New Air turning out to be a dud

[LeeW]

This video right here sums up all the bitching/complaining. Great valid points.

He is spot on, others should watch this.

What really annoys me about all this throttling fuss is the YT clickbait videos.

They run benchmarks 10 times in a row, forcing the CPU to hit its TDP, making it throttle and GASP, SHOCK, HORROR, look, it slows down, performance reduces! Well, ****, of course, that happens on every CPU.

For 95% of people who should be buying this device, it will never happen even on the base model, for the 5% it may happen rarely and still not be noticeable for the majority.

For all those people that are going to peg the CPU at 100% for long periods of time? You should not be buying this device if you did.. Big mistake! The same applies to the M1, that is not what a fanless device is for. A user should not be judging a fanless device's capability of running hot for long periods of time without throttling. Few will of course outside of forums like this and watching YT videos.

Apple always **** something up, the SSD is a good example, a single NAND with 8GB Ram is not a good move, no excuse for it. But they get away with it because most people are not tech savvy, they are not watching YT videos about thermal throttling or are a member of Mac Rumors. They buy it, think it is great and enjoy the device. And to that point, leave them alone if they are happy.

 

[sjperformance]

He is spot on, others should watch this.

What really annoys me about all this throttling fuss is the YT clickbait videos.

They run benchmarks 10 times in a row, forcing the CPU to hit its TDP, making it throttle and GASP, SHOCK, HORROR, look, it slows down, performance reduces! Well, ****, of course, that happens on every CPU.

For 95% of people who should be buying this device, it will never happen even on the base model, for the 5% it may happen rarely and still not be noticeable for the majority.

For all those people that are going to peg the CPU at 100% for long periods of time? You should not be buying this device if you did.. Big mistake! The same applies to the M1, that is not what a fanless device is for. A user should not be judging a fanless device's capability of running hot for long periods of time without throttling. Few will of course outside of forums like this and watching YT videos.

Apple always **** something up, the SSD is a good example, a single NAND is not a good move, no excuse for it. But they get away with it because most people are not tech savvy, they are not watching YT videos about thermal throttling or are a member of Mac Rumors. They buy it, think it is great and enjoy the device.

Oh BTW throttling is a normal thing. Apple silicone handles it best and efficiently. Remember no fan right. Ever driven a car with a turbo? That has turbo lag too. Volvo has eliminated some of these issues by making twin-charged engines (turbo+supercharged)

 

[fisherking]

to me this is super simple... apple knows anyone serious will buy the 16g and 512 model anyway, basically same price as the soon to be outdated 14 pro

why will the 14 pro 'soon be outdated'? what does that mean? ppl work on the mac they own, and can continue to do so, as long as they choose to (or can). the 14" pro will be a great mac for years to come.

every time apple puts out a new mac, the macrumors forum is flooded with doomsayers, anger, complaints. every time. (it's just as bad, or worse, with each new OS). it's a riot... ...

 

[LeeW]

there are no issues with 512gb right? and he was saying there are minimal issues with 256 for most..

If you have the 8GB/256GB then you may run into slowdowns, 8GB will easily get used up and the device will SWAP. But it's swapping to a single NAND which is slower than the previous M1. That is where it could result in a noticeable performance dip.

If you have the 8GB/512GB then it will be less of an issue, when it starts to SWAP it is doing it to much faster SSD as there are dual NANDs.

Will the average user notice and would tell the difference? Unlikely. Most will only say they will because they seen it here or on YT...

 

[kp98077]

why will the 14 pro 'soon be outdated'? what does that mean? ppl work on the mac they own, and can continue to do so, as long as they choose to (or can). the 14" pro will be a great mac for years to come.

every time apple puts out a new mac, the macrumors forum is flooded with doomsayers, anger, complaints. every time. (it's just as bad, or worse, with each new OS). it's a riot... ...

well, what I mean is inevitable. They will release an M2 version of the 14 Pro in the fall (likely). Oh for sure of course they let forever... I have a 12" and people laugh.. but I don't give two cents 😛
I have the new M2 Air and honestly, can't believe all of the "bad press" I remember the days on these forums where people would post positive things and highlight those! I have had ZERO issues with this new machine and blown away by it frankly.... its amazing to me how thin and YES POWERFUL It is! lol

 

[sjperformance]

well, what I mean is inevitable. They will release an M2 version of the 14 Pro in the fall (likely). Oh for sure of course they let forever... I have a 12" and people laugh.. but I don't give two cents 😛
I have the new M2 Air and honestly, can't believe all of the "bad press" I remember the days on these forums where people would post positive things and highlight those! I have had ZERO issues with this new machine and blown away by it frankly.... its amazing to me how thin and YES POWERFUL It is! lol

Throughout the years the quality on these forums have degraded heavily. Posting and viewing less.

