Compared: New M2 MacBook Air vs M1 MacBook Air

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  • Reply 21 of 49
    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt Posts: 2,120member
    hattig said:
    I have a mackbook air M1 for working purposes. For office, and online work it’s fantastic but as soon as you use MS teams for a meeting, sharing a screen and video conferencing, the cpu get’s too hot. And because there is no fan inside MacOS makes the cpu’s work slower to avoid heat problems. And then the machine will get very slow. Therefore I would always buy the 13” mackbook pro to avoid this problem.
    MS Teams does that on 16 core behemoth desktop systems - it's not the system, it's the appalling software from MS.
    It didn't do that on my 2015 Mac Book Pro that I used to use for work, and it doesn't do it on my Dell i7-11850H that I now use for work.

    I generally have (and had) Teams, Outlook, IntelliJ Enterprise, Excel, Word, Firefox, Chrome and a couple different database utilities running all at the same time.  The only time I ever noticed the fan coming on on the MBP was when it was doing OS updates.
  • Reply 22 of 49
    timmilleatimmillea Posts: 242member
    Now that Jony Ive has left, why does Apple still not give enough ports to the computers?

    They actually want people to be in dongle hell. 

    I love my dongle. 

    baconstangwatto_cobraTRAG
  • Reply 23 of 49
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    timmillea said:
    Now that Jony Ive has left, why does Apple still not give enough ports to the computers?

    They actually want people to be in dongle hell. 

    I love my dongle. 

    It’s a very nice dongle. 
    watto_cobraTRAG
  • Reply 24 of 49
    colt033 said:
    hattig said:
    I have a mackbook air M1 for working purposes. For office, and online work it’s fantastic but as soon as you use MS teams for a meeting, sharing a screen and video conferencing, the cpu get’s too hot. And because there is no fan inside MacOS makes the cpu’s work slower to avoid heat problems. And then the machine will get very slow. Therefore I would always buy the 13” mackbook pro to avoid this problem.
    MS Teams does that on 16 core behemoth desktop systems - it's not the system, it's the appalling software from MS.
    Is it really that bad using Teams? I planned to buy the M2 Air as soon as it is released, but the price increase (in Europe anyway) means it's gone from a bargain to a premium product. Suddenly the old Air or a Windows machine seems like a better option for me.
    From my experience: it’s terrible. For example,
    I’m frequently experiencing problems with icon statuses that supposed to show wether a colleague is online to not. Also, sometimes my own status doesn’t show anymore. Other MS apps like outlook, after a while, just stop collecting mail. After a few updates it starts working again but in the meantime I’m constantly switching between desktop and online versions of the app. You can use MS teams in the browser but the video resolution isn’t that good. I’m thinking it is because of the M1 chip, because on the intel macs I didn’t experiencing these problems at all. 
    lkrupp
  • Reply 25 of 49
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    Really would have been nice for them to include an HDMI port on this. I suspect it's because it would have necessitated another Thunderbolt channel.
    dewme
  • Reply 26 of 49
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    Can we talk about the headphone jack? They actually added it back in. The Air has one. If there were any stronger evidence that Ive is gone I don’t know what it might be. An actual plug for a wired headphone, like some of us still have occasion to use. 
    muthuk_vanalingambaconstang
  • Reply 27 of 49
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,335member
    DAalseth said:
    Can we talk about the headphone jack? They actually added it back in. The Air has one. If there were any stronger evidence that Ive is gone I don’t know what it might be. An actual plug for a wired headphone, like some of us still have occasion to use. 

    Not only did they add it back in, but they improved it for use with higher impedance headphones. Basically this means that people with at least some audiophile class headphones will be able to use these headphones without needing an external digital-to-analog-converter (DAC) and amplifier. I haven't dug into the details, i.e., the maximum supported impedance, but this will be a welcome improvement for quite a few folks who want to use the Air with higher end headphones. One less component to clutter your desk or studio.
    baconstang
  • Reply 28 of 49
    These (especially the M2 13" MBP) make that gap between the 13" and 14" MBP's seem more reasonable.

    I mean, the 13" M2 MBP with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD goes for $1699. The similarly spec'd 14" M1 Pro MBP goes for $1999. I haven't seen benchmarks comparing the M2 with the M1 Pro, but in theory the M1 Pro is still similar if not faster (I'm fairly certain it's still faster than a base M2), and the build quality on the 14" is definitely better than the M1 13" MBP.

    Point is: the 13" MBP does blur the line between the 13" and the 14" a bit better, but (especially on sale) the 14" still seems like a decent deal.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 49
    leighrleighr Posts: 253member
    I haven’t read anything about the new round “feet” that have appeared on all of the new M1, and now M2, MacBooks. I’m assuming it’s to allow for cooling/airflow underneath the laptop, but haven’t seen anything specifically said about this?
  • Reply 30 of 49
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    mpantone said:
    wood1208 said:
    M2 Macbook AIR is nice upgrade with performance, larger screen, front camera,etc etc but you don't have to be Apple genius to put one usb-c port on right side!! If Apple wants to save money or keep usb-c ports to minimum than than just split two left side USB-C ports and move one on the right. How hard is that ?
    These ports aren't ordinary USB 3.2. They are Thunderbolt ports.

    Thunderbolt can support two ports per bus. My Mac mini 2018 has two Thunderbolt buses (Bus 0 and Bus 1) thus the four Thunderbolt ports on the back of the machine. My guess is that there are engineering and cost considerations involved. They cannot realistically route one port to the opposite side of the MacBook Air chassis without considerable expense and possibly sacrificing reliability.

    It looks like these MacBooks only have one Thunderbolt bus which is why the ports are adjacent to each other. Putting a USB-C port on the right side might have been a possibility but it does increase cost. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a prototype M2 MacBook Air with ports on the right side sitting in a lab somewhere in Cupertino but ultimately got the ax.

    I understand your desire for a port on the right. I use an Acer Swift 3 as a notebook PC and it has a very convenient USB-A port on the right side; there's one on the left side as well as a Thunderbolt 3 port next to it. The right side USB-A port is very useful. There's only one USB-A on the left side of the Swift 3 to give space for an HDMI connector.
    I can agree. if Apple hardware design engineers could move one USB-C TB port on right than they could have done it. I though the new MBA is slightly thicker, square so that could have given added flexibility in MB design to route to other side. But what do I know ? May be in next iteration.
    watto_cobradewme
  • Reply 31 of 49
    michelb76michelb76 Posts: 612member
    hattig said:
    I have a mackbook air M1 for working purposes. For office, and online work it’s fantastic but as soon as you use MS teams for a meeting, sharing a screen and video conferencing, the cpu get’s too hot. And because there is no fan inside MacOS makes the cpu’s work slower to avoid heat problems. And then the machine will get very slow. Therefore I would always buy the 13” mackbook pro to avoid this problem.
    MS Teams does that on 16 core behemoth desktop systems - it's not the system, it's the appalling software from MS.
    Get the Apple silicon version of teams, problem solved.
    watto_cobraappleuseryeah
  • Reply 32 of 49
    bala1234bala1234 Posts: 142member
    charlesn said:
    Now that Jony Ive has left, why does Apple still not give enough ports to the computers?

    They actually want people to be in dongle hell. 

    Provide another USB-C port on the right … would have been great. 

    Other then the position of the ports, I think the rest of this upgrade is wonderful. 
    Apple has exactly what you want: it's called a MacBook Pro 14" or 16'. But if you want the much thinner, lighter and cheaper Air, you have to give up one port. That's called a first world problem. The new Air provides an extra charging port that the previous model did not have, but if you're stilll in dongle hell with two free ports because of all the plug-in peripherals you use, I"m not sure why you'd be using a mass market laptop in the first place. 
    Yes its unreasonable to expect any more ports than they provided. But I still wish they provided the second port on the right side! Oh well you can't have everything....
    watto_cobradewme
  • Reply 33 of 49
    timmilleatimmillea Posts: 242member
    leighr said:
    I haven’t read anything about the new round “feet” that have appeared on all of the new M1, and now M2, MacBooks. I’m assuming it’s to allow for cooling/airflow underneath the laptop, but haven’t seen anything specifically said about this?
    Yes, I wonder if those feet are included in the official measurements? 

