M1 vs. M2 MacBook Pro: Is It Worth the Upgrade?

[CWallace]

The biggest reason to upgrade to me is if you use your M1 MBA/MBP for video work since it now has the dedicated video encoders and decoders that were previously part of the M1 Pro/M1 Max (and better ones, at that).

The 24GB of RAM is an annoying number. It should be in 2’s: 8,16, and 32

If they went to 32GB, that would negate most of the memory advantage of the 14" model. By capping it at 24GB, they help with those encountering memory pressures at 16GB while still leaving a reason to consider a 14" with 32GB.

 

[JakeAsher]

ARTICLE SUMMARY: NO

For only a 20 percent bump and speed... Why upgrade? If you already have an M1 device, save your money.
Your M1 will last you 10 years+. Don't believe the Apple marketing crap.

 

[mpolda]

I don’t understand this release. It’s the new MacBook Air with active cooling and a slightly bigger battery, but a worse camera and screen. Of course, it’s heavier too. If they had upgraded the camera and screen I’d see a better place for it in the lineup. I’ll stick with the Air.

Here’s what I would have preferred: same specs for Air and Pro (including screen and camera), but the pro gets active cooling, bigger battery, and the midnight color. Air gets the bright colors we were expecting. Pro is $200 more. Oh, and the Air is just called MacBook.

 

[bradman83]

No way, it's not worth an upgrade. Only 20% faster with the M2. Not worth it at all.

M2 Chip should have been called M1S. Save the money and get yourself a M2 MacBook Air.

A 20% generational increase in performance is a perfectly respectable number for a single CPU generation increase. Most recent A series chips have been about a 20% jump in performance between generations so we should expect the same for the M series. The neural engine and graphics cores are also considerably faster. The biggest performance increase will be the jump from Intel to Apple silicon; jumps within the M series year over year will likely be modest but will about to a significant boost for users to keep their Macs for 5 years or so.

 

[mpolda]

Nope - it's recycled hardware from the old gen. Just a money grab for apple before the better Air comes out.

Exactly

 

[CWallace]

I don’t understand this release. It’s the new MacBook Air with active cooling and a slightly bigger battery, but a worse camera and screen. Of course, it’s heavier too. If they had upgraded the camera and screen I’d see a better place for it in the lineup. I’ll stick with the Air.

The 13.3" MacBook Pro is aimed at the enterprise/corporate market, not the consumer market. It is the second-most popular Mac model, which means they sell millions per year, and corporate/enterprise customers would be the ones who would buy that much product.

 

[jz0309]

replacing a M1 MacBook with a M2 seems pointless, an older x86 makes sense ... but folks, do whatever you want with your money.

 

[sw1tcher]

No way, it's not worth an upgrade. Only 20% faster with the M2. Not worth it at all.

M2 Chip should have been called M1S. Save the money and get yourself a M2 MacBook Air.

So you're not going to get one then?

Debating if I should place an order. There is a chip shortage in place.

 

[sflagel]

What we need is a 15 inch MacBook Air. The 14/16 inch MacBook Pros are too expensive, and the Air's screen is too small. Isn't this a massive gap in the line-up. It costs £ 750 more to get a larger screen, most consumers don't need to buy an M1 Pro, just larger screen.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

So you're not going to get one then?

Financially it makes no sense. But, I’m still debating if I should, 😂. Can’t decide. I do miss the Touch Bar. But the screen is too small and I’m using the 16” form factor.

What about you?

 

[sw1tcher]

What we need is a 15 inch MacBook Air. The 14/16 inch MacBook Pros are too powerful (and expensive)...

I think this might be the first time I've seen someone complain about a Mac being too powerful.

 

[Jim Lahey]

The biggest reason to upgrade to me is if you use your M1 MBA/MBP for video work since it now has the dedicated video encoders and decoders that were previously part of the M1 Pro/M1 Max (and better ones, at that).

Bingo. This is the big headline feature for those who do a lot of video work but also need their computer to be affordable, small, light and portable. It definitely has a market, albeit relatively niche 👍

 

[PowerMike G5]

This doesn't seem like a worthwhile upgrade from a M1 machine, for general use.

It only makes sense for those focused on video work. The addition of the dedicated media engine does make a huge difference here. Dedicated hardware encode/decode for those supported formats makes this a much more powerful machine vs M1.

 

[GuruZac]

If you need the extra power, yes. If not, save the money.

For me, if I had the money, I would buy a max'd M2 Air to be my one-and-only. I chose instead to buy a base M1 as my portable power and keep using my old Mac Pro as the command center for the time.

But you're not getting extra power. Who is buying this over the M2 MacBook Air? If sustained performance is that big of a deal, spend up a little more for the 14" MacBook Pro. I literally can't think of a single scenario where the M2 13" MBP makes more sense than the M2 MBA.

 

[nutmac]

Nope - it's recycled hardware from the old gen. Just a money grab for apple before the better Air comes out.

If you are in the market for an affordable Mac notebook with a fan, would you prefer to buy one with M1 or M2?

Don't get me wrong, Apple should've based it on a 14" MBP's form factor with MagSafe, subtracting few components like XDR display, HDMI, and SD to bring down the price to around $1,299 with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. The existing price premium between 13" MBP and 14" MBP with the same 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD is $300, so I think that is achievable.

But it is what it is and buying the same product with a faster processor at the same price is certain better than nothing.

 

[fooobar]

But you're not getting extra power. Who is buying this over the M2 MacBook Air? If sustained performance is that big of a deal, spend up a little more for the 14" MacBook Pro. I literally can't think of a single scenario where the M2 13" MBP makes more sense than the M2 MBA.

then you're not thinking hard enough - the M2 Pro has no notch and includes a touchbar, which are important aspects to some people...


(edited: to clarify meaning why some may prefer M2 MBP over M2 MBA)

 

[Realityck]

Like the M1 Pro, the M2 features a media engine for hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW video encode and decode. The M1 chip does not contain a dedicated media engine.

Huh? It should be noted that a lot of people that author YouTube videos weren't impacted by this, it was more to authoring longer YouTube videos that eventually ran out of memory which the 24 GB over 16 GB helps when needed helps. M1 SSD access is still very fast for swap used if needed. On my M1 24" iMac the BlackMagic Disk Speed was close to 3000 Mbps compared to the same on a M1 Max MBP doing 5000 Mbps. So on all M1 upward you have great read write access meaning content loading and application launch time is improved over intel Macs.

 

[sflagel]

..

 

[sflagel]

I think this might be the first time I've seen someone complain about a Mac being too powerful.

Fair enough, but its a pro machine. Consumers will have more than enough in an M2 Air, but still like a bigger screen....

 

[EugW]

Like the M1 Pro, the M2 features a media engine for hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW video encode and decode. The M1 chip does not contain a dedicated media engine.

Apple says that this dramatically speeds up video workflows on the latest MacBook Pro, allowing users to play back up to 11 streams of 4K and up to two streams of 8K ProRes video. Users can convert their video projects to ProRes nearly three times faster than before.

What?

How are they defining "media engine"? Because M1 most definitely has hardware encode and decode for several codecs of course, just like the A series. M1's main drawback is that it doesn't have hardware ProRes acceleration, unlike M1 Pro and M2.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Environmental Improvements

lol,seriously ??

 

[Jim Lahey]

then you're not thinking hard enough - the M2 Air has a notch and lacks touchbar, which are important aspects to some people...

Also many buyers don’t want MagSafe. It’s a disaster zone if you also happen to use your computer in mechanical engineering settings because the socket attracts ferrous dust like flies to a piece of $h#t.

 

[btrach144]

No way, it's not worth an upgrade. Only 20% faster with the M2. Not worth it at all.

M2 Chip should have been called M1S. Save the money and get yourself a M2 MacBook Air.

Sheesh, what do people expect these days?

With Intel, it’s considered a revolution if the next gen is 10% faster than the last gen.

Apple doubles that at 20% and people are saying it’s not worthy of M2 title?

Get out of here!

 

[EugW]

Also many buyers don’t want MagSafe. It’s a disaster zone if you also happen to use your computer in mechanical engineering settings because the socket attracts ferrous dust like flies to a piece of $h#t.

That's a pretty niche complaint.

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure someone will make a cover. They've been available for prior MagSafe Macs for many years.

 

[_Spinn_]

For most people the upgrade is not worth it but for some use cases it will be.