512GB M2 MBA is slower than the 512GB M1 MBA

[4743913]

I don’t like keeping tech for more than 2 years personally. I’ve always been this way unfortunately.

I still have my Commodore 64

 

[Coreymac84]

That is true. There are also many M1 MBA owners here who will tell others not to get the M2 because the M1 should suffice. The M1 MBA is a great machine. I have enjoyed mine the last 1.5+ years. However, the M2 offers somethings I liked and now I have two MBA's side by side. lol Universal Control is very nice this way.

Yep they’re both great machines. The thing people are really forgetting is the M1 air was revolutionary from a processing standpoint for Apple and so far ahead of everything else. Expecting M2 to be another leap was foolish from the jump.

 

[canadianpj]

Doesn’t bother me. It’ll still be faster than the 2012 MBA I’m upgrading from!

You should be careful posting stuff like that. You're not supposed to like things and be happy with them. Instead of just actually using your machine you should be obsessing over benchmarks and the opinions of YouTube people.

 

[BigMcGuire]

You paused the video when the test just started, which leads to misleading read numbers for M1.

View attachment 2033670

Just a note - Look at the post I was responding to. I was trying to answer what type of laptop it was not anything to do with numbers. But thanks for the info.

 

[m1maverick]

From the article: "It remains true that the peak temperatures of the M2 chip in both the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air can exceed the peak temperatures of the M1 chip during sustained workloads, including large photo and video export jobs. The M2 Air's thermal throttling can occasionally slow it down enough to make it no faster than the M1 Air it replaces, though this is something many users will never encounter in their day-to-day use."

Translation = Throttling, like the M1 does, is really no big deal with the M2. Your gotcha post isn't really a gotcha post. Ars Tech had to amend their story because they didn't get their facts right.

What good is a faster system if, for tasks where the additional speed is necessary, it's no faster than the system it "replaces"?

 

[stylinexpat]

idk if this helps at all this is from my M2 MacBook Air 10c 16ram 1tb ssd .

Very good numbers but considering the price and new update they are about half of what they should be for new model and this price point.

 

[Asiatic Black Hebrew]

Possible reasons...
1) Some here like to rant and rave on Apple no matter what
2) Some here have had false expectations with the new M2 and when that didn't pan out, they feel Apple let them down. Logical fallacy chasers can never be satisfied.
3) Some here are followers of the YouTube benchmark brigade / click-baiters. And no amount of common sense or fact will deter them from continuing on with the scare tactic storyline.
4) Some here are too nerdy for their own good, as they believe benchmarks are the alpha and the omega when determining whether a machine is worthy of being talked about much less purchased. These users can easily picked out of the MR crowd as they are oft to maker pronouncement of usage ability and outcome from a machine they haven't used.
5) Some are Innocent MR bystanders who have allowed themselves to get caught up in the forum / internet fray, instead of doing their own research and seeking out possible guidance from other members who aren't posting hyperbolic drivel just to get a rise out of people etc.
6) Some here knock on the M2 because doing so helps them to justify why they don't need it. And if they don't need, others shouldn't need it either. After all, one size fits all in MR land (or does it)?
7) Some secretly want the latest Mac toys but, they can't really afford it so, they make sure everyone else knows on a regular basis just how bad the extra $200 is (depending on location it may be more). These people can be easily spotted by their rhetoric of the M12 MBA was $999 so, Apple should give us the lasted tech and design for the same price.
8) Some here just like to be bellicose.

This post almost brought a tear to my eye. Spot on & well done. I bolded #7 for emphasis, because I truly believe that is the number one reason for a lot of the foolishness we're experiencing on this forum.

 

[5105973]

Accurate.

The reality is the tangible differences people will see from M1 to M2 are not 200 points on a write speed, but the much improved display, the better feeling and improved keyboard, the sleeker design, the improved webcam, MagSafe with fast charging not plugging up 1 of 2 thunderbolt ports. The ability to upgrade to 24GB RAM. There are quality of life improvements here that M2 Air haters are ignoring….for a 200 point write speed. Performance wise the M1 and M2 air are similar but that’s it.

Well said. I chose the M1 Air over an M2 Air because I had the opportunity to get a nicely configured refurbished one for significantly less than the new M2 Air I was thinking of getting. I just basically matched up what I wanted/needed to get with what I wanted to spend. But I felt all my options were very good. They felt close enough I felt I could go for the older model because I wasn’t prioritizing the improvements you mentioned.

However, I see and acknowledge the improvements. I didn’t dismiss them because some YT video personality told me I should. I just knew I don’t do video calls much and my sensitive eyes don’t need more nits and I don’t mind not having MagSafe.

To me, the M2 Air looks like a sweet machine, too. So I am surprised the M2 Air is inspiring some freak outs, even now when people actually have them in their homes and see that they just work. Yeah there’s going to be the occasional quality control failure, but that’s true of anything.

It seems like a very capable machine and for those who care, it’s got tangible improvements you mentioned.

