M2 MBA 15" loading times

[netdudeuk]

Hi

I'm typing this on my 2017 13" I5 MBP. Despite the 'Pro' in the name, I've always been annoyed by the pathetic loading times. For example, the Excel icon just bounced twenty times before I saw the application open.

I went into the Apple Store tonight to have a look at the 15" M2 Air. Excel took several seconds to load as did Word. It wasn't for as long as my MBP but there really shouldn't be any such delays with a £1400 laptop.

I had a look at the new M3 iMac and found that the same applications loaded more or less instantaneously.

The MBA had the base storage and I'm guessing the the iMac did too.

Is it just a case of the 256GB MBA being noticeably slower when compared with the 512GB model or are there always obvious loading times regardless of the storage ?

Thanks.

 

[Apple_Robert]

If I am not mistaken, the base model M2 MBA has a single chip NAND for the SSD.

 

[netdudeuk]

If I am not mistaken, the base model M2 MBA has a single chip NAND for the SSD.

Definitely so. Does it really have to be so bad though ?

i‘m not sure that I want to move to the M2 Air 15” with the better keyboard and display only to experience poor loading times. Definitely not a premium experience.

 

[Saturn007]

I’m on a 2015 13” MacBook Air. Word and Excel 2011 and 16.8+ open in less than 4 seconds. Three bounces of their icons in the dock, the default blank document opens, and I’m ready to work.

Wonder why you are seeing such lags on your MBP…

In any case, once opened, just leave them open! Switching is virtually instantaneous, even on an Intel processor.

They also cache their basics, so opening a second time is even faster.

Finally, I understand the fixation on a specific operation and its time (I’m often focused on something specific like that, too), but truly, it's no indication of the laptops' general speed, speed of most other operations, and is only 1 of hundreds of reasons for upgrading, and a minor one at that!

The real issue in deciding to upgrad is whether you're experiencing problems, delays, sluggishness, etc. or other dissatisfactions with your current MBP.

For example, although my 2015 runs well, opens apps quickly, is responsive, and not sluggish at all, I'm still considering upgrading. Why?

Well…

My 2015's battery life is relatively poor and I’m tired of having to plug it in all the time. Even though I’ve parked the charger by the couch and can easily attach it, we're often tripping over the cords. Both are a nuisance. I want the freedom of 15-18 hour battery life!

One of the 2015's USB ports is shot; the other is flaky. I often need to attach a non-powered USB hub to get it to work.

Backing up iPhones and iPads to the Mac takes a long time, as does backing up the Mac to an external drive. I'm assuming those will be faster with an M2 MBA.

From time to time, I’m irritated by the 13”'s limited screen room — wanting to see more lines of text or more rows of a spreadsheet, but most often wanting to drag something to the desktop, and it's barely visible.

A few seconds delay on opening Word and Excel wouldn't bother me. Now, if the delay were 20 bounces or 10-15 seconds on the 15” MBA, it would, but not if subsequent opens or switching to it was nearly instantaneous.

Hope the perspective from someone else who times things, wants dramatic improvements, and is on the verge of upgrading is helpful!

 

[Bigwaff]

I'm typing this on my 2017 13" I5 MBP.

What capacity SSD do you have and how much free space is available on the drive?

 

[netdudeuk]

Thanks for the replies.

Here's my Mac / drive information.

 

[dizmonk]

I just opened both Word and Excel on my M2 16gb 1Tb and it was pretty much one second. I haven't had any problems, Even Teams opened up within a few seconds.

 

[raythompsontn]

I went into the Apple Store tonight to have a look at the 15" M2 Air. Excel took several seconds to load as did Word. It wasn't for as long as my MBP but there really shouldn't be any such delays with a £1400 laptop.

Word, Excel, PowerPoint all load within 2 seconds on my M2 Air with 16 Gig. The apps open with just one bounce. The slowest app in the MSOffice suite is Outlook as that has to open a database. Outlook takes less than 4 seconds to become fully operational.

Your slow load times are due to other issues besides the Mac Hardware and the OS.