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Apple Announces MacBook Air With M2 Chip Available to Order Starting July 8, Launches July 15
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Fight for consumer is never over. Step 1 is getting Apple to not skimp on RAM and slow storage for $1200 then step 2 is offering it for closer to $500.
Mislead by fake info such as 8GB on AS equivalent to 16GB on x86-64, integrated graphics equivalent to Nvidia discrete GPU, Rosetta 2 better than native x86-64 performance, etc.
Lmao, my toaster could play doom eternal at 1080p ultra. That's not an accomplishment.
I imagine my 3090ti gets somewhere in the 300-500 FPS range at such a low resolution.
People often overestimate their own needs and buy more than necessary. If it makes them feel better about it and they can afforded it, no problem. Professionals and those who do have heavy needs often assume that others need the same level of hardware that they do even of the person asking has lighter needs.
Your best bet would be to look at your current actual needs, run the apps you normally use and run Activity Monitor (or the windows equivalent) to see what RAM your apps are using.
When the person said “If you’re making music just get a Pro” had you told them that that was something that you planned to do extensively where time was important or as an occasional hobby where it might not matter if something took a little longer now and then.
16GB is still quite a bit unless you are doing some pretty heavy workloads And the price to get to 24 or 32 can be steep. If you honestly think you’ll use it, the cost amortized out over the years of useage might not be that high, but if it stretches you now, that may be a poor investment.
You're comparing a laptop 70W TGP 3060 that pulls ~100W total system power from wall at full load against your 700W house furnace 12900K+3090ti which uses 7x more power but only delivering 3x more fps so over 2x worse efficiency. And, you're probably enjoying that 500fps on a 165Hz monitor.
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Thanks. Great advice. It’s just such a minefield trying to research this stuff as for every person who says that 16GB is plenty there’ll be someone else saying that that it won’t be enough and that they have issues/slowdowns with 16GB.
But you’re right it’s about one’s individual needs and to be honest I think 16GB might be ok for me.
I’ll wait until Air M2 reviews are out next week and then decide. Thanks again.
The dilemma I’m having is that the base M2 Air model meets my current needs (activity monitor with 8GB RAM is always green and I’m only using half of the 256GB storage). But what specs to get, given I want the M2 to last more than 5 years? 🤔
I have the money to upgrade specs but I don’t want to spend it unnecessarily…
I’m not @Tagbert but if I can chime in. Do you see your needs/use case changing in the future in a way that would perhaps require more RAM and/or storage space? Perhaps you can see yourself accumulating more stuff on your drive that will start to push up against a 256GB limit. Or maybe you’ll want/need to run more RAM heavy apps concurrently. If so then I would go to the next tier up accordingly. If not then I would just get the base model.
I expect my (pretty basic) use case to stay the same, it’s the ‘natural bloat’ that happens over time that I’m worried about (both with the current apps I use and my own files).
Keep in mind that while neither is upgradeable, you can always attach an external disk (including some rather fast ones with Thunderbolt, or very large hard disks), but you cannot attach RAM. So the RAM is fixed for life, whereas the disk can be expanded.
My recommendation is to with 16 Gigs of RAM. It’ll give you more breathing room several years down the road when macOS 17 Death Valley requires more resources. Leave the storage as is if it’s OK by you. You can always add an external disk (obviously not as convenient as internal, but much cheaper).
What I'm wondering is whether there will be a review from iJustine, with her Barbie-doll "Look I'm obviously so superficial I can't possibly be an Apple shill, right?" onscreen personality poorly-disguising a very carefully-crafted intelligent marketing machine, or does she not bother herself with such proletariat-level tech as MBAs?
EDIT guess I could find out by looking at her older videos but I'm scared I might just throw up.
EDIT guess I could find out by looking at her older videos but I'm scared I might just throw up.
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Macbook 2017 8gb user here. I was hoping to keep hold of my macbook for another year, but I’ve been running into issues lately, with the most annoying one being unstable wifi that intermittently cuts out. Doesn’t matter whether it’s connected to the router or to iphone hoTspot.
My workflow is pretty basic. Average around 15 Brave browser tabs, email, word processing, spreadsheets and playing lossless audio via Swinsian.
Would prefer to go for new M2 MBA, partlly due to fact I previously had a MBA, so would be good to have new design. My dilemma is 8gb vs 16gb. Ideally I’d prefer 16gb, but for my use case I don’t think I need it. THat said I would ideally like this one to last 5yrs+ . Thoughts? Any M1 users with similar workflows experience any bottlenecks with 8gb?
