Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

dloreski

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 5, 2009
96
13
Looks like a new (not refurb) base 13" M2 Air is on sale for $899 at Best Buy.
Wondering if I should buy now or wait for Holiday deals. I can't imagine it being much less then, but who knows.
 
  • Like
Reactions: camelphat2019
I bought MBA M2 13 last spring and it is working flawlessly ever since. From heavy apps I have Logic Pro on it, whole MS Office package, Teams, Outlook and iWork (Pages, Keynote, Numbers), all operations are as smooth as possible. From my experience, the M2 is even more capable in video and graphic editing. Battery life is a whole office day. Very impressive. My configuration is basic 8/256
 
  • Love
Reactions: CalMin
$900 is a pretty good price for that computer. If budget is absolutely critical, I still think the M1 is a good buy.

People tend to overestimate how much computer hardware they need. The base configurations on the MBAs are very good. I have a base M1 Air and love it. Compared to my upgraded 15'' M2 Air, it pretty much holds its own.
 
I bought one a couple weeks ago, brand new, love it. Also saw the 15 inch 250 off for a couple days last week.
 
I bought MBA M2 13 last spring and it is working flawlessly ever since. From heavy apps I have Logic Pro on it, whole MS Office package, Teams, Outlook and iWork (Pages, Keynote, Numbers), all operations are as smooth as possible. From my experience, the M2 is even more capable in video and graphic editing. Battery life is a whole office day. Very impressive. My configuration is basic 8/256

I post all over these forums about how the base M2 Air is more computer than most people need. Everyone trolls on the 'paltry' 8GB RAM and the 'slow as molasses' SSD, and yet, in actual use, the base spec M2 Air feels as fast as my M1 Pro in almost every normal computing scenario.

I blame YouTubers like MaxTech for seeding all this fear. They run torture tests with multiple 4K/8K streams, large number of high megapixel images and ridiculous synthetic benchmarks, to create headlines, and clickbait titles. (I actually like MaxTech except for this stuff).

Of course, an 8GB M2 Air is going to struggle with 20GB photoshop files, 50 x 42megapixel Lightroom files. But seriously, who uses their MacBook Air for that and doesn't know that the 8GB isn't enough!

Real world use for most people is email, web, MS Office, 10-20 minute video project, Photos app, coding, GarageBand. The M2 Air handles these like butter - no issues, no slowdowns. Some people will say, 'ah, but.... memory pressure, swap usage, SSD wear'. To which I say show me a real world example of someone who wore out their SSD via normal computer usage. (I'm sure it can be done, but not many of us have to lose sleep over this when using our Macs)
 
The base configurations on the MBAs are very good. I have a base M1 Air and love it. Compared to my upgraded 15'' M2 Air, it pretty much holds its own.

Gonna keep both machines, and if so what's use case? Wrestling with whether to keep my M1 13 Air or trade it now that I got M2 15 Air
 
Was going to say pretty much the same deal as education price when you tack on the $100 gift card...

no, it's a $150 gift card.

Hmmm. Maybe now is the time.
 
Gonna keep both machines, and if so what's use case? Wrestling with whether to keep my M1 13 Air or trade it now that I got M2 15 Air
So my work use case is data analysis. I work with a lot of spreadsheets, graphs, etc. I have to review data and metrics at my job and then synthesize reports and send the appropriate notices to the appropriate teams based on what the data is telling me.

Screen size is extremely helpful for me and the 2'' difference on the 15'' MBA vs the 13'' MBA means being able to fully view most of my data sets without having to horizontally scroll to view all the information I need to look at. The 15'' MBA was a huge quality of life boost when I am working.

Now, when I am just loafing around at home and would like a computer on the couch or something? I enjoy my 15'' Mac for what it is but it can definitely feel unwieldy in these situations.

Over however long it has been since the 15'' Air launched, I have found that at home I like to reach for my 13'' Air. I'm not doing work so I don't necessarily need that extra space and it's a bit more comfortable to use from the couch.

If I only had the 15'' I could get by and I probably wouldn't even complain but since I do have both (and honestly, my turn around for computers is usually A LOT longer so I feel like I still want to get some of my money spent out of my 13'' machine) I find that I tend to prefer the 15'' machine for work and the 13'' machine for fun.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thadoggfather
I post all over these forums about how the base M2 Air is more computer than most people need. Everyone trolls on the 'paltry' 8GB RAM and the 'slow as molasses' SSD, and yet, in actual use, the base spec M2 Air feels as fast as my M1 Pro in almost every normal computing scenario.

I blame YouTubers like MaxTech for seeding all this fear. They run torture tests with multiple 4K/8K streams, large number of high megapixel images and ridiculous synthetic benchmarks, to create headlines, and clickbait titles. (I actually like MaxTech except for this stuff).
ut
Of course, an 8GB M2 Air is going to struggle with 20GB photoshop files, 50 x 42megapixel Lightroom files. But seriously, who uses their MacBook Air for that and doesn't know that the 8GB isn't enough!

Real world use for most people is email, web, MS Office, 10-20 minute video project, Photos app, coding, GarageBand. The M2 Air handles these like butter - no issues, no slowdowns. Some people will say, 'ah, but.... memory pressure, swap usage, SSD wear'. To which I say show me a real world example of someone who wore out their SSD via normal computer usage. (I'm sure it can be done, but not many of us have to lose sleep over this when using our Macs)
yeah I am surprised too! I purchased a 13 MBA m2 a few weeks ago at Costco for 850, even though midnight is not my favorite it does look pretty good. And I tell you it's a powerful little machine for a base model! I had the 15 MBA too and returned that one as it cost much more. This computer was meant to just be an iPad replacement but has been great and size is perfect!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.