Onyx! Also I use the freeware that hacks your M-2 called TinkerTool!

 

[wyrdness]

On Friday, my old and sick cat was huddled up to my 16" Intel MacBook Pro for warmth. There's no way that she'd get any heat at all from my M1 Air. So an unexpected win for Intel there - at least as far as my cat was concerned.

 

[Gudi]

Wow. Just wow. I know this is old news for folks who’ve been on [apple] silicon for a while; but for anyone on the fence, take the plunge. You won’t be sorry. Everything is, essentially, instantaneous.

The best description of the performance impact I heard was, M-series chips are similar to the step from HDD to SSD. It's not just faster but as you say almost instantaneous. If you blink once, you will have missed how a 500MB .rar file was unpacked. All at the energy costs of two 8W lightbulbs. 💡💡

 

[whitby]

The Apple Silicon machines have successfully banned the 'out of battery' anxiety we all suffered from and kept us tethered to charging bricks. I now leave my M2 MBA on the coffee table or next to the bed with very little concern that when I pick it up, the battery will be discharged. This has to be the single most life changing part of these machines. The increased performance is almost, but not quite, cream on the cake. After all a machine that lasts all day but takes all day to do regular tasks would be a bust 😊

 

[dmccloud]

The Apple Silicon machines have successfully banned the 'out of battery' anxiety we all suffered from and kept us tethered to charging bricks. I now leave my M2 MBA on the coffee table or next to the bed with very little concern that when I pick it up, the battery will be discharged. This has to be the single most life changing part of these machines. The increased performance is almost, but not quite, cream on the cake. After all a machine that lasts all day but takes all day to do regular tasks would be a bust 😊

I'm currently at an event where I'm using my MacBook off and on over the course of a 14 hour day. With my old Intel based Mac, I'd have to put it on the charger once or twice a day just to make sure I can get through the day. Yesterday I only plugged in because I failed to top off my battery on Friday night.

 

[MBAir2010]

today I used the MacBook Air 2020 M1 and then plugged the power chord.
an hour ago I unplugged the MacBook Air and that showed 80% battery instead or 100%
I did hear the charging chime earlier today and the plug is the one  provided,

anyways im happy with the overall experience and the USBc chord should last forever
unlike the 2012-2010 MacBooks I won were electrical tape is need for both chords!

 

[Rafterman]

today I used the MacBook Air 2020 M1 and then plugged the power chord.
an hour ago I unplugged the MacBook Air and that showed 80% battery instead or 100%
I did hear the charging chime earlier today and the plug is the one  provided,

anyways im happy with the overall experience and the USBc chord should last forever
unlike the 2012-2010 MacBooks I won were electrical tape is need for both chords!

By design. If Macbooks are plugged in a lot, the battery is only charged to 80 percent to conserve the life of the battery (constant 100 percent charge can degrade the battery over time)

 

[MBAir2010]

By design. If Macbooks are plugged in a lot, the battery is only charged to 80 percent to conserve the life of the battery (constant 100 percent charge can degrade the battery over time)

thanks, Rafterman!
I always kept my MacBook Air plugged in since 2010 and replaced the batter last autunm
hopefully this MBA2020 battery will last longer.

 

[Rafterman]

thanks, Rafterman!
I always kept my MacBook Air plugged in since 2010 and replaced the batter last autunm
hopefully this MBA2020 battery will last longer.

You can change that setting if you always want 100 percent. System Settings - Battery - Battery Health - Optimized Battery Charging

 

[1BadManVan]

The insane battery life of these M series chips has seriously blown me away over the short period ive owned one. Just one area where Intel and AMD just dont hold a candle to them, even when they are using much larger batteries.

 

[Bodhitree]

Yeah, for me the best thing about my M1 iMac is how snappy it is, and how quiet, and how cool. If I were to do the same things with say my last work PC desktop, it’d be wheezing and pausing all over the place. Its night and day.

 

[Zest28]

The M1 Pro and M1 Max were impressive as they beat PC laptops on performance and battery life at the time.

But with the M2 Pro and M2 Max, the performance is not that impressive anymore in comparison to PC laptops. The only thing it has going for is battery life.

 

[NT1440]

The M1 Pro and M1 Max were impressive as they beat PC laptops on performance and battery life at the time.

But with the M2 Pro and M2 Max, the performance is not that impressive anymore in comparison to PC laptops. The only thing it has going for is battery life.

Battery life…and actually running at their intended speeds when running on battery…

 

[Basic75]

The silicon chips are seriously efficient.

You must mean "Apple Silicon", which is a marketing term for Apple designed chips, given that just about all processors back to the very first one, the Intel 4004, are mode from silicon?