I'm going to miss then wedge design. I know some deemed it outdated, but I felt it gave the Air an iconic design and a comfortable one as well when typing for long periods of time.
My wife and I have each been using our 2018 i5 MBAs. Our old MBAs run so slow. We each ordered a midnight blue MacBook Air (MBA) M2 at exactly when they went on sale and still got a “August 2-9” delivery date. Your insightful review makes me even more excited to be receiving our M2 MBAs soon. Thank you for the wonderful review video and the continued great work!
When Intel was paying YT creators millions to promote the 12th gen they sent influencers the MSI $4000 machine that one man and his dog would buy, “weird Intel did that”! You send creators the config that is best for them as they are prosumers and no sensible sane prosumer should buy the base model unless they are a masochist!
Using the single NAND slot with a 256GB drive on the M2 will make the M1 Air a much better value over all for most consumers. I cannot recommend this unit until further tests are available, but highly likely.
Exactly... lets be real.. Apple are just releasing this M2 Air and M2 Pro, so that people would buy the 14 inch M1 Pro.. Apple are just going back to its roots of not caring for the users..
Great review. Apple should've made 16G the base model, we're mostly memory bound most of the times (looking at you Chrome). I got the M1 Pro 14" after years of 2015 MBP, just cuz the chip is revolutionary in terms of power efficiency. I've not had it spin up the fans or even get hot once. Seems like M2 Air might be a good deal for someone who waited all this time.
I just sold my 2015 MBP and can’t decide between M1 Air 16 GB 512 gb for €1580 or the M2 Air 16 GB 512 SSD €1901. The price difference is pretty steep in Europe :I The M2 is only a marginal upgrade from the M1, but MagSafe, 500 nits, bigger screen and redesign is tempting me
@@Sebbz That's a hard choice tbh. For M1 Air you don't need to necessarily get the 512GB as it has two 128GB SSDs and doesn't suffer degraded IOPS unlike it's M2 256GB successor. The 14" M1 Pro MBP is great at the discounted price of 1799. (200 off the OG 1999).
"Great review. Apple should've made 16G the base model," While I understand your post and agree with you the thing to consider is when a company includes a set amount of Ram for the base model it's usually the least amount it needs to get work done but not necessarily getting work done very efficiently or even much room for pushing the system. Once customers notice that the base amount of Ram isn't quite cutting it they will consider returning their computer for the upgraded Ram model. Case in point I bought the 16" M1 Max MBP and it automatically comes with 32GB Ram. Sounds like a lot but this Mac is their flagship workstation and I do an extensive amount of video encoding so I went with 64GB because I thought it was odd that Apple was shipping this model with 32GB Ram which seems like a lot but based on the processor it ships with 32GB would perhaps be what is required to get it run well. Not often but sometimes the 64GB results in a swap and virtual memory is created due to how much Ram is needed for my work. That being said if Apple ends up including 16GB Ram in the base AIR that might not be quite enough and 24-32GB may be more optimal depending on how the system is designed. One more example, the iPhone 13 Pro comes with 128GB Flash storage which is plenty for me since I don't store much on my iPhone. Before my return policy was up I found out that Apple's ProRes recording and Camera Raw require a lot of storage space and the ProRes is not available with the 128GB model. It requires the 256GB model so I returned my phone and bought the 13 Pro Max with 256GB. Higher base storages don't mean you're in the clear. Like I said often it's what's needed for the system to function but not maximize work needed.
in our sinful nature, we’re nothing more than wretched, vile sinners in DIRE need of the Savior, but JESUS, the perfect and sinless Lamb of God, came into the world and took the punishment we deserved for our wicked sins and was raised from the dead three days after being buried so that we may have the opportunity of salvation, redemption, adoption, and reconciliation to the Heavenly Father. we ought to repent and believe in the Gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ; we must be born-again.
You've convinced me! I guess I'm getting a M2 Mac book Air! I was wondering if I should hold out for the Mac book Pro but the Air with the M2 chip is a beast! Plus the Starlight color is hella pretty! I'm convinced that someone at Apple is watching My Little Pony and getting color ideas from it! Hey, It works!
