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The MaxTech video comparison between the M1 Pro 14" and M2 Pro 14" did indicate that the smaller heatsink leads to diminished thermal performance - and showed the M2 Pro system got fairly significantly warmer under the same workload. Kind of sucks, but that's interesting to know the process of what led them to make that engineering decision.

The thermal block actually isn't all that much smaller as it seems at the first look. While it lost height, it gained quite a bit in width. The difference in thermals might be caused by this in part, but not by much. The bigger junk is contributed by the increase in power budget for both the CPU and GPU. All of this doesn't matter tho, since there is no sign of thermal throttling. Also, the more important part of the cooling system are the radiators. Changing those would have a much more significant impact on thermal performance.
 
There's no problem obtaining heat sinks. If you actually read the article, the supply chain has to do with specific memory devices.

Ok, so they can get the heat sinks, but it is clear that die to 'supply chain issues' as stated in the article they are using smaller modules but then saving money on heat sinks. And so they have thermal issues. Won't be the first time for Apple to have those and thermal throttling. Either way I expect better, not penny pinching on heat sinks.
 
The Max Studio is an example of excessive cooling. Those heat sinks are crazy huge.
As I have the studio I can agree that the cooling is excessive. However, that makes it quiet. So it depends on use case. In the size of the Studio, it's space to do with how they want. And it's also meant to run longer under load.
I'm finding it very puzzling how folks want a laptop less than an inch thin to render like a tower for 10-15 or more minutes and not expect it to get hot. If you need to render like that. I'd recommend a Studio or at least a mini. It has more cooling and is clearly meant to be used in that fashion.

I get it for benchmarking and showing thermals under load. All fine and dandy there. But, I don't expect many folks buying said laptop to even be worried about the heat produced. If you're running a render (Blender, Cinema4D, maya, etc.) for long stretches of time on a laptop. It's most likely elevated (not on your lap) on a desk and it can run its fans as much and as long as it wants.
 
Ok, so they can get the heat sinks, but it is clear that die to 'supply chain issues' as stated in the article they are using smaller modules but then saving money on heat sinks. And so they have thermal issues. Won't be the first time for Apple to have those and thermal throttling. Either way I expect better, not penny pinching on heat sinks.
There are no thermal issues. It does not overheat / throttle. The thermal block on the chip isn't smaller by much, it just seems like a big size difference because of the difference in shape.

The Verge said their M2 machine got significantly hotter and louder during intense workloads vs the equivalent M1. Might have something to do with this.
No. The power budget increased for both the CPU and GPU which means more heat. This has a bigger impact than the slightly changed area of the thermal block.
 
Because it makes suuuuuch a difference.

It’s a non issue. Get over it.
Do you have one of the affected Macs? I don't see one in your signature, yet you seem very knowledgeable about how hot these affected Macs are. You know, for a fact, that smaller heatsinks and warmer running temps won't cause issues down the road (these have been out for, what, 1 week?).

It's only a non issue after history has proven it's a non-issue.

(and, to be honest, you seem more dramatic about this that most here).
 
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.
Which Intel chips and where is your reference to "just browsing the web" causing a CPU to hit 100C? Truly curious...
 
The guy in the video does not appear to know what he is talking about when it comes to thermodynamics. The difference in temperature is due to the increased number of transistors and increased clock speed. The M2 Max has 25% more transistors. N5P process is 15% more efficient. So, expect about 10% increase in overall power consumption. This accounts for higher temperatures.
25% more transistors and a much smaller heatsink to transfer the heat away -- sounds like a winning combination. /s
 
Conclusions and Titles here are getting more and more ridiculous. I am starting to think that children are writing most of the stories. Quality is getting worse and worse.
 
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I guess writer of this article did not understand the actual point of having different ram chips.
No heatsink is not related to component shortage.
 
Slower SSDs on the base models, poorer thermals, cheated improvements by just increasing clock speed and cores, redesigning a good machine and making it worse (M2 Air vs M1 Air, the M1 Air feels like a more premium product with a much better keyboard and trackpad)... wow this really is a year to skip eh? For a slight improvement on performance and battery life, at the expense of longevity potentially (hot laptops die quicker, simple) it really doesn't seem worth it.
 
This article is a mess.

The M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBook Pro models feature a considerably smaller differently shaped heatsink due to supply chain issues different shapes of chips underneath.

The remainder of the article then talks about the substrate (which is indeed in short supply, but whether that led to different RAM chip choices is speculation) and how the device behaves thermally. Lots of speculation based on… having smaller but more RAM chips. The headline is false, clickbaity and silly.
 
Ok, so they can get the heat sinks, but it is clear that die to 'supply chain issues' as stated in the article they are using smaller modules but then saving money on heat sinks. And so they have thermal issues. Won't be the first time for Apple to have those and thermal throttling. Either way I expect better, not penny pinching on heat sinks.
I’m sorry, running hotter does not equal “thermal issues”. It means it runs hotter. These things aren’t running heat soaked and incapable of drawing that heat away to a satisfactory (safe operating) level.
 
Once again, an issue that will not affect 99.5% of users is being treated as the freaking apocalypse.
Yeah, but if you watch the MaxTech video, it showed the M2 Max running consistently hotter than the same configed M1, showed consistent thermal throttling on the M2, and showed the M2’s fans consistently spinning up to a noticeably noisy level when resource intensive apps were running.

Why shouldn’t a MacBook Pro M2 Max buyer just open up “they/their” machine and — with the guidance of a technician — add heatsinks or thermal paste (or whatever an experienced technician recommends)?

(Heat is also the enemy of any computer’s longevity/lifespan. The only good thing heat does for “computers” per se, is it can drastically extend the lifespan of SSDs by clearing long-trapped electrons out of the NAND floating gate, reducing its retained charge after being “erased” and returning it to usefulness for “programming” [writing/storing] again.)
 
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Guess I'll have to stick to my M1-based MacBook Pro for now. I'm not sure these new, smaller heatsinks can handle my spicy memes and fire mixtapes. 🔥
To have an extended childhood from your teens to your 40s and have your parents pay for your Apple retail therapy to make memes and mixtapes.
 
At this time, 49 “likers” agree with a comment that throws up a %% based on 0% evidence …
The exact % value had been pulled from the air, but the sentiment is correct. Most people won't notice or care. The size of the block on the processor doesn't matter so long as it's covering/touching every part that it needs to. The goal of that plate is to conduct heat to the heatpipe, it is not in and of itself a heatsink. The heatsink portion that counts is the fins where the fans blow air to keep it cool. More mass in the plate on the processor only increases the thermal capacity of the heatsink, it doesn't help it conduct heat any better. This whole article is getting people riled up for no reason.
 
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