Apple Announces MacBook Air With M2 Chip Available to Order Starting July 8, Launches July 15

[kjvmartin2]

Not sure that ”yellow” means you need more RAM though a salesman would like that idea.

I’m not sure what is using so much RAM on your MBA. I would not expect those apps to use a lot of memory, but some browser tabs can really consume memory over time. If you check Activity Monitor that will give you some idea what is eating your RAM and maybe just doing a little more frequent housekeeping can keep you out of the red.

Right, I should not be doing housekeeping on a $1000 laptop. I have to think to go close Music, TV, Podcast, Mail, Photos, Messages. Otherwise I am living in the swap file and that's not acceptable to me. I've previously had a 16gb Intel Pro, but if you go back to the first few months release of the M1, every single reviewer and forum was saying "8 is the new 16". This has not been the case for me.

I also keep activity monitor running. Right now I have a few Reddit tabs, MacRumors, my bank page, reminders, mail, Banktivity, messages open. 300MB swap used. Green memory pressure. The moment I tab into my already open Banktivity file (optimized for M1) my pressure goes to yellow and still 300mb in the swap file. It does not go back down to green until I close almost a bunch of stuff.

I am not doing anything taxing on this system other than having open a large .CSV file and basic use. 8GB of ram is such a poor choice and the sad thing is that most people have no idea.

 

[getmac]

Right, I should not be doing housekeeping on a $1000 laptop. I have to think to go close Music, TV, Podcast, Mail, Photos, Messages. Otherwise I am living in the swap file and that's not acceptable to me. I've previously had a 16gb Intel Pro, but if you go back to the first few months release of the M1, every single reviewer and forum was saying "8 is the new 16". This has not been the case for me.

I also keep activity monitor running. Right now I have a few Reddit tabs, MacRumors, my bank page, reminders, mail, Banktivity, messages open. 300MB swap used. Green memory pressure. The moment I tab into my already open Banktivity file (optimized for M1) my pressure goes to yellow and still 300mb in the swap file. It does not go back down to green until I close almost a bunch of stuff.

I am not doing anything taxing on this system other than having open a large .CSV file and basic use. 8GB of ram is such a poor choice and the sad thing is that most people have no idea.

I have been having the same issue. I saw the same videos claiming 8GB on M1 was like 16GB on Intel. It's not. I haven't even done real work on my MacBook Air. No photoshop, no lightroom, no video editing. Just music and browsing and keep getting yellow, and even red, on the activity monitor. Music will start to stutter then I'll get the spinning beach ball and then everything freezes.

My 2017 15in i7 Macbook Pro with 16GB RAM never did that and I'd have a couple of Adobe apps open, more tabs, etc.

 

[getmac]

Does this also mean that companies such as Amazon will start shipping on the 15 (or to arrive that day)?

I wish Apple would have made the second base model with 16/512 since most third-party retailers only carry stock models. I'd prefer to purchase at Costco with 4% cashback and double the warranty.

 

[KPOM]

I’m pondering what model to get now

I’m a light user, using only Spotify, Twitter, 35 safari tabs and maybe the odd iMessage or email.

Leaning towards base model in midnight.

That should work.

 

[OrlandoTragic]

Is there anything more than speculation on how long BTO's will take?
Like everyone else, 8GB isn't good enough for me, but I also don't want to wait three months to receive a "special" (seems silly saying 16GB is special in 2022) build.

 

[Tagbert]

Right, I should not be doing housekeeping on a $1000 laptop. I have to think to go close Music, TV, Podcast, Mail, Photos, Messages. Otherwise I am living in the swap file and that's not acceptable to me. I've previously had a 16gb Intel Pro, but if you go back to the first few months release of the M1, every single reviewer and forum was saying "8 is the new 16". This has not been the case for me.

I also keep activity monitor running. Right now I have a few Reddit tabs, MacRumors, my bank page, reminders, mail, Banktivity, messages open. 300MB swap used. Green memory pressure. The moment I tab into my already open Banktivity file (optimized for M1) my pressure goes to yellow and still 300mb in the swap file. It does not go back down to green until I close almost a bunch of stuff.

I am not doing anything taxing on this system other than having open a large .CSV file and basic use. 8GB of ram is such a poor choice and the sad thing is that most people have no idea.