I found a MBA M1 that is upgraded 16 gb and 512 ssd cheaper than the MBA M2 8gb and 512 . Almost hundred dollars cheaper . Which one would you go after ?
My decision to get the base 14" MacBook Pro has proven to be the best decision I could have made.The best long term value proposition. Makes it easy to skip this and wait.
@@erickpenaloza1 I don't think so - having the keyboard and trackpad permanently attached can be convenient, and the M1 in ipads will always have thermal limitations over a fan cooled system, or even the bigger heat sinks in a larger machine like the Macbook Airs. It would mean that some Apple Macbooks would best be made with the option of having touch screen displays though, which I think is long overdue, given the competition from MS Surface, and that definitely would not be a bad thing in my view. Look on the Windows side of the world to see the reality of the situation - touch screens are important, but definitely only a subset of the user base. Just because Surface machines are available, people haven't stopped buying regular non-touch enabled notebook computers, or desktops. Gradual introduction of limited touchscreen support beyond simple mouse pointer emulation could be carefully added to MacOS itself with user and developer community suggestions then over time. Being able to touch the screen sometimes is the most natural way to interact with a machine, even if most of the time you use a keyboard and a mouse or trackpad - dismissing any dialog that pops up on the screen while web surfing, or while doing anything else that is interrupted, by actually touching the button that appears on the screen is the most natural thing in the world. IOS and MacOS will always remain viable options suited to particular hardware and forms of interaction, but I don't think the option of being able to load either operating system on every M1+ machine would be the mega sea change calamity naysayers within Apple portend, especially if Apple offers strictly limited support if the "wrong" OS is loaded on a machine. In the other direction, for presentations, and websurfing, I could see IOS being handy sometimes on a primarily MacOS machine if it had a touchscreen option. Apple should allow it, to begin with just as an "unsupported" option, like their public beta program, that the user and developer community could further implement and offer support for. What has Apple got to lose? People are still going to want to buy multiple machines. People now already buy a phone and an ipad, and they both run the same operating system (at first, anyway) it's not the OS that determines the purchase, it is the capability and size of the hardware. People will still want to buy machines with a keyboard and trackpad permanently attached, lots of peripheral support and IO, and large non-touchable desktop displays to run MacOS desktop power software. Your argument is like saying that because the M1 Mac mini exists, nobody is going to want to buy a Mac Studio. I think there is also a huge benefit to Apple. Allowing users to load MacOS on their ipads would once and for all stop the continual pressure from "power" ipad iOS users, like Brian here, to make it into something it was never designed to be, which is a full blown desktop operating system, complete with its complicated file and hardware management options.
Thank You so much for a very practical review Brian! You included the video editing aspect and did a deep test and shared the results that helped me a lot.
I'm a sucker for the classic silver. All the colours look great and the Midnight colour looks awesome too but I hear it's a fingerprint magnet. At least the silver will look clean even after I touch it.
I have a MacBook Pro right now and it constantly overheats whenever I have several tabs open. Yesterday I thought it was going to explode! I want to buy a new MacBook Air M2 but I'm concerned with the fan issue. Can you watch a movie while several other tabs are open without it overheating? Thanks for review!
My brother sent me this review because he thought it was really good... And I agree! I am looking forward to getting the new MacBook Pro. I def want to keep my touch bar from my 2019 😅. Glad I watched this to help me decide if I was making the right decision or not. 😎
I'm planning to purchase a Macbook Air (M2 - 256 GB), and I'm not sure whether I should upgrade the SoC or memory (for future-proofing) - I can only afford 1 and IDK which is more important. It'll be for the usual day-to-day stuff: sheets, browsing, movies, and The Sims 4 lol. No video editing, coding, or music production. This is the 1st laptop I'll purchase for myself and I've never had any experience with Macs either, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
I ordered mine with 16GB 1TB SSD it comes in august… im excited. Im coming from an intel 2018 MacBook Air! Definitely worth the upgrade, was debating getting the MacBook Pro but I wouldn’t be using all those extra features and power. Can’t wait
I am locked into the apple ecosystem… and I will be replacing my 2015 MacbookPro 16gb ram 500gb ssd. I use my laptop mainly to create flyers, and photoshop edits, here and there I use final cut to edit 4k clips for promo. I’m also an engineering student half of my SSD is shared with Bootcamp where I run windows OS to use software such as Solidworks, CAD inventor, etc. ohh last but not least, I DJ with the same laptop. However, with all the stuff I do on my 2015 MacbookPro It gets really loud and hot. Would you recommend the m2 air 16gb 1TB?
