Honest feelings on 15" M2 Macbook Air

[jay968]

Today I purchased a 15" M2 Air to replace my aging 2012 i7 Macbook Pro. Here are some honest thoughts,...

The air is a nice computer, though I honestly see nothing much about it to call it a real improvement over my old Pro. After reading so many great reviews here about the Air, I had very high expectations.

I did replace the HD in the Pro a few years ago with an SSD so I guess it did perform a bit better than it might have otherwise. I also replaced some internal parts and basically kept it running pretty well for the past 11 years. But it's literally starting to show its age physically, the microphone no longer works, and it was time for a replacement.

Honestly? The only real advantages that I see with the current 2023 Air is the fact that it has a fingerprint ID, better battery life, and I can do some software updates that I could no longer do on the Pro. I can't really see any other improvements and to be honest, I think that both my Pro's keyboard, and trackpad run rings around it. I also give up a drive and several ports that I had to replace by spending more money on a hub. I'm also not sure why Apple thought it was a good idea to put the 2 thunderbolt slots right next to the power slot on one side, and then put a mic jack as the only connection all the way on the other side of the chassis. BTW, I may be the only person to feel this way, but I feel the Air is just too thin. When lying on a desktop, it is difficult to even get anything in or out of the thunderbolt ports.

I had Catalina on my Macbook Pro and I also think that was a more straight forward, sensible operating system. I've got Ventura on the Air and well I guess I have to get used to it, but so far it's taken me hours to get things set up the way I prefer. I think the System Settings have turned into an overly bloated mess that reminds me of the first smartphones which had more options and menus to deal with than anyone could ever find truly necessary or helpful. It is bizarre that some related items are positioned in different menus and tabs. As an example, some trackpad settings can be found in the trackpad tab while some can be found in the accessibility tab. This makes things confusing. I understand that this is due to the way Ventura was designed and is not a knock on the computer, but still, it's annoying. Why software developers feel they must update things by changing the look, feel and functionality of what people have grown comfortable with and used to is still a mystery to me even after working with computers for over 35 years. I guess if things are kept too much the same, they are not exciting enough for people to upgrade to.

I suppose the Air is worthy as a replacement for a computer that is giving up the ghost but otherwise I am less than impressed. Don't get me wrong, it's fine. But knowing what I know now, I might just have held onto using the Pro for another year or two instead of spending the money on what I am replacing it with.

But after all is said and done, I needed a replacement laptop and ended up with a pretty decent one costing half of what I paid for my last one.

 

[russell_314]

Better battery life and thinner/ lighter.

It’s not going to have the ports of a MacBook Pro since the focus of the Air is thin and light. Maybe you should have bought the 14” or 16” Pro since you dislike how thin it is and lack of ports?

 

[RokinAmerica]

I recently bought a 15" Air after many weeks of research to see which, if any, Mac laptops couid fill my particular needs. Once I identified one, I configured it and purchased it.

 

[davidlv]

Today I purchased a 15" M2 Air to replace my aging 2012 i7 Macbook Pro. Here are some honest thoughts,...

The air is a nice computer, though I honestly see nothing much about it to call it a real improvement over my old Pro. After reading so many great reviews here about the Air, I had very high expectations.

I did replace the HD in the Pro a few years ago with an SSD so I guess it did perform a bit better than it might have otherwise. I also replaced some internal parts and basically kept it running pretty well for the past 11 years. But it's literally starting to show its age physically, the microphone no longer works, and it was time for a replacement.

Honestly? The only real advantages that I see with the current 2023 Air is the fact that it has a fingerprint ID, better battery life, and I can do some software updates that I could no longer do on the Pro. I can't really see any other improvements and to be honest, I think that both my Pro's keyboard, and trackpad run rings around it. I also give up a drive and several ports that I had to replace by spending more money on a hub. I'm also not sure why Apple thought it was a good idea to put the 2 thunderbolt slots right next to the power slot on one side, and then put a mic jack as the only connection all the way on the other side of the chassis. BTW, I may be the only person to feel this way, but I feel the Air is just too thin. When lying on a desktop, it is difficult to even get anything in or out of the thunderbolt ports.

