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M2 MacBook Air or M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14” dilemma
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Perhaps you should re-read the OP's title
M2 MacBook Air or M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14” dilemma
Spot on! My wife has a iPhone 12 PRO Max and she has no idea what that (PRO) means other than the screen is big and pretty.
I don't have M2 air. I have M1 air and also I bought M1 pro 14. Personally current M2 chip is an overclocked M1 chip. You need to wait for the M2 3nm chip, then I might be jealous.
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oh yeah? can they run final cut and last at least 10 hours on battery while doing web and documents?
you're argument is extremely flawed cause its so out of context. what you are saying is someone ask bmw or merc and you tell them to get a toyota corolla. some bmw models is a better value than merc and vise versa. just like how a base mba is a pretty good value but when you start BTO the 14inch becomes a better value.
I don’t know what post you are referring to. Who did the test and was it tested against MBP 14” both running display at 100% brightness? I’m telling you, MBA M2 screen uses so much power at max brightness that it is no going to last more than around 6.5 hours then.
Tom’s Guide in another reliable source among Notebookcheck. How long battery lasted in Tom’s Guide test in MBP 14” and MBA M2? Thing is when you test battery, you need to test every machine using the same standards for a fair and reliable results.
EDIT: I checked Tom’s Guide battery test results for MBP 14” and MBA M2 where both tested at 150 nits brightness in web browsing test. So MBP 14” was 14 hrs 9 minutes and MBA M2 was 14 hrs 6 minutes.
Too bad Tom’s Guide did not test at 100% brightness like Notebookcheck did also.
Absolutely 100% reliable. They have tested it many different conditions (display at 100% and 150nits and so on) using exact way to measure each machine with the same way. Did you actually read the battery test results for the both models in detail?
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This is not correct M1 Pro CPU age. Both M1 Pro and Max CPU’s were released in October 18. 2021! Also M1 Ultra was released just this year (March 8. 2022). Only base M1 CPU version is nearly TWO years old (released November 10. 2022).
So please do not spread wrong information!
I agree, MBA M1 is better value for the most people who do not need powerful machine. I highly can highly recommend MBA M1. I had one for about 19 months.
Then for more features and power, MBP 14” is another good value. Latest MBA M2 is the worst value…
When I was shopping for successor to my MBA M1 I did comparison between MBA M2 and MBP 14”. My first impression before I went to test both machines was to get MBA M2, but I changed my mind within 60 seconds I laid my hands on a new MBA M2 for the first time. After than doing more test between MBA M2 and MBP 14” it became obvious to me that MBP 14” is the only acceptable machine to replace my MBA M1.
Yeah, it would be better value if it had as fast SSD as MBA M1 had but it does not. So because 8GB is way too little RAM for these days, you need a lot of swap and there you need a fast SSD. Even iPad Air had 8GB RAM and that is just an oversized iPhone… So MBA M2 is screaming for at least SSD upgrade and I’d say 16GB RAM is also minimum for these days. So those option make MBA M2 bad value against MBP 14”.
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At 80% screen brightness doing the same things with it as person who asked about that??
Yeah, I also think M2 5nm chip was just overclocked M1 so that they could release some new model this year because 3nm chips are delayed. Obviously MBA M2 is build with 3nm chips in mind, so likely next year we see MBA with M3/3nm chip and then cooling in that model is satisfactory.
Technically we are both right. The chip was released later but it is the same architecture and single core speed. Additional features were added but it is just an m1 with more cores and gpu. Otherwise identical.
At this point You’re just getting duped, the m2 is straight up a overclocked version of m1 with pro res encoder and higher clock cycle. The m2 is essentially apple’s version of intel’s Tick tock cycle with m2 being a stop gag before Apple going to tsmc’s n3 production.
Not quite. Just look at the performance and efficiency of its efficiency cores. That’s not someone the m1 can pull off
Indeed. If Apple allowed overclocking of the M1 chip, you basically have a M2 MBA as the M2 is much more power hungry (and hotter) than M1.
The more interesting chip is the 3nm M3 MBA (which is the one I am waiting for), which should deliver more performance while being more energy efficient at the same time.
The 3nm M3 is much more suitable for the MBA chassis.