    I have the M1 MBA and use a laptop stand for heavy duty tasks (e.g Handbrake ripping of Blu-rays overnight) because, in my CB23 testing sustained over hours, the increased airflow/thermal release increases overall speed by 7.4% by itself and by 17.4% with the thermal pad too. I would bet that Apple have included thermal pads from the factory in all M2 MBAs and added those feet in order to improve the headline speed figures they quote. 

    I think the new M2 MBA is a marginal improvement over the M1 MBA but at a price - almost 2000 USD/GBP for a moderately future-proof 16GB/1TB configured model. That is an awful lot for an entry-level laptop!

    With only a 2.5% speed improvement over my thermal-padded M1 MBA on a stand, I can't see me upgrading this time around. Another 2 years to wait....

    Regarding not cutting the price on the M1 MBA and the hike for the M2 MBA, inflation is currently running around 10% p.a.. Maintaining the current the cash price is essentially a 10% year-on-year price drop - more when you consider the M1 MBA was the same price almost two years ago. Apple tends to maintain price points and improve specs. It can't when inflation is raging and supply is severely constricted. 
    edited June 2022 watto_cobradewme
  • Reply 34 of 49
    hattig said:
    I have a mackbook air M1 for working purposes. For office, and online work it’s fantastic but as soon as you use MS teams for a meeting, sharing a screen and video conferencing, the cpu get’s too hot. And because there is no fan inside MacOS makes the cpu’s work slower to avoid heat problems. And then the machine will get very slow. Therefore I would always buy the 13” mackbook pro to avoid this problem.
    MS Teams does that on 16 core behemoth desktop systems - it's not the system, it's the appalling software from MS.
    I really have to second this -- every laptop I have ever used for Teams becomes very, very slow.  (My experience has only been w/ Windows based laptops at work.)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 35 of 49
    seanjseanj Posts: 318member
    Now that Jony Ive has left, why does Apple still not give enough ports to the computers?

    They actually want people to be in dongle hell. 

    Provide another USB-C port on the right … would have been great. 

    Other then the position of the ports, I think the rest of this upgrade is wonderful. 
    Maybe because it wasn’t Ive that was responsible for reducing the number of ports. It’s just all the haters on here assumed it was him…
    edited June 2022 watto_cobraroundaboutnow
  • Reply 36 of 49
    seanjseanj Posts: 318member
    I just want to take a moment to lament the passing of the tapered thickness (thinness) that has, until now, always been associated with the MacBook Air name.

    I can't argue with Apple's decision to reimagine the M2 MacBook Air as a uniform 0.44-inch thin design, especially given that they shaved a full 20% from its volume as compared to the M1 MacBook Air. But I will still miss the wedge-shaped design of all previous-generation Airs, which became absolutely iconic and influenced the shape of thin-and-light notebooks throughout the industry for well over a decade. Apple didn't invent the wedge shape for notebooks, but they perfected it with the Intel- and M1-based Airs. The design certainly earned a revered place in computing history.

    I'll tell ya what, though: Speaking of iconic designs, I would be willing to pay a (slight) penalty in thinness if it meant we could still have a glowing Apple logo.
    Agreed, bring back the glowing logo!
    watto_cobraentropysTRAG
  • Reply 37 of 49
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    dewme said:
    I just want to take a moment to lament the passing of the tapered thickness (thinness) that has, until now, always been associated with the MacBook Air name.

    I can't argue with Apple's decision to reimagine the M2 MacBook Air as a uniform 0.44-inch thin design, especially given that they shaved a full 20% from its volume as compared to the M1 MacBook Air. But I will still miss the wedge-shaped design of all previous-generation Airs, which became absolutely iconic and influenced the shape of thin-and-light notebooks throughout the industry for well over a decade. Apple didn't invent the wedge shape for notebooks, but they perfected it with the Intel- and M1-based Airs. The design certainly earned a revered place in computing history.

    I'll tell ya what, though: Speaking of iconic designs, I would be willing to pay a (slight) penalty in thinness if it meant we could still have a glowing Apple logo.
    I could not agree more. The tapered front edge combined with the superlative trackpad (and to a lesser extent the great keyboard) is what defined the MacBook Air and made it such a joy to use. No other notebook, ultra book, ir whatever you want to call it ever came close to replicating the glorious tactile experience that the MacBook Air delivered. 

    Oh well, everything changes at some point. I’m now in a bit of a quandary about what Apple really intends to convey when they slap the “Air” moniker on one of their products. 

    Apple products that have the “Air” designation are uniformly good products in their categories, but they’ve become almost synonymous with the SE designation, where Apple throws in a few goodies to entice you at their price point but is very careful not to throw in too many and cannibalize anything with a Pro  designation. Whether we agree with Apple’s strategy or not, the sales speak to the strategy being a runaway success. 

    The glowing Apple was such an awesome way to maximize product placement opportunities, so yeah, doing away with it was a bit disappointing, especially as Apple’s competitors started cloning the look and feel of Apple’s products. 
    I was a MBA user for many years until I went the MBP (14) route a few months back.  It's surprised me how often I go to open my laptop out of a bag and have to reverse it because it's the wrong way round.  Never happened with the MBA because the wedge always made it very clear which way round it needed to be before I even put it on a table.

    A small fry advantage compared to my MBP, but I kinda miss it.
    dewmewatto_cobraurashidentropys
  • Reply 38 of 49
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    bala1234 said:
    charlesn said:
    Now that Jony Ive has left, why does Apple still not give enough ports to the computers?

    They actually want people to be in dongle hell. 

    Provide another USB-C port on the right … would have been great. 

    Other then the position of the ports, I think the rest of this upgrade is wonderful. 
    Apple has exactly what you want: it's called a MacBook Pro 14" or 16'. But if you want the much thinner, lighter and cheaper Air, you have to give up one port. That's called a first world problem. The new Air provides an extra charging port that the previous model did not have, but if you're stilll in dongle hell with two free ports because of all the plug-in peripherals you use, I"m not sure why you'd be using a mass market laptop in the first place. 
    Yes its unreasonable to expect any more ports than they provided. But I still wish they provided the second port on the right side! Oh well you can't have everything....

    Isn't 14.1" Macbook Pro have one USB-C port on right along with 2 on left ? For new MBA, I was hoping for one on each side so I can charge using USB-C port on left or right in case Megsafe is not around. Probably in next update or in rumored 15" Macbook Air.
    edited June 2022
  • Reply 39 of 49
    Agree with earlier posts that a USB-C/TB-4 on each side would be better than two on the same side as MagSafe-3.  Looking at my (several years older) Chromebook, I see a  USB-C port on either side, along with a USB-A on one side, and a headphone jack.  Considering the MUCH lower price of the Chromebook, I don't buy it would have cost that much to provide a single USB/TB-4 on both sides, on a machine that costs 550% more.  Neither has an Intel/AMD chip.  More ports on the 14 inch mbp is a definite selling point, but seems that Apple should consider forming a user acceptance committee.  Reducing the number of ports, then requiring many to spend hundreds on a thunderbolt dock, adding clutter and taking up extra space, is a poor design choice (although I'm seeing it more in general with laptop designs across the board).  End of rant.  I suspect the MBA M2 will sell well, which will please shareholders.  Would have liked a HDMI and a USB-A, at an absolute minimum.  
    edited July 2022
  • Reply 40 of 49
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,335member
    Thanks for posting that back to back picture of the new vs old MacBook Air. Despite the move away from the tapered edges on the new MacBook Air it appears that the deck height is actually lower on the new model. This should translate to an even better typing and trackpad experience over what was already my favorite MacBook keyboard+trackpad combination.

    Sorry to sound redundant, but the notch is no big deal for me other than potential menu interference. The usable non-menu based screen real estate is not affected. I'm not sure how Apple handles the notch at the software level, but it seems like it would be quite easy for the operating system to handle the notch in a similar way that it handles wrapping of text around a carriage return and how word processors handle non-breakable spaces around a carriage return. In essence the menu on a notched display is a two-line display context with a carriage return in the middle and the second line at the same vertical placement as the first line, but offset to avoid the notch. However they do it, handling the notch should be an OS responsibility and transparent to applications, and thus, users. 
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