MacBook Air M2 - 8 vs 10 core GPU - Thermals and Battery Life?

[russell_314]

Thanks for reporting back! That certainly does sound positive. Did you have the resolution set to the native (2560x1664) or is it running at a reduced resolution?

Let me know how you get on with 2 hours at graphics set to 10.

I had it running whatever default it was and I noticed that was 1661x1079 or 67%. I changed that to 100% and kept it on graphics 10. That seemed a bit harder because I noticed frequent drops to about 45 FPS and one time it dropped to 35 FPS. 45 FPS wasn't noticeable to me and I wouldn't have known without the frame counter but 35 FPS was. It wasn't unplayable but it looked a little choppy. I noticed that the metal above the function keys got hot. Not enough where you couldn't hold your finger on it but it was pretty warm. The underside was also warm in a spot but not like the top. It wouldn't be uncomfortable on your lap in shorts but you would notice it. The weird thing is the FPS would jump up to 60 FPS right after the drops sometimes so not 100 percent sure if it was throttling or just too much for the GPU. I need to check temps but either way not a good experience on max graphics.

I then let it cool down and put it back to the classic graphics setting 3 with the exception of view distance. I turned that up because I don't want surprises when running around. I kept the resolution at 100%. After about three hours of play it's not even warm anywhere. The underside wasn't cold like cold metal but more like the temperature as if you had your hand on it. The top was cool.

My recommendation is if you want to play at higher graphics settings go for the 14" MacBook Pro base model. It wasn't unplayable but it was getting warm and the FPS dropped. I'm not serious into raiding or anything but it might cause problems in that if you tried on max graphics. On the classic graphics settings it's perfectly fine though. It doesn't even seem to stress it. I'm sure you could work up the graphics past the classic setting of 3 if you wanted just a little better looking but it seems max graphics is too much for it.

 

[1BadManVan]

Im sure more programs will continue to further optimize these new chips as well. Already come a long way with the M1 chips. I ordered the 10 core model

 

[russell_314]

I haven't played WoW in a few years. I'm guessing Classic Wow is what they used to call "Vanilla"? Either way, I remember at the time there was a setting for capping the FPS so maybe you have this turned on? I believe it is set by default.

It's Blizzards version of that. They saw people playing on unofficial servers and thought "we can make money on that". Basically it's WoW without all the expansions although they are rolling out expansions for classic WoW so I should have made that clear I'm playing on Burning Crusade expansion because I'm sure each expansion is going to get a little more graphically intensive. I think the next expansion after BC is available but I haven't played on it.

I'm sure it's a setting somewhere. I remember unchecking it for my gaming PC. Maybe I should uncheck it here and see if it'll let me get more than 60 FPS. Maybe not though because the Mac is using a 60 Hz LCD

Edit: I checked and it's set to 100 FPS max so it's not being capped by the game. I changed that setting on my PC and it gets the 144 Hz so I think it's limited to the monitor somehow. I know I've seen other games show a faster refresh than the monitor so IDK why WoW is different.

 

[TheBeev]

I had it running whatever default it was and I noticed that was 1661x1079 or 67%. I changed that to 100% and kept it on graphics 10. That seemed a bit harder because I noticed frequent drops to about 45 FPS and one time it dropped to 35 FPS. 45 FPS wasn't noticeable to me and I wouldn't have known without the frame counter but 35 FPS was. It wasn't unplayable but it looked a little choppy. I noticed that the metal above the function keys got hot. Not enough where you couldn't hold your finger on it but it was pretty warm. The underside was also warm in a spot but not like the top. It wouldn't be uncomfortable on your lap in shorts but you would notice it. The weird thing is the FPS would jump up to 60 FPS right after the drops sometimes so not 100 percent sure if it was throttling or just too much for the GPU. I need to check temps but either way not a good experience on max graphics.

I then let it cool down and put it back to the classic graphics setting 3 with the exception of view distance. I turned that up because I don't want surprises when running around. I kept the resolution at 100%. After about three hours of play it's not even warm anywhere. The underside wasn't cold like cold metal but more like the temperature as if you had your hand on it. The top was cool.