Of course and I'm not trying to say that 8GB is just dandy. I went with 16GB on my MBA. I merely meant that with your current 8GB, if you are having trouble, I've found browser tabs to use more memory that you would think and either closing a tab or closing and reopening the browser will clear that sooner than just about anything else. As to how long it takes for the swap file to react, that is a different question.

 

[Maxis]

I have a feeling these will sell crazy, wait time might slip beyond 3-4 months.

"Get it by tomorrow" tells everything on apple.com

 

[Dealmans]

Don't get 8gb no matter what you do with it, regrets on my 8/512gb 24" iMac. Never again.
My 2015 27" with 24gb and 2Tb fusion was just as fast.

 

[joshwithachance]

Don't get 8gb no matter what you do with it, regrets on my 8/512gb 24" iMac. Never again.
My 2015 27" with 24gb and 2Tb fusion was just as fast.

I have a base model M1 Air that I have constantly connected to a 4K monitor that I regularly edit video on with at least 5 other apps open at any given moment (safari, mail, messaging, etc.) and I’ve had no issues with the 8GB of RAM…

 

[jeroenvip]

No thank you, bought a m1 14 inch, 10 cpu / 16 gpu, 16gb, 1tb, and gonna love that one for a long time !

 

[F23]

I have a base model M1 Air that I have constantly connected to a 4K monitor that I regularly edit video on with at least 5 other apps open at any given moment (safari, mail, messaging, etc.) and I’ve had no issues with the 8GB of RAM…

I've had issues with 16 GB RAM on a 16" M1 Pro with light use

 

[drumcat]

Do I risk it, or risk waiting?

 

[chucker23n1]

Do I risk it, or risk waiting?

Risk what?

 

[daavee80]

I've had issues with 16 GB RAM on a 16" M1 Pro with light use

Can I ask what issues you’ve had with 16GB?

I’m thinking of getting 16GB but I’m not sure that it’ll be enough for my use.

 

[Rooster 🐓]

Not been as excited since I picked up my MBA Rev a back in the noughties! Picked up a B&O Beloit 20 speaker in a colour to match. The clock on the wall says a quarter to midnight! 🙂

 

[stylinexpat]

I wonder if it’s going to have any type of heating issues with that M2. 😮

Best way to know is to open Safari and then run a YouTube video and see if it gets hot playing a simple 4K video on YouTube. Then run a couple of open windows/tabs for stocks and indexes which are always refreshing

 

[jlc1978]

Yep... it's honestly getting to the point where the 256GB SSD models of Macs are just a hassle for me when advising others what to buy. I keep running across friends who ask about buying one for a kid in college and whatnot, and I have to keep warning them not to buy "the model that's priced at $X" because it's the model with the 256GB SSD. Non-technical people don't know why this matters and just think they found a great price when they see the lower-spec models for sale. But as soon as they get a 256GB storage model, they start complaining that it's out of disk space after they put their music collection and photo collections on it, or after they sync content from their DropBox or OneDrive, or ?? It's not worth the few hundred bucks they think they're saving not to have a decent storage capacity.

It's a great price point, and while extra storage (and memory) is always nice it is not a must have. Me, I go for 512 and 16GB but that is my preference. 1TB is too much money for little added value, as is 32GB.

Most people simply dump everything onto the machine until it is full; and stuff expands to fill the storage available. If they properly manage collections, space is not an issue. Most of the photos, as they age, never get looked at again and are good candidates for offloading to external storage to free up space. As for music, I've seen numbers of 5K songs/30GB. That's a lot of music. If someone is simply collecting songs, a lot of that would be candidates for external storage. Between backups and cloud storage, 256GB can be plenty of space.

What do I tell friends? First question - what is your budget and how will you use it?

The notch is a deal breaker.

Notch? What Notch?

For anyone who actually has one, the notch is not a big deal and you quickly start to ignore it. Remember too, it isn’t really a notch, it is ears that allow the menubar to be moved out of the main application space. The space below is exactly the space available on the older screens. The OS handles the space just fine and apps are not bothered by it.

My desktop has a black line across the top which makes the screen look like the old Mac screens. No notch.

If you have a whole bunch of menubar icons you probably want to get Bartender or something like it. You probably need that even without a notch as those little icons just multiple like cockroaches and fill the space.

I second Bartender. I have it setup to display the main apps I use on the menubar, with the hidden ones on the bar that popup below it. Click on one and it temporarily goes to the main menubar.

Apple should buy Bartender and make it part of the OS.

 

[svish]

Think there will be a huge demand for this one and delivery dates will quickly slip. Waiting to see how the base model SSD will perform.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Cyberpunk 2077 ~30fps @ 720p low FSR 2.0

This isn't the flex you think it is

 

[jlc1978]

mi7chy said:
Cyberpunk 2077 ~30fps @ 720p low FSR 2.0

This isn't the flex you think it is

I find it amusing when someone brings up gaming as a reason Macs are overpriced and not as good as a $400 Winbox; and tehn posts humorous specs.

Macs are not game machines, at least not like a high end Windows gaming rig. You want to play games, drop teh cash for a dedicated rig; which will cost around as much, or more, than a Mac.

Macs can play some games, but gaming is not a key target market for Apple's Mac line. Any decent games are a byproduct of Apple's effort to improve speed and graphics for its core markets.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I find it amusing when someone brings up gaming as a reason Macs are overpriced and not as good as a $400 Winbox; and tehn posts humorous specs.

Macs are not game machines, at least not like a high end Windows gaming rig. You want to play games, drop teh cash for a dedicated rig; which will cost around as much, or more, than a Mac.

Macs can play some games, but gaming is not a key target market for Apple's Mac line. Any decent games are a byproduct of Apple's effort to improve speed and graphics for its core markets.

I agree, but I also found it hilarious how they posted those numbers like they were winning the argument. He is basically staring at the crappiest possible graphics on a PC and still can only get 30 FPS out of that.

 

[cosmogrammar]

Any data analysts / scientists here? Planning to get an M2 MBA, but there's so much conflicting information on 8 vs. 16 GB of RAM... Finishing my dissertation which requires some intensive-ish data analysis on this machine, but then will be using it for light productivity work once that's done.

I also want to get this computer as quickly as possible. Working on a 2014 MBP.

Found this test very interesting: https://towardsdatascience.com/why-...a-data-scientist-9207f309db0c?gi=6212b9f6aaad

16 GB is faster, but 8 GB is no slouch and seems like most people will be fine with that.

 

[CTHarrryH]

Wonder what version of MacOS will be on it.

 

[F23]

Can I ask what issues you’ve had with 16GB?

I’m thinking of getting 16GB but I’m not sure that it’ll be enough for my use.

I'm an average user. on a normal day I have discord, notes, mail, safari, & edge open. not all at the same time but the applications are always running, active windows are usually just the browsers with less than 5 tabs at a time.
with that set up, I dropped some 4K drone footage into iMovie to play around with some clips & encountered intermittent lag for a few seconds when trying to do anything. swap memory jumped to 3GB. there was a 5 second delay after clicking any editing buttons.
I have istat menus running so with normal use it shows 5GB RAM free but I do close a lot of windows & quit apps often out of habit to conserve RAM.
safari feels very sluggish so I use Edge. safari makes me feel like I have 4 GB RAM. even tho I have run browser tests & it scores higher than edge. not sure why. have ad blockers enabled on both.
I would say RAM upgrade is the most important part of buying a new device. CPUs are all powerful & good enough. external storage can always be bought. but RAM ultimately will decide how smooth your experience will be. 16 GB is good enough, but for more moderate users 32 GB is worth it.
all these YouTubers claiming 8 GB is more than enough is laughable. I have used a 8 GB M1 Air & always get beach balls. 32 GB should be offered as the second stock configuration for every model.

 

[Zammir]

They no longer include a charger in iPhones, birth rate in China is dropping off the cliff, inflation is going sky high, and every other young person you talk to in America will tell you they're going to start their own Youtube, business, investment ventures, so that they can get passive income, and quit their job to travel the world....

Do you still no get the memo...? It's cheaper to put just one 256GB chip... It's also cheaper to just replace the CPU with M2, and hoping to clean up the remaining stock that apple stuck with aka: Macbook Pro chasis with the stupid touch bar that no one wants... than to redesign, remanufacture new ones.

As history/ population/ education progresses, people, one by one, slowly but surely will start to realize their true value as human being, and the fact that they - the upstairs, need us, desperately..... Then comes the end of slavery as we know it, which manifest itself in the form of $15 coffee, $50 pizza, etc.... because who the hell wants to do that if "You only live once".

Madam/Sir, this is a macrumors forum