Base M2 13/15 MBAir owners - when are you upgrading?

[WalsallSaddler]

In my opinion, Air M5 has two issues if you’re buying it for long-term use.

1. Old design. They usually refresh the design every 4–5 years, so it’s very likely that the next generation will feature a new design.

2. 60 Hz. But this isn’t important to everyone — personally, I see a big difference between 60 and 120 Hz. In 2026, buying outdated tech that could also be updated soon (as seen with the base iPhones) — that’s not ideal.

If you don’t care about that — it’s a great laptop.

 

[tenordrum]

I honestly didnt know you could do that. So you didnt technically trade it, you sold it to Apple for $445, and they paid out cash and not a gift card?

no, they paid using an Apple gift card. If they would have matched price on the M5, and allowed the 12 month financing, the $445 trade would just have subtracted from the overall total due. If I had traded it to BB, their trade value was $350, and that was "up" from $200 a week ago.

 

[1BadManVan]

no, they paid using an Apple gift card. If they would have matched price on the M5, and allowed the 12 month financing, the $445 trade would just have subtracted from the overall total due. If I had traded it to BB, their trade value was $350, and that was "up" from $200 a week ago.

Yea see that kind of ruins the value proposition for me unless I had an immediate usage for the gift card since you can’t take that gift card and apply the credit to the Mac you bought at Best Buy.

 

[thadoggfather]

I've still been tempted at times to get 16 or 24gb and 512 or 1tb and a newer M-processor upgraded Air, but part of me wants to wait for MBP re-design or eventual MBA re-design. Or deeper discounts. Or some combo.

--

From an overall feel perspective I think I am still set with my M2 base 15 inch MBAir. And I can't decide if I'd want 13 or 15 inch next, but I think 15 inch. Not sure how I would get on with a 14" Pro, but maybe if it's thinner and more feature packed would be worth it for the OLED Model. IDK.

This seems like a good model to hold onto as a holdover for my next move.

 

[1BadManVan]

I've still been tempted at times to get 16 or 24gb and 512 or 1tb and a newer M-processor upgraded Air, but part of me wants to wait for MBP re-design or eventual MBA re-design. Or deeper discounts. Or some combo.

--

From an overall feel perspective I think I am still set with my M2 base 15 inch MBAir. And I can't decide if I'd want 13 or 15 inch next, but I think 15 inch. Not sure how I would get on with a 14" Pro, but maybe if it's thinner and more feature packed would be worth it for the OLED Model. IDK.

This seems like a good model to hold onto as a holdover for my next move.

Doesn't hurt to wait if your current machines meeting your needs. My worry is the next lineup coming out is going to come with a decent price jump, that's the only reason I went to an M5

 

[thadoggfather]

Doesn't hurt to wait if your current machines meeting your needs. My worry is the next lineup coming out is going to come with a decent price jump, that's the only reason I went to an M5

if it ships, I am trying out a 15inch Starlight 24GB/1TB M5. It was $1249.99 for a brief period of time NIB shipped and sold by Amazon. Will know early-ish next week if it pans out.

I can get $480 trade in for my 15inch silver 8GB/256GB M2 to Apple as trade credit for a future purchase.
I got this device for $850 open box iirc couple years ago so not taking too bad of a bath.

I think it's worth a roll of the dice @ that price.

Otherwise, the waiting continues for another deal of this calibre with these specs or for a future model.

I too am worried about more MSRP price hikes around the bend though.

 

[doogm]

I upgraded to the M5 a couple of weeks ago. ... the main reason I did it now rather than wait one more year, as was the original plan, was because I expect RAM and storage price increases to hit Apple at some point, and I thought this year was a good time to jump.

Four months ago me feels pretty smart right now.

 

[thadoggfather]

My 24/1 delivered couple weeks ago, and I'm so glad I went with it.

 

[Corefile]

I have an M2 15" 16/512 MBA but just picked up an M5 13" MBA for $949. I find the 15" too big TBH.

 

[thadoggfather]

I have an M2 15" 16/512 MBA but just picked up an M5 13" MBA for $949. I find the 15" too big TBH.

Different strokes 😛 I wondered if 15" was too big, then I use a 13" laptop and I do not miss it at all. I prefer the added screen real estate of the 15" but it's good we got options. I also mostly use my laptop on the same table, and don't travel often with it.

 

[unkl bob]

Set up a dual trade in at the Apple Store on 24 JUN for the next day. One was my M4 MBA 15' 512; upgrading to the M5 MBA 15"Base.. Saw 'Rumors' 09.00-ish the next morning and got the M5 from amazon for U$1150. Hooray! 'cept now, instead 4 Macs I've got 6.

 

[blackberrycubed]

if it ships, I am trying out a 15inch Starlight 24GB/1TB M5. It was $1249.99 for a brief period of time NIB shipped and sold by Amazon. Will know early-ish next week if it pans out.

I can get $480 trade in for my 15inch silver 8GB/256GB M2 to Apple as trade credit for a future purchase.
I got this device for $850 open box iirc couple years ago so not taking too bad of a bath.

I think it's worth a roll of the dice @ that price.

Otherwise, the waiting continues for another deal of this calibre with these specs or for a future model.

I too am worried about more MSRP price hikes around the bend though.

how was a $1999 config marked down to $1249 for a new unit!!!!!

 

[thadoggfather]

how was a $1999 config marked down to $1249 for a new unit!!!!!

This was pre-AI price hike when MSRP was $1699 I believe, but still pretty good savings at $450 off for a machine that came out only 3 months prior 😀

it's obviously a way better deal now, given the new MSRP is $2k.

 

[blackberrycubed]

This was pre-AI price hike when MSRP was $1699 I believe, but still pretty good savings at $450 off for a machine that came out only 3 months prior 😀

it's obviously a way better deal now, given the new MSRP is $2k.

Congrats!!!!

 

[thadoggfather]

Congrats!!!!

its been a great upgrade from M2/8/256. Glad I jumped when I did / set for a long while.

 

[unkl bob]

if it ships, I am trying out a 15inch Starlight 24GB/1TB M5. It was $1249.99 for a brief period of time NIB shipped and sold by Amazon. Will know early-ish next week if it pans out.

I can get $480 trade in for my 15inch silver 8GB/256GB M2 to Apple as trade credit for a future purchase.
I got this device for $850 open box iirc couple years ago so not taking too bad of a bath.looks like you found a

I think it's worth a roll of the dice @ that price.

Otherwise, the waiting continues for another deal of this calibre with these specs or for a future model.

I too am worried about more MSRP price hikes around the bend though.

Looks like you scored a great buy ! Congrats. Did you get another 15" or was it the 13"? Just curious.

 

[thadoggfather]

Looks like you scored a great buy ! Congrats. Did you get another 15" or was it the 13"? Just curious.

Another 15” and zero regrets

Tried out the 13” but wasn’t for me. I value the bigger screen size significantly

The 15” air is awesome

 

[JamesMay82]

I think there is a lot of unnecessary upgrades in this forum.

I used my 2014 iMac till lNovember 2023 and it was working fine. I just took that old iMac to my office and it's now purely a work machine and it works perfectly. The only negative is the browser is a bit sluggish on certain sites... chat GPT being one of them..

I think the M series Macs will be fine for a long time based on how well my iMac still performs... we just need to hope they keep the software updated.

 

[1BadManVan]

I think there is a lot of unnecessary upgrades in this forum.

I used my 2014 iMac till lNovember 2023 and it was working fine. I just took that old iMac to my office and it's now purely a work machine and it works perfectly. The only negative is the browser is a bit sluggish on certain sites... chat GPT being one of them..

I think the M series Macs will be fine for a long time based on how well my iMac still performs... we just need to hope they keep the software updated.

Would depend what your work load is. Basic usage, you can get by for much longer on any hardware

 

[JamesMay82]

Would depend what your work load is. Basic usage, you can get by for much longer on any hardware

Ah yes! I should have stated that. it's still okay for basic edits and 4k video doesn't work as nice but for all basic computing it does well.

I still think the current M series should have long lives.. I wonder if AI will eventually be what makes the earlier M series chips feel outdated, rather than traditional things like photo and video editing?

 

[thadoggfather]

I think there is a lot of unnecessary upgrades in this forum.

I used my 2014 iMac till lNovember 2023 and it was working fine. I just took that old iMac to my office and it's now purely a work machine and it works perfectly. The only negative is the browser is a bit sluggish on certain sites... chat GPT being one of them..

I think the M series Macs will be fine for a long time based on how well my iMac still performs... we just need to hope they keep the software updated.

If I didn’t have 8/256 before and possibly even just more storage would’ve been fine holding off

256 became quite annoying and 8gb feels end of the road for having lots of stuff open and being performant. IMO.