My recommendation is if you want to play at higher graphics settings go for the 14" MacBook Pro base model. It wasn't unplayable but it was getting warm and the FPS dropped. I'm not serious into raiding or anything but it might cause problems in that if you tried on max graphics. On the classic graphics settings it's perfectly fine though. It doesn't even seem to stress it. I'm sure you could work up the graphics past the classic setting of 3 if you wanted just a little better looking but it seems max graphics is too much for it.

Great information thanks!

I think it’ll always struggle trying to hit native resolution with the “retina” screen. Just a little too much for the GPU to handle. Not a problem though. I’d probably run it on lower resolution but higher quality settings I think.

 

[TheBeev]

Great information thanks!

I think it’ll always struggle trying to hit native resolution with the “retina” screen. Just a little too much for the GPU to handle. Not a problem though. I’d probably run it on lower resolution but higher quality settings I think.

After some thinking and discussion with my wife (who’ll be using it and is not that fussed about WoW Classic game performance), we’ve decided to go for the M2 MacBook Air with 8-cores, 8GB and the 512GB upgrade. The game seems to run pretty well on M1 Macbook Airs with 7- or 8-cores from what I’ve seen on YouTube, so I’m reasonably confident it’ll be enough. If not, we may have to return and rethink. Either way, I’ll post some stats here once we get it around 9th-16th August, so we have some comparison to @russell_314’s results.

 

[richard13]

It's Blizzards version of that. They saw people playing on unofficial servers and thought "we can make money on that". Basically it's WoW without all the expansions although they are rolling out expansions for classic WoW so I should have made that clear I'm playing on Burning Crusade expansion because I'm sure each expansion is going to get a little more graphically intensive. I think the next expansion after BC is available but I haven't played on it.

I'm sure it's a setting somewhere. I remember unchecking it for my gaming PC. Maybe I should uncheck it here and see if it'll let me get more than 60 FPS. Maybe not though because the Mac is using a 60 Hz LCD

Edit: I checked and it's set to 100 FPS max so it's not being capped by the game. I changed that setting on my PC and it gets the 144 Hz so I think it's limited to the monitor somehow. I know I've seen other games show a faster refresh than the monitor so IDK why WoW is different.

I'm sorry if you've posted this somewhere else but could you tell us (or provide a link to) the configuration you went with?

 

[russell_314]

I'm sorry if you've posted this somewhere else but could you tell us (or provide a link to) the configuration you went with?

I went with the 10 core GPU, 16 GB RAM and 5112 GB SSD... It's probably overkill since my M1 iMac in the same config played it just fine with an 8 core GPU.

 

[richard13]

I went with the 10 core GPU, 16 GB RAM and 5112 GB SSD... It's probably overkill since my M1 iMac in the same config played it just fine with an 8 core GPU.

Thanks! I have always gone for the MBP but considering how old my current one is, was thinking of getting an M2 MBA this go around: 10 core GPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD.

I just found out that my state has a "tax holiday" coming up but with a limit of $1500. So to take advantage, I would have to cut that back to: 10 core GPU, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD and wanted to see what someone with a similar use case would look like. I think this configuration would work out ok but wonder if I'm making a mistake just to take advantage of the roughly $100 tax break.

 

[russell_314]

Thanks! I have always gone for the MBP but considering how old my current one is, was thinking of getting an M2 MBA this go around: 10 core GPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD.

I just found out that my state has a "tax holiday" coming up but with a limit of $1500. So to take advantage, I would have to cut that back to: 10 core GPU, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD and wanted to see what someone with a similar use case would look like. I think this configuration would work out ok but wonder if I'm making a mistake just to take advantage of the roughly $100 tax break.

Are you sure the tax break doesn’t allow you to purchase more than $1500? I would think it would just be tax free for the first $1500 then you’d have to pay tax on the remainder.