I'm going to go on recommending it like this. If you're looking for the deal, and you're not sure which machine to get, there are only two sensible choices of which MacBook to buy. Either you have $750-$850 (depending on whether you shop education during back to school, or refurbished) for the base model M1 MacBook Air (which, by the way, you should already have bought by now -- it sure hasn't gotten any cheaper for all your waiting) OR You buy the $1700-$1800 (again, depending on deals) 14" MacBook Pro. The 13" doesn't make sense because it costs about the same as the 14" for the same RAM and storage, and you're giving up EVERYTHING else. The M2 Air doesn't make sense because it's almost the same price for less performance than the M1 Pro. You shouldn't buy the base model M2 Air or M2 MacBook Pro when the M1 Air is barely more than half the price for almost the same experience as the M2 MacBook Pro, and you shouldn't pay Apple prices to get more RAM and storage in the M2 devices because it brings you straight into 14" MBP pricing territory. Above these configurations, you have the 16" MacBook Pro, but if you wanted one of those, didn't you buy it already? I did. I paid $3500 for mine last October, and if you're a student you can save 1/7 of that price today. Otherwise, you can buy refurbished and save 1/10, but come on! That's not a deal; pre-order season was the time to buy THAT. So, Apple Silicon in a nutshell: if you wanted the deal, you bought the M1 iPad Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, or iMac when they were announced, or the 14" or 16" MacBook Pro when they were announced, or any of same the first time your desired configuration came up on the refurbished store. (I'm sure glad I took my own advice and got the iPad, the mini, and the 16"!) If you're buying now, you accept that you're not paying any less money but the machine you're buying won't last as long anymore because M2 is out, or you overpay for the M2 Macs. Not a great situation, unless you're a student and you're buying the M1 MacBook Air for $750 or the M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14" for $1700. If you're not a student, it's $100 more if you shop smart. Don't buy full price M2 machines, but if a few months from now you see a deal on the MacBook Air with M2, perhaps refurbished, and you want the new QoL but don't need performance beyond M1, and you still haven't bought up to that point, fine, get the M2 MacBook Air refurbished. MBP 13" is a a hard pass. Anyone concerned about "pro performance" should be looking at the 14" and up.
Great review, thanks, and also brilliant choice of wallpaper, I use the same one😅I wanted to get the new MacBook Air but decided to get the 14 inch MacBook Pro, since I believe as a filmmaking student the 14 inch is a better option (no need to pay extra for 16 GB ram and also mini LED)
Is 8Gig unified memory enough or would you get more (I don’t create movies and I don’t really play video games either. But I tend to have my MacBook Air for 5 to 7 years. I’m going to replace the one I have from 2015.) Thanks!
I would strongly lean towards 16GB. Reality is most people will be fine with 8 because of how macOS and the M2 chip manage memory it feels like 16. But if your goal is 5 to 7 years and you even want to dabble with any media, I'd personally go 16.
Survived till the end 2nd time. Really informative. I am considering to change my Macbook air but after your comparison I know what I have to buy. Thank you. Best
I was very tempted to get the M2 MacBook Air when it was introduced to replace my original iPad Pro. After looking at all the specs and what my needs are I decided to go with the M1 12.9” iPad Pro and the Magic keyboard. For my needs and productivity it was the better choice mainly because I also have a Mac Studio Max for all my higher level production work including my video editing. I also hung on to my Late 2015 iMac as an extra computer for some simpler tasks.
Apple screwed the pooch with the hard drives. It seems that all the reviewers got the 512Gig. Bad form from Apple. I am now very happy that I did not wait for this and rather went for the 14inch Macbook Pro.
excellent explanation i have decided to get the M2 for what I need reading, nnetflix sometimes, e bay, surfing, thats it no gaming..you are great..thanks for the best review on M2 I have read yet your smart & entertaining sure everyone watches the whole video keep up the good work
Have been watching you, Brian, for years, since the C-Net days. Love your personality and presentation style and your point of view. Also like that you really let Apple have it when they do something stupid. And I watched the video beginning to end. Wishing you continued success.