I had Catalina on my Macbook Pro and I also think that was a more straight forward, sensible operating system. I've got Ventura on the Air and well I guess I have to get used to it, but so far it's taken me hours to get things set up the way I prefer. I think the System Settings have turned into an overly bloated mess that reminds me of the first smartphones which had more options and menus to deal with than anyone could ever find truly necessary or helpful. It is bizarre that some related items are positioned in different menus and tabs. As an example, some trackpad settings can be found in the trackpad tab while some can be found in the accessibility tab. This makes things confusing. I understand that this is due to the way Ventura was designed and is not a knock on the computer, but still, it's annoying. Why software developers feel they must update things by changing the look, feel and functionality of what people have grown comfortable with and used to is still a mystery to me even after working with computers for over 35 years. I guess if things are kept too much the same, they are not exciting enough for people to upgrade to.

I suppose the Air is worthy as a replacement for a computer that is giving up the ghost but otherwise I am less than impressed. Don't get me wrong, it's fine. But knowing what I know now, I might just have held onto using the Pro for another year or two instead of spending the money on what I am replacing it with.

But after all is said and done, I needed a replacement laptop and ended up with a pretty decent one costing half of what I paid for my last one.

Aside from your complaints about the macOS, which are valid to some degree, I think you are ignoring a lot of what has changed in the years since your old 2012 MBP was made. This statement shows that quite well, ie., "I honestly see nothing much about it to call it a real improvement over my old Pro". How about the speed of the Apple Silicon M2 chip? It is easily more than twice as fast and probably much more for some things. The speed of the internal SSD and other IO is also much faster. The WiFi must be better too. All in all, the M2 based Air will never keep you waiting.
Your statement about the keyboard and trackpad is also a little overdone. I had a 2011 MBP, so I know what those old keyboard were like, and the new keyboard on my M2 MBA is better, by just a little. The trackpad is also much the same, that is, very good indeed. I have no trouble at all connecting devices to the thunderbolt/USB-C ports on the left, due to what you call the "too thin" chassis. So why are you having trouble there? The lack of ports is a trade-off done in order to make the computer easy to carry around. Take your Air back to Apple and get a MBP if that thinness bothers you. My MBA is easily the best Mac I have used in over 30 years of using Macs. So I have quite a bit of trouble understanding your complaints. Of course, your are entitled to your opinion, no offense intended.

 

[Jared G.K.]

yes I would also like to have one USB-C port on the opposite side, and yes Mac OS has a tendency to become overloaded and confusing in some areas (but still nothing compared to Windows imho), but the 15" Air is by far my most favorite Macbook that I owned in years.
My previous Macs were13", 14" and 16" Pros, and the older Air model.

 

[zhenya]

It sounds like you should have bought a Pro which would have more ports including Thunderbolt on both sides. That requires an additional Thunderbolt chip which is expensive and takes up extra space, which is why the Air has them paired on a single chip, side by side.

You've pretty well glossed over the major improvements - the new one probably lasts 5-6x as long on battery, while being 2-5x more powerful, and it's essentially silent. That's a HUGE benefit for most people. The screen should also be substantially better. So you've got a much more powerful computer with much better battery life, in a package that is much thinner and lighter. Doesn't sound so insignificant to me.

 

[jay968]

Better battery life and thinner/ lighter.

It’s not going to have the ports of a MacBook Pro since the focus of the Air is thin and light. Maybe you should have bought the 14” or 16” Pro since you dislike how thin it is and lack of ports?

Thought of that but since I already have a 27" iMac as my main computer, I didn't really want to spend the extra money on a Macbook Pro. I just need to get used to the Macbook Air. It's a decent computer.

 

[jay968]

Aside from your complaints about the macOS, which are valid to some degree, I think you are ignoring a lot of what has changed in the years since your old 2012 MBP was made. This statement shows that quite well, ie., "I honestly see nothing much about it to call it a real improvement over my old Pro". How about the speed of the Apple Silicon M2 chip? It is easily more than twice as fast and probably much more for some things. The speed of the internal SSD and other IO is also much faster. The WiFi must be better too. All in all, the M2 based Air will never keep you waiting.
Your statement about the keyboard and trackpad is also a little overdone. I had a 2011 MBP, so I know what those old keyboard were like, and the new keyboard on my M2 MBA is better, by just a little. The trackpad is also much the same, that is, very good indeed. I have no trouble at all connecting devices to the thunderbolt/USB-C ports on the left, due to what you call the "too thin" chassis. So why are you having trouble there? The lack of ports is a trade-off done in order to make the computer easy to carry around. Take your Air back to Apple and get a MBP if that thinness bothers you. My MBA is easily the best Mac I have used in over 30 years of using Macs. So I have quite a bit of trouble understanding your complaints. Of course, your are entitled to your opinion, no offense intended.

Well I don't know about the M2 really. I did read one review which claimed that it is actually not quite as fast as an i7. I am not using any heavy apps on this computer (I've got another Mac for that purpose), so I really don't know. As I said, I put an SSD into my Macbook Pro, so here too I am not really seeing that the Air is doing anything in that regard over what I had.

I spent hours last night trying out different trackpad settings and I guess I've gotten it to where I like it, but it was a pain at first. Whatever their faults if there are any, the Mac trackpads make the Windows ones look like they were designed to make people never want to use them. I've rarely if at all worked with a trackpad on a Windows laptop that didn't make me want to replace it with a mouse. The Air keyboard too may just need some getting used to as it IS a bit different than a 2012 Macbook Pro keyboard.

Like everything else, maybe they just need some getting used to but I was having to constantly lift the Air off the desk yesterday in order to grasp the USB-C cables and manipulate them either in or out of the ports. They would always lay pretty flat on the desk if I didn't,

In the end I am not sure if I am really complaining or just expressing frustration that I have more "getting used to" than I had anticipated. Late last night my wife asked me if I was planning on returning it and I replied with a resounding "no, I think I just have to get used to it."

 

[jay968]

It sounds like you should have bought a Pro which would have more ports including Thunderbolt on both sides. That requires an additional Thunderbolt chip which is expensive and takes up extra space, which is why the Air has them paired on a single chip, side by side.

You've pretty well glossed over the major improvements - the new one probably lasts 5-6x as long on battery, while being 2-5x more powerful, and it's essentially silent. That's a HUGE benefit for most people. The screen should also be substantially better. So you've got a much more powerful computer with much better battery life, in a package that is much thinner and lighter. Doesn't sound so insignificant to me.

I did mention the battery but I guess I understated that. The screen looks essentially the same as the one on my Macbook Pro. Read my other posts. I've concluded that I just need to get used to this computer, that's all.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Today I purchased a 15" M2 Air to replace my aging 2012 i7 Macbook Pro. Here are some honest thoughts,...

The air is a nice computer, though I honestly see nothing much about it to call it a real improvement over my old Pro. After reading so many great reviews here about the Air, I had very high expectations.

I did replace the HD in the Pro a few years ago with an SSD so I guess it did perform a bit better than it might have otherwise. I also replaced some internal parts and basically kept it running pretty well for the past 11 years. But it's literally starting to show its age physically, the microphone no longer works, and it was time for a replacement.

Honestly? The only real advantages that I see with the current 2023 Air is the fact that it has a fingerprint ID, better battery life, and I can do some software updates that I could no longer do on the Pro. I can't really see any other improvements and to be honest, I think that both my Pro's keyboard, and trackpad run rings around it. I also give up a drive and several ports that I had to replace by spending more money on a hub. I'm also not sure why Apple thought it was a good idea to put the 2 thunderbolt slots right next to the power slot on one side, and then put a mic jack as the only connection all the way on the other side of the chassis. BTW, I may be the only person to feel this way, but I feel the Air is just too thin. When lying on a desktop, it is difficult to even get anything in or out of the thunderbolt ports.

