Apple | M2 in the MacBook Pro – chip gets significantly warmer, cooling probably at the limit | news | macbook

Apple’s in-house M-Chips are regarded as efficiency miracles because they combine high computing power with very low energy consumption. The second generation, which the company uses in the form of the M2 in the 2022 models of 13″ MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, also has these properties. According to the first benchmarks, the new processor works around 15 to 20 percent faster than its predecessor, and the GPU performance increases even more. This is due, among other things, to an increased clock frequency.

Increased energy demand means more waste heat
However, the laws of physics also apply in Cupertino. Like the M1, Apple has the M2 manufactured using the 5-nanometer process. However, higher clocking with the same structure width inevitably leads to an increasing energy requirement. This is evidently noticeable in the new 13″ MacBook Pro. The notebook’s cooling system has a recent report from Notebook check to do significantly more than the previous model, which is equipped with an M1. In a test with Cinebench, the fan turned on after a short time and then ran continuously at maximum speed.

However, that wasn’t enough to cool the M2 sufficiently: The system therefore throttled the performance and reduced the energy consumption of the processor from the initial 35 watts to 28 to 30 watts. As a result, the MacBook Pro naturally worked more slowly, but the CPU temperature remained constant at 98 degrees Celsius. The cooling system of the 13″ MacBook Pro reaches its limits with such an extreme long-term load, which, however, is more likely to be the exception in everyday use.

13″ MacBook Pro is reaching its thermal limits
The Twitter user reported even greater heat and also much more throttling of the processor Vadim Yuryev. He briefly recorded a CPU temperature of 108 degrees Celsius when exporting RAW files in 8K. Then the device’s fan kicked in and switched to maximum speed. As a result and as a result of the throttling, the value quickly dropped to 84 degrees Celsius.

In Yuryev’s test, the M2 still delivered ten percent better performance than the 13″ MacBook Pro with M1, although the latter reduced its performance much more moderately. This indicates that the new notebook from Cupertino does reach its limit under extreme loads, but never exceeds it and works reliably even in such situations.

Overheating is probably not to be feared
A possibly harmful overheating of the M2, with this term the YouTube channel MaxTech startled a few days ago, is therefore very unlikely according to the observations available so far. In addition, errors cannot be completely ruled out, at least in the case of MaxTech and Yuryev. Final clarity on Apple’s thermal management on the M2 should be in a few weeks when more related test results are available. The behavior of the MacBook Air with M2, which is known to do without active cooling, will probably also be informative in this context.