In your opinion is the slower SSD controversy in the base M2 Air overblown?

[Mainsail]

I think of it as the laptop for people who want the latest Mac but whose budget can't stretch beyond £1,250 - so not just casual users.

Not sure what is a casual user, but I think the base M2 MBA is more than enough computer for the typical business professional in a work/office environment.

Edit: Also, the base MBA is more than enough computer for most college students. At least it worked well for my kids studying Business and International Relations.

 

[Yebubbleman]

This has been covered ad nauseum in the MBA forums—go and educate yourself.

Educate myself on what? The bias of folks buying this machine?

The short version is that no, the base model M2 does not have a SLOW DISK that is percievable to normal humans unless you run pro tasks...which are exactly the kind of tasks a MBA isn't even made to do.

This isn't the Intel era of MacBook Airs anymore. Get with the times. Not only is the Apple Silicon MacBook Air marketed for folks that can do 4K content creation; IT CAN DO THESE THINGS.

You, like everyone out there making this stupid argument, are still treating the MacBook Airs like they still have Intel inside and are therefore only good for the things you'd use an Intel Ultrabook for. That is no longer the case.

Note that it still does them! It just doesn't do them as fast as one bump up in storage. All these tasks, like putting blurs on 50 different 40 megabyte images at once.

It's an utter non issue. And if it IS an issue for you...um, don't get the base model!

You fail to answer the simple question of why would I spend more to get a less performant machine. Why would I buy a base model M2 Air when a base model M1 Air is faster? Saying "well, if it doesn't work for you, then don't buy it" is overly simplistic and dodges the main argument of "why would anyone want to spend MORE for LESS" unless the answer solely is in (a) MagSafe 3, (b) the 1080p camera, and (c) the "it's a new design" factor.

But others are right that you're are talking out of your tuckus with what you are saying—you're massively overstating this, and don't even seem to have taken the time to understand it.

Wait...wait...you're espousing Intel-era disablist nonsense about what the MacBook Air was and wasn't meant to do as though it applies in the Apple Silicon era as your primary thesis for why this is a non-issue while failing to answer me where the value lies in a base model M2 Air over an M1 Air (when the latter has the faster drive) and I'm the one talking out of my tuckus?

You're actually funny, man.

Doing massively intensive SSD benchmarks and things no normal base model MBA gets bought to do. But please, go on at incredible length...

There you go with your nonsense "a MacBook Air was never meant to do things" argument again.

I'm sorry but people who say this shouldn't have Apple products.

I can't declare that—it's a free world!—but man.

It's sentiments like that one that give us Mac users a bad name. But, like you said, "it's a free world!-but man."

I stopped watching Max Tech when he started comparing the transfer time of a 40GB file and talking about large RAW files.

I can’t help but wonder what person doing either of those activities would own a base laptop with a 256GB drive. Lol.

Now if we were comparing the performance of large accounting spreadsheets, or the smooth page transitions of a soon to be best selling romance novel while its author furiously pecks at the keyboard, then we’d have a showdown. Bring it on.

You know that MaxTech isn't the only reviewer that has commented on the slower 256GB drives, right? Like, this isn't an isolated case of one click-bait reviewer commenting on an issue; it's widespread.

We need to stop using that video as reference.

A user here (I forgot who, sorry) made a very detailed post showing how Max Tech consistently had the 256GB model in an almost full SSD state (while the 512GB model had plenty of room left) throughout their testing. It's not surprising that a nearly full SSD is slower than one that's at only about half capacity.

Again, that video isn't the only video covering this. Nor are they the only reviewer(s) bringing it up.

 

[roman.stapunov]

You fail to answer the simple question of why would I spend more to get a less performant machine. Why would I buy a base model M2 Air when a base model M1 Air is faster?

I watched few YouTubers who said that since mid of this year new base MacBook Air m1 has 1 chip as well, so no difference anymore here 😀. In this case Air m2 has more other benefits in comparison.

You need to look for MacBook Air m1 produced before mid of this year to get 2chips SSD there in this case.