I had Catalina on my Macbook Pro and I also think that was a more straight forward, sensible operating system. I've got Ventura on the Air and well I guess I have to get used to it, but so far it's taken me hours to get things set up the way I prefer. I think the System Settings have turned into an overly bloated mess that reminds me of the first smartphones which had more options and menus to deal with than anyone could ever find truly necessary or helpful. It is bizarre that some related items are positioned in different menus and tabs. As an example, some trackpad settings can be found in the trackpad tab while some can be found in the accessibility tab. This makes things confusing. I understand that this is due to the way Ventura was designed and is not a knock on the computer, but still, it's annoying. Why software developers feel they must update things by changing the look, feel and functionality of what people have grown comfortable with and used to is still a mystery to me even after working with computers for over 35 years. I guess if things are kept too much the same, they are not exciting enough for people to upgrade to.

I suppose the Air is worthy as a replacement for a computer that is giving up the ghost but otherwise I am less than impressed. Don't get me wrong, it's fine. But knowing what I know now, I might just have held onto using the Pro for another year or two instead of spending the money on what I am replacing it with.

But after all is said and done, I needed a replacement laptop and ended up with a pretty decent one costing half of what I paid for my last one.

You do get what you pay for. You went from Apple's high end MBP to Apple's low end MBA. So you are gaining some of the available new tech - which is huge after 11 years - but you are stil going to a lower end box than your 2012 MBP. A well spec'd MBP will knock the socks off any MBA: display, speakers, ports, i/o bandwidth, CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.

 

[XboxEvolved]

I…like what are you doing on your 11 year old computer and then on a MBA M2 that you can’t immediately tell the difference? Using the calculator?

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

I don't know what expectations you had, but even when I (stupidly and impatiently enough) bought an Intel MacBook Pro in mid-2020, coming from a 2012 MBP, I noticed a pretty big difference in most things. Boot time, load time for apps, execution of jobs in apps, cooling and noise...

Not in everything, mind you, because some things can only run so fast, I suppose.

And going from that MBP to an M1 MBA... it's not even funny how the MBA trounced the MBP.

Maybe you have some very particular apps that just don't make use of what's there or were already as fast as they could be on the old machine.

 

[mcmehrtens]

Some folks on this thread are being a bit harsh, I think. You already acknowledged that most of your “comments” are just initial impressions and over time, you’ll re-adjust your expectations. That willingness to adapt sets you apart from many of the particularly vocal complainers on this forum.

However, I do agree with the substance of many of the comments above. Moving from a Pro to an Air is going to feel “worse”, even if it’s moving from a 2012 Pro to a modern Air.

It also sounds like many of the headline features of the Air aren’t important for your use case—hence your disappointment. Perhaps you don’t need the power of Apple Silicon or care about the extraordinary lightness or color accurate display. That’s okay hopefully the computer still treats you well for a long time like your 2012 Pro did.

Which, by the way, as a general rule of thumb, I wouldn’t expect your air to last you quite as long as your 2012 Pro. I’d keep that in mind as your Air gets older (although maybe Apple Silicon computers will age slower than their Intel ancestors? Time will tell!).

 

[jay968]

Some folks on this thread are being a bit harsh, I think. You already acknowledged that most of your “comments” are just initial impressions and over time, you’ll re-adjust your expectations. That willingness to adapt sets you apart from many of the particularly vocal complainers on this forum.

However, I do agree with the substance of many of the comments above. Moving from a Pro to an Air is going to feel “worse”, even if it’s moving from a 2012 Pro to a modern Air.

It also sounds like many of the headline features of the Air aren’t important for your use case—hence your disappointment. Perhaps you don’t need the power of Apple Silicon or care about the extraordinary lightness or color accurate display. That’s okay hopefully the computer still treats you well for a long time like your 2012 Pro did.

