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Should I buy the 2020 M1 MacBook Air or should I go with the 2022 M2 MacBook Air instead?

“Design is subjective as to what someone likes.”

No.

Design is not about “what someone likes”. It’s a huge form that takes decades to master, and some of the best designers in the world aspire to Apple.

If you don’t understand that much about design, you’re not fit to hold forth about it.
 
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“That is, I recommend that you do not buy either of them now.”

This is always the safest advice…though in the real world, people do need tools to live their lives, and can’t just wait forever.
 

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mrmister said:
“Design is subjective as to what someone likes.”

No.

Design is not about “what someone likes”. It’s a huge form that takes decades to master, and some of the best designers in the world aspire to Apple.
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Pretty sure that is not what they meant. I take it to mean that what people like is subjective. Well, aside from a few things that are perhaps universally liked (such as not getting cancer), of course likes are subjective.
They did not say "design is about what someone likes."
 
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If you can only afford the base model, get the M1. It's a perfectly fine machine with nary a performance or reliability issue. I own six of them and they are wonderful machines. If you are upgrading to a higher-end storage capacity, and this is a machine meant for the longer term, go with the M2. The consensus amongst all reviewers out there is that, so long as you're not getting 8GB of RAM and especially not 256GB of SSD, the M2 Air is perfectly fine and worthy of your hard-earned cash.
 
Yebubbleman said:
If you can only afford the base model, get the M1. It's a perfectly fine machine with nary a performance or reliability issue. I own six of them and they are wonderful machines. If you are upgrading to a higher-end storage capacity, and this is a machine meant for the longer term, go with the M2. The consensus amongst all reviewers out there is that, so long as you're not getting 8GB of RAM and especially not 256GB of SSD, the M2 Air is perfectly fine and worthy of your hard-earned cash.
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It’s also perfectly fine in the 8gb/256gb storage model if you’re not obsessing over benchmarks. There’s more and more realistic reviews coming out showing it’s performance in real world use and it’s faster than the m1 in every scenario. The only time the m1 beats it is transferring large files, but who’s doing that on a 256gb model? Nobody
 
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a_rodriguezh said:
I've been doing some research and there seems to be a lot of people stating that no one should buy the M2 MacBook Air while other people say that it's worth the extra 200 dollars.

I'm talking about the base versions of both of them, no upgrades or anything.

Which one should I buy and why?
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Get the M2, you won't be disappointed
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
My take is slightly different to what several others have posted.

I would recommend that you buy neither the M2, nor the M1.

That is, I recommend that you do not buy either of them now.

Personally, I would never buy the very first iteration of a brand new model of computer; there will be issues, teething troubles, unforseen glitches that will be reported back to Apple.

My personal recommendation would be to wait until Apple tweaks the M2, which will mean addressing any issues or ironing out any problems, or deficiencies, that have arisen, and have been noted - and then purchase the newer version of the M2. Now, that could well take the best part of a year, but this is something that I would consider well worth while.
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what issues? and, it's not like the jump from, say, intel to silicon (or the power pc to intel).

am not experiencing 'issues, teething troubles, unforseen glitches'. and again, it's not some astonishing new design; it's a macbook air with a revised chip in a revised casing.

no need to panic!
 
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a_rodriguezh said:
I'm a medical student, I don't really need extra speed in the SSD, and I don't see the point in getting the 516gb upgrade because all of my files (ALL OF THEM) are in the cloud and I don't run any fancy apps, mainly office and safari. I don't watch a lot of media content in my laptop either, I generally use my iPad for doing so.

I really didn't mean to focus this conversation on the SSD problem, because like I said I'm not going to notice, I just meant it as a starting point.

My current laptop has an i3 processor, so either is going to feel way faster.

I really meant to ask for other things besides the SSD that I should keep in mind.

For example, I heard some people talking about like how the keyboard and trackpad are not as great (keyboard bends and trackpad isn't as snappy).

At the end, I will probably end up buying the M2, just because is the newer model and most likely will receive more support down the line; I just wanted to really see if those things that people are stating are actually true and if so, if them are relevant in the choice between the two laptops.
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I have had zero issues with my keyboard and trackpad. To be fair I don't have a 14" Pro or other Mac to compare it to but as best I can tell it's awesome. I've seen a video showing the M2 keyboard flexing down... That video was like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Mine does not do this. Can it do this? Maybe under extreme pressure but IDK I'm not going to shove all my force down on the keyboard and risk breaking it for a test. I pressed about three times as hard as I normally do when typing and it didn't budge. Either this guy got a defective unit or he had some Hulk strong fingers 🤣

Reasons to get the M2 or at least differences that were important to me.

MagSafe! I love it but it's not as relevant as it was when Intel processors were used because you will find yourself plugging in less often. This also means you still have two USB ports when charging. You can also charge with one of the USB ports if you wish.

Larger screen and brighter. It's slightly larger and I can't compare them side by side but I've seen photos and the bezels tell the story. There is the notch but it's completely taken up by the menu bar so it doesn't get in the way. Unless you are somehow bothered by the idea it's a non issue. I forget it's there till I think about it like now. As to brighter if you're using it inside I can't imagine it making a difference. I keep mine about half brightness so I'm sure I wouldn't be maxing out the M1 Air brightness.

