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Base Model MacBook Air With M2 Chip Has Slower SSD Speeds in Benchmarks

Lounge vibes 05 said:
The $1299 MBP has a worse display and webcam than the $1199 MacBook Air.
The 2021 MacBook Pro was heavier than the previous generation MacBook Pro.
There have been several generations of iPhone that have had worst battery life than their predecessors, even marketed by Apple that way. The iPhone 4 had 300 hours of standby time while the 4S had 200 hours of standby time clearly stated in Apple‘s marketing. The 12 Series had smaller batteries than the 11 Series.
Apple has done all of these things that you’ve listed before on their products, even under Steve
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Were any of them 50% as good as what they replaced?

(no)
 
rileyes said:
The question is, and the argument that would be made, does a consumer have a reasonable expectation that when apple promotes a new version of the same product line, and market it as "supercharged with M2" and that the new version "can really zip", that it means the new version should be faster than their previous version with all else being as close to equal as possible? And, did Apple actually know that this wasn't the case in all circumstances.
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The 256GB model should still be faster than the predecessor in many tasks
 
Jimmdean said:
Whether or not something is noticeable real-world is very much opinion-based. The fact here is that at the 256GB level the SSD subsystem in the M2 Air is much, much slower than the M1 Air. That statement cannot be disputed. It is most certainly a downgrade in that respect, "real-world" or not.
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Most people are concerned about how it work in their lives and not how it runs benchmark.

And the SSD is only slower for sequential reads and writes. How about random reads and writes?
 
Cognizant. said:
It isn’t because they cut the SSD speed in half.
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It’s still a better package.
Thinner design, bigger battery, bigger and brighter Display, faster processor, better webcam, magsafe, better speakers, better headphone jack, more colors, slower SSD.
Average all those things out, and it’s still a better package despite the slower SSD.y
Just like how the iPhone 12 had a smaller battery than the 11 that performed worse, but overall the 12th was still a better package than the 11 because of the 5G, faster processor, new design, OLED displays, better cameras, magsafe, etc
 
Cognizant. said:
Nobody would ever assume Apple would cut their SSD speeds in half. If you notice a pattern, every single model of Mac that has come out, they’ve always had the same or faster speeds for their SSDs for every generation. At no point has it gotten slower. This is the first time Apple has cut performance of any aspect of their computers by a significant margin. There’s no reason or justification for it. What’s incorrect is your defense of this decision.
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Agree 100%.

To this point, there's never been launched a new generation of a specific Mac product line that didn't have better specs across the board, or at the very least a combo of the same specs as the last model plus a number of better ones.

Cutting performance by 50% on a key spec for the next generation of a product is unheard of and not justified by performance gained from the M2 SoC itself. It doesn't add up.

And even with that said. I think the decision would have been more acceptable if Apple was at the very least transparent about it and had mentioned it in a footnote or in the product announcement press release.
 
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ApplesAreSweet&Sour said:
Agree 100%.

To this point, there's never been launched a new generation of a specific Mac product line that didn't have better specs across the board, or at the very least a combo of the same specs as the last model plus a number of better ones.

Cutting performance by 50% on a key spec for the next generation of a product is unheard of and not justified by performance gained from the M2 SoC itself. It doesn't add up.

And even with that said. I think the decision would have been more acceptable if Apple was at the very least transparent about it and had mentioned it in a footnote or in the product announcement press release.
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And did Apple ever say that past performance is indicative of future results?
 
Piplodocus said:
I have no idea how in 2022 people can only need 256 GB storage. I get not everyone is me, but I've got well over 2TB and that doesn't include any movies.
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It's just as simple as you're arguing

  • Using streaming services for movies and music
  • Using cloud services for storing
  • Not have everything on their MacBook
  • Not taking a lot of pictures/videos
None of the MacBooks (about 8 or 9) in my extended family has more than 256 Gb of SSD.

I even run a couple of Windows virtual machines without any problems. Services like iCloud Drive and Dropbox has been extremely reliable to me. iCloud Drive has never failed to download a file if it has a cloud icon in the Finder.
 
turbineseaplane said:
Were any of them 50% as good as what they replaced?

(no)
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What kind of question is that?
I think you mean were any of them 50% less than what they replaced, and much like this SSD issue, that depends.
The 4S battery had a lot of issues at the time, so many that Apple spent five months working on a fix.
There were some people who claimed to get about half the battery life as their previous 4.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, not all of the tests that I’ve seen on this new SSD show that it’s 50% slower.
I’ve seen as low as 30% slower, which is a lot less drastic.
Oh and I forgot to mention another big example that was blasted all over the Internet a couple years ago.
The iPhone 6S+ was $749 at launch, and had a 1080P display.
Two years later, the XR was also $749, but only had a 750P display.
So again, not new
 
Lounge vibes 05 said:
It’s still a better package.
Thinner design, bigger battery, bigger and brighter Display, faster processor, better webcam, magsafe, better speakers, better headphone jack, more colors, slower SSD.
Average all those things out, and it’s still a better package despite the slower SSD.y
Just like how the iPhone 12 had a smaller battery than the 11 that performed worse, but overall the 12th was still a better package than the 11 because of the 5G, faster processor, new design, OLED displays, better cameras, magsafe, etc
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iPhone 11 has a 3100 mAh battery and is a much bigger and heavier phone compared to iPhone 12. And the display technology and body was upgraded on the 12.

