Poll: *** The official 2022 MacBook Air/13" MacBook Pro thread (it has the M2 chip, MagSafe and everything!) ***

[Andrew Moore]

Maybe not exactly the same but I currently have 2019 13" Macbook Air and a 6 year old desktop PC. I'd like to ditch my desktop PC but I'm finding the 2019 MBA isn't really powerful enough for my needs. So my current plan is to sell the 2019 MBA and buy either a new M2 Macbook Air (16Gb/512Gb) or a 14" Macbook Pro (16Gb/512Gb). I have a 34" (3440x1440) monitor which I'd dock with a future Macbook so I can use it as a desktop relacement when I need a larger screen.

Trying to decide whether I'd be better off with a Macbook Air M2 or a 14" Macbook Pro M1. I'm erring towards the M2 MBA as I prefer the lighter form factor and it's likely to have a better battery life. I'm wondering how long it'll be before Apple update the Macbook Pro with an M2 Pro chip? I'm thinking that's probably another 5-6 months away though.

Given release cycles I wouldn’t think thenm2 pro or m2 max will come until next April or so giving it 18 months.

All the reservations I have with the air you’d have covered with the ssd and ram upgrade I would like to think but that that point you are only £100-150 away from an m1 pro 14” base. The screen will be no end better and the added speed will keep you going a year or two longer. I don’t think the air will be worth the money at that tipping point. If it was say £1500 at that spec rather than £1650 I’d say it would definitely be worth it.

 

[silvagti]

Given release cycles I wouldn’t think thenm2 pro or m2 max will come until next April or so giving it 18 months.

All the reservations I have with the air you’d have covered with the ssd and ram upgrade I would like to think but that that point you are only £100-150 away from an m1 pro 14” base. The screen will be no end better and the added speed will keep you going a year or two longer. I don’t think the air will be worth the money at that tipping point. If it was say £1500 at that spec rather than £1650 I’d say it would definitely be worth it.

I think you're probably right that we wont see an M2 Pro until next year. I can get edu discount so the 16Gb/512Gb/10coreGPU spec works out as £1629 vs £1708 for the Macbook Pro 14" so not much in it price wise between them. Will probably have a gander at both in my local store next month and can decide after seeing them in person. If I decided I wanted the 14" Pro though I'd probably be inclinded to wait until they refresh it with the M2 though.

 

[Andrew Moore]

Well..

8GB vs 16GB M2 MacBook Pro - HUGE Performance Differences!

Just how much better multitasking performance do you get with 16GB of RAM on the M2 MacBook Pro compared to 8GB? We tested out multiple real-world apps to fi...

youtu.be

This addresses the issues on the 8/256gb MacBook Pro m2.

It turns out it’s slower than the 8/256gb base model m1 air due to swap useage. The 16/512gb MacBook Pro m2 however is a completely different kettle of fish.

Based on that testing it is still slower than the 8/14 MacBook Pro m1 pro but it’s looking a lot closer than initially expected.

To get that performance though you need the £1249 base spec air to get a bump of £500 on the cost (100 cpu, 200 ram, 200 SSD) that’s far too close to the m1 pro binned spec 14” to consider for me now I think.

The only possible outcome which would see me invest would be if by some miracle the air has the same ssd arrangement as the m1 air so I’d only need spend on the ram and possibly the cpu as I don’t need 512gb of onboard storage. If I can get away with base spec then great but I doubt it. At best it’ll be £1449, likely more in the region of £1649 and possibly even £1749. What a shame that is.

 

[jrwagh333]

Well..

8GB vs 16GB M2 MacBook Pro - HUGE Performance Differences!

Just how much better multitasking performance do you get with 16GB of RAM on the M2 MacBook Pro compared to 8GB? We tested out multiple real-world apps to fi...

youtu.be

Please never trust this guy's videos. I used to watch and then had a spare couple hours once so went through some of the videos that I missed of his. He is complete clickbait.

I can assure you of you go through his history he will have a video showing the complete opposite.

He doesn't even present his videos as opinions, just facts. But completely goes polar opposites just to get views and target different people.

 

[GMac11]

Please never trust this guy's videos. I used to watch and then had a spare couple hours once so went through some of the videos that I missed of his. He is complete clickbait.

I can assure you of you go through his history he will have a video showing the complete opposite.

He doesn't even present his videos as opinions, just facts. But completely goes polar opposites just to get views and target different people.

