New MacBook Pro Features Smaller Heatsink Due to Supply Chain Issues

[eicca]

Agreed! It's not all about the performance or benchmarks. Other things factor in too. Seems like Apple wanted to cut costs.

So you’re saying you know more about product design than the most powerful consumer computer development team on earth?

Have you ever once sat in on a product planning meeting?

They will spend hundreds if not thousands of hours debating a tiny change like this. And since they’ve decided to do it, it means they’ve determined it’s not a problem.

Get over it already. This, like every other “scandal,” will not end up actually being a problem in the slightest.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Potentially compromised performance at that price? That is unacceptable.

And slower 512 GB SSD performance, which effects various tasks because of how often these systems use memory swapping from the SSD.

Edit: to the person who voted this comment down, this has been demonstrated conclusively in Mac Tech's real work stress tests on YouTube. It effects the computer as a whole, depending on the test. The slower 512 GB M2 Pro SSD 100% has real world ramifications. You may not like that fact, but it is a fact and has been proven with real world examples thusly.

 

[phenste]

yall silly as hell actin like this is the apocalypse of Mx models. I’ve been doing the kind of everyday multitasking on my M2 Pro that I couldn’t DREAM of doing on my 2015 without it getting HOT or sounding like a jet plane (or a PS4 Pro). “unacceptable,” “ridiculous”—get over yourselves.

stick with your M1 or wait until the 3nm M3 if you’re really THAT terrified by what amounts to such relatively small (lol) news.

 

[transpo1]

I love this article because it makes me feel great about my M1 Max 16” MBP. Keep it coming! 😄

 

[eicca]

Well actually if you watch the videos you will see that the M2 Pro and Max chips under load can easily hit 100 degree celsius. That seems to very much be in Intels territory.

They hit that temperature if you redline them for thirty minutes straight.

You’ve already forgotten that intel chips will hit that temperature just browsing the web.

Apple Silicon continues to be superior in every single way, but I guess the internet needs something to whine about.

 

[MathersMahmood]

In my opinion not a good move.

 

[kiranmk2]

Once again, an issue that will not affect 99.5% of users is being treated as the freaking apocalypse.

I would think this will affect more that that. If you are not routinely maxing out your SoC then I would say you probably didn't need to buy an MBP. There will be plenty of professionals that justify buying this machine because they can get their work done faster. There is also the possibility of heat-related failures down the line (I'm not sure I'd want my laptop routinely reaching >100 oC until it's been shown that this is well inside the thermal design of the chip)

 

[timber]

Ah, "supply-chain issues", the all-purpose excuse for everything these days.

There were issues with the chain that supplies quarterly results.

 

[Toutou]

What the heck, did people forget how to read?
The M2 Pro SoC is physically smaller than the previous generation, so the heatsink doesn't have to be that big. Literally just that.

Just like you having a ten-foot paintbrush won't help you paint over a 3 by 3 foot wall faster, having a larger heatsink won't help you transfer heat from something that's physically smaller than the heatsink.

 

[eicca]

Potentially compromised performance at that price? That is unacceptable.

Except it’s already been proven not to compromise performance at all.

Quit pretending you know more than Apple’s engineers.

 

[TinyMito]

But still faster than previous model.

 

[magicschoolbus]

I doubt people will see the impact of this in real world performance.. are you really going to be sitting at your desk saying "if only my heatsink was 6mm larger.."

 

[eicca]

I would think this will affect more that that. If you are not routinely maxing out your SoC then I would say you probably didn't need to buy an MBP. There will be plenty of professionals that justify buying this machine because they can get their work done faster. There is also the possibility of heat-related failures down the line (I'm not sure I'd want my laptop routinely reaching >100 oC until it's been shown that this is well inside the thermal design of the chip)

And you don’t think the engineers take this into account?

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Well my MacBook Pro m1max doesn’t seem so dated now.

Faster SSD in 512 GB M1 Pro, too, vs 512 GB M2 Pro. This effects more factors than people around here are willing to admit because of memory swapping. Max Tech demoed different tasks being affected by this, and much quicker throttling of tasks where you wouldn't think there would be.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

But still faster than previous model.

Depends on the task and if you opt for the base 512 GB model:

 

[leman]

This is very interesting. There were fears that M2 prosumer chips would run hotter than M1 family, but so far the empirical evidence shows that they are much faster (even in sustained scenarios), consume less power, and now it turns out that all this is achieved with a smaller heatsink. This is extremely impressive.

P.S. To the folks complaining about smaller heatsinks... I really don't understand you. You get a faster computer in all scenarios AND a longer battery life. Why do you care about how large the heatsink is if the computer performs extremely well?

 

[Quu]

That's not the heatsink they reduced the size of. They reduced the substrate size which in turn reduced the size of the IHS or Integrated Heat Spreader, this is the metal cap on top of the chips.

You can see quite clearly in the photos that the Heatpipe and the Heatsinks are unchanged. This should not affect the thermal performance because the IHS is still transferring the heat into the same heatpipe and heatsink arrangement as the previous machine.

The reason for the increased heat and reduced thermal performance is due to the 10 billion extra transistors they added (spent on CPU and GPU cores) combined with slightly higher clock speeds.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

This is very interesting. There were fears that M2 prosumer chips would run hotter than M1 family, but so far the empirical evidence shows that they are much faster (even in sustained scenarios), consume less power, and now it turns out that all this is achieved with a smaller heatsink. This is extremely impressive.

P.S. To the folks complaining about smaller heatsinks... I really don't understand you. You get a faster computer in all scenarios AND a longer battery life. Why do you care about how large the heatsink is if the computer performs extremely well?

The video I just linked to 👆🏻

 

[cicalinarrot]

Calm down.
That CPU works fine with literally no active cooling (ever heard of the Macbook Air?) but fans are nice to have for longer workloads.
The heatsink and cooling the M1 had was basically the Intel one. A lazy repurpose of an old design for a much less efficient CPU. This one will also be ok, this is the one they though through, not the M1 cooling.

 

[foobarbaz]

Well actually if you watch the videos you will see that the M2 Pro and Max chips under load can easily hit 100 degree celsius. That seems to very much be in Intels territory.

Intel's territory is blazing fans and CPU throttling to keep the chip at 100 degrees.

Apple still has the luxury of running the fans quietly and slowly, because the chip's not going over 100 degrees in spite of that.

 

[averagenerd81]

I really don't see any issue here, how about we let time and real world use tell us what reality will be?

 

[0924487]

A little extra warmth isn't necessarily a dealbreaker for me if performance doesn't otherwise suffer under sustained loads, but obviously there's a limit to what I'd consider 'comfortable' when on my lap.

But regardless of whether or not it'd be an issue for me, it's not a good look for Apple.

It does affect sustained performance though.

It can no longer stay in turbo as long before thermal throttling.

 

[prime17569]

If the supply chain issues resolve themselves before the M3 Pro/Max go into production, then we might see even greater gains over M2 Pro/Max than those expected from a process node shrink and next-generation GPU cores (i.e. the ones planned for the A16 but ultimately scrapped in favor of A15-derived ones due to an engineering mishap), because Apple engineers would be able to use more heat sink/substrate material.

 

[TheOldChevy]

How much higher temperature ? Are we approaching thermal limit of any package ? Are we approaching thermal throttling ? Do we get more noise ?

My M1 pro MacBook pro remains cold in any circumstances, so I suppose that these is room for optimisation.

 

[applesed]

The M2 Pro and Max chips consistently run hotter than their M1 counterparts - which is disappointing to say the least.

They just really want you to buy the 15" M3 Macbook air in a couple months, I mean, if you value your lap.