Base Model M3 MacBook Air Has Faster SSD Speeds After Controversy With Previous Model

[jlc1978]

Haven‘t Mac sales plummeted like 30%? If people start voting with their wallet the margin driven approach might just not cut it anymore. At least I hope Apple will be forced to cater a tiny bit more to consumer needs.

From a historic high. IIRC, Q124 revenues was up slightly from Q1 the previous year. Anyway, I doubt we're going to see spectacular growth in the overall Ma market, and Apple will adjust as needed to maintain whatever margin and sales numbers they want.

Sigh. It has nothing to do with wanting "free stuff" and everything to do with the amount of applications & things people do with their laptops these days, 16gb should be the absolute minimum a laptop ought to have.

Yet there are plenty of people that get by just fie with 8GB. Most people don;t have a ton of apps open; often the issues is using a browser with a bunch of tabs open; most of which arenever read again, as the cause of problems.

If people need 16 they can buy an upgrade; most Air users don't need it; if anything the money is better spent on upgrading SSD storage.

 

[bluecoast]

Definitely applauding Apple for this.

As for whether 256GB is enough. I think it is. For most people.

People posting on macrumors have to realise they they are in a v small minority as to what they want their computers to do and how they use them.

For most people, their computer is almost an edge caching device that they browse the web on, write emails, watch streaming tv and listen to streaming music and view and edit their photos and videos which are primarily stored in the cloud.

They’ll probably never connect it to an external display - let alone two - nor to external storage.

With this usage, 256 GB is more than enough.

8BG is a little meh, but again, with use cases such as above, most people are using one app at a time - and with a fast SSD, loading the memory caches back into RAM should be fast enough.

I’m probably in the minority where I’d choose 16BG over a 512GG upgrade if I had to choose just one.

 

[turbineseaplane]

As for whether 256GB is enough. I think it is. For most people.

I just really think Apple should be putting in a larger base SSD and encouraging a local backup beyond just iCloud syncing.

For.....Photos

That's the one disk hog that basically everyone has a massive amount of

 

[bluecoast]

A lot of consumers use laptops to just browse the web and type documents. If the iPad can work well with 4 GB memory, 8 GB memory will work fine for them in a MBA.

And I’d not be surprised if Sonoma’s successor becomes even more iPad like this year - meaning we start to see SwiftUI apps on the Mac as default - and thus even more memory efficient.

 

[picpicmac]

Haven‘t Mac sales plummeted like 30%?

Based on what, exactly?

All data that I have seen shows the entire industry had reduction in sales after the early pandemic high. The early pandemic buying included a bump for work-at-home transitions.

I keep asserting that the day of the desktop is over. It's a slow death for sure, but there isn't a demand for big, noisy, energy-guzzling boxes, outside of the "gaming" market (wherein the gaming computers play a social role not unlike automobile engine sizes in previous generations of male-bragging rights.)

 

[MNGR]

Why?
RAM I get, 8GB in 2024 can definitely be a squeeze.
But I think a lot of people seriously overestimate how much storage most (average) people are using.
Between iCloud Drive (which synchronizes the desktop and documents folders already) and the affordability of external SSD’s, 256 GB is plenty for most.
Not to mention the fact that most people don’t store music, movies, and TV shows on their computers anymore, because it’s all streaming. Unless they’re going on a trip, in which case one or two movies isn’t taking up a full 256 GB.
My M1 iMac is my main computer, it has only 256 GB, and it’s not even half full.
It’s complemented by a 2 TB external SSD, which works just fine.

sorry. I store all my media (movies, photos, emails) on my 8 tb internal SSD.
Not in the cloud.
And backups are to my NAS plus a few external drives.

 

[Howard2k]

Perhaps you could share your source for that claim. I don't think any of us without inside info can claim to know what they pay for chips.

It doesn’t even matter whether the poster is right or wrong. The upgrades are not sold on a cost+ basis.

 

[jz0309]

I just really think Apple should be putting in a larger base SSD and encouraging a local backup beyond just iCloud syncing.

For.....Photos

That's the one disk hog that basically everyone has a massive amount of

I can right away name 10 people out of my relatives/friends circle that have 0 (zero) photos on their computers, be it Mac or Windows ("too complicated").

As for local backup, MacOS includes TimeMachine, last time I used Windows nothing was included, this was Win 10, don't know what Win11 offers. People don't use it, cause "too complicated" ...

 

[bluecoast]

2019 was the absolute tail end of a pretty meh run for the Mac

2016-2019 had some of the worst laptops they've made (on the whole) and the end of 6 years of the Mac Pro just "sitting there for sale, untouched"

M1 was great -- and a large portion of the "great" was in relation to where things had stagnated to by 2019 with the Mac.

Yeah it’s worth remembering how dire the Mac was in that period.

You want a MacBook in 2017?

The mba was available in a dated design with a low res washed out looking screen and pretty slow processors.

The mbp had far nicer screen but it also had keyboards with a high failure rate, chips that ran v hot and the higher end macs had the touch bar which no one used.

Compared to then, we are really so spoilt for choice.

One thing never changes though - apple provides the bare minimum storage and ram in their base configs ever since the iMac in 1998.

 

[CPx]

This is good news!

 

[MNGR]

It doesn't prove that. The feedback might have been the reason Apple went to a 2x128GB solution. There are other possibilities -- or a combination of possibilities. It also might have been due to supply chain changes. It's also possible that it's currently costing Apple less money to do the 2x128 than 1x256.

That is correct.
At the time Apple obviously had to do trade offs.
Unless someone is in Apples’s supply chain, we can’t know

 

[MNGR]

I'm not really bothered by having a low default RAM spec, but there is one area where it limits customers. A lot of resellers will only stock the base spec Macs and you can't get upgraded specs from them. This also happens in other countries where Apple doesn't do direct sales, like Malaysia where the only option is to buy from resellers and they only offer the base spec models. This means that in those places you are limited to whatever base spec Apple is building. I can see where that would be frustrating.