I’ve seen videos dismissing the improvement of the webcam but I’ve got eyes and can see for myself it produces a better image and has a better mic for video calls than my M1 Air. I don’t do video calls very often, so again, I wasn’t going to pay for a feature I don’t use.

But all these tech influencers keep dismissing/glossing over the upgrades in their M2 vs M1 comparisons. And you know they do that so angry viewers don’t flood their comments sections with graphic insults because they can’t afford to get an M2 Air and have sour grapes.

And so some people pounce on that to say “See, it’s a waste! Apple screwed up and screwed over consumers!”

People say nasty things about iJustine but at least she showed how her M2 Air could handle her workflow for a day. That’s really what we need to know, can our machines handle our workflow in a day?

People who bought it and felt it wasn’t enough of an upgrade and sent it back, well that’s fine. At least they made up their own minds and didn’t let some YT video talk or overhyped controversy psyche them out of it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine to show what factually did or did not improve and what didn’t come out as expected. I’m not faulting that. I’m just saying there’s been a lot of people taking this information and getting afraid or disdainful of making a purchase.

In a few months I think it’s going to calm down and people who need the M2 Air are just going to go in and buy it because it’s the light and capable computer that it is.

 

[andrew8404]

Accurate.

The reality is the tangible differences people will see from M1 to M2 are not 200 points on a write speed, but the much improved display, the better feeling and improved keyboard, the sleeker design, the improved webcam, MagSafe with fast charging not plugging up 1 of 2 thunderbolt ports. The ability to upgrade to 24GB RAM. There are quality of life improvements here that M2 Air haters are ignoring….for a 200 point write speed. Performance wise the M1 and M2 air are similar but that’s it.

I agree but the keyboard is the same ha ha

 

[Coreymac84]

I agree but the keyboard is the same ha ha

The keyboard is not the same.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have really enjoyed my M2 these past 10 days. One thing I found was I should have stuck with my original inclination of getting the 2TB drive. Even with 1TB, that still doesn't leave me as much wiggle room for large files as I would like. I ordered a 16/2TB model this morning and will be returning my current 16/1TB model tomorrow. I have a 2 week wait to get another M2, unless I get lucky.

 

[Chateaunole-du-Pape]

Possible reasons...
1) Some here like to rant and rave on Apple no matter what
2) Some here have had false expectations with the new M2 and when that didn't pan out, they feel Apple let them down. Logical fallacy chasers can never be satisfied.
3) Some here are followers of the YouTube benchmark brigade / click-baiters. And no amount of common sense or fact will deter them from continuing on with the scare tactic storyline.
4) Some here are too nerdy for their own good, as they believe benchmarks are the alpha and the omega when determining whether a machine is worthy of being talked about much less purchased. These users can easily picked out of the MR crowd as they are oft to maker pronouncement of usage ability and outcome from a machine they haven't used.
5) Some are Innocent MR bystanders who have allowed themselves to get caught up in the forum / internet fray, instead of doing their own research and seeking out possible guidance from other members who aren't posting hyperbolic drivel just to get a rise out of people etc.
6) Some here knock on the M2 because doing so helps them to justify why they don't need it. And if they don't need, others shouldn't need it either. After all, one size fits all in MR land (or does it)?
7) Some secretly want the latest Mac toys but, they can't really afford it so, they make sure everyone else knows on a regular basis just how bad the extra $200 is (depending on location it may be more). These people can be easily spotted by their rhetoric of the M12 MBA was $999 so, Apple should give us the lasted tech and design for the same price.
8) Some here just like to be bellicose.

I'll add one:

9) Some bought a 14" Pro, convinced that they needed the extra power and better screen. Now that they've had it for a while and realize that they don't need such things for their daily use, they feel they have to justify their more expensive purchase by belittling the M2 Air and its purchasers. They may subconsciously or even consciously realize that the M2 Air - with its thinner profile, lower weight, longer battery life, excellent (albeit 60 Hz) screen and still highly capable and powerful processor - fits their needs better and would have saved them significant money, but they can't bring themselves to admit that they paid several hundred dollars more for the privilege of carrying around nearly an extra pound and enjoying darker blacks on their screen.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are some people for whom the 14" is a must-have for their workflow. But I'm just as sure that there are plenty of people who bought it because they incorrectly thought they "needed" it, or because it was the latest gadget and they just had to have it.

Regardless, I'm very tired of people telling me that I should buy what they want, because they are so insecure that they think that my buying what they bought would help validate their own purchasing decision. I'm also tired of people telling me that I must be a weakling because I don't want to carry nearly an extra pound of computer that I can't use. (I can only guess that these people never travel around the world using only carry-on luggage, often walking a mile or more in inadequately air conditioned terminals in a business suit. Every ounce matters.)

 

[jav6454]

[...] Benchmarking numbers by themselves (as a whole) mean nothing.

Agreed, only real world testing matters. That said, for someone to experience SSD slowdowns due to hitting speed cap, it means they are working with such large files in the multi-GB size; not something the common folk do.