I watched you video all the way! A creative, very thoughtful and outstanding production! 🙂 Greatly appreciated and very helpful to a tech challenged old timer like me. I was so favorably impressed that I subscribed. On July 8, I ordered the M2 with16GB RAM with 512GB SSD in Midnight. Your video verified my selection. By the way and for what it's worth, one recent review indicated that the 67W USB-C Charger does not use MagSafe. Thank you.
i still want apple to make one without a notch/camera as a build option so i can enjoy that full screen experience. a detached webcam to me is far superior to anything they build into the chassis .... imo the next step for video conferencing is VR support, and for that i think you'll need a detached 360 degree cam. that way a group on one side of the call don't have to use multiple laptops or squeeze into the frame for group meetings. they can sit around a table and the viewer at the other end, using a VR headset, can look around at will. this feature should also support spatial audio ofc
Just dropped by the Apple store to take a closer look and the midnight is kinda sticky. There's a sticky texture to the coating (which explains the fingerprints) and it doesn't feel nice when typing. Other than that, it surprisingly runs on lesser RAM when idle, everything loads up quickly (SSD speed would be issue if it goes into virtial mem swap), web page speed seems the same as the M1, lighter by 50grams but it feels more than that. Overall a nice little upgrade from M1 Air. 👍
It's the Mini-LED display that has the deeper blacks. LED is a type of LCD display. Mini-LED is also a type of LCD with improved tech and deeper blacks and more accurate color representation. Then the next tech step up is OLED. Yes, it's confusing.
First by a long way. The storage speed is only important for multitasking and pro apps if you use swap. With 16GB you will rarely need swap so 256GB will be fine. If you need more storage you can use external SSDs.
Been watching you since your C-Net days, love your videos. I just had one question. On the apple website it says it's thunderbolt / USB-C 4 but you said it was 3. It is USB 3 or 4? That would be a make or break for me.
I assume the distance between the two ports are the same as on the M1? (Using an external ports that have a cable that has 2 on the end) Want to use in clamshell operation. Other than turning it on is there anything I need to know about clam shell operation?
Dude, I stayed till the end because I like you. Compared to the wedge design on the previous version - how is the typing comfort? Because I love typing on 2020 Air.
I won't be doing any video editing or content creation, but I will be coding - front end and some mobile development. Will the Air be good enough for that if I upgrade the RAM to 16GB? I can swing the 14 M1 Pro, but paying close to $2k for a laptop just isn't quite sitting right with me.
Same for me, I have the 2015 pro, I need more than 8gb of ram but paying over 2k for a laptop doesn't feel right, I'm getting the air M2, it should be more than enough for me as a mobile developer, Im already happy with my 7 year old 2015 MBP, even if the M2 air isn't the best like how bad can it be, of course it would be miles ahead of my 2015 pro
@@vsChris wow, in that case the M2 air would be great, save a few bucks rather than getting the pro, fans shouldn't be that big of a deal, when I'm doing mobile dev, the only time the fans kick in for my 2015 pro are when I'm building the app bundle for android, they kick for a few minutes.
working my pro photo business with a 2015 MacBook Pro 13'' 256+8gb and still working fine but getting slower with the most recente raw files from the latest cameras. This time I'm not thinking with going pro and this Air is really making me think on it.
@ Brian Tong Thanks for sharing your opinions. Were you reviewing the 512 SSD M2 Air? Seems Apple sent that version to early reviewers due to the SSD performance. What do you think of this POV: That's a $1400 machine, quite a bit more than the $850 M1 Air (refurb or on sale) that , while having fewer features, performs almost as well in most use cases. That $550 difference pre-tax can buy a lot of external SSDs, or an external display, or Final Cut Pro... and still have $ left over.