What did you plan to do with it? You might be better served with 16 GB of RAM instead of two extra cores on the GPU

 

[richard13]

Yea, checked that and unfortunately it's a hard cap:

"If you purchase an item that would otherwise qualify for the sales tax exemption but costs more than the limits listed above, the item is not exempt, and you must pay sales tax on the entire price of the item."

I know I should get what I need, even if it means forgoing the tax break. It would just be nice to take advantage of it if I can.

The current use case for my MBP is sofa and bedroom use: web, mail, maps, photos, messages, music, occasional TV, videos, casual gaming. I have an iMac (old as it is) for any sort of heavy lifting (video editing, Windows VM, heavier games) and plan to upgrade that on the next cycle.

That said, I'm always thinking about possibly eliminating the iMac. If I could get to a place where there's just one computer it might be to my advantage. But that also means that I'm speccing up to a high end MBP or MBA without the large screen of a desktop.

 

[Gelam]

Our first notebookcheck review has arrived.
They have reviewed the M2 MBA with:
8 core GPU
8gb ram
256gb

Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry Review – A very good, but too expensive daily MacBook

Notebookcheck reviews the new Apple MacBook Air M2 Midnight in the base-level spec with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD storage.

www.notebookcheck.net

The battery life value for this 8 core GPU version is:

Interestingly, both the M1 MBA with 7 and 8 GPU cores had higher battery runtime.
7 core GPU:

8 core GPU:

Note that the WiFi Websurfing runtime is with the display at 150 nits on all reviews. The lower runtime could be either due to the slightly larger display and the higher idle wattage of the M2 chip. The M2 took at bigger hit on the max brightness runtime due to the bigger and brighter max brightness display.

Another interesting test from notebookcheck is the gaming test where this base model M2 MBA is slower than both the 8 core and 7 core GPU M1 MBA.
M2 MBA 8 core GPU:

M1 MBA 8 core GPU:

M1 MBA 7 core GPU:

Which is super interesting, is the M2 slower because of the base model having slower SSD speeds (slower memory swap)? Or is it slower because the M2 gets hot and quicker at that, that the throttling negates the speed advantage and even brought it below the M1. However, other YouTube M2 gaming tests showed that the M2 is quicker than M1. We are not sure how long notebookcheck and YouTube reviewers ran their games before recording the FPS. When notebookcheck reviews their 10 core GPU with 16gb ram and 1TB storage will we know which factor is causing the M2 base to run slower than M1.

Now I have not read the review thoroughly yet so I might have missed a few information.

I went with the 10 core GPU, 16 GB RAM and 5112 GB SSD... It's probably overkill since my M1 iMac in the same config played it just fine with an 8 core GPU.

Forgive me if I am wrong, have you tested gaming with an M1 MBA?

 

[jdb8167]

Another interesting test from notebookcheck is the gaming test where this base model M2 MBA is slower than both the 8 core and 7 core GPU M1 MBA.
M2 MBA 8 core GPU:
View attachment 2034343
M1 MBA 8 core GPU:
View attachment 2034344
M1 MBA 7 core GPU:
View attachment 2034345
Which is super interesting, is the M2 slower because of the base model having slower SSD speeds (slower memory swap)? Or is it slower because the M2 gets hot and quicker at that, that the throttling negates the speed advantage and even brought it below the M1. However, other YouTube M2 gaming tests showed that the M2 is quicker than M1. We are not sure how long notebookcheck and YouTube reviewers ran their games before recording the FPS. When notebookcheck reviews their 10 core GPU with 16gb ram and 1TB storage will we know which factor is causing the M2 base to run slower than M1.

Now I have not read the review thoroughly yet so I might have missed a few information.


Forgive me if I am wrong, have you tested gaming with an M1 MBA?

The gaming portion of this seems very odd. I can accept that the M2 throttles faster than the M1 and that when throttled, the GPUs perform similarly but those numbers are way different than expectations. On high the 3 tests are 4%, 41%, and 23% faster for an 8 core M1 GPU than an 8 core M2 GPU? Those numbers are just way too different for there not to be some other factor involved. It gets more complicated because the games are all Rosetta 2 translated I assume and excepting SotTR probably not Metal. The other GPU tests that they did all favor the M2 pretty heavily even when throttled over time.

