how noticeable is the slower 256gb m2 vs 256gb m1?

[erkanasu]

I'm considering getting the base model M2 air, however, I've never tried the slower gimped ssd that apparently performs much slower than the M1 or M3 air. Can anybody comment if the OS feels slower for day-to-day use on the base M2 air?

 

[chabig]

Neither has a hard drive. They both use Solid State Drives (SSD) and though slower on the base M2, you’ll never notice.

 

[snipr125]

Neither has a hard drive. They both use Solid State Drives (SSD) and though slower on the base M2, you’ll never notice.

No you wont notice, except when doing large multi GB file transfers. Also when the base M2 MBA uses internal SSD during swap, performance will technically be worse (so mainly intensive tasks).

 

[page3]

I have just bought the base M2. My son has the base M1.

For what we use them for we can’t tell any difference, although the improved screen, sound, MagSafe and FaceTime camera are nice on the M2.

Multi Gb files are to the cloud or local network so they are the constraining factor.

I also can’t tell any difference between my M2 and my Studio M1 Pro with 32 Gb of RAM and 1 Tb SSD.

 

[za9ra22]

I'm considering getting the base model M2 air, however, I've never tried the slower gimped hard drive that apparently performs much slower than the M1 or M3 air. Can anybody comment if the OS feels slower for day-to-day use on the base M2 air?

Like many other things, the big problems which are often discussed here by the glittering technorati of macrumors experts, this is a bit of a damp squib as an issue for actual use.

As @snipr125 and @page3 have said, the practical issues with the M2 256Gb SSD is that since it is slower, it will result in slower data save/retrieval times, which I didn't notice at all really when comparing my M1 to an M2. It's barely noticeable on typical file activity, and only of any import if you're moving multi-Gb files around.

Overall system performance is impacted a bit when putting the system under heavy use with intensive work, but even then it's not something you'd really notice all that much, and a base model might not be the right choice if that's what it is intended for anyway.

Benchmarks have been with us since the very early days, but they are not as helpful as a guide to performance as some tend to think.

 

[erkanasu]

Neither has a hard drive. They both use Solid State Drives (SSD) and though slower on the base M2, you’ll never notice.

thnx for correction, edited

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Unless your daily workflow revolves around running SSD speed tests, you’ll never notice a difference.

 

[applepotato666]

If you have enough RAM it's OK. If you don't you'll notice it - it's twice as slow