 

[fisherking]

well, what I mean is inevitable. They will release an M2 version of the 14 Pro in the fall (likely). Oh for sure of course they let forever... I have a 12" and people laugh.. but I don't give two cents 😛
I have the new M2 Air and honestly, can't believe all of the "bad press" I remember the days on these forums where people would post positive things and highlight those! I have had ZERO issues with this new machine and blown away by it frankly.... its amazing to me how thin and YES POWERFUL It is! lol

i have the 2016 12" macbook; i keep waiting for a new one. so, am gonna break down & get the air (but, as i mentioned somewhere on this forum), will drop the air out the window the second a new 12" macbook happens

 

[Asiatic Black Hebrew]

He is spot on, others should watch this.

What really annoys me about all this throttling fuss is the YT clickbait videos.

They run benchmarks 10 times in a row, forcing the CPU to hit its TDP, making it throttle and GASP, SHOCK, HORROR, look, it slows down, performance reduces! Well, ****, of course, that happens on every CPU.

For 95% of people who should be buying this device, it will never happen even on the base model, for the 5% it may happen rarely and still not be noticeable for the majority.

For all those people that are going to peg the CPU at 100% for long periods of time? You should not be buying this device if you did.. Big mistake! The same applies to the M1, that is not what a fanless device is for. A user should not be judging a fanless device's capability of running hot for long periods of time without throttling. Few will of course outside of forums like this and watching YT videos.

Apple always **** something up, the SSD is a good example, a single NAND with 8GB Ram is not a good move, no excuse for it. But they get away with it because most people are not tech savvy, they are not watching YT videos about thermal throttling or are a member of Mac Rumors. They buy it, think it is great and enjoy the device. And to that point, leave them alone if they are happy.

100% spot on here. Sadly, there's just no convincing the posters here who think benchmarks/stress test are judge & jury for every machine, no matter the situation. As for the single NAND issue, I agree, but it's a dead horse at this point. It is what it is. What I find funny, are the people who seem absolutely furious over it, were likely NEVER going to be buying the base model to begin with. But since it's low hanging fruit they can easily latch onto for the sole purpose of bashing the machine as a whole, we're going to be hearing about it daily until the next Air eventually comes out.

 

[SmugMaverick]

Yep, I don’t like that guy in the video but he’s right

this laptop is not for hardcore tech users who render six 4K videos and have 100 chrome tabs open, it’s an entry level laptop from Apple regardless of price.

Brownlee says the same, if you’re buying it then you’re probably not using it for video rendering but media consumption.

 

[LeeW]

if you’re buying it then you’re probably not using it for video rendering but media consumption.

To be fair I know many using the Air for various tasks from Web Development, app development, video creation and so much more, it manages just fine. No, they are not pro users doing what pro users do but it can be more than a media consumption device.

 

[1BadManVan]

To be fair I know many using the Air for various tasks from Web Development, app development, video creation and so much more, it manages just fine. No, they are not pro users doing what pro users do but it can be more than a media consumption device.

Exactly right. They can still do almost everything the pro series can do, it just isnt going to be as quick. But that’s the trade off for an ultra thin and light device that’s silent. I think Apple still did an amazing job with this trade off. Great speakers, great screen, ultra thin and light, silent, insane battery life and still has amazing performance. The main complaint people find is it can’t match a thicker and heavier pro device with fans lol.

The ssd bs still sucks, not a good move on apples part. It sounds like for normal use it doesn’t affect much, but still is a limitation.

 

[fisherking]

i know people running logic pro on their airs, and apple, after all, offers logic and final cut with the purchase of an air. that must mean something.... 🤔

 

[MajorFubar]

MKBHD is correct the major issue with the M2 Air is the price...

That's definitely one valid point of view, but alternatively you could say there's never been a bad computer if the underspec'd and under-performing ones had just been cheap enough.

 

[fisherking]

That's definitely one valid point of view, but alternatively you could say there's never been a bad computer if the underspec'd and under-performing ones had just been cheap enough.

maybe... that's the price they feel they need to set it at? based on, you know... the economy, the price for parts...etc.

apple is a corporation, it is not our friend (altho, it's a kinda-friendly corporation). they set prices as they see fit, and we buy.. or we don't.

 

[bookcase]

To be fair I know many using the Air for various tasks from Web Development, app development, video creation and so much more, it manages just fine. No, they are not pro users doing what pro users do but it can be more than a media consumption device.