I'd say the last and least important reason (for me) is it's likely to have support for slightly longer. I probably won't keep this for more than five years but who knows.
 
mrmister said:
This is something tech people say that sounds cleverer than it actually is.

It's not subjective that it is a very old design. It's not subjective that the machine looks like other 12 year old designs.

People constantly underestimate how they will feel about their "old" computer in 3 or 4 years.

These things matter, more than synthetic benchmarks will.
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What's subjective is whether it matters or not.
Personally I couldn't give a monkey's that my M1 Air is based on the 'classic' form factor. Nor will i in four years. But i certainly saw a heap of others who were quick to post their resentment when Apple made the M2 version 'chunky'.

But if you (anyone) are the kind of person who gets product FOMO even when your older tech perfectly suits your needs but doesn't look like the new computer/tablet/phone/whatever on the block, you'll mostly always have empty pockets.
 
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I bought the M1 9 weeks ago thinking it was proven tech and would be perfectly adequate. I also thought I'd be saving money. I quickly realized my folly and ordered an M2. I was going to send the M1 back for a refund but my son started college and that put paid to that plan. My biggest worry about going the M2 route was that it might be too thin and not sturdy enough. It's solid as a rock and it actually feels more substantial because no matter where you grab it - it's not skinny like the M1

They're both great machines but if you're anything like me you will 2nd guess your choice if you don't get the latest and greatest.
 
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People that say you should get M1 over the M2 because of the M2's SSD issue and etc, they're stupid.

Get the M2 MBA. Screen is significantly better on it. And the form factor is better than the wedge design. I hate the wedge.

I returned the M1 Air and got the M2. I tried to live with the M1 because it is such a good value on paper, but in real life it's not a good value because you'll keep thinking about the M2 Air. And M2 Air is worth the price difference over the M1.

Don't listen to people that say you need to get M1. Get M2 Air. It's awesome. I tried the M1 Air and 14 Macbook Pro and the M2 Air and M2 Air is just soooooo good. You'll love it.
 
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ekang said:
People that say you should get M1 over the M2 because of the M2's SSD issue and etc, they're stupid.

Get the M2 MBA. Screen is significantly better on it. And the form factor is better than the wedge design. I hate the wedge.

I returned the M1 Air and got the M2. I tried to live with the M1 because it is such a good value on paper, but in real life it's not a good value because you'll keep thinking about the M2 Air. And M2 Air is worth the price difference over the M1.

Don't listen to people that say you need to get M1. Get M2 Air. It's awesome. I tried the M1 Air and 14 Macbook Pro and the M2 Air and M2 Air is just soooooo good. You'll love it.
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it is good! was skeptical at first, but the fact you can literally take it everywhere is amazing... just had it at the tire store for hours.. worked super fast, very productive!
 
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i also returned an M1 for the M2; i realized i'd rather spend the extra money, and have the newer casing, screen; magsafe, 2 open usb-c ports, the camera.

have not had a moment of regret! it's a great mac.
 
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a_rodriguezh said:
I've been doing some research and there seems to be a lot of people stating that no one should buy the M2 MacBook Air while other people say that it's worth the extra 200 dollars.

I'm talking about the base versions of both of them, no upgrades or anything.

Which one should I buy and why?
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I went M2 with 512gb hard-drive if the base drive issues were as bad as they say they are (doubt it would matter in my workflow - and it would still be faster than my 2015 iMac. I felt $200 worth the MagSafe power, screen, 2 usb-c, camera upgrade.
 
a_rodriguezh said:
I'm a medical student, I don't really need extra speed in the SSD, and I don't see the point in getting the 516gb upgrade because all of my files (ALL OF THEM) are in the cloud and I don't run any fancy apps, mainly office and safari. I don't watch a lot of media content in my laptop either, I generally use my iPad for doing so.

I really didn't mean to focus this conversation on the SSD problem, because like I said I'm not going to notice, I just meant it as a starting point.

My current laptop has an i3 processor, so either is going to feel way faster.

I really meant to ask for other things besides the SSD that I should keep in mind.

For example, I heard some people talking about like how the keyboard and trackpad are not as great (keyboard bends and trackpad isn't as snappy).

At the end, I will probably end up buying the M2, just because is the newer model and most likely will receive more support down the line; I just wanted to really see if those things that people are stating are actually true and if so, if them are relevant in the choice between the two laptops.
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Ok - gotcha.

I think the thing to do is to go down to an Apple store and check them out. This is a major purchase, so it's worth the time to spend sometime looking over them - even if you end up buying it elsewhere.

Bottomline here is that both are excellent personal computers that will serve your needs for years to come, and the performance differences for your stated needs will be negligible. As I said above, I think the M2 would be my pick just because of MagSafe (which frees up a USB port), the nicer screen, camera, design etc.
 
hungryghosty said:
That's my feeling. Plus the M2 processor is around 20% faster in CPU/GPU terms and likely an extra year of MACOS updates.

You get a lot for the extra $200 IMO.
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The average increase in performance is 15% while the power consumption of the M2 increased by 30%-40%.

For $200, you are basically getting something that you could have gotten with overclocking the M1 chip if Apple allowed it. So it is really not worth the money.

Besides, you can get the M1 MBA for $850 even.
 
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