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Why the MBA M2 is the Best Laptop Apple Has Ever Made
- Thread starter Johnnyseeth
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I know a bit about tech and I say the M2 MacBook Air is a better notebook than the M1 Pro MacBook Pro. It's better for one reason, it is more portable which is kind of the hallmark of a notebook. I would concede that for many, the M1 Pro MBP is a better computer but not a better notebook for hardly anyone.
If portability is the only metric you use, sure. I love my M2 Air, I'm not suggesting it's a bad computer at all, it's just outspecced and outdone my the 14" Pro in just about every metric. And, to be honest, the size and weight difference isn't really that much compared to just about any competing Windows machine. By general laptop standards, even the 14" Pro is a fairly sleek machine.
Not really. Working on a 13" screen is simply too small for a notebook. The 16" is the superior Notebook as you don't miss not having an external display with you.
For this reason, Apple should release a 15" M3 MBA as 13" is simply way too small to work on.
“Best battery life this side of Texas. I'm getting over 10 hours consistently, in low power mode I may even reach 12 hours.”
Hmm… That sounds low!
When the M1 MBA came out, people were reporting up to twenty hours of battery life.
Even Apple states the M2 MBA's battery life as:
“Up to 15 hours wireless web
Up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback”
The M2 13” MacBook Pro is rated even higher:
”Up to 17 hours wireless web
Up to 20 hours Apple TV app movie playback”!
Maybe it's because Spotlight is still indexing your MBA or because you've testing it with all sorts of heavy-duty apps!
Any thoughts?
I can work fine on a 13” screen. Hell, I wrote 10’s of thousands of lines of code on one of these with a 9” display with 80 columns of text by 25 rows:
I can write python code on my 6.7" iPhone screen, but that doesn't mean that 6.7" inch is a good screen size.
On a 16" display, it is much better.
I would not dare write in any modern language on that screen 🤣
We have a lot more syntax these days.
Way too small such that millions of people have bought and use a MBA. So cool story.
I'm not sure which company you work for, but working on a 13" is not the norm. Better tell your boss to invest in some external displays, will increase productivity alot.
I don’t know. Two languages that I’m currently using seem to go out of their way to provide shortcuts for common code structures—Swift & JavaScript.
Luckily my M2 can display a lot more than 80x20 columns and rows of text. 😎
Right. The M1’s from November 2020 had the scissor boards. You’re a Johnny-come-lately
Anything that has a price needs to be valued in relation to its total value and what other competing products offer in the same price range.
If you value more abstract metrics like aesthetics and prefer the design of the M2 Air, then obviously the value comes out differently to you as an individual.
But considering raw specs and total value per $, things that can be discussed objectively, the M2 is a bad deal next to both Apple's more expensive and less expensive Apple Silicon MacBooks.
If you value more abstract metrics like aesthetics and prefer the design of the M2 Air, then obviously the value comes out differently to you as an individual.
But considering raw specs and total value per $, things that can be discussed objectively, the M2 is a bad deal next to both Apple's more expensive and less expensive Apple Silicon MacBooks.
Come on dude you’re not that simple that you believe all I ever use is the M2 MBA. I have 4 external monitors at work and a different machine. My M2 MBA travels everywhere I go and does EVERYTHING. There is certain software we run at work that I can’t use Mac.
Dude… I’m getting tired of these battery life comments. It’s not you personally. I HAMMER my computers including the M2 MBA. I edit 5 k video, I have 30 tabs open in 2 different browsers and multiple apps running at once. You won’t see my machine actively using less than 17 GB of RAM hardly ever.
Battery life is a function of HOW you use the device. Battery life “Up to” is doing a few light things and not representative of reality.
Given how hard I blast this thing, I’m FLOORED by getting 10 hours of battery life.
Can you give me the equation you use to calculate total value per $? I’d quite like to see that “objective” measurement.
Since when are sales numbers of a certain laptop with a certain display size proof that it's optimal or even just good?
Consumers buy what is sold to them, what they want and, ultimately, what they can afford.
The reason 13" MBAs have millions of people using them every day is because the entire package is really good value and, equally important, comes in at around $999 or less.
Stop insinuating that Apple offers laptops with 16" displays in every price range. Since adopting the "Pro" moniker, Apple has always kept their biggest and best displays for their most expensive machines and will never offer them in their less expensive laptop.
Look at what you need to pay for 16/512 MBA M1 vs an 16/512 M2.
Or even just the base configurations of both MBA M1 vs MBA M2. How much RAM and storage do you get per $?
OK, let's be objective. Say my choice was either a M2 MacBook Air or a 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. I need at least 24 GB or RAM and 1 TB. The M1 is out because it doesn't meet my minimum specs.
The 32 GB/1 TB 8 core CPU/14 core GPU 14" M1 Pro MBP is $2599. That's $2.54/GB SSD and $81.22/GB RAM
The 24 GB/1 TB 8 core CPU/10 core GPU M2 MBA is $2099. That's $2.05/GB SSD and $87.46/GB RAM.
Which is the better value? I can't make any judgement from the above alone. Do I value RAM/$ or SSD/$ more? The problem is that the decision is subjective and not objective at all. See the problem?
I fell asleep in the middle of it. Tell me something I don't know. Bo-ring. Yawn.
Your reply about his video reminded me of this scene (1:59 in) On a more wakeful topic, I have been looking for new Mac apps to install on my new toy.
