Might as well just wait for the M4 in that case. Maybe even the M5. Surely they'll be faster.
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Why does Apple cuts costs on a $1200 laptop???
- Thread starter exoticSpice
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Might as well just wait for the M4 in that case. Maybe even the M5. Surely they'll be faster.
My guess is that it’s a combination of all of the above.
1) there likely is a shortage of 128gb SSD chips somewhere. This doesn’t mean that Apple can’t get any, but they likely can’t get enough to put in all their M2 MBAs.
2) Apple probably expects demand for the M1 MBA to drop as most will opt for the newer laptops. They will probably stick with 2x128 for the M1 models to avoid “SSD lottery” issues, but I could be wrong here.
3) Same with iPads. Apple probably doesn’t sell as many of them as much as they expect to sell entry level MBAs (which I maintain more than suffices for their target market).
4) Apple likely also saves more money this way.
I guess time will tell.
you spend 200 extra not just to get more speed but also double the storage
because spending 200 extra you get 512 instead of 256...you dont spend extra $200 for a more speedier 256 ssd. Basic math
But Apple uses cheap garbage while charging premium prices. You got single 1TB SSD’s that do 7000MB/s for $150 even.
There is a reason why Apple is the richest company in the world.
Apple could have put 2 modules in it, but Apple is now run by Finance and Operations guys and their bonus is priority number 1. That is how they ended up with this disaster called the base M2 MBA.
Anyway, I’m waiting for next year now when the 3nm M3 MBA gets released. Hopefully they fixed the base model as I’m not going to pay the premium upgrade prices to fix their machine.
Not sure how the super-strong US Dollar is playing into all of this, since the weak(er) foreign currencies are making imports much cheaper, but exports much more expensive. I presume it is also having an impact on Apple's pricing in non-US stores and it does push-down Apple's revenues from foreign markets when those are converted from the local currency to US Dollars.
Yup...
I think a lot of Mac fans maybe haven't kept up on the NVMe/SSD space
Apple is by no means class leading in this department right now -- but they still love to charge like they are.
Show me an example involving Office/iWork, Teams/Zoom, Safari, Photos or iMovie.
How, specifically, is the content in the video not “legitimate”? They reach the same conclusion as others who have tested it. For example:
Base Model MacBook Air With M2 Chip Has Slower SSD Speeds in Benchmarks
The first embargoed reviews of the new MacBook Air with the M2 chip have now been published. One notable detail confirmed by The Verge is that the...www.macrumors.com
Quote from The Verge article:
“Apple confirmed to me that just like the base model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro M2, the base Air’s 256GB of storage is stored on a single NAND chip instead of two like on the M1 models or new M2 models with 512GB or more storage. That can make the storage perform half as fast as even the older base M1 Air’s and will slow things down whenever you try to copy large files around or multitask enough to max out the 8GB of RAM and force it to use swap memory. It’s a disappointing regression and really means the only models I feel comfortable recommending start at $1,500.”
So how much slower will it be? Do they have numbers and a specific test we can replicate?
But these are sequential reads.
Most tasks do random reads and writes. So what is the difference for those?
I'm sure there are millions of users worldwide who will be very satisfied with this "disaster."
Yup. I expect sales of both the base Air and MBP 13" to only grow now that they have been refreshed.
Inflation is not the true explaining factor. Trust me. Even with inflation, Apple’s margins are very high. Any price increase is almost definitely because they can get away with it. It always surprises me how little average people know about technology. Apple could cut out a lot and many people would never even understand it, just like so many didn’t understand the difference between U processors and Y processors with intel back before Apple Silicone. Whenever I mentioned this, even to Apple employees, they’d act clueless.
Many companies have made record profits this year in the midst of inflation. Obviously there are industries and companies that aren’t in that situation, but Apple isn’t one of them.
Sounds like the wrong question to ask.
