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another self-important M2 air review no one asked for

fisherking

fisherking

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
11,537
5,930
ny somewhere
(i do my heavy lifting, ie logic & final cut, on an imac; just mentioning).

got my M2 air yesterday, coming from a 2016 12”macbook. i loved that thing, my fave mac ever. small, light, sleek. and i loved (yes, i said it) the butterfly keyboard. no real issues with that macbook; did everything it needed to do. but seemed time to move forward, and into the silicon era. so, while i wait (fingers crossed) for a silicon 12” macbook, i got the M2 air. migrated all my data, installed my apps (all silicon ready; nice), and am back to work.

the screen is bright, clear, the speed is just amazing. and hasn’t gotten warm yet (the 12” macbook did, a lot).

the weight is nice. love the thin (but loved the minimal footprint of the 12” more). and i can run ventura (the 2016 12” mb only goes up to monterey). the battery life is incredible; i can just keep going all day, and not stress about it. and touch id is awesome, love having that.

it’s a great mac, am happy i went with it, will enjoy using it, and i will treat it well. well… until if/when a 12” silicon macbook shows up; then i trash the air 🤣
 
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Gratz on your new M2 Air. Would be interesting to see render times on your M2 c/w with your Intel iMac. I guess you would still do your FCP work on the iMac with the larger screen real estate through, even if it was quicker on the Air.
 
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James_C said:
Gratz on your new M2 Air. Would be interesting to see render times on your M2 c/w with your Intel iMac. I guess you would still do your FCP work on the iMac with the larger screen real estate through, even if it was quicker on the Air.
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i've got a workflow that, uh, works for me, using the air for everything other than logic & FCP (plus, will probably replace the imac later this year with a silicon something).

outside of the aesthetic, this mac kills my 12" macbook. it's so fast it types before i think of what i want to type... 🤔
 
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i know it's '6-years-later' tech, and the 12" was never a powerful mac... but this thing is so impressive, and is a joy to use. am getting used to the keyboard (and liking it). and just... the speed is so good.

booting up, waking. opening apps. i have 7 apps set to open on boot; they're there before i can catch my breath. it's effortless to work with, and am seriously happy with my purchase.

i still prefer the design of the 12" macbook (small footprint, edge-to-edge keyboard; size, weight); but really... that was then, this is now. 👍
 
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fisherking said:
i know it's '6-years-later' tech, and the 12" was never a powerful mac... but this thing is so impressive, and is a joy to use. am getting used to the keyboard (and liking it). and just... the speed is so good.

booting up, waking. opening apps. i have 7 apps set to open on boot; they're there before i can catch my breath. it's effortless to work with, and am seriously happy with my purchase.

i still prefer the design of the 12" macbook (small footprint, edge-to-edge keyboard; size, weight); but really... that was then, this is now. 👍
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You keep fawning over your M2 and your girlfriend is going to get jealous. :p
 
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fisherking said:
i know it's '6-years-later' tech, and the 12" was never a powerful mac... but this thing is so impressive, and is a joy to use. am getting used to the keyboard (and liking it). and just... the speed is so good.

booting up, waking. opening apps. i have 7 apps set to open on boot; they're there before i can catch my breath. it's effortless to work with, and am seriously happy with my purchase.

i still prefer the design of the 12" macbook (small footprint, edge-to-edge keyboard; size, weight); but really... that was then, this is now. 👍
Click to expand...
The instant-on really is something else, isn't it? Every time I open the lid, I hear the "new mail" ding before the screen is more than an inch open.
 
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sjperformance said:
Hey mate. Pics or it didn’t happened. JK LoL. Enjoy it. Good to see true reviews from average users.
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'average user'? 🤔 i did over a decade of freelance mac support in NYC. i run all the OS betas; have taken some intense steps to get thru beta issues (mostly with logic pro).

i used to jailbreak my iphone. and i used to customize my mac experience a lot before SIP. plus i survive now on logic pro and final cut. i may be an average person (am not lol), but am not an average user. no stress, just saying ☺️


IMG_9362.jpeg



IMG_9364.jpeg
 
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I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying your new purchase. There have been many posts with titles along the lines of "Apple Silicon is bad because it only has 8GB of RAM and doesn't come with a free pony!" or "The M2 is a stinker because it gave me Apple cooties and its SSD is slow!". It's good to see someone who is simply happy with their purchase. So, instead of benchmarking it against a 175 watt desktop chip or voiding the warranty performing surgery with thermal pads, you're simply enjoying the product by using it for its intended purpose. Novel concept, I know, but it's appreciated.
 