I concur. I also used to watch them and occasionally still do for initial impressions/unboxings if I’ve exhausted all other avenues.
But as for his “testing” videos, I grew very tired of those. As you say, he releases a new video almost every day just to suit whatever narrative he’s trying to pedal at that particular time.

 

[Andrew Moore]

Please never trust this guy's videos. I used to watch and then had a spare couple hours once so went through some of the videos that I missed of his. He is complete clickbait.

I can assure you of you go through his history he will have a video showing the complete opposite.

He doesn't even present his videos as opinions, just facts. But completely goes polar opposites just to get views and target different people.

If you ignore the click bait and look at the tests done and the open tabs real usage it’s actually a very good representation of a work load and how you would use a computer. I would say that most of their posts are nonsense but weeding that out you can get reliable answers. This is one of those such occasions.

On face value of all posts I agree with what you are saying but once in a blue moon something is posted that is actually relevant. Give it a watch and you’ll see what I mean. You can even mute it and come to the same conclusion.

 

[silvagti]

As much as Apple gouge you for an extra 8Gb I still think it's unwise to buy a laptop in 2022 that doesn't have at least 16Gb RAM. Yes, you can probably get by with 8Gb right now for most things but I think you'll regret it in the long term.

 

[ChrisD.]

As much as Apple gouge you for an extra 8Gb I still think it's unwise to buy a laptop in 2022 that doesn't have at least 16Gb RAM. Yes, you can probably get by with 8Gb right now for most things but I think you'll regret it in the long term.

I think most of the performance improvement I’ve seen going from M1 Air 8GB to M1 Pro 32GB have been due to the fact that the new laptop is not paging. That said I didn’t really notice when using the Air, it was only after and it was yet another level of improvement over Intel.

 

[thewanted]

When are the reviews for the M2 Air dropping?

 

[Stu999]

When are the reviews for the M2 Air dropping?

Still just says “available in July” on the Apple website. I’d expect the week before they ship.

 

[uvarvu]

Preorder is open this Friday.

 

[Stu999]

I don’t need one buuuuut……

 

[Andrew Moore]

The air will no doubt have the same issues as the pro when it comes to the issues with the storage. They aren’t buying 128gb NAND packages so it’ll be a single 256GB chip like it is on the m2 pro.

When you consider the performance difference between an m2 base 8/256 and the 16/512 (which is massive) and wasn’t apparent on the m1 series, you can safely assume it’ll be the same on the air.

That means a base spec worth buying of at least £1450. That’s terrible value over the old m1 air.

 

[Cromulent]

Preorder is open this Friday.

1pm to be precise.

 

[silvagti]

Preorder is open this Friday.

Guess that means reviews will be out next week? I'm curious to see how it holds up to sustained workloads versus the MBP M2 13" model with active cooling.

 

[LiE]

Guess that means reviews will be out next week? I'm curious to see how it holds up to sustained workloads versus the MBP M2 13" model with active cooling.

Out of curiosity, why does it matter? No one should be buying a fanless ultra thin laptop if they are interested in sustained workloads.

 

[silvagti]

Out of curiosity, why does it matter? No one should be buying a fanless ultra thin laptop if they are interested in sustained workloads.

Mainly to see how effective the passive cooling of the new design is and how it compares to the M2 MBP with cooling fans. I personally don't need a laptop for sustained high CPU/GPU workloads though.

I just want a more powerful light/thin laptop to replace my 2019 MBA which I'm finding too slow so it seems like the new M2 MBA would fit the bill nicely. I just want to see it in the shop next to a 14" MBP to compare then side by side at I'd want the MBA with 16Gb/512GB so the price is pretty similar.

 

[LiE]

Mainly to see how effective the passive cooling of the new design is and how it compares to the M2 MBP with cooling fans. I personally don't need a laptop for sustained high CPU/GPU workloads though.

I just want a more powerful light/thin laptop to replace my 2019 MBA which I'm finding too slow so it seems like the new M2 MBA would fit the bill nicely. I just want to see it in the shop next to a 14" MBP to compare then side by side at I'd want the MBA with 16Gb/512GB so the price is pretty similar.

The 13 MBP only has 1 fan mind you, so not the best chassis.

 

[Andrew Moore]

Soon..

Anyone pre-ordering that’s currently in here discussing the air?

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I’m torn, do I got for it now or wait a couple of weeks when back to school is likely to be on and Apple giving away a £100 gift card.

The chances are in a couple of weeks it will be on back order for a month+ for a BTO order.