Check out some other videos that show the M2 (10 core GPU) is around 40% faster in some real life tests. That is due to 25% more GPU and the media engines that are not in the M1 Air, also there is the 50% improvement in ML and 50% more bandwidth along with far faster RAM. Do not get fooled by the 256GB slower storage as that is just a small part of the M2 Airs. Please also be wary, as I have heard that the M1 Airs now have the 256GB storage module, so an older refurb that has the two NAND setup is essential otherwise performance will be much worse base M1 -v- base M2.
@@andyH_England I got the base model M2 MacBook Air for an upgrade.. I see everyone talking about 10 core and the base model being slower then the M1.. I don’t do much on them but search internet - I will be working on writing a book - but most of that will be saved in my ICloud.. Otherwise I don’t do much but Social media and maybe some school work…
@@mistismith4498 Yes, I see you as the main demographic for the Air, and why the base model will be great for users like you and me. I am in the cloud as well. Enjoy!
You forgot to reiterate the ssd upgrade necessary for performance at the end - it’s important that people are aware the 256gb ssd is half as fast as the m1 air/pro .. the easy solution to that is obviously just get the 512 or higher like you said in the middle of the video but it bears repeating ..!
Everyone hyping up the midnight color but that starlight is lowkey stunning. Awesome review Brian!
I have the Starlite iPad Air M1 I would have liked the blue one but they didn’t have it in stock!
Upon watching most of the uploaded reviews, midnight is legitimately a fingerprint magnet - that’s why I’m leaning more on starlight.
i’ve ordered the Starlight as i feel the midnight will be covered in dabs
I don’t think the midnight color is overhyped at all! People have been waiting for a color like that
Agree, starlight is the hidden star
All these m2 review videos going up today, its like an m2 marathon, and i love it
apple has been generously doling these out for back to school reasons
The wedge design made the Air the Air. I think the new design works great on the Pro line though.
I'm going to miss then wedge design. I know some deemed it outdated, but I felt it gave the Air an iconic design and a comfortable one as well when typing for long periods of time.
Yes, Brian. Join the Final Cut Pro dark side 😈
Seems inevitable. Hard to resist with export times like that!
My wife and I have each been using our 2018 i5 MBAs. Our old MBAs run so slow. We each ordered a midnight blue MacBook Air (MBA) M2 at exactly when they went on sale and still got a “August 2-9” delivery date. Your insightful review makes me even more excited to be receiving our M2 MBAs soon. Thank you for the wonderful review video and the continued great work!
Which model you got?
Weird Apple didn’t send any 8/256 base models for review 🤷♂️🤔
Another solid review BT!
When Intel was paying YT creators millions to promote the 12th gen they sent influencers the MSI $4000 machine that one man and his dog would buy, “weird Intel did that”! You send creators the config that is best for them as they are prosumers and no sensible sane prosumer should buy the base model unless they are a masochist!
Using the single NAND slot with a 256GB drive on the M2 will make the M1 Air a much better value over all for most consumers. I cannot recommend this unit until further tests are available, but highly likely.
I guess I’m not a sensible prosumer because that’s the exact configuration I ordered 😂
@dany ay lol $100 more? It’s like $300-$400 more wdym
Exactly... lets be real.. Apple are just releasing this M2 Air and M2 Pro, so that people would buy the 14 inch M1 Pro..
Apple are just going back to its roots of not caring for the users..
Great review. Apple should've made 16G the base model, we're mostly memory bound most of the times (looking at you Chrome). I got the M1 Pro 14" after years of 2015 MBP, just cuz the chip is revolutionary in terms of power efficiency. I've not had it spin up the fans or even get hot once. Seems like M2 Air might be a good deal for someone who waited all this time.
I just sold my 2015 MBP and can’t decide between M1 Air 16 GB 512 gb for €1580 or the M2 Air 16 GB 512 SSD €1901. The price difference is pretty steep in Europe :I
The M2 is only a marginal upgrade from the M1, but MagSafe, 500 nits, bigger screen and redesign is tempting me
@@Sebbz M1 but I know you'll get the M2 😂
@@Sebbz That's a hard choice tbh. For M1 Air you don't need to necessarily get the 512GB as it has two 128GB SSDs and doesn't suffer degraded IOPS unlike it's M2 256GB successor. The 14" M1 Pro MBP is great at the discounted price of 1799. (200 off the OG 1999).