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I am duped? I mean I understand it is an enhanced 5nm process? I was hoping it would be a 4nm chip but that didn't happen did it? It has a higher clock speed which gives it about 15% better performance and 30% better gpu cores than the older M1 design. It certainly isn't what I was hoping for but alas I don't control Apple or TSMC. So what if it is a stop gap? M2 is still a better chip than M1. M3 will be a better chip than M2, as it should be. M3 will be faster and have better battery life but it won't be like switching from Intel. Tick tock is kind of what to expect from this point on.
M3 is going to be so much faster than the M1 though that is for sure.
But the M2 also drains 20% to 30% more than M1. So you could have gotten the same performance with M1 for free, with a simple software overlock. That is the point. Unfortunately Apple doesn’t allow overclocking ofcourse.
I am waiting for the 3nm M3 MBA personally. This model should solve the thermal issues and also solve the power drain of the M2, with the 3nm process.
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the amount of mental gymnastic you done so far is quite the tall order. you calling m1 pro being old and outdated because its based on the m1 but with more stuff, meanwhile m2 is essentially an overclocked m1 with pro res and other minor tweaks. 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 at this point i can't tell if you're being serious or you're just bored.
sure the efficiency cores are tweaked to be more efficient, but the performance core is also hotter and thirstier.
M1 based on a14. M2 based on a15 with a slightly better 5nm process. It has a different gpu. It is a different chip. It is not what many had hoped for-me included but it is not just an overclocked M1. I am half serious. Lol
Everyone gets so spicy on MR with so much shade on the M2 spouting a bunch of ......lets say half truths to justify why NO ONE should buy m2. Either keep M1 or wait for M3 or your an idiot. I love it.
Are you sure?
I remember looking at a chart that suggested that at the top end the M2 could do 20% more processing work for the same power consumption as the M1 (with the chips being very similar at lower power consumption points).
I think what I saw was on Tom's Hardware but struggling to find it now.
And why is this a bad thing? Intel has this down to an art with Intel 7, I mean 10nm+++. They still get some pretty good performance out of 12th gen chips.
I think your facts are a bit off.
Wait away. No problem. M3 will be great. Just like M1 and M2.
It is even worse. The M1 is 37% to 45% more power efficient than M2. See the website below.
If you give the M1 37% more power to match the power drain of the M2, pretty much most performance differences would disappear. With M2, you are effectively paying for performance that you could have easily gotten for free with a simple software overclock.
Apple M2 SoC Analysis - Worse CPU efficiency compared to the M1
The Apple M2 is here and after our reviews of the MacBook Pro 13 and the MacBook Air M2, we want to have a closer look at the new M2 chip. What changed, which improvements can you expect, and how does the increased power consumption affect the efficiency, especially compared to the previous M1 chip?
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lol you can argue over the semantics, at the end of the day benchmark don't lie, sure apple had to make m2 slight better than m1, that part is obvious, otherwise how they gonna justify themselves selling the m2 mba, but for you and the others to go such length and justify how big of a upgrade m2 is such a exaggeration and need to be called out on.
everyone that got spicy on you cause we done the research when buying and realized the odd on average 10% at best in single core performance+ .4kg lighter is not a good enough of a trade off for brighter, higher refresh and more accurate screen, much better speakers, more functional ports, much better sustained single and multi core performance due to a physical fan, for essentially the same price once you match the spec, i'm sorry that you can't see that, and given by your dedication to go such length in this thread so far, you probably never will.
Good that nobody listens to your thinking. The facts are in the link below and the M1 is 37% to 45% more efficient than M2.
It is no accident that the M2 thermal throttles much more than M1 did, because it is literally a much more power hungry and hotter chip than M1.
I'm happy you are fine paying for a M2 chip which is something that performs like an overlocked M1 chip, but people who are smart will skip M2 and wait for the real upgrade, which is the 3nm M3 MBA.
Apple M2 SoC Analysis - Worse CPU efficiency compared to the M1
The Apple M2 is here and after our reviews of the MacBook Pro 13 and the MacBook Air M2, we want to have a closer look at the new M2 chip. What changed, which improvements can you expect, and how does the increased power consumption affect the efficiency, especially compared to the previous M1 chip?
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