 

[Gelam]

The gaming portion of this seems very odd. I can accept that the M2 throttles faster than the M1 and that when throttled, the GPUs perform similarly but those numbers are way different than expectations. On high the 3 tests are 4%, 41%, and 23% faster for an 8 core M1 GPU than an 8 core M2 GPU? Those numbers are just way too different for there not to be some other factor involved. It gets more complicated because the games are all Rosetta 2 translated I assume and excepting SotTR probably not Metal. The other GPU tests that they did all favor the M2 pretty heavily even when throttled over time.

I agree it was very odd. Those games are probably not native and would have been even less optimized back when M1 Air was tested.

The gaming test is probably different to the GPU only test that favored the M2. Because the gaming test would push both CPU and GPU and make them both heat up more than the GPU or CPU only test.

2 things that I think could maybe affect this particular gaming test results.
1. The M2 is indeed so much hotter that it throttles and negates all performance gains.
2. A crazy thought, that the ambient temp is high in their office and location. Right now there is a crazy heat wave in Europe and other parts of the world. They did this test a few days ago in summer July. But the test for M1 air was made in December so ambient might be cooler? Assuming if they did not regulate ambient temp during testing.

Or it might be a combination of the above.

 

[jav6454]

Thank you for your input! I feel better with going with 24gb of ram to be confident of not hitting the swap.

It's not that you won't hit it, but you will likely run less of a chance of hitting it. In the end, having the highest memory capacity your budget allows is always the best option.

 

[Gelam]

It's not that you won't hit it, but you will likely run less of a chance of hitting it. In the end, having the highest memory capacity your budget allows is always the best option.

I agree! Lots of memory if the best!

 

[jdb8167]

I agree it was very odd. Those games are probably not native and would have been even less optimized back when M1 Air was tested.

The gaming test is probably different to the GPU only test that favored the M2. Because the gaming test would push both CPU and GPU and make them both heat up more than the GPU or CPU only test.

2 things that I think could maybe affect this particular gaming test results.
1. The M2 is indeed so much hotter that it throttles and negates all performance gains.
2. A crazy thought, that the ambient temp is high in their office and location. Right now there is a crazy heat wave in Europe and other parts of the world. They did this test a few days ago in summer July. But the test for M1 air was made in December so ambient might be cooler? Assuming if they did not regulate ambient temp during testing.

Or it might be a combination of the above.

I would hope they have better controls than that but given the current state of tech journalism maybe I’m being too optimistic.

I don’t play many games so that was the least interesting part of the review for me but still it is an odd situation.

 

[russell_314]

Our first notebookcheck review has arrived.
They have reviewed the M2 MBA with:
8 core GPU
8gb ram
256gb

Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry Review – A very good, but too expensive daily MacBook

Notebookcheck reviews the new Apple MacBook Air M2 Midnight in the base-level spec with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD storage.

www.notebookcheck.net

The battery life value for this 8 core GPU version is:
View attachment 2034340

Interestingly, both the M1 MBA with 7 and 8 GPU cores had higher battery runtime.
7 core GPU:
View attachment 2034341
8 core GPU:
View attachment 2034342
Note that the WiFi Websurfing runtime is with the display at 150 nits on all reviews. The lower runtime could be either due to the slightly larger display and the higher idle wattage of the M2 chip. The M2 took at bigger hit on the max brightness runtime due to the bigger and brighter max brightness display.

Another interesting test from notebookcheck is the gaming test where this base model M2 MBA is slower than both the 8 core and 7 core GPU M1 MBA.
M2 MBA 8 core GPU:
View attachment 2034343
M1 MBA 8 core GPU:
View attachment 2034344
M1 MBA 7 core GPU:
View attachment 2034345
Which is super interesting, is the M2 slower because of the base model having slower SSD speeds (slower memory swap)? Or is it slower because the M2 gets hot and quicker at that, that the throttling negates the speed advantage and even brought it below the M1. However, other YouTube M2 gaming tests showed that the M2 is quicker than M1. We are not sure how long notebookcheck and YouTube reviewers ran their games before recording the FPS. When notebookcheck reviews their 10 core GPU with 16gb ram and 1TB storage will we know which factor is causing the M2 base to run slower than M1.