@@metabolic_jam I don’t live in the US so unfortunately those prices are much higher for me
"Great review. Apple should've made 16G the base model,"
While I understand your post and agree with you the thing to consider is when a company includes a set amount of Ram for the base model it's usually the least amount it needs to get work done but not necessarily getting work done very efficiently or even much room for pushing the system. Once customers notice that the base amount of Ram isn't quite cutting it they will consider returning their computer for the upgraded Ram model.
Case in point I bought the 16" M1 Max MBP and it automatically comes with 32GB Ram. Sounds like a lot but this Mac is their flagship workstation and I do an extensive amount of video encoding so I went with 64GB because I thought it was odd that Apple was shipping this model with 32GB Ram which seems like a lot but based on the processor it ships with 32GB would perhaps be what is required to get it run well. Not often but sometimes the 64GB results in a swap and virtual memory is created due to how much Ram is needed for my work. That being said if Apple ends up including 16GB Ram in the base AIR that might not be quite enough and 24-32GB may be more optimal depending on how the system is designed.
One more example, the iPhone 13 Pro comes with 128GB Flash storage which is plenty for me since I don't store much on my iPhone. Before my return policy was up I found out that Apple's ProRes recording and Camera Raw require a lot of storage space and the ProRes is not available with the 128GB model. It requires the 256GB model so I returned my phone and bought the 13 Pro Max with 256GB. Higher base storages don't mean you're in the clear. Like I said often it's what's needed for the system to function but not maximize work needed.
Midnight gets all the glory, but it look really nice in this video with Starlight. The display is so much better now.
in our sinful nature, we’re nothing more than wretched, vile sinners in DIRE need of the Savior, but JESUS, the perfect and sinless Lamb of God, came into the world and took the punishment we deserved for our wicked sins and was raised from the dead three days after being buried so that we may have the opportunity of salvation, redemption, adoption, and reconciliation to the Heavenly Father. we ought to repent and believe in the Gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ; we must be born-again.
If you upgrade it to 16GB of RAM, and maybe 512GB of storage, you get a VERY nice machine. But, unfortunately not at a very nice price.
You've convinced me! I guess I'm getting a M2 Mac book Air! I was wondering if I should hold out for the Mac book Pro but the Air with the M2 chip is a beast! Plus the Starlight color is hella pretty! I'm convinced that someone at Apple is watching My Little Pony and getting color ideas from it! Hey, It works!
Really impressed by how much performance you can get out of the M2 Air even compared against the M1 Pro and up.
Where's the proof? There's only negativity
@@travis_saldanha 8:37
I found a MBA M1 that is upgraded 16 gb and 512 ssd cheaper than the MBA M2 8gb and 512 . Almost hundred dollars cheaper . Which one would you go after ?
My decision to get the base 14" MacBook Pro has proven to be the best decision I could have made.The best long term value proposition. Makes it easy to skip this and wait.
Just got mine . Is it normal that it has 2 battery cycle count already when I first opened it?
Thaks.
Awesome this see a shoutout to Brian from MKBHD on this video!
Okay the computer is cool…. But my question is where did you get that sweater 🤔
my first m2 air review no better person love you brian
Apple should give people the option of running MacOS on their M series tablets.
They would lose all there customers on MacBooks
@@erickpenaloza1 I don't think so - having the keyboard and trackpad permanently attached can be convenient, and the M1 in ipads will always have thermal limitations over a fan cooled system, or even the bigger heat sinks in a larger machine like the Macbook Airs.
It would mean that some Apple Macbooks would best be made with the option of having touch screen displays though, which I think is long overdue, given the competition from MS Surface, and that definitely would not be a bad thing in my view.
Look on the Windows side of the world to see the reality of the situation - touch screens are important, but definitely only a subset of the user base. Just because Surface machines are available, people haven't stopped buying regular non-touch enabled notebook computers, or desktops.
Gradual introduction of limited touchscreen support beyond simple mouse pointer emulation could be carefully added to MacOS itself with user and developer community suggestions then over time.
Being able to touch the screen sometimes is the most natural way to interact with a machine, even if most of the time you use a keyboard and a mouse or trackpad - dismissing any dialog that pops up on the screen while web surfing, or while doing anything else that is interrupted, by actually touching the button that appears on the screen is the most natural thing in the world.
IOS and MacOS will always remain viable options suited to particular hardware and forms of interaction, but I don't think the option of being able to load either operating system on every M1+ machine would be the mega sea change calamity naysayers within Apple portend, especially if Apple offers strictly limited support if the "wrong" OS is loaded on a machine.
In the other direction, for presentations, and websurfing, I could see IOS being handy sometimes on a primarily MacOS machine if it had a touchscreen option.
Apple should allow it, to begin with just as an "unsupported" option, like their public beta program, that the user and developer community could further implement and offer support for. What has Apple got to lose?
People are still going to want to buy multiple machines. People now already buy a phone and an ipad, and they both run the same operating system (at first, anyway) it's not the OS that determines the purchase, it is the capability and size of the hardware.
People will still want to buy machines with a keyboard and trackpad permanently attached, lots of peripheral support and IO, and large non-touchable desktop displays to run MacOS desktop power software.
Your argument is like saying that because the M1 Mac mini exists, nobody is going to want to buy a Mac Studio.
I think there is also a huge benefit to Apple.
Allowing users to load MacOS on their ipads would once and for all stop the continual pressure from "power" ipad iOS users, like Brian here, to make it into something it was never designed to be, which is a full blown desktop operating system, complete with its complicated file and hardware management options.
Thank You so much for a very practical review Brian!
You included the video editing aspect and did a deep test and shared the results that helped me a lot.
Love the Nebula from the James Webb Telescope! It looks a Vincent van Gogh painting
I'm a sucker for the classic silver. All the colours look great and the Midnight colour looks awesome too but I hear it's a fingerprint magnet. At least the silver will look clean even after I touch it.
SUPER HELPFUL! Was going to get the Air, but helped me decide I'd like a base model MBP instead. EXCELLENT video
That sweater is everything. Also yay midnight air m2 user soon from the 2018 mpb with Touch Bar, waiting patiently for it to arrive.
I could watch Brian’s B-roll footage all day long. I love your goofiness 🤪
Damn Bteezy got an exclusive interview with Tim Cook. No other reviewer can claim that.
Great review Brian! Onward! You did a nice job rounding out with a practical review.
Thanks for watching Patrick!
What’s the killer feature?
I have a MacBook Pro right now and it constantly overheats whenever I have several tabs open. Yesterday I thought it was going to explode! I want to buy a new MacBook Air M2 but I'm concerned with the fan issue. Can you watch a movie while several other tabs are open without it overheating? Thanks for review!
What configuration did you’ve? Also 13” or 14”?
My brother sent me this review because he thought it was really good... And I agree!
I am looking forward to getting the new MacBook Pro. I def want to keep my touch bar from my 2019 😅. Glad I watched this to help me decide if I was making the right decision or not. 😎
I'm planning to purchase a Macbook Air (M2 - 256 GB), and I'm not sure whether I should upgrade the SoC or memory (for future-proofing) - I can only afford 1 and IDK which is more important. It'll be for the usual day-to-day stuff: sheets, browsing, movies, and The Sims 4 lol. No video editing, coding, or music production.
This is the 1st laptop I'll purchase for myself and I've never had any experience with Macs either, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
I ordered mine with 16GB 1TB SSD it comes in august… im excited. Im coming from an intel 2018 MacBook Air! Definitely worth the upgrade, was debating getting the MacBook Pro but I wouldn’t be using all those extra features and power. Can’t wait
Thanks for sharing the info about the thermal efficiency. Can you please check if it gets hotter than M1 MacBook Air with similar export ?
The multiple machine perf charts are amazing, Brian. Best out there with video reviews. Nice.
Great review that answered most of my questions. I will keep my order for a top spec model in the queue.
Awaiting mine in midnight on order!
I am locked into the apple ecosystem… and I will be replacing my 2015 MacbookPro 16gb ram 500gb ssd. I use my laptop mainly to create flyers, and photoