So I have the 8GB/256GB model. Where am I meant to notice the difference in speeds? I still have my M1 base model, so I'm tempted to compare.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
When am I meant to notice SSD difference?
- Thread starter gadgetgirl85
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I don't think so. This has been one of the most difficult Apple purchase I've made. The problem is just like what you ask. So many vague ideas about RAM and drives, and to make it almost impossible, the reviews are shill/weird and they only come out after you buy it?
So WTF? How can you make any type of informed decision before hand? You can't. So now what I have to do is try and read actual 'reviews' by regular people, and lots of them. Like I do on Amazon (ideally after about two years lol).
So WTF? How can you make any type of informed decision before hand? You can't. So now what I have to do is try and read actual 'reviews' by regular people, and lots of them. Like I do on Amazon (ideally after about two years lol).
What good will that do except confuse and stress you? That's the problem. He's asking something else I think.
I don't know. It will just take time and lots of user input to get a feel for it, I guess. It maybe a good idea to wait and see, rather than get one now, if your are unsure.
Open the Activity Monitor app. Click the Memory tab at the top. In the bottom center you will see Swap Used. Keep an eye on this number.
As long as you are using little to no swap the M2 should be a tad faster than the M1 Air. As soon as a few GB swap is used the M2 will become considerably slower than the M1. You may notice some lagginess when switching tabs and any large memory-sensitive background processing will slow considerably (as much as half the speed as M1).
So if you never use more than 8GB RAM you will never have a problem. Unfortunately even a large number of browser tabs in Chrome can get you above 8GB. It’s also important to note that RAM usage tends to increase year after year as newer macOS versions are released. So this is likely to be a much more annoying problem in 2 to 3 years.
It’s also important to note that if your do any sort of media creation tasks that require you to move a lot of large files to/from external storage (assuming thunderbolt external) the performance difference between M1 and M2 will be immediately aparent. The M2 will max out with a write speed of about 1500MB/s, where the M1 can do 2500MB/s. Of course this won’t matter if you use slow external drives.
Last edited:
There's compression going on. And they are suppose to go and look at a graph to know what they are experiencing? You see the irony of that, no?
MB of swap won’t be an issue. You are watching for GB of swap (thousands of MB); probably multiple GB before you begin to notice.
I'm going to be honest - part of me wants to return this for the 512 model, I'm just trying to figure out whether it's worth it.
A lot of it will depend on:
1) How long do you intend to keep it? $200 over 5 years is a lot less than over 2 years
2) Do you have ambitions to push it beyond light use in the future? Video editing? Photography (RAW)?
As long as there aren't any significant updates in the near future, I'd like to keep it for at least 2-3 years.
My gut feeling is you will probably be fine with the base model; but only you can decide. You probably have a few days to decide; maybe just throw everything you can think of at it and see how it generally feels vs. your M1. In the end all the performance metrics don’t matter much compared to how you feel about the product you will live with for several years.
For everyone else in the same boat; I think this is a very even handed comparison review between the base M1 and base M2 Air:
Note that in the actual review the throttling isn’t really the big issue (it’s the SSD). I don’t think the throttling is all that significant.
Note that in the actual review the throttling isn’t really the big issue (it’s the SSD). I don’t think the throttling is all that significant.
I want some good configuration spec tests. It's nice comparing to the M1, but doesn't do me any good (or most people).
What I want to know is the thermal characteristics between the various M2 Air configurations, and the real-world experiences between the various configurations.
All this SSD and 8GB swap talk is just that- talk. But it will start to flesh out (dern thing only came out today, I'm already neurotic about it lol).
What I want to know is the thermal characteristics between the various M2 Air configurations, and the real-world experiences between the various configurations.
All this SSD and 8GB swap talk is just that- talk. But it will start to flesh out (dern thing only came out today, I'm already neurotic about it lol).
You probably never will.
(I still think Apple have handled this poorly, but the noise about it is way out of proportion and lacking context.)
On the M2 256gb, Read speeds are 50% slower and write speeds are 25% slower. I think the issue “normal” consumers might run into is if memory swapping is needed, especially if you get the paltry 8gb model. I personally think the base M2 air will really show its age after just a couple years, especially given the recent controversy with stage manager not running on recent devices due to swapping limitations.
Open more than 5 Chrome Tabs on your M2 and do the same on your M1. See what happens. Some reviewers (MaxTech and others) noticed a significant speed difference (M2 started to feel choppy, M1 did not). This is for the M1 base model vs the M2 base model (8/256).
I am not saying the reviewers are right, but since you have both you can do the comparison yourself, see what happens and form your own opinion. In the end you are the one who has to live with it.
Last edited: