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um...missed:

BETTER WEBCAM
Better speakers
Better microphone

Far more important than the speeds and feeds take in the article.
 
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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.
You can charge via any of the USB-C ports as well. The MagSafe cable for my 14" MPB is still in the box because my setup is for the charger to the right side of the machine instead of the left.
 
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.
But corporate users should care even more about camera quality. Most corporate users don’t need the active cooling.
 
um...missed:

BETTER WEBCAM
Better speakers
Better microphone

Far more important than the speeds and feeds take in the article.
Yes! Had they given it those things then the active cooling and battery would have set it apart. As it stands, the Pro and Air are about equal with different strengths and weaknesses.
 
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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.
100%
 
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If you own any Intel 13” MBP 2020, don’t need Intel compatibility and don’t own an M1, you should buy either the M2 MacBook Pro or the M2 Air when it’s released. It’s a harder call for those with a 15” or 16” MBP that is happy with its speed and screen size.
 
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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.
The M1 does hardware encode/decode using its GPU I believe. The M1 Pro/Max and the M2 use a dedicated media engine outside of the CPU/GPU. So it offloads the work to that dedicated hardware, freeing up more of your CPU/GPU for other use.
 
But corporate users should care even more about camera quality. Most corporate users don’t need the active cooling.

Depends on if they:
  1. Attend meetings on a regular basis;
  2. If they do, are they virtual or physical;
  3. If virtual, are they all using video or just audio and presenting screens?
And even Apple's low-grade 720P webcams work well enough in brightly lit offices and conference rooms in my experience.
 
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.
Oh I thought this was about the Air. Reading comprehension is on point today clearly.
 
You can charge via any of the USB-C ports as well. The MagSafe cable for my 14" MPB is still in the box because my setup is for the charger to the right side of the machine instead of the left.

Indeed but the MagSafe socket will still fill up with metallic dust. As someone else said it’s a niche complaint but nevertheless there will be a small percentage of buyers for whom the lack of a MagSafe port is a bonus 👍
 
um...missed:

BETTER WEBCAM
Better speakers
Better microphone

Far more important than the speeds and feeds take in the article.
Yes one should take in the other improvements this up to date MBA offers. The screen is now 500 nits from 400 nits with the 13" M2 MBA.
 
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The 24GB of RAM is an annoying number. It should be in 2’s: 8,16, and 32
Why? DRAM as a multiple of 3 has been made for years. Apple has even used it before - my iPad Pro comes with 6GiB of DRAM.

There's no *instrinsic* reason to make DRAM as a power of 2. You waste a few decoder wires at some point, but that's minor, and give that the DRAM layout is hexagonal anyway (not square) you're already "wasting" wiring to hook everything up.

20nm DRAM: A new beginning of another revolution | Semantic Scholar
 
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The M1 does hardware encode/decode using its GPU I believe. The M1 Pro/Max and the M2 use a dedicated media engine outside of the CPU/GPU. So it offloads the work to that dedicated hardware, freeing up more of your CPU/GPU for other use.
Hmmm... Where are you getting that from?

Take at look at this interpretation of the M1 series die shots. Media engine in red/orange, top right of each shot.

FCBl1gcWEAUOdRw.jpeg


 
I think this might be the first time I've seen someone complain about a Mac being too powerful. o_O
And, in no way has there been a computer even been too powerful, lol.
Just a few of my dreams:
  1. I want to fly in X-Plane at maximum settings (yes, with all the desired add-ons) at 3 x 8K @ 120 fps.
  2. I want to export a 120 mins 4K movie in FCP X in 2 seconds.
Not being unreasonable here 😁
 
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Sounds like the reasons to upgrade are very specific:

If the M2 is enough power for you, but you absolutely need 24GB of RAM over 16GB, get it.

If you need the media encoders it offers over M1, get it.

If you need the additional CPU or GPU power but NOT M1 Pro and up, get it.

If you need support for High Impedance headphones, get it.

If you need 6 additional watts of charging, get it.

And unless I'm forgetting something, that's it. If you don't need those, don't get it.
 
The M1-->M2 upgrade is likely to be unnoticeable for most daily tasks and workflows. If you're bringing an M1 to it's knees you will need more than an M2, and should really be thinking about getting an M1Pro/Max/Ultra instead.
 
I'd prefer an article that made the case for upgrades from various previous generations.

Like, go back a few generations until the upgrade is obvious for essentially everybody. Then for intermediate generations, upgrade if... with various use cases.
 
In the UK if you want 8 core CPU + 10 core GPU + 8GB RAM + 512GB SSD the MacBook Air M2 costs £1,549 and the MacBook Pro M2 costs the very same £1,549. New machine vs Old machine + fan. Worth it? Maybe, yes.

Anyone who's reviewed external SSDs will know that they are for, the most part, 'thermally challenged'. If the tasks you do are intensively read/write based on internal storage then that fan has to come into play - no way it's not. If you have a lot of email, d/l a demo of MailSteward and give that a go. On 30,000 emails it would happily make my 12" Retina MacBook to shut off. Intel Gadget told me it wasn't processor heat that was causing the problems, it was the SSD.

My wife's old SATA3-based MacBook Pro Mid-2012 could knock it not a cocked-hat; not because the processor was faster, rather because the machine didn't have to throttle to keep the storage interface cool. M1/2 simply moves the source of heat from one component to another. Which might explain the monster fan in the Mac Studio?
 
I think if you already have an M1 MacBook Pro, it is not worth the upgrade. If you still have an Intel machine and need this outdated design for some reason, this would be a good upgrade. I do think that this is a way to dump an obvious surplus of chassis before a complete redesign.
 
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