Is it not possible to order from Apple in those countries? I have 0 knowledge of that.

 

[Naraxus]

From a historic high. IIRC, Q124 revenues was up slightly from Q1 the previous year. Anyway, I doubt we're going to see spectacular growth in the overall Ma market, and Apple will adjust as needed to maintain whatever margin and sales numbers they want.



Yet there are plenty of people that get by just fie with 8GB. Most people don;t have a ton of apps open; often the issues is using a browser with a bunch of tabs open; most of which arenever read again, as the cause of problems.

If people need 16 they can buy an upgrade; most Air users don't need it; if anything the money is better spent on upgrading SSD storage.

You're right. There are plenty of people who can get by on 8. My feeling however is that 16 should be the minimum if for nothing else than to "future proof" the device.

 

[Shirasaki]

I stream all my tv/movies/music.

I am the opposite, hence I need 4TB internal drive for my Mac which I can’t afford right now. Dancing hard trying to save space on my 1TB hard drive.

happily sell you an iPad/Air with 64GB storage

Even better, 32GB. If not because iOS has become so big, Apple would happily sell 8GB internal storage device forever so they get even more profit.

sacrificing more profit

Oh No Apple losing money we are all doomed!

You can buy it, even in my Apple Store. What’s the problem?

Yeah proceed to completely miss the point.

 

[Chuckeee]

It's called advertising and it's to make you stand out from the crowd in a single still.

That doesn’t work when most of them do the same cringey stuff.

 

[Return Zero]

This is the nail in the coffin for recommending a base M2 over a base M3, in my view. The extra $100 or $150 is easily worth it.

For 16/512 or other versions, it’s a tougher debate between M2/M3. Some of the M2 sale prices are quite nice lately.

 

[HMI]

Does anyone know if the 1tb m3 max uses 2x512 chips or 4x256?

I thought it was 8 x 128.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I store all my media (movies, photos, emails) on my 8 tb internal SSD.
Not in the cloud.
And backups are to my NAS plus a few external drives.

And surely you should know that you are the minority when it comes to all computer users, right?
like, I’m sorry if this offends anyone but, the majority of people are not using 8 TB of internal storage.
Some people do, of course, but they’re seriously is a reason why 256 GB is the default and has been for quite a while.
it’s because most people are only using about 256 GB, or in most cases probably less.

 

[AnonMac50]

Is it not possible to order from Apple in those countries? I have 0 knowledge of that.

It’s not, at least in many of them. I was just discussing this topic with a friend the other day, when the M3 MacBook Pro got an option for 16 GBs as standard (rather than CTO). We were talking about how now the M3 MacBook Pro will be available at the authorised resellers with 16 GBs. My friend was literally holding off on buying a Mac because standard configurations of any laptop with more than 8 GBs were too expensive, and CTO models were of course not available

 

[NicosAccount]

So you want a 6GB phone?

My iphone 15 has 6gb, whats the problem? What the hell are people doing with their phones lol?

 

[Tagbert]

Is it not possible to order from Apple in those countries? I have 0 knowledge of that.

That is my understanding. There was a member from Malaysia active on there recently who was explaining this. He wanted more RAM and more storage but the only options were the base models. I don’t think Apple does direct sales there.

 

[jasonsmith_88]

These minimum specs would be ok for a starting price of 799,-. Imagine if it was always at this price and they made RAM and SSD upgrades in 100,- steps instead of 200,-. The Mac sales would skyrocket, edu market, grandma and prosumers alike would all be happy and get a new laptop with their desired specs. Also what happened to displayoptions like in the good old days? Why not give it an option for matte or 120hz screen?

Apple prices their products to make the maximum amount of profit possible. If you were right then you would be working at Apple pricing their products.

 

[ThomasJL]

So what do all the Tim Cook defenders, who since 2022 have been saying that it wasn't a big deal that the 256GB SSD on the M2 was slower than on the M1, have to say now?

 

[idkwhat]

I'm still using a (13-inch, Mid 2012) MacBook Air that came with 4 GB RAM, and 120 GB SDD. I have 59 GB of free space left. It just depends what you use your machine for. For me daily home stuff like email, browsing, etc.
And yes, I'm definitely ready for an upgrade!!

I'm in the exact same situation, except Early 2014, and its served me well. I did store a lot of stuff during the time I had it but mostly the kind of thing that is fine to keep on externals (and I was already in the habit of doing anyways) like movies and music. It only started to push against its limits in terms of SSD size once I started wanting to do some other stuff like get into Python programming again and type up LaTEX docs because there wasn't much room left for any more apps (I eventually decided to get a 500 GB SSD as a stop gap before I upgrade so that I could install some stuff on there). But it just so happens that my changing use case mostly requires I get a newer computer anyways.

The experience makes insistence that a sub 512GB / 16GB RAM computer is unacceptable for people seem kind of crazy to me, despite the fact that I absolutely plan to upgrade to at least a 512GB / 16GB air or pro later this year. If this current computer was 8GB / 256GB then it would be a lot harder to convince myself I can't just use this for another couple years and save a nice chunk of money doing so.

Once I upgrade this current Air is gonna make a perfect in-classroom computer to take to work and plug into the projector to show videos and such (although not totally ideal because I seem unable to find a replacement battery that can get it back to a reasonable battery life).

 

[idkwhat]

sorry. I store all my media (movies, photos, emails) on my 8 tb internal SSD.
Not in the cloud.
And backups are to my NAS plus a few external drives.

sounds like a dream come true to me but sadly a lot of money to pay to not need to use external hard drives