Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Modern SoCs throttle in a fanless design...

MK500 said:
Also heatsinks are a thing. A good thing that reduces the need to throttle.
Click to expand...
Yep and Apple did not use a heatsink cause it's thin. It's an AIR afterall that is thinner than the M1 Air. Heatsinks do lessen throttling but do not 100% prevent it.

The M1 Air had a heatsink as it was thicker and the M1 Air still throttled. Apple even said the M2 13" Pro was the one for sustained workloads.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pastrychef, EmotionalSnow, souko and 2 others
Throttle is the best design because it is the better alternative between the two ACTUAL choices:
  1. The chassis can support 100 points of cooling, you install a chip that generates 100 points of heat for 100 points of performance, all the time, no throttling
  2. the chassis can support 100 points of cooling, you install a chip that generates 200 points of heat for 150 points of performance, it will throttle after a short burst of 150 point performance.
Obviously anybody with a brain will recognize 2 is better. It's just that the haters are in fantasy land where they think there's another chassis that can support 200 points of cooling. Well actually there is, it's called the MacBook Pro, but that's not the point.
The point is, the available thermal envelope is already set in stone, do you stick exactly with that envelope for 100 performance, or do you allow for bursts of speed on top of that 100 performance? Why the hell not?

To give another example, you're on a road trip in a slow camper van, it can't get over 60mph on flat ground. However you encounter some down slopes, do you accelerate to over 60mph to save some time, or do you stick with 60 because you know at the end of the slope you'll be forced back to 60mph? WHO CARES that you can't sustain over 60MPH? Saved time is saved time who's gonna say no to that?
 
  • Like
Reactions: imnotthewalrus, hans1972, theorist9 and 4 others
Xiao_Xi said:
Making a fanless laptop is a marketing ploy that favors form over function to demonstrate how energy efficient Mx SoCs are. I doubt that Mx SoCs would lose appeal if they had a fan.

I wonder if future MBAs will go back to having a fan.
Click to expand...
Powering a fan takes away energy that can be used for computing, so I wouldn't say it is form over function. Reduces weight too, if the SoC does not need a fan and heat sink.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pastrychef, tpannier and jprmercado
Xiao_Xi said:
Making a fanless laptop is a marketing ploy that favors form over function to demonstrate how energy efficient Mx SoCs are. I doubt that Mx SoCs would lose appeal if they had a fan.
Click to expand...
Apple already makes a macbook M1/2 with a fan called the MBP 13" and also a mac mini M1 also has a fan. The fanless Air is for people who want no dust getting in the case or doing light tasks.

Xiao_Xi said:
I wonder if future MBAs will go back to having a fan.
Click to expand...
Well M3 is supposed to be 3nm. Now if Apple Sillcon is going to 5nm++++++ forever then MBA will have to a fan.

But the likely hood is 3nm from TMSC next year is going to be moer efficient node.
 
MK500 said:
Yup, throttling is normal. Also heatsinks are a thing. A good thing that reduces the need to throttle.

:)

Click to expand...
You keep trying to disparage Apple and the M2 and keep missing. You need to stop trying to find fault where there isn't any. Making assumptions without any facts in evidence is more logical fallacy posting on your part.
 
  • Like
Reactions: imnotthewalrus, OlSuttree, AlexMac89 and 1 other person
exoticSpice said:
The steam deck also throttles when it's get hot and Deck has a fan and heatsink. The SoC's/CPUs are designed to be like this guys when they get hot they slow down and Apple designed the M1/M2 Air to do the same.
Click to expand...
Only Apple can make a fanless laptop because their SoCs are more energy efficient than other SoCs, but should they?

exoticSpice said:
Apple already makes a macbook M1/2 with a fan called the MBP 13" and also a mac mini M1 also has a fan.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't it have made more sense for Apple's product line to add a fan to the new redesigned MBA and ditch the 13" MBP?

exoticSpice said:
The fanless Air is for people who want no dust getting in the case or doing light tasks.
Click to expand...
Intel MBAs were also designed for light use, but had a fan. But, a fanless MBA stands out more among ultralaptops than if it had a fan.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: OlSuttree and AlexMac89
exoticSpice said:
The steam deck also throttles when it's get hot and Deck has a fan and heatsink. The SoC's/CPUs are designed to be like this guys when they get hot they slow down and Apple designed the M1/M2 Air to do the same.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1549467955754217473
Click to expand...

35C ambient is 95F. You're confusing Steam Deck throttling due to high ambient temperature vs M2 throttling under normal ambient temperature or air conditioned environment.
 
Xiao_Xi said:
Wouldn't it have made more sense for Apple's product line to add a fan to the new redesigned MBA and ditch the 13" MBP?
Click to expand...

Even when throttling, M2 Air offers very competitive performance compared to similar laptops. In normal every day tasks which do not need sustained operation it’s performance is first class. I dint give there is any fundamental problem with the laptop itself given the intended market. One can complain about throttling etc. but then one really forgets that x86 CPUs have been massively throttling by design for years (turbo frequency vs. boost frequency) and folks are ok with it simply because they are used to it.

They could have done what you suggest and equipped the Air with a fan + ditch the MBP, but I doubt it would result in better business for Apple. Their capability of producing the new Air is likely constrained by display panel supply and it also makes business sense to differentiate the products by their sustained performance. Offering the Air as a consumer platform is a defensible choice, it’s not like Apple deliberate cripples the laptop or anything. I would have preferred to see the sustained TDP at 15W rather than 10W, but that’s physics for you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: eltoslightfoot, Mike Boreham and Xiao_Xi
Xiao_Xi said:
Only Apple can make a fanless laptop because their SoCs are more energy efficient than other SoCs, but should they?


Wouldn't it have made more sense for Apple's product line to add a fan to the new redesigned MBA and ditch the 13" MBP?


Intel MBAs were also designed for light use, but had a fan. But, a fanless MBA stands out more among ultralaptops than if it had a fan.
Click to expand...
Apple made the Intel 12" Macbook...but nobody expect something in terms of performance from that fanless Intel mac so nobody cared about these things
Now even talking about pushing this M2 Mba to its limits says a lot of the potential of its performance
 
  • Like
Reactions: leman
Xiao_Xi said:
Making a fanless laptop is a marketing ploy that favors form over function to demonstrate how energy efficient Mx SoCs are. I doubt that Mx SoCs would lose appeal if they had a fan.

I wonder if future MBAs will go back to having a fan.
Click to expand...

Fanless means one less thing to stop working and break. It is also silent.

If you want guaranteed silence and are willing to trade a little performance, the fan-less MBA is 100% the way to go.
 
  • Like
  • Angry
Reactions: pastrychef, Alex W., eltoslightfoot and 6 others
Xiao_Xi said:
What dust protection should the MBA have: dust-protected (5) or dust-tight (6)? Does Apple's marketing take advantage of this?
Click to expand...

I have no idea what any of these labels mean. If you talking about the ingress protection codes, I doubt that MBA fulfils the criteria and I don't remember Apple ever claiming they do.

What I mean is the that all actively cooled computers have — fans and vents eventually getting clogged with dust, not the ingress protection from fine dust etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlexMac89
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back