Which, by the way, as a general rule of thumb, I wouldn’t expect your air to last you quite as long as your 2012 Pro. I’d keep that in mind as your Air gets older (although maybe Apple Silicon computers will age slower than their Intel ancestors? Time will tell!).

Thank you. I think you hit the nail right on the head. I've said several times that I think it's just a matter of getting used to.

What honestly threw me off at first were the numerous posts that I had read here before making the purchase where people asked opinions on whether a 2023 Macbook Air made sense coming from a Macbook Pro, even a recent one. Most all the responses indicated that the Air would show a huge and obvious improvement over any of the Intel Macbook Pros. Well it doesn't always. It depends on what you are looking at.

Anyway, after working with the Air more last night, I can say I am satisfied with it.

 

[Isamilis]

Today I purchased a 15" M2 Air to replace my aging 2012 i7 Macbook Pro. Here are some honest thoughts,...

The air is a nice computer, though I honestly see nothing much about it to call it a real improvement over my old Pro. After reading so many great reviews here about the Air, I had very high expectations.

I did replace the HD in the Pro a few years ago with an SSD so I guess it did perform a bit better than it might have otherwise. I also replaced some internal parts and basically kept it running pretty well for the past 11 years. But it's literally starting to show its age physically, the microphone no longer works, and it was time for a replacement.

Honestly? The only real advantages that I see with the current 2023 Air is the fact that it has a fingerprint ID, better battery life, and I can do some software updates that I could no longer do on the Pro. I can't really see any other improvements and to be honest, I think that both my Pro's keyboard, and trackpad run rings around it. I also give up a drive and several ports that I had to replace by spending more money on a hub. I'm also not sure why Apple thought it was a good idea to put the 2 thunderbolt slots right next to the power slot on one side, and then put a mic jack as the only connection all the way on the other side of the chassis. BTW, I may be the only person to feel this way, but I feel the Air is just too thin. When lying on a desktop, it is difficult to even get anything in or out of the thunderbolt ports.

I had Catalina on my Macbook Pro and I also think that was a more straight forward, sensible operating system. I've got Ventura on the Air and well I guess I have to get used to it, but so far it's taken me hours to get things set up the way I prefer. I think the System Settings have turned into an overly bloated mess that reminds me of the first smartphones which had more options and menus to deal with than anyone could ever find truly necessary or helpful. It is bizarre that some related items are positioned in different menus and tabs. As an example, some trackpad settings can be found in the trackpad tab while some can be found in the accessibility tab. This makes things confusing. I understand that this is due to the way Ventura was designed and is not a knock on the computer, but still, it's annoying. Why software developers feel they must update things by changing the look, feel and functionality of what people have grown comfortable with and used to is still a mystery to me even after working with computers for over 35 years. I guess if things are kept too much the same, they are not exciting enough for people to upgrade to.

I suppose the Air is worthy as a replacement for a computer that is giving up the ghost but otherwise I am less than impressed. Don't get me wrong, it's fine. But knowing what I know now, I might just have held onto using the Pro for another year or two instead of spending the money on what I am replacing it with.

But after all is said and done, I needed a replacement laptop and ended up with a pretty decent one costing half of what I paid for my last one.

You’re actually downgrade from MBP to MBA. Don’t expect too much except the new much more efficient processor (and much longer battery life).
I am not sure mba 15, but mba 13 m2 is still compatible with Monterey- which is closer to Catalina.

 

[vanc]

but you are stil going to a lower end box than your 2012 MBP. A well spec'd MBP will knock the socks off any MBA: display, speakers, ports, i/o bandwidth, CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.

I still own the mid-2012 MBP 15 which was the first model with Retina display. But compared with the MBA 15 which I bought in June, all there components are better, including the speakers. The old model does have more ports, including an Ethernet port, and firewire. But they were barely used.

Performance wise (both CPU and GPU), MBA 15 runs circles around the old model.