4
M3 MacBook Advice
(lemmy.world)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2024
4 points (75.0% liked)
Apple
17435 readers
126 users here now
Welcome
to the largest Apple community on Lemmy. This is the place where we talk about everything Apple, from iOS to the exciting upcoming Apple Vision Pro. Feel free to join the discussion!
Rules:
- No NSFW Content
- No Hate Speech or Personal Attacks
- No Ads / Spamming
Self promotion is only allowed in the pinned monthly thread
Communities of Interest:
Apple Hardware
Apple TV
Apple Watch
iPad
iPhone
Mac
Vintage Apple
Apple Software
iOS
iPadOS
macOS
tvOS
watchOS
Shortcuts
Xcode
Community banner courtesy of u/Antsomnia.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Blender and games run great on my M1 MacBook Air which doesn't get hot even with no cooling at all except via the external case and I mostly play games on the couch with the laptop on my lap.
After two or three hours with all 8 CPU cores and the GPU both pegged under 100% load, I can notice the heat on my bare skin but it's not uncomfortable. And it only does that in games - Blender gives the CPU/GPU enough of a break between renders to keep it cool.
The MacBook Pro, which does have a fan, is definitely not going to get hot. Forget about that issue. The fan will make it run cooler, and also faster since the CPU won't be thermally throttled (my M1 is permanently thermally throttled while playing games... still fast enough to get good framerates at moderately high graphics settings though);.
Just buy the most expensive one you can afford. You're going to love it. The only thing to be aware of is external display support, which isn't very good on the low end models... but the M3 MacBook Air has improved that significantly and Apple has said there will be a firmware update to the M3 MacBook Pro soon to do the same thing.
Wow, thanks for the in depth reply! Probably will do as you suggested and just buy the most expensive one I can afford.
The reason I was a little scared of temperature issues is that my MacBook right now turns into a room heater as soon as I do something more complicated than using notes. To the point where it damaged the screen when I worked on an external display with the internal display closed. I’m very glad to hear that that doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore with apple silicone. It’ll be so nice to be able to use my laptop on my lap again!