Perhaps it may be more accurate to say - Apple is able to offer a $1200 version of said laptop precisely because of all the cost cutting. Else, having people pay more for specs they may not need benefits no one.
We also need to consider that as technically-minded people who are comfortable with doing hardware updates, we chafe at having to pay Apple OEM prices for hardware upgrades we could do on our own for (far) less.
However, a significant number of Apple's Mac customers are not so even if all Macs used bog-standard M2 SSDs and DIMMs, it would not be helpful to most consumers as they would not be in a position to swap those components out for cheaper third-party ones so they would be paying Apple's OEM prices, anyway.
My father bought a new Dell tower and he ended up having to buy the Core-i7 version because it was the only configuration that had 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD. A Core-i5 would have been fine for him, but they only came with 8GB and 256GB and there was no way at 80 he was going to be able to open that machine and swap in a 16GB module and a 512GB SSD. So he paid extra for a CPU and GPU he did not need, but that was what he had to get in order to get the memory and storage he did need. And everything is covered under one warranty with one point of contact (Dell Support) instead of three (Dell, memory OEM and SSD OEM).
However, a significant number of Apple's Mac customers are not so even if all Macs used bog-standard M2 SSDs and DIMMs, it would not be helpful to most consumers as they would not be in a position to swap those components out for cheaper third-party ones so they would be paying Apple's OEM prices, anyway.
My father bought a new Dell tower and he ended up having to buy the Core-i7 version because it was the only configuration that had 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD. A Core-i5 would have been fine for him, but they only came with 8GB and 256GB and there was no way at 80 he was going to be able to open that machine and swap in a 16GB module and a 512GB SSD. So he paid extra for a CPU and GPU he did not need, but that was what he had to get in order to get the memory and storage he did need. And everything is covered under one warranty with one point of contact (Dell Support) instead of three (Dell, memory OEM and SSD OEM).
Good points
That said, it'd be nice to even have it be "possible" (through bringing it to an Apple Store for a swap at Genius Bar) so folks wouldn't have to buy an all new machine if some needs slightly change.
Increasing the longevity and flexibility of existing user hardware should be a primary goal of a company attempting to convince us of their environmental cred..
Great to see you are still working on your Rene Ritchie impersonations, hilarious!
Sure, until you discover an area where they’re lacking. And boom, in comes the valid criticism.
Are you stalking me? So many replies.
All the reviews and opinions I've read (from the most trustworthy names in technology) have yet to identify any area where they are really lacking.
Dual external monitor support. Top of my head. Boom.
Why would you expect a Pro feature in the MacBook Air? Next you'll be moaning about the lack of a fan, and that the MacBook Air should be thicker like the MacBooks Pros.
BS. A simple Windows laptop can pull this off and the previous intel machines could pull it off. You’re calling it a pro feature in your shill mode because you know very well that it’s an arbitrary limitation imposed on the M1 and 2 devices. I can attach their highest priced pro Xdr monitor with 6K so dual monitors are not rocket science at all. So if pro features were a thing in the real world, then that 6K display wouldn’t connect at all because how much more pro could it be.
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Apple did not cut costs......THEY MAXIMIZED PROFIT.
But, That's not the issue. These are the issues:
1) Staying silent about a hardware change that obviously had a huge impact to performance
2) Using crappy heating dissipation
As we have all seen, the addition of a $15 heat pad reduces throttling and improves performance so to me that means Apple gave little thought to heat in the M2
Everyone should return their 256GB models to send a message.
But, That's not the issue. These are the issues:
1) Staying silent about a hardware change that obviously had a huge impact to performance
2) Using crappy heating dissipation
As we have all seen, the addition of a $15 heat pad reduces throttling and improves performance so to me that means Apple gave little thought to heat in the M2
Everyone should return their 256GB models to send a message.
That's not true. The performance of the 256GB model has been reported. The terrible heat sink has been reported. The fingerprints on the midnight chassis has been reported. People are stalking your comments because you are so obviously miinformed.