Right! I have the MacBook m3 1.1GHz 12" (Early 2016) with 256GB SSD and it's worked fine for anything I've needed to do in addition to media consumption. (I have a MacBook Pro for work to handle all my design intensive tasks.) So the 8/256 M2 should be a remarkable improvement for me. Why bother comparing it to anything else that I don't already own?

 

[fisherking]

Right! I have the MacBook m3 1.1GHz 12" (Early 2016) with 256GB SSD and it's worked fine for anything I've needed to do in addition to media consumption. (I have a MacBook Pro for work to handle all my design intensive tasks.) So the 8/256 M2 should be a remarkable improvement for me. Why bother comparing it to anything else that I don't already own?

that's the 12"? i have the same exact machine, love it. never had any memory issues, still works (except the camera, which i never use), and i can run affinity photo, rapidweaver, etc PLUS 12-20 safari tabs, messages, mail, calendar...etc.

anything after this should be, as you've said, a 'remarkable improvement' 👍

 

[bookcase]

that's the 12"? i have the same exact machine, love it. never had any memory issues, still works (except the camera, which i never use), and i can run affinity photo, rapidweaver, etc PLUS 12-20 safari tabs, messages, mail, calendar...etc.

anything after this should be, as you've said, a 'remarkable improvement' 👍

It is, and until recently, it's never given me any problems with anything I throw at it.

 

[fisherking]

It is, and until recently, it's never given me any problems with anything I throw at it.

am hoping the rumors are true, and we see a new 12" MB in the next year or so.

i tried to visit the macrumors macbook forum, but didn't feel like digging thru all the cobwebs...

 

[4743913]

pretty good video here. some real world testing. minimal benchmarks. I am to the point now, where benchmarkers can just go f themselves. Either run apps and show the results or shut up.

 

[MajorFubar]

i know people running logic pro on their airs, and apple, after all, offers logic and final cut with the purchase of an air. that must mean something.... 🤔

Yep I run Logic Pro on by 8/8/512 M1 Air.
And do i notice a huge real-world performance difference between running LPX on my 32/32/2TB Mac Studio and running it on my Air with only a fraction of the resources? Definitely most times, no.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

He is spot on, others should watch this.

What really annoys me about all this throttling fuss is the YT clickbait videos.

They run benchmarks 10 times in a row, forcing the CPU to hit its TDP, making it throttle and GASP, SHOCK, HORROR, look, it slows down, performance reduces! Well, ****, of course, that happens on every CPU.

For 95% of people who should be buying this device, it will never happen even on the base model, for the 5% it may happen rarely and still not be noticeable for the majority.

For all those people that are going to peg the CPU at 100% for long periods of time? You should not be buying this device if you did.. Big mistake! The same applies to the M1, that is not what a fanless device is for. A user should not be judging a fanless device's capability of running hot for long periods of time without throttling. Few will of course outside of forums like this and watching YT videos.

Apple always **** something up, the SSD is a good example, a single NAND with 8GB Ram is not a good move, no excuse for it. But they get away with it because most people are not tech savvy, they are not watching YT videos about thermal throttling or are a member of Mac Rumors. They buy it, think it is great and enjoy the device. And to that point, leave them alone if they are happy.

Yes, but even if you do for long term (peg the CPU) it won’t matter. I don’t know why everyone things the MBAs are these tiny things that are useful for only the elderly and children.

 

[LeeW]

Yes, but even if you do for long term (peg the CPU) it won’t matter.

No it won't, it will just take longer. If you have no patience then you want a 'Fan Inside'.

 

[m1maverick]

Oh BTW throttling is a normal thing. Apple silicone handles it best and efficiently. Remember no fan right. Ever driven a car with a turbo? That has turbo lag too. Volvo has eliminated some of these issues by making twin-charged engines (turbo+supercharged)

This is a bad analogy as turbo spool delay is not the same thing as CPU throttling. If you want to use a car analogy I would recommend using the brakes. Braking power for most consumer vehicles will diminish with extended, hard braking.

 

[fisherking]

No it won't, it will just take longer. If you have no patience then you want a 'Fan Inside'.

true.

still, i think most computer users do their work, and it they have to wait for a process they run... they wait. then they go back to work.

how many people check a stopwatch against a video export (or whatever)? we just... wait.

the M2 air will make a lot of people happy... just as the M1 air does. just as whatever comes next does.

 

[LeeW]

how many people check a stopwatch against a video export (or whatever)?

95% of Macrumors members it would seem every time Apple launches a new MacBook.