Today I ordered Air M2 16/256, Hope I won’t have issues with SSD speed doing browsing and lightweight programming with C#. In my location with discount it costed me 1,450 usd. Air M2 16/512 has 2,000 usd price. I don’t see much value to spend extra 550

 

[fisherking]

i've had my 8/256 M2 air for 3 months now. the thing flies, boots insanely fast. great screen, battery life. i run my business from it, and am having a great time (mostly email, safari, notes, affinity photo, rapidweaver, etc).

this one, for me, is a winner 👍

 

[Mcuserr]

If it was my main machine I would of got a 14" 16/512gb, It's slower than my 8/512 24" iMac, mine is just a cheaper iPad 12.9" with keyboard lol

 

[1BadManVan]

I watched few YouTubers who said that since mid of this year new base MacBook Air m1 has 1 chip as well, so no difference anymore here 😀. In this case Air m2 has more other benefits in comparison.

You need to look for MacBook Air m1 produced before mid of this year to get 2chips SSD there in this case.

Today I ordered Air M2 16/256, Hope I won’t have issues with SSD speed doing browsing and lightweight programming with C#. In my location with discount it costed me 1,450 usd. Air M2 16/512 has 2,000 usd price. I don’t see much value to spend extra 550

Really? I haven't seen any YouTube videos proving that theory, quite the opposite actually. But it would make sense if they did it. Makes the refurb models more desirable since most likely would have the two chips. So faster and cheaper!

 

[roman.stapunov]

Really? I haven't seen any YouTube videos proving that theory, quite the opposite actually. But it would make sense if they did it. Makes the refurb models more desirable since most likely would have the two chips. So faster and cheaper!

I heard it in reviews from some YouTubers in RU segment in August (ProTech for instance) and they asked people who bought new Airs M1 produced in July and later to share tests on their devices. There are not much such devices in RU segment so didn’t see updates since.

But for me it will make sense for Apple to start to put the same chips in M1 and m2 otherwise don’t see why they still put 2 128 in the cheapest M1 air and 1 256gb in the M2 Air in the same time.

Anyway, yesterday I received my new 16/256 M2 midnight blue air and very happy with this device. For usual user it is very good device. Hope for programming it will satisfy me as well.

Here in Turkey price on 16/512 air M2 is 2k usd and 14 inch base pro starts from 2,3k usd. So it makes way of choice different It costed me 1,4k usd while was on discount previous week. Currently price is higher

 

[rmadsen3]

Short of looking inside the laptop, is there a way to see how many chips the SSD comprises? e.g., 'System Information...', command line?

 

[throAU]

Short of looking inside the laptop, is there a way to see how many chips the SSD comprises? e.g., 'System Information...', command line?

You can benchmark it. If it is half the speed of the fast results, it has less chips.

As above, repeated many times in this thread, its irrelevant really as if you have the smaller slower storage you'll struggle to get enough data streaming to it fast enough to notice anyway.

Even if the "fast" models with more storage were the same speed people probably wouldn't notice 99% of the time unless they're connected to a thunderbolt or iSCSI array at 25 or 40 gigabit.

 

[James Godfrey]

The reason why it’s suggested to have been overblown is because the ones talking about it on YouTube etc arn’t exactly the target demographic for the device, their use case for a laptop will likely steer them more towards a MacBook Pro, however it is still an major issue for some.

Some will say to get round it increase the RAM others will say increase the storage option… some will suggest to increase both, after scouring the internet for advice on what element(s) to upgrade, I came to the following conclusions…

-Base Model

This is perfect for light users, and users who are going to utilise very little swap, not using resource intensive apps regularly, only having a few internet tabs open at once, checking emails, surfing the net, word processing, just general average joe computer stuff etc…

-Upgrade SSD

This is a great option for those who will use photo, video editing software semi-regular maybe a few times a month, and will use swap memory now and again, this will benefit from fast swap speeds and with the way apple silicon handles swap you likely won’t notice any difference only having 8GB RAM over 16GB and at the same time you benefit from a much larger SSD so for me that’s a win win.

-Upgrade RAM

This will have a very similar effect to upgrading the SSD unless you regularly edit video, music, photos have loads of internet tabs open etc… however, your still locked down to only having a 256GB SSD, I know you can get external storage, but I don’t want to lump around an external SSD when I am buying a laptop for portability, plus it’s just extra money again that you have to spend, on top of this as the 256GB SSD is approx. 50% slower, transferring files on and off the SSD will likely be significantly slower.

-Upgrade RAM and SSD

Although this is the best option to go for overall as you benefit from a faster SSD plus plenty of RAM headroom, the issue with it is the price. Here in the UK if you upgraded the 8CPU/8GPU option in both areas your looking at £1649.00, which is only £250 off a 14” MacBook Pro which (for the sake of loosing a some portability) in return you get a better screen, better speakers, better chip, all the ports and an overall better performing machine in a design with fans, on top of this, generally sale prices on the 14” Pro are not that far from the this upgrade now (maybe £50-£100 more expensive).

So overall to me, is it overblown? No it isn’t BUT it depends who your talking to and what demographic they fit into and what their use case for the device is.

For the general target demographic this is majorly overblown, but if your a major content creator this is a major issue, if your somewhere in between it will all depend on your use case but their are options to satisfy most people’s needs with the M2 Air.

 

[JPack]

I heard it in reviews from some YouTubers in RU segment in August (ProTech for instance) and they asked people who bought new Airs M1 produced in July and later to share tests on their devices. There are not much such devices in RU segment so didn’t see updates since.

But for me it will make sense for Apple to start to put the same chips in M1 and m2 otherwise don’t see why they still put 2 128 in the cheapest M1 air and 1 256gb in the M2 Air in the same time.

Anyway, yesterday I received my new 16/256 M2 midnight blue air and very happy with this device. For usual user it is very good device. Hope for programming it will satisfy me as well.

Here in Turkey price on 16/512 air M2 is 2k usd and 14 inch base pro starts from 2,3k usd. So it makes way of choice different It costed me 1,4k usd while was on discount previous week. Currently price is higher

As mentioned before, no this isn’t true as there would be legal implications of changing the configuration.

Apple continues to claim M1 SSD performance is 2X faster than Intel-based. Apple would have to take down those claims if what you described were true. But Apple hasn’t.

 

[Ethosik]

The reason why it’s suggested to have been overblown is because the ones talking about it on YouTube etc arn’t exactly the target demographic for the device, their use case for a laptop will likely steer them more towards a MacBook Pro, however it is still an major issue for some.

Some will say to get round it increase the RAM others will say increase the storage option… some will suggest to increase both, after scouring the internet for advice on what element(s) to upgrade, I came to the following conclusions…

-Base Model

This is perfect for light users, and users who are going to utilise very little swap, not using resource intensive apps regularly, only having a few internet tabs open at once, checking emails, surfing the net, word processing, just general average joe computer stuff etc…

-Upgrade SSD

This is a great option for those who will use photo, video editing software semi-regular maybe a few times a month, and will use swap memory now and again, this will benefit from fast swap speeds and with the way apple silicon handles swap you likely won’t notice any difference only having 8GB RAM over 16GB and at the same time you benefit from a much larger SSD so for me that’s a win win.

-Upgrade RAM

This will have a very similar effect to upgrading the SSD unless you regularly edit video, music, photos have loads of internet tabs open etc… however, your still locked down to only having a 256GB SSD, I know you can get external storage, but I don’t want to lump around an external SSD when I am buying a laptop for portability, plus it’s just extra money again that you have to spend, on top of this as the 256GB SSD is approx. 50% slower, transferring files on and off the SSD will likely be significantly slower.

-Upgrade RAM and SSD

Although this is the best option to go for overall as you benefit from a faster SSD plus plenty of RAM headroom, the issue with it is the price. Here in the UK if you upgraded the 8CPU/8GPU option in both areas your looking at £1649.00, which is only £250 off a 14” MacBook Pro which (for the sake of loosing a some portability) in return you get a better screen, better speakers, better chip, all the ports and an overall better performing machine in a design with fans, on top of this, generally sale prices on the 14” Pro are not that far from the this upgrade now (maybe £50-£100 more expensive).

So overall to me, is it overblown? No it isn’t BUT it depends who your talking to and what demographic they fit into and what their use case for the device is.

For the general target demographic this is majorly overblown, but if your a major content creator this is a major issue, if your somewhere in between it will all depend on your use case but their are options to satisfy most people’s needs with the M2 Air.

If you are a major content creator, you shouldn’t be using a MacBook Air as a primary device.

And BTW my 2010 Mac Pro with SATA 2 speed SSDs is a critical part of my business. It maxes out at 225MB/s. Not all professionals need GB/s. So I agree this is massively overblown.

 

[spiderman0616]

If you are a major content creator, you shouldn’t be using a MacBook Air as a primary device.

And BTW my 2010 Mac Pro with SATA 2 speed SSDs is a critical part of my business. It maxes out at 225MB/s. Not all professionals need GB/s. So I agree this is massively overblown.

Agreed--and what's worse, they all know that. They also all know that the Air is the most popular laptop Apple makes. They also know that people look at YouTube before and after major purchases. Etc. etc. It's strategic.

I honestly feel that someday the YouTube economy is going to crash into a brick wall. And I hope that comes true, because I think criticizing Apple constructively and whipping up a fake controversy in the name of click revenue are two COMPLETELY different things.

But hey, I still look at that crap too, so I'm part of the problem.

 

[James Godfrey]

Agreed--and what's worse, they all know that. They also all know that the Air is the most popular laptop Apple makes. They also know that people look at YouTube before and after major purchases. Etc. etc. It's strategic.

I honestly feel that someday the YouTube economy is going to crash into a brick wall. And I hope that comes true, because I think criticizing Apple constructively and whipping up a fake controversy in the name of click revenue are two COMPLETELY different things.

But hey, I still look at that crap too, so I'm part of the problem.

I think sometimes, YouTube, MacRumors etc can be a devil when buying a new apple device… let’s be honest every apple device has had issues no matter how big or small, but I can guarantee if these issues weren’t posted about on here or posted on YouTube etc… hardly any of us what notice or even care lol…

 

[Marsikus]

Let’s praise Apple for figuring out that iMacs deserve SSD too (sarcasm intended)

 

[h.gilbert]

What do I think of it all?

First of all, there was a post a while ago from a user who did an excellent analysis on that now infamous Max Tech video showing that the Max Tech team treated the new single SSD model rather unfairly. Throughout that supposed fair test, they had the new model's SSD almost full, while the older model was about half full. No wonder the new model was much slower. Despite this, others have shown that indeed the new model's single SSD implementation is in actual fact slower, but I just not as slow as that Max Tech video made it out to be.

In terms of whether or not it's overblown? Year on year you'd expect things to get better faster. Each year Apple likes to show how their new chip is 20% faster or whatever, so to have something get 50% slower is a little shocking. In my mind this makes it a fair criticism. And it's criticism directed towards one of the world's largest (or the largest?) for-profit companies which makes it baffling to me that there are a sizeable amount of people defending a corporation that has no interest in anything other than making money.

So I understand the criticism about the slower SSD and think it's fair, but I don't understand all the negative responses towards that criticism as if those people have some sort of vested interest in Apple.

 

[throAU]

Agreed--and what's worse, they all know that. They also all know that the Air is the most popular laptop Apple makes. They also know that people look at YouTube before and after major purchases. Etc. etc. It's strategic.

I honestly feel that someday the YouTube economy is going to crash into a brick wall. And I hope that comes true, because I think criticizing Apple constructively and whipping up a fake controversy in the name of click revenue are two COMPLETELY different things.

But hey, I still look at that crap too, so I'm part of the problem.

A reviewer on YouTube is all about generating clicks and viewer engagement. It’s how the algorithm works for monetisation.

So they will always be looking for a controversial take no matter whether it is real world relevant.

 

[whizkid11]

YES. It's a big fat nothing-burger.

 

[Kung]

So, I just plunked down $1050 or so (got $150 off) for a base model MacBook Air in Midnight Black. Reason I did is pretty simple:

1) love the form factor
2) literally all I do anymore is surf, email, listen to music and some very light desktop publishing (e.g., church flyers)

Much as the nerd in me would love more, from what I've seen/heard, even the base model should pretty easily equal and likely outstrip my current laptop (Lenovo T480s Core i5 with Samsung 970 Evo Pro, 16Gb).

With that said, if I'm sorely mistaken, let me know.

 

[chrisg05]

so I have been looking at the differences between these two Laptops for the past two weeks as I am looking to replace my aging mid 2012 MacBook Pro 15 inch. It fits my needs but due to the lack of operating system upgrades, I find myself missing out on some of my apps that I want to use.

Being the fact that I am an IT professional, I am use to looking at specs but I also know that workflow plays a large role in what we need/want/choose. I am not a content creator, nor am I a professional photographer so this laptop will not be making me money. This laptop will be used mostly for browsing the web, email, VPN access, watching YouTube, playing music, word processing and so on. The occasional game or two but nothing intense. I have a console for that.

Now that I gave you the background, here is my opinion. The slower SSD is not going to bother the target demographic for the m2 air. It will not even be noticed. The Speeds of the internal storage are actually quite good considering that three years ago SATA II and SATA III speeds were barely cracking 500. This storage is 3X that amount. Other OEMS are doing the same thing. I just recently got a shipment of LENOVO M70Q and the SSD has one NAND chip on the board.

I will give respect to content creators when due but this is totally overblown and has been utilized as click bait.

My struggle is the fact that I can get an M1 Air base model for $779 while the m2 air is 1199 at most retailers. that is a delta of $420 and to me the performance differences do not justify that.

 

[Kung]

So, I just plunked down $1050 or so (got $150 off) for a base model MacBook Air in Midnight Black. Reason I did is pretty simple:

1) love the form factor
2) literally all I do anymore is surf, email, listen to music and some very light desktop publishing (e.g., church flyers)

Much as the nerd in me would love more, from what I've seen/heard, even the base model should pretty easily equal and likely outstrip my current laptop (Lenovo T480s Core i5 with Samsung 970 Evo Pro, 16Gb).

With that said, if I'm sorely mistaken, let me know.

Turns out this was a complete non-issue for me. Where I work (military post), they've got $150 off; so I'm essentially now getting 8Gb/512Gb for the same price.

 

[MBAir2010]

This autumn I had the choice to purchase any new MacBook.
This rumor or discrepancy swayed me over to the M1 Air (silver) amount other topics.
Just the "2 drives where one works, then the other jumps in" explanation made me skeptical.

so
I stopped reading product reviews info online about apple products this month and just use them with a smile!

 

[Technerd108]

so I have been looking at the differences between these two Laptops for the past two weeks as I am looking to replace my aging mid 2012 MacBook Pro 15 inch. It fits my needs but due to the lack of operating system upgrades, I find myself missing out on some of my apps that I want to use.

Being the fact that I am an IT professional, I am use to looking at specs but I also know that workflow plays a large role in what we need/want/choose. I am not a content creator, nor am I a professional photographer so this laptop will not be making me money. This laptop will be used mostly for browsing the web, email, VPN access, watching YouTube, playing music, word processing and so on. The occasional game or two but nothing intense. I have a console for that.

Now that I gave you the background, here is my opinion. The slower SSD is not going to bother the target demographic for the m2 air. It will not even be noticed. The Speeds of the internal storage are actually quite good considering that three years ago SATA II and SATA III speeds were barely cracking 500. This storage is 3X that amount. Other OEMS are doing the same thing. I just recently got a shipment of LENOVO M70Q and the SSD has one NAND chip on the board.

I will give respect to content creators when due but this is totally overblown and has been utilized as click bait.

My struggle is the fact that I can get an M1 Air base model for $779 while the m2 air is 1199 at most retailers. that is a delta of $420 and to me the performance differences do not justify that.

You can find the M2 air base on sale for $1049 and the M1 air for $799. That is a $249 difference for a redesigned chassis, MagSafe, brighter screen and slimmer bezels and a slightly better processor. I think that is worth the difference but I don’t like the older design.

Either way you go the M1 or M2 MBA you are getting a great laptop.

As for value the M1 is hard to beat, I will agree!

 

[Mainsail]

The reason why it’s suggested to have been overblown is because the ones talking about it on YouTube etc arn’t exactly the target demographic for the device, their use case for a laptop will likely steer them more towards a MacBook Pro, however it is still an major issue for some.

Some will say to get round it increase the RAM others will say increase the storage option… some will suggest to increase both, after scouring the internet for advice on what element(s) to upgrade, I came to the following conclusions…

-Base Model

This is perfect for light users, and users who are going to utilise very little swap, not using resource intensive apps regularly, only having a few internet tabs open at once, checking emails, surfing the net, word processing, just general average joe computer stuff etc…

-Upgrade SSD

This is a great option for those who will use photo, video editing software semi-regular maybe a few times a month, and will use swap memory now and again, this will benefit from fast swap speeds and with the way apple silicon handles swap you likely won’t notice any difference only having 8GB RAM over 16GB and at the same time you benefit from a much larger SSD so for me that’s a win win.

-Upgrade RAM

This will have a very similar effect to upgrading the SSD unless you regularly edit video, music, photos have loads of internet tabs open etc… however, your still locked down to only having a 256GB SSD, I know you can get external storage, but I don’t want to lump around an external SSD when I am buying a laptop for portability, plus it’s just extra money again that you have to spend, on top of this as the 256GB SSD is approx. 50% slower, transferring files on and off the SSD will likely be significantly slower.

-Upgrade RAM and SSD

Although this is the best option to go for overall as you benefit from a faster SSD plus plenty of RAM headroom, the issue with it is the price. Here in the UK if you upgraded the 8CPU/8GPU option in both areas your looking at £1649.00, which is only £250 off a 14” MacBook Pro which (for the sake of loosing a some portability) in return you get a better screen, better speakers, better chip, all the ports and an overall better performing machine in a design with fans, on top of this, generally sale prices on the 14” Pro are not that far from the this upgrade now (maybe £50-£100 more expensive).

So overall to me, is it overblown? No it isn’t BUT it depends who your talking to and what demographic they fit into and what their use case for the device is.

For the general target demographic this is majorly overblown, but if your a major content creator this is a major issue, if your somewhere in between it will all depend on your use case but their are options to satisfy most people’s needs with the M2 Air.

I think you pretty much nailed it. I fit in your first category and bought the base M2 MBA a couple of months ago. It has been terrific for my needs: productivity apps (iWork, MS Office), mail, messages, safari, notes, calendar, contacts, zoom/FaceTime, photos, and occasional iMovie (glorified slide shows really). Absolutely, it has been perfect for my needs. I suspect a large proportion of home, business, and student users fit into this category. So, I believe the SSD issue is overblown for the vast majority of consumers.

Edit: BTW - I got my base M2 MBA on sale at BB for $1,050. It should serve me well for the next 5 years or so.

 

[chrisg05]

You can find the M2 air base on sale for $1049 and the M1 air for $799. That is a $249 difference for a redesigned chassis, MagSafe, brighter screen and slimmer bezels and a slightly better processor. I think that is worth the difference but I don’t like the older design.

Either way you go the M1 or M2 MBA you are getting a great laptop.

As for value the M1 is hard to beat, I will agree!

I just saw that last night when I went on to Best Buy just to see what they are offering. Yes the delta is now 250 so it becomes a bit more reasonable.

I am more of an internals guy so for me the design flavor does not make me want or not want a product unless it is grossly inferior. The new design is nice but not a wow factor to me

Screen wise the difference of 100 nits is not noticeable until you get out to a very bright room or direct sunlight. The display is nice, don’t get me wrong, but thinner bezels and a notch to hold a camera is not a game changer for me.

The MagSafe and the faster chip is definitely a game changer from the two laptops but in my workflow will it be noticed? That’s the real question.

All in all even with the slower ssd I probably would purchase the M2 especially at 1049. That believe it or not is more reasonable