MacBook Air M2 - worth it or not?

[WildCAt]

Hi!

I'm wondering, whether it's worth to get a MacBook Air 13" M2 16/256GB?

I need it for just 4 things:

•  Audio stuff (DAW, live performance and other audio software)
•  Random daily usage of a normal person (docs, light photoshop, web browsing)
•  Play league of legends with decent fps
•  light programming side projects

I know the drama about 256 being slow, but I don't think I should care, bearing in mind the 4 use cases above.

 

I don't need a super high performance pc, as I have fresh AM5 build already (runs fedora linux). Non-apple laptops are NO, because of windows. I need masOS to use some software that is not available on Linux and is too hard/impossible to run via wine/bottles/vm, etc. Currently I have a MacBook Pro 2016 13" i7 16/512GB for some of the mentioned tasks, but that poor dual-core i7 struggles way too much and runs hot af.

 

So, is it worth it to get this mac for these tasks? Or wait for a new Air with M3? Or is there any other option I am missing?

_{Also, Air, because cheaper. I just need a 16GB masOS laptop that runs League well. Audio stuff runs mostly fine even on a dual-core i7.}

[rikitikitavi]

- light programming can be done on any potato, M2 Air is more than capable.

- general computing is covered too.

- live audio stuff and related - no idea. I believe LTT had a video with a musician testing out base M1 model.

- will run, but will run hot. Even M1 can run LoL.

- M3 Air is rumoured to come out /announced sometime this spring. Therefore M2 might go on sale pretty soon.

 

On 1/31/2024 at 3:18 AM, Schnoz said:

You will not be able to play League of Legends without a signficant decrease in performance due to severe overheating.

What is significant performance decrease? 10%? 50%?

I have heard, that M# Air does not really throttle much under continuous loads.

[Darkseth]

M1 Air throttled like 15-20% max when doing Cinebench Runs nonstop.

 

League is perfectly fine even on M1 Air, as every Youtube Video showed. Cap FPS at 60, and problem solved. The Chip won't run at 100% Load.

 

Edit: 

There it is. 30 min Cinebench R23 run on M2 Air decreases Multicore points from 7700 to 6700. That's like 15%. 

 

Literaly every single Windows Laptop even with Fans don't throttle less, when comparing short Burst Performance vs. long time Sustained Load (PL1, PL2, thermals, etc).

No big issue there.

If that throttling means an fps-decrease from 150 to 120, so be it.

 

Or directly any LoL Video on youtube: 

 

 

fps barely drops down to 2-digit numbers on a small Aram Match.

Whole M2 Package consumes barely 9 Watt of Power with uncapped fps and maxed out settings.
M2 can hit 20w under full Benchmark Load.

[RabbidEwok]

I’d look for a used base model 14” M1 Pro. They go for about a grand if not less 

[WildCAt]

On 2/4/2024 at 10:14 PM, RabbidEwok said:

I’d look for a used base model 14” M1 Pro. They go for about a grand if not less 

not in my country Here the cheapest mac w/ m1 pro chip at the time of posting is around 1350€ (1500€ with battery above 90%) I'd happily buy a used mac, but here a used mac in decent condition costs just about 15-25% less compared to new, so it's rarely worth it