No such justification is found for going with the 50% slower SSD on the new M2 Air. None.

Also, iPhone 12 didn't get punished for its many upgraded specs with a 1550 mAh battery. It's still 2815 mAh so about 90% of the 11's mAh. That's a 10% less on a key spec.

We're talking 50% slower SSD speeds- You're not going to find another Apple product that saw a 50% cut in performance on a key spec in the next generation of the same product.
 
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ApplesAreSweet&Sour said:
iPhone 11 has a 3100 mAh battery and is a much bigger and heavier phone compared to iPhone 12. And the display technology and body was upgraded on the 12.

No such justification is found for going with the 50% slower SSD on the new M2 Air. None.

Also, iPhone 12 didn't get punished for its many upgraded specs with a 1550 mAh battery. It's still 2815 mAh so about 90% of the 11's mAh. That's a 10% less on a key spec.

We're talking 50% slower SSD speeds- You're not going to find another Apple product that saw a 50% cut in performance on a key spec in the next generation of the same product.
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And why does the % matter? Why is 10% acceptable but not 50%?
 
Maybe Apple should charge $150 for a 2x128GB config and this will all go away. But of course there will be more rants on the pricing. 🤣🤣
 
Zest28 said:
Who installs software on iCloud?

If you only check email and Facebook on your laptop, my question is why not buy a $250 Chromebook instead?
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Office + Teams takes less than 10Gb which is something a lot of people install. Most people don't install hundreds of Gb of applications.

My entire Applications folder is less than 21Gb (and yes I know applications store stuff in other folders).
 
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I have an i3 MBA 2020. Missed out on the M1. Anyway, I see myself as the typical base model MBA user. Primarily, I use the following apps:
  • Mail
  • Messages/What'sApp
  • Calendar/Contacts
  • Notes
  • Facetime/Zoom
  • Photos
  • iWork/MS Office
  • Safari (max 3-4 tabs open at a time, but generally just 1)
  • Streaming: Netflix, HBO max, etc..

At most, a couple of times during the year, I might make a simple iMovie (glorified 3-4 minute slideshow with music and built-in effects) for a family birthday or anniversary celebration.

So, here is my question. Given this type of usage, which would perform better: M1 with faster SSD or M2 with slower SSD? Or, does it make no damn difference, since both are way more powerful than I need, and I am effectively driving a sports car in a 25 mph school zone?
 
Mainsail said:
I have an i3 MBA 2020. Missed out on the M1. Anyway, I see myself as the typical base model MBA user. Primarily, I use the following apps:
  • Mail
  • Messages/What'sApp
  • Calendar/Contacts
  • Notes
  • Facetime/Zoom
  • Photos
  • iWork/MS Office
  • Safari (max 3-4 tabs open at a time, but generally just 1)
  • Streaming: Netflix, HBO max, etc..

At most, a couple of times during the year, I might make a simple iMovie (glorified 3-4 minute slideshow with music and built-in effects) for a family birthday or anniversary celebration.

So, here is my question. Given this type of usage, which would perform better: M1 with faster SSD or M2 with slower SSD? Or, does it make no damn difference, since both are way more powerful than I need, and I am effectively driving a sports car in a 25 mph school zone?
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Refurbished M1 16/512
 
Zest28 said:
Says who?

People do video editing on the iPad Pro which has the same chip.
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I don't think most people buying a low-end MacBook Air are using Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere or Lightroom.

A more real world example would be taking a few short videos shot on an iPhone, stitching them together in iMovie and do an export.

Or launching a Word document from Finder.

So if you have YouTube videos using examples like this I would be very interested.
 
hans1972 said:
Most people are concerned about how it work in their lives and not how it runs benchmark.
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THIS! If the base 8/256 doesn't work for you, you have the option to build it out to fit your needs. Or go for a Pro. If benchmarks are your thing, I'm not sure why you're even considering the entry-level option in the first place. I understand the limitations, but I also know that it'll exceed my expectations for a personal computer. I have a workhorse Pro at my job, but that's not what I'm looking for.
 
boak said:
Refurbished M1 16/512
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I should have mentioned that I use iCloud extensively (2T family plan), so I am using less than 80GB of SSD storage on my MBA.

Do you believe there will be a significant difference in performance between 8 and 16GB of memory for my usage (described in the post above)?
 
StellarVixen said:
Look, I do think that even if Apple threw inside SATA SSD* most people wouldn't "notice the difference"

You and the people like you are missing the point here by a mile.


*implying it would fit
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You're buying a Mac. You aren't buying components.

If Apple put a SATA SSD in their Macs, that would be OK too if the performance was to your likening.
 
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