24/1 is the real boost but m2 to m5 for ai and encoding stuff makes a good difference too:

CPU	M2	M5	Approx. M5 advantage
CPU cores	8 (4P + 4E)	10 (4P + 6E)	+2 efficiency cores
Geekbench 6 single-core	~2,600	~4,200	~60% faster
Geekbench 6 multi-core	~9,700	~17,500	~80% faster
Performance cores	4	4	much faster per core
Efficiency cores	4	6	+2 + newer architecture

And the ssd read write speeds as well. Crazy fast

256 was ok but slow since single nand coming from 256 m1 that was dual:

MacBook Air	Sequential read	Sequential write
M2 256GB	~1,575 MB/s	~1,580 MB/s
M5 1TB	~7,050 MB/s	~7,480 MB/s
Difference	~4.5× faster	~4.7× faster

and ram:

Unified memory	8 GB	24 GB
Memory bandwidth	100 GB/s	153 GB/s
Bandwidth increase	—	~53%
Capacity increase	—	3×
Memory type	LPDDR5	Newer unified-memory subsystem

 

[bill-p]

24/1 is the real boost but m2 to m5 for ai and encoding stuff makes a good difference too

Late to the thread but I guess RAM should have been a decision way back then. Apple tried to convince people 8GB is enough, and... it is. If you're switching Macbooks every year or every other year, then 8GB or whatever the base amount is is enough and will have the best diminishing return.

But Macbook should be a purchase for whatever workload is intended. In my case, AI was an earlier decision circa 2022 - 2023 so I went with 24GB RAM to begin with and even now, I struggle to see why I would want 60% faster burst speed over M2. So I think... the upside is you got more speed with M5 but the real upside is really the RAM and storage that now fit your workload better.

Personally, Apple will have to convince me definitively that M7 or M8 Macbook Air with OLED display or something is better for my own workflow. Faster isn't the real unlock anymore, otherwise I would have gone for the 14" Pro any time.

I don't see M5 or even M6 being "must-buy" for me unless they really do something significantly better. Jumping from Intel Mac to Apple Silicon was all about >2x battery life. And now we're just getting incrementally faster speed but fundamentally the same battery life, same chassis and same screen.

 

[1BadManVan]

Late to the thread but I guess RAM should have been a decision way back then. Apple tried to convince people 8GB is enough, and... it is. If you're switching Macbooks every year or every other year, then 8GB or whatever the base amount is is enough and will have the best diminishing return.

But Macbook should be a purchase for whatever workload is intended. In my case, AI was an earlier decision circa 2022 - 2023 so I went with 24GB RAM to begin with and even now, I struggle to see why I would want 60% faster burst speed over M2. So I think... the upside is you got more speed with M5 but the real upside is really the RAM and storage that now fit your workload better.

Personally, Apple will have to convince me definitively that M7 or M8 Macbook Air with OLED display or something is better for my own workflow. Faster isn't the real unlock anymore, otherwise I would have gone for the 14" Pro any time.

I don't see M5 or even M6 being "must-buy" for me unless they really do something significantly better. Jumping from Intel Mac to Apple Silicon was all about >2x battery life. And now we're just getting incrementally faster speed but fundamentally the same battery life, same chassis and same screen.

If Ai is one of your main work flows than the m5 is a huge leap over the m2

 

[thadoggfather]

If Ai is one of your main work flows than the m5 is a huge leap over the m2

Yeah m4 is the biggest jump for that I think but m4 to m5 is no slouch either. IMO.

 

[bill-p]

If Ai is one of your main work flows than the m5 is a huge leap over the m2

I have tried both. M5 is not a huge leap.

The reality is... RAM is still the biggest bottleneck, be it RAM amount or bandwidth. Benchmark shows this.

Apple Silicon for AI: M1 to M6 Compared (2026)

Every Apple Silicon chip compared for local AI inference with tok/s data, bandwidth, and value analysis.

llmcheck.net

So Apple might have claimed 8.5x faster or something very insane like that. The reality is... not quite. Let's say M2 can take 30 seconds to generate the response to a prompt. M5 takes roughly between 15-20 seconds. That's indeed "almost 2x faster", but it's just about 10-15 seconds faster in reality.

Does that matter? Maybe if you run local LLMs a lot and you constantly prompt only locally.

Otherwise, honestly, it actually doesn't matter as much as you think.