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Colstan said:
I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying your new purchase. There have been many posts with titles along the lines of "Apple Silicon is bad because it only has 8GB of RAM and doesn't come with a free pony!" or "The M2 is a stinker because it gave me Apple cooties and its SSD is slow!". It's good to see someone who is simply happy with their purchase. So, instead of benchmarking it against a 175 watt desktop chip or voiding the warranty performing surgery with thermal pads, you're simply enjoying the product by using it for its intended purpose. Novel concept, I know, but it's appreciated.
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am into benchmarks, tech discussion, geek stuff. but at the end of the day, if i can do my work, quickly, efficiently, and the experience is stable, and my apps work... that's great. and again, coming from a 2016 macbook, this thing is a monster...


Jumpthesnark said:
I wish I had that excuse, for some of the comments I make here. ;)

Mazel tov on the new Air!
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that is my excuse, even for the pre-M2 air posts.... 🤔
 
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fisherking said:
i still prefer the design of the 12" macbook (small footprint, edge-to-edge keyboard; size, weight); but really... that was then, this is now. 👍
Click to expand...

I still have my MB 12” because I love that thing. I don’t use it because it’s so slow now but I wish they would bring one out with the M2. I think Apple have created a problem in that the M Chips are so fast that people are expecting more from the ”Netbook” format. I always had an 11” Air and then 12” MB as a carry around to supplement my main computer of the day. I really only used it for emails and web browser stuff. Today the M2 Air can run anything you throw at it. Like anything! I can even run ArchiCAD and Blender on there. It will be a bit slower that the high end Pro models but not so that you can’t complete the task. It is amazing. So now people compare the entry level tiny machine to the Pro. That never used to happen.

Enjoy your MacBook Air fisherkin, it’s a huge step-up from the MB12”.
 
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Congratulations on your new M2 MacBook Air!
I am hoping for a new 12” MacBook with Apple Silicon as well (hopefully during the M3 generation).

By the way, did you get the base 8GB/256GB model? Or did you spec bumped it?

Enjoy your new machine!
 
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fisherking said:
well… until if/when a 12” silicon macbook shows up; then i trash the air 🤣
Click to expand...

So will I.

The PowerBook G4 12” and the MacBook Air 11” are probably my favorite Macs ever.

Cannot wait to experience something like that again.

I mean, it’s sooo close, all the parts are just sitting right there in the iPad Pro.
 
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I am waiting on a loaded M2 MBA, which will be largely replacing my loaded 2017 MacBook, a computer so great when they discontinued it I sold my 2016 and bought the final Gen 2017 one with the top processor and RAM.

Today it’s slower, but still gets by. I am hoping every day that a 2 lb ultraportable like the 12” MacBook is coming from Apple. I love that MacBook so much, I may still keep using it even with the M2 MBA!
 
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gilby101 said:
I'm trying to decide if there is anything in Ventura which would justify replacing my 2016 12" MacBook. The MacBook is a delightful Mac. It is my second Mac - desktop is 2019 iMac.
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i dunno, it's an astonishing experience for me, coming from that macbook. i prefer the aesthetics of the 12", but the speed! am loving working on this thing, and (for me) being able to run the current (and next) OS has great value.

funny, we have (had) same setup! my imac is 2019.

ventura is nice, too, and stable (and it's still early beta)...
 
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fisherking said:
(i do my heavy lifting, ie logic & final cut, on an imac; just mentioning).

got my M2 air yesterday, coming from a 2016 12”macbook. i loved that thing, my fave mac ever. small, light, sleek. and i loved (yes, i said it) the butterfly keyboard. no real issues with that macbook; did everything it needed to do. but seemed time to move forward, and into the silicon era. so, while i wait (fingers crossed) for a silicon 12” macbook, i got the M2 air. migrated all my data, installed my apps (all silicon ready; nice), and am back to work.

the screen is bright, clear, the speed is just amazing. and hasn’t gotten warm yet (the 12” macbook did, a lot).

the weight is nice. love the thin (but loved the minimal footprint of the 12” more). and i can run ventura (the 2016 12” mb only goes up to monterey). the battery life is incredible; i can just keep going all day, and not stress about it. and touch id is awesome, love having that.

it’s a great mac, am happy i went with it, will enjoy using it, and i will treat it well. well… until if/when a 12” silicon macbook shows up; then i trash the air 🤣
Click to expand...
Why don't you post what color you got too? So many folks are having a hard time choosing, and your choice would help a lot of people figure it out.
 
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