Now I have not read the review thoroughly yet so I might have missed a few information.


Forgive me if I am wrong, have you tested gaming with an M1 MBA?

No just the M1 iMac. It’s the same processor with active cooling. So basically no throttling. The only game I really play on Mac is WoW classic. It doesn’t require much graphics power so that’s why I said it would be fine on the 8 core GPU. If it runs on the M2 MacBook Air and the M1 iMac at 60 FPS on classic graphics setting it’ll run on the M1 Air.

If you’re considering gaming for anything close to modern games and for some reason you really want to do it on a Mac go for the 14” or 16” MacBook Pro. The GPU is going to be much better and you won’t have any cooling issues.

 

[tgwaste]

Battery seems super solid. I'm draining about 8-9%/hour so definitely lasts a full work day.

However: 2012??

 

[jdb8167]

Battery seems super solid. I'm draining about 8-9%/hour so definitely lasts a full work day.

However: 2012??

View attachment 2035367

Pretty good for a 10 year old battery. 🤣

 

[Gelam]

Battery seems super solid. I'm draining about 8-9%/hour so definitely lasts a full work day.

However: 2012??

View attachment 2035367

How do you manage to baby the battery so good? It even holds more charge than when it was manufactured?

No just the M1 iMac. It’s the same processor with active cooling. So basically no throttling. The only game I really play on Mac is WoW classic. It doesn’t require much graphics power so that’s why I said it would be fine on the 8 core GPU. If it runs on the M2 MacBook Air and the M1 iMac at 60 FPS on classic graphics setting it’ll run on the M1 Air.

If you’re considering gaming for anything close to modern games and for some reason you really want to do it on a Mac go for the 14” or 16” MacBook Pro. The GPU is going to be much better and you won’t have any cooling issues.

I see! So your M1 iMac avg at 60FPS while your M2 10 core GPU air runs avg between 35 - 45FPS?

I have a 16" gaming laptop already so I would not want to carry another MBP around even if its the 14" version. The MBA will only serve as gaming for short periods of time while I do not have the gaming laptop around. Also the 13" MBP M2, I could not stomach the touch bar.

I would hope they have better controls than that but given the current state of tech journalism maybe I’m being too optimistic.

I don’t play many games so that was the least interesting part of the review for me but still it is an odd situation.

What is the current state of tech journalism that you mean?



-----------------------------

I have received the two M2 MBA now (8 GPU & 10 GPU versions). However the 8 GPU machine had a cosmetic scratch right out of the box so I am inclined to return it. Now waiting for the notebookcheck review on the 10 core version to see how much less battery life it has and if I can stomach it.

Also, recently it is found out that the M1 Air speakers are a little superior to the M2 Air as well so I might return both for an M1 Air (though Apple do not sell an 8 GPU core BTO anymore and the fact the max ram is 16GB so not sure if I can stomach that).

 

[russell_314]

I see! So your M1 iMac avg at 60FPS while your M2 10 core GPU air runs avg between 35 - 45FPS?

Nope both 60 FPS at the 3 (Classic) setting on WoW classic. I didn’t try higher graphics settings on WoW classic on the iMac. On the M2 Air it was struggling at the 35 FPS but I suspect the iMac would have performed about the same. I tried regular WoW on my iMac and it didn’t play well. I didn’t check the FPS though.

I really would advise against the Air if you want to play games. Even the base 14” Pro will crush it in the GPU department

 

[Gelam]

Nope both 60 FPS at the 3 (Classic) setting on WoW classic. I didn’t try higher graphics settings on WoW classic on the iMac. On the M2 Air it was struggling at the 35 FPS but I suspect the iMac would have performed about the same. I tried regular WoW on my iMac and it didn’t play well. I didn’t check the FPS though.

