Macbook 14i m2 pro throttling?

[Jac459]

Hello,
I have a macbook m1 air that I love for music making.
But I have invested in a few cpu heavy VSTs, and when I am mixing and mastering in the same session, I start to lack power and my m1 is on its knees.

I am tempted to buy an m2 pro with 14inches screen (and get the bigger screen without having something too big in my taste like the 16i).

But I have read that the macbook in this size screen has throttling issues under heavy load. Heavy load is exactly the plan here.
So my question is: has anybody bought this setup and already have a return of experience? Generally the throttling is more associated with m2 max and high gpu usage so I am hoping that for CPU only load it should be OK...


Ps: I am aware that I could change my workflow to optimize cpu usage but that's not my preference.

[medienhexer]

The Air doesn‘t have active cooling. That would be one of the things to consider. Then you should ensure that your plugins are Apple Silicon native.

And if your mixing and mastering relies on izotope… You better learn to work the hard way. I‘ve never been able to use their Plugins on MacOS. I don‘t know how others work with them, but my experience has been that they will kill any CPU. And I had the biggest configuration iMac at the time, buffer size did not improve the situation.

Then, your performance will depend on which DAW you use with which settings. Logic and Digital Performer will pre-render tracks and free CPU.

[Jac459]

Well prerender is what I am trying to avoid.

The m1 air is already a beast actually, I am in bitwig with lots of phase plants, Pigments and other hungry plugins, convolution reverbs, EQs AND both neutron 4 on each tracks AND ozone 10 on the master.
And even like that the m1 kind of manage... for simple tracks.

I am aware that I should try to render first, then create a proper mix then master.
But I the same time it is so so convenient to be able to do back and forth in the same session.

[medienhexer]

So, yes, if you‘re going to tax your system to its limit, active cooling is better than passive cooling and m1/2 Pro will be better than the regular m1/m2.

And yes, it makes a substantial difference wether you put full load on all CPU and GPU cores at once or just the CPU. Because it‘s just one SoC with just one cooling system.

That being said, the intel CPUs in previous MBPs created more heat and the cases were smaller. There, throttling was required on top of audible fans. On an m1 Pro, I haven‘t managed to make the fan spin up, yet.

[Tronam]

Hello,
I have a macbook m1 air that I love for music making.
But I have invested in a few cpu heavy VSTs, and when I am mixing and mastering in the same session, I start to lack power and my m1 is on its knees.

I am tempted to buy an m2 pro with 14inches screen (and get the bigger screen without having something too big in my taste like the 16i).

But I have read that the macbook in this size screen has throttling issues under heavy load. Heavy load is exactly the plan here.
So my question is: has anybody bought this setup and already have a return of experience? Generally the throttling is more associated with m2 max and high gpu usage so I am hoping that for CPU only load it should be OK...


Ps: I am aware that I could change my workflow to optimize cpu usage but that's not my preference.

The 14/16" MBPs do not throttle in music production. The fans won't even turn on most of the time, especially since DAWs don't stress the GPU cores. Most tech sites don't test real world usage scenarios for music production; They just run continuous benchmarks that push everything to 100% for extended periods of time. Music producers intentionally try to keep their CPU usage below a certain threshold to avoid triggering engine overloads or crackles in the audio stream. I would sooner freeze tracks than watch my CPU meter sit at 90-100% during production.

[Jac459]

So, yes, if you‘re going to tax your system to its limit, active cooling is better than passive cooling and m1/2 Pro will be better than the regular m1/m2.

And yes, it makes a substantial difference wether you put full load on all CPU and GPU cores at once or just the CPU. Because it‘s just one SoC with just one cooling system.

That being said, the intel CPUs in previous MBPs created more heat and the cases were smaller. There, throttling was required on top of audible fans. On an m1 Pro, I haven‘t managed to make the fan spin up, yet.

Thank you very much, that's what I was also having in mind but reinsurance for such an expansive purchase is very good.

[Jac459]

The 14/16" MBPs do not throttle in music production. The fans won't even turn on most of the time, especially since DAWs don't stress the GPU cores. Most tech sites don't test real world usage scenarios for music production; They just run continuous benchmarks that push everything to 100% for extended periods of time. Music producers intentionally try to keep their CPU usage below a certain threshold to avoid triggering engine overloads or crackles in the audio stream. I would sooner freeze tracks than watch my CPU meter sit at 90-100% during production.

Agreed and thanks for the additional info. It definitely help me to decide myself.

I also agree that we should not go to this 90% threshold and freeze before, but if my CPU is powerful enough that I don't have to do it is even better.

TBH, Bitwig offer a very nice way to manage with capacity to deactivate tracks and bounce them easily but then my m1 air only has .... 256gb SSD.... So time to an upgrade anyway...

[Jac459]

As I see a few people are active users, I have another question. For RAM, is 32gb mandatory ? Or Can I go with 16GB ?
Actually today I have 8GB and not so much problem, just when I check, the memory pressure is quite high. Sometime I have 6GB usage, some time I go until 12GB, meaning a lot of SSD use. But then, do I need more than 16GB ?? I am tempted by 32GB but apple sell this at gold price...
(I have a MacBook Air m1 8GB/256GB and plan to go to a 14inch MacBook Pro M2 Pro with 1TB and 16 or 32gb of ram).

[uOpt]

It is very hard to get load-bearing info on throttling on Apple Silicon. Tools like i7z and Intel Powergadget are just not available, so how do you notice you are throttled?