My workflow is pretty basic. Average around 15 Brave browser tabs, email, word processing, spreadsheets and playing lossless audio via Swinsian.
Would prefer to go for new M2 MBA, partlly due to fact I previously had a MBA, so would be good to have new design. My dilemma is 8gb vs 16gb. Ideally I’d prefer 16gb, but for my use case I don’t think I need it. THat said I would ideally like this one to last 5yrs+ . Thoughts? Any M1 users with similar workflows experience any bottlenecks with 8gb?
My MBA uses are similar to yours and I have had no issues with my 8GB of RAM, but what you've got to consider is in five years time MacOS 17 will probably be a ton more resource-hungry. My MBA is my second computer so it's going to be little more than an inconvenience if it starts to creak a bit by 2027, assuming I still have it. If this MBA will be your main computer for 5+ years it's best to splurge on getting the best config you can afford.
Yes that’s a good point. Newer OS updates are certainly having an impact on my current machine. Running Monterey, but it can be sluggish at times, especially if I have multiple browser tabs open.
On the flip side even if I go 16gb, due to many variables, there’s no guarantee the alptop will last up to 5years. I could probably live with my current macbine for another year, but the intermittent wifi is forcing my hand and these kind of issues could easily happen to one of these new M2 machines after the Applecare warranty has expired.
Prior to buying my current kit I was using a 2011 iMac running High Sierra, which I'd owned from nearly new (Apple Refurbished purchase). In 2018 I took it apart and fitted an SSD under the optical drive. System Restore installed Snow Leopard to it: the OS the machine originally came with. Honestly that machine was suddenly like a lighting bolt, because Snow Leopard was never really designed for SSDs. Not so much though by the time I had re-installed High Sierra which was seven generations newer.
I miss the times when the OS's weren't over-bloated resource-hogs and you could rule the world with two gigs of RAM.
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I'm still on the fence. My 2021 MBP M1 Pro has everything I need for now. Though, I'm eager to see how the M2 compares to the M1 Pro using Developer tools.
The M2 would likely be slightly faster than the M1 Pro in simple tasks but would quickly fall behind in anything with multiple threads. I’ve got an M1 Air and plant to keep it for now. M2 improvements are fairly incremental so I’ll probably wait for M3 before upgrading for a bigger bump. If most of what you do is single process then you might get up to 18% speed improvement but that’s about it.
To this? I'm going to comment from the perspective of being *really* familiar with the Lenovo products. I work with them in the office every day and I'm typing from one of their ThinkBooks right now.
Yeah, it does have a pen included with it (which is just a plastic stylus you can use on its touchscreen ... not any advanced pen that uses batteries). I've personally used it a grand total of zero times since I first set this machine up as my primary work computer.
Being a Mac forum here, you'll obviously get a lot of completely negative comments about anything designed for Windows. But my opinion is that yeah, when you're on a budget and need to buy a bunch of similar model laptops that work as a good compromise for your whole workforce's needs? These recent Lenovo models have been a good value.
I can assure you, none of these are getting battery life anywhere near Apple's M1 series of Air though! That, alone, is a huge reason to spend more for the Macbook for some people. (My friend who does insurance sales is always on the go and often not in good places to plug a machine into a wall outlet. Having "whole day" battery life is a game-changer.)
I've also found with Lenovo, you occasionally get some support hassles such as having to keep up with BIOS updates. (They occasionally affect the integrated Intel video on them, so after Windows automatically installs the latest video driver for you as part of Windows automatic updates, you get video issues in some applications until you get your BIOS current to go with it.)
I have a Surface, and I refuse to use the touch screen unless I absolutely have to. It's just weird.
Costs are often a big part of the decision. Buying laptops that are 1/2 the price but adequate for the job is a prudent fiscal decision. Windows works just fine for most users so it's not as if buying Macs give and advantage; unless you need specific features.
Taht is a good reason to go with Macs; I'd add better build quality and support, especially with AppleCare, as well.
I used to have a Surface Pro and at least the pen Microsoft sells for it supports hundreds of levels of pressure on the screen and has the "eraser" on the other side of it. It makes it pretty functional for artists who want to draw with it and to use to sign forms.
But the Surface that's designed in a standard laptop form-factor really feels odd trying to use with the touch screen, even with the nice pen. It really only feels normal to me on the "Pro" that's a tablet style to begin with (keyboard is part of the cover for it).