The M2 Macbook Air reviews are here

[saltycaramel]

The battery wars won't be fought on Whs but on efficiency of the silicon. 

Right now Apple is winning by a long shot. 

 

I don't think the rumored 15.2" Air will get 99Wh but it will have a crazy long battery life anyway by virtue of using a low end SoC (M3) with a big 15"-grade battery. 

[Video Beagle]

On 7/20/2022 at 4:08 AM, saltycaramel said:

The theory is that under some circumstances you would experience the effects of having a slower swap memory. 

But my point is...so what? What does this mean in real world usage..not computer science scores...not in freakjob "I dunk my computer in liquid nitrogen to see my name on a list" arenas... what does the normal person using the computer actually experience.

[Lightwreather]

4 minutes ago, Video Beagle said:

But my point is...so what? What does this mean in real world usage..not computer science scores...not in freakjob "I dunk my computer in liquid nitrogen to see my name on a list" arenas... what does the normal person using the computer actually experience.

Probably better performance actually, it seems that random read and writes are marginally better on the m2 air, and that's a far more important number than the sequential read and writes. Source:

Time stamped for convenience

[Video Beagle]

On 7/21/2022 at 4:19 AM, J-from-Nucleon said:

Probably better performance actually, it seems that random read and writes are marginally better on the m2 air, and that's a far more important number than the sequential read and writes. Source:

yeah.. that video is why I pinged @GabenJr for a deeper dive on this area.  He's the only one who's even broached the topic from the user experience pov, rather than just numbers on a spec sheet one.

[saltycaramel]

 

When the dust of dramas and -gates settles, the reality that these M2 laptops are the best way to spend one’s hard earned money (unless one is fond of 1080p screens or needs Windows for compatibility reasons, or unless one is a masochist) remains.

[Obioban]

5 hours ago, saltycaramel said:

 

When the dust of dramas and -gates settles, the reality that these M2 laptops are the best way to spend one’s hard earned money (unless one is fond of 1080p screens or needs Windows for compatibility reasons, or unless one is a masochist) remains.

That's a pretty stark difference

 

Easy to get lost in the weeds when the comparison is M1 vs M2 vs M2 with fan. Add a comparable laptop class intel chip to the mix, and the differences from apple silicon to apple silicon seem trivial. 

[cmndr]

On 7/21/2022 at 1:19 AM, saltycaramel said:

The battery wars won't be fought on Whs but on efficiency of the silicon. 

Right now Apple is winning by a long shot. 

 

I don't think the rumored 15.2" Air will get 99Wh but it will have a crazy long battery life anyway by virtue of using a low end SoC (M3) with a big 15"-grade battery. 

It'll probably be fought on WHr on the battery.
https://www.samsungsdi.com/column/technology/detail/56462.html?listType=gallery

Imagine swapping a battery in a laptop to get 2x the power, faster charging and better safety characteristics.

Saving 5-10W on the CPU is great but that only gets you so far when you also have a monitor to power.

 

[captain_to_fire]

As I’ve said in a status update, the base 14” MacBook Pro with M1 Pro (8c CPU: 6 performance + 2 efficiency, 14c GPU, 16 GB/512 GB) offers better value than a specced up M2 MacBook Air (8c CPU: 4 performance + 4 efficiency, 10c GPU, 16GB/512GB).

•  Better contrast with the mini LED display of the 14” Pro compared with the M2 Air’s IPS LCD.
• Pro motion variable refresh rate only on the 14” and 16” Pro.
• 14” Pro supports two external displays, M2 Air only supports one.
• 14” Pro has three TB/USB C ports, a dedicated HDMI port and SD card slot.
• 14” Pro is less likely to experience thermal throttling than the M2 Air.
• The M2 chip may have marginally higher single core scores, but the M1 Pro still beats it in multicore.
• M2 is faster than the vanilla M1 due to its higher clock speed but at the expense of more heat than the M1. (However the M2 thermal throttling is by no means as bad as the 2016 MacBook Pro with an i9 Skylake chip. It only throttles immediately during sustained heavy use).
• The M2 Air’s battery life is only one to two hours better than the 14” Pro with M1 Pro.

[rikitikitavi]

1 hour ago, captain_to_fire said:

14” MacBook Pro with M1 Pro (8c CPU: 6 performance + 2 efficiency, 14c GPU, 16 GB/512 GB) offers better value than a specced up M2 MacBook Air (8c CPU: 4 performance + 4 efficiency, 10c GPU, 16GB/512GB).

Unless, your neighbour John doesn't care for any of these reasons, and rather save $300-400 with M2 Air.

[captain_to_fire]

13 minutes ago, rikitikitavi said:

Unless, your neighbour John doesn't care for any of these reasons, and rather save $300-400 with M2 Air.

If that’s the case, the M1 Air would still be a better bang for the buck than the M2 Air. 

• Reviews show that in sustained workloads, the M1 is significantly cooler than the M2.
• File transfers from an external drive to the internal drive is faster on the M1 Air because it has two NAND flash chips on RAID0, the M2 Air only has a single NAND flash chip making read/write slower than its predecessor. 

[rikitikitavi]

17 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

If that’s the case, the M1 Air would still be a better bang for the buck than the M2 Air. 

Unless, your neighbour John doesn't care for any of these reasons, and rather pay a bit extra to get M2 Air.

[Obioban]

12 hours ago, rikitikitavi said:

Unless, your neighbour John doesn't care for any of these reasons, and rather save $300-400 with M2 Air.

Or just values the smaller chassis and lack of fan more than any of those items. 

 

That's why I'm having trouble deciding between the new air and a 14" Pro. 

[igormp]

1 minute ago, Obioban said:

Or just values the smaller chassis and lack of fan more than any of those items. 

 

That's why I'm having trouble deciding between the new air and a 14" Pro. 

If you really value the smaller size and the fanless design, go for the M2, you'll also a couple bucks doing so, win-win.

[Obioban]

13 hours ago, captain_to_fire said:

If that’s the case, the M1 Air would still be a better bang for the buck than the M2 Air. 

1) Reviews show that in sustained workloads, the M1 is significantly cooler than the M2.

2) File transfers from an external drive to the internal drive is faster on the M1 Air because it has two NAND flash chips on RAID0, the M2 Air only has a single NAND flash chip making read/write slower than its predecessor. 

1) For 99% of people, that doesn't matter-- both because most people rarely do a sustained work load, and because, when they do, they don't care what temp it gets to (and the M2 is still faster than the M1 air, even once they're both up to temp, for 99% of tasks). 

2) Only if you get a 256 gb air, and, even then... most people will never notice the difference. They WILL notice the nice chassis, larger/brighter screen, smaller/lighter device, better camera, etc. 

 

This forum does a lot of missing the forest for the trees. 

[Commodus]

The more I read and watch about the MacBook Air M2, the more I'd say my only real concern is the price. There's a narrow range where the new Air makes the most sense, around the $1,500-$1,600 mark. The $1,200 model is only really justifiable if you have simple needs but want the latest design, and anything above $1,600 is usually better-served by a 14-inch MacBook Pro.

 

If I were Apple, I'd look to phase out the Air M1 after several months and drop the M2 model's price, even if it's a half-step to $1,100. Upsells are great for business, but clearer product lineups are better for customers.

[rikitikitavi]

10 minutes ago, Commodus said:

phase out the Air M1 after several months

…while leaving a confused 13Pro in the lineup.

 

M1 Air is the perfect entry point. Drop the price and it becomes the true SE-tier. A perfect hassle free suggestion to your family members or friends, and your cheaper portable companion.

 

16 minutes ago, Commodus said:

clearer product lineups are even better

The time long ago, when all their product lines were clean, simple and had less marketing ridiculousness.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, rikitikitavi said:

…while leaving a confused 13Pro in the lineup.

 

M1 Air is the perfect entry point. Drop the price and it becomes the true SE-tier. A perfect hassle free suggestion to your family members or friends, and your cheaper portable companion.

 

The time long ago, when all their product lines were clean, simple and had less marketing ridiculousness.

It would be great if Apple sold the Air M1 at, say, $799 or even $899. I just wouldn't expect it given Apple's general reluctance to price laptops below $999 for very long, especially in the current economic climate.

[Paul Thexton]

Throttling test case that isn’t Cinebench

 

I’m not sure how this guy funds owning so many laptops (he doesn’t just use Macs), but more power to him.

[Obioban]

2 hours ago, Paul Thexton said:

Throttling test case that isn’t Cinebench

 

I’m not sure how this guy funds owning so many laptops (he doesn’t just use Macs), but more power to him.

Lol. I love the intel MacBook Air there low key getting obliterated. Really adds some context.

[saltycaramel]

Oh nice, a fanless ARM premium-built Windows laptop to compare the M2 Air to.

 

 

Thinkpad X13s vs M2 Macbook Air

- 1300$ vs 1600$ (at 16GB/512GB)

- 300nit vs 500nit

- 1920x1200 vs 2560x1664

- 72% NTSC vs DCI-P3 wide gamut
- touchscreen vs no touchscreen 

- two 4K 60Hz external displays vs one 6K 60Hz external display

- no dedicated charging port vs Magsafe

- usb 3.2_gen2 10Gbps vs thunderbolt 40Gbps

- hit or miss x86 compatibility vs highly dependable Rosetta2 compatibility 

- dropped frames in youtube 1080p60 vs no dropped frames in 4K youtube 

- scores far worse than even a 2-year old M1 in CPU, GPU and web benchmarks, let alone an M2

 

Thanks, I’ll stick to Apple’s ARM laptops.

 

That 300$ difference is well worth it. But really even a cheaper M1 Air is far better than this.

 

[Supreme Calamitas]

Personally I dislike it, it's hard to say whether or not it's Apple's fault or just external limitations... but it's a price hike + thermal throttling issues + missing NAND chip + extremely overpriced storage and RAM upgrades + 8Gb 200gb's at 1200. And the worst part: wimpy app support and wimpy GPU, Apple silicon is overrated IMO.

 

I don't understand who this device is for, the m1 is for students, m1 pro/max for professionals... but M2? For suckers to want the newest apple products, gaining almost nothing from it. 

 

Looks cool though, any human with a bit of integrity and self respect won't buy this laptop, you support bad products and all you'll get is more bad products, Apple doesn't look at customer reviews, they look at sales. And if m2 air sells more than m1 air, M3 air is going to be a howler... it's as tho you have a tube connecting your as*hole to your mouth. You buy sh*t now and you'll get sh*t later 

[saltycaramel]

33 minutes ago, Marko1600 said:

Looks cool though, any human with a bit of integrity and self respect won't buy this laptop, you support bad products and all you'll get is more bad products, Apple doesn't look at customer reviews, they look at sales. And if m2 air sells more than m1 air, M3 air is going to be a howler... it's as tho you have a tube connecting your as*hole to your mouth. You buy sh*t now and you'll get sh*t later 

 

I mean, they can’t make these fast enough, they usually have some of the highest customer satisfaction rates in the industry and Linus Torvalds wants this Air to be his next daily driver (running Linux) when he’s travelling, but you do you.

[Obioban]

3 hours ago, Marko1600 said:

Personally I dislike it, it's hard to say whether or not it's Apple's fault or just external limitations... but it's a price hike + thermal throttling issues + missing NAND chip + extremely overpriced storage and RAM upgrades + 8Gb 200gb's at 1200. And the worst part: wimpy app support and wimpy GPU, Apple silicon is overrated IMO.

 

I don't understand who this device is for, the m1 is for students, m1 pro/max for professionals... but M2? For suckers to want the newest apple products, gaining almost nothing from it. 

 

Looks cool though, any human with a bit of integrity and self respect won't buy this laptop, you support bad products and all you'll get is more bad products, Apple doesn't look at customer reviews, they look at sales. And if m2 air sells more than m1 air, M3 air is going to be a howler... it's as tho you have a tube connecting your as*hole to your mouth. You buy sh*t now and you'll get sh*t later 

Thermal throttling on a fanless ultrabook is not an "issue". It's a design decision. Moreover, it's the right design decision-- far more people care about a lighter, quiet, less breakable (no moving parts) experience than thermal throttling under extended 100% load that they never do.

 

Similarly, 99% of people will never notice the SSD speed difference and/or the M2 SSD will feel faster to them.

 

... and the GPU blows everything it competes with (fanless ultrabooks with integrated graphics) out of the water.

 

Who is it for? People that want a nice, small computer and prefer MacOS. It is vastly overpowered for what most people do day in day out.

[saltycaramel]

 

3 years ago this would have looked like science fiction, the Air was in a completely different category.

[Commodus]

On 8/3/2022 at 10:09 AM, Marko1600 said:

Personally I dislike it, it's hard to say whether or not it's Apple's fault or just external limitations... but it's a price hike + thermal throttling issues + missing NAND chip + extremely overpriced storage and RAM upgrades + 8Gb 200gb's at 1200. And the worst part: wimpy app support and wimpy GPU, Apple silicon is overrated IMO.

 

I don't understand who this device is for, the m1 is for students, m1 pro/max for professionals... but M2? For suckers to want the newest apple products, gaining almost nothing from it. 

 

Looks cool though, any human with a bit of integrity and self respect won't buy this laptop, you support bad products and all you'll get is more bad products, Apple doesn't look at customer reviews, they look at sales. And if m2 air sells more than m1 air, M3 air is going to be a howler... it's as tho you have a tube connecting your as*hole to your mouth. You buy sh*t now and you'll get sh*t later 

To elaborate on what Obioban said:

 

The thermal throttling isn't just a conscious decision, it also won't matter to most users. I've seen tests from creatives like Tyler Stalman and Brian Tong (who can subject laptops to serious creative workflows) that indicate you're unlikely to see a significant performance delta, even if you're handling some moderate audiovisual editing. Even with the 256GB SSD. And if you're the sort who absolutely punishes a system with heavy workloads... you probably get paid to do it and can easily justify a 14-inch MacBook Pro.

 

I would call the upgrades expensive, but not "extremely overpriced." Nor would I call it a bad value. The Dell XPS 13 currently starts at $999 and does have 512GB of storage, but you're also getting a generally slower CPU (with a fan), slower graphics, a lower-resolution display and fewer ports — ironically, there isn't even a headphone jack. That also doesn't factor in speaker and webcam quality differences.

 

Please don't be hyperbolic. You're not a bad human being if you buy a MacBook Air, and Apple really does look at what people think (Tim Cook is obsessed with sharing customer satisfaction data). The market for the M2 model is simple: anyone who wants the best general purpose thin-and-light laptop they can get, and is willing to pay a bit more than the M1 model to get numerous upgrades like a larger display, faster CPU/GPU performance, a thinner chassis and MagSafe (and thus more available ports). I'll certainly agree that the M1 is a better deal if price is more important to you than having the best overall design, but that's only true for some people.