I really would advise against the Air if you want to play games. Even the base 14” Pro will crush it in the GPU department

Thank you for your clarification, that looks very promising in your case.

I understand your advise. The M2 airs were delivered to me during the weekend. And I am holding my friend's 14" to see if I enjoy the weight. (Although for M2 13" Pro, I just cannot stomach the touchbar.)

 

[TheBeev]

Ok, so we finally got our M2 MacBook Air with 8-core CPU and GPU, 8GB Memory and 512GB storage. I've been testing WoW Classic on it (TBC expansion) and I'm pleasently surprised with the performance.

I originally ran it at 100% resolution (2560x1664) and with all settings on max (Quality 10). It managed to handle this in quiet areas, but there were some drops to 45-60fps when in busy areas and especially after 15 minutes or so of playing (thermal thottling taking hold) but it did stabilise. However, with a few tweaks to the settings I was able to keep the resolution at 100% (lovely and sharp), most settings on max and just a few settings turned down (shadow quality, water and SSAO being the main ones). You could probably keep everything on max if you're willing to sacrifice resolution, be we prefer a sharper image to all the bells and whistles. We ran these settings below for a few hours last night and it was a constant 60fps, so we're very happy with it. The device is so light and portable (especially after using a 17" gaming laptop), so silent and doesn't get all that hot either.

So for older games or I guess games that have been ported over from iOS/iPadOS it should be fine, but as others have noted, I wouldn't recommend it for playing more modern games that require more power as the thermal thottling will kick in on top of a limited GPU.

 

[russell_314]

Ok, so we finally got our M2 MacBook Air with 8-core CPU and GPU, 8GB Memory and 512GB storage. I've been testing WoW Classic on it (TBC expansion) and I'm pleasently surprised with the performance.

I originally ran it at 100% resolution (2560x1664) and with all settings on max (Quality 10). It managed to handle this in quiet areas, but there were some drops to 45-60fps when in busy areas and especially after 15 minutes or so of playing (thermal thottling taking hold) but it did stabilise. However, with a few tweaks to the settings I was able to keep the resolution at 100% (lovely and sharp), most settings on max and just a few settings turned down (shadow quality, water and SSAO being the main ones). You could probably keep everything on max if you're willing to sacrifice resolution, be we prefer a sharper image to all the bells and whistles. We ran these settings below for a few hours last night and it was a constant 60fps, so we're very happy with it. The device is so light and portable (especially after using a 17" gaming laptop), so silent and doesn't get all that hot either.

View attachment 2041332

View attachment 2041333

So for older games or I guess games that have been ported over from iOS/iPadOS it should be fine, but as others have noted, I wouldn't recommend it for playing more modern games that require more power as the thermal thottling will kick in on top of a limited GPU.

I’m glad it’s working well. I will have to mess around with the graphics settings

 

[erasr]

Ok, so we finally got our M2 MacBook Air with 8-core CPU and GPU, 8GB Memory and 512GB storage. I've been testing WoW Classic on it (TBC expansion) and I'm pleasently surprised with the performance.

I originally ran it at 100% resolution (2560x1664) and with all settings on max (Quality 10). It managed to handle this in quiet areas, but there were some drops to 45-60fps when in busy areas and especially after 15 minutes or so of playing (thermal thottling taking hold) but it did stabilise. However, with a few tweaks to the settings I was able to keep the resolution at 100% (lovely and sharp), most settings on max and just a few settings turned down (shadow quality, water and SSAO being the main ones). You could probably keep everything on max if you're willing to sacrifice resolution, be we prefer a sharper image to all the bells and whistles. We ran these settings below for a few hours last night and it was a constant 60fps, so we're very happy with it. The device is so light and portable (especially after using a 17" gaming laptop), so silent and doesn't get all that hot either.

View attachment 2041332

View attachment 2041333

So for older games or I guess games that have been ported over from iOS/iPadOS it should be fine, but as others have noted, I wouldn't recommend it for playing more modern games that require more power as the thermal thottling will kick in on top of a limited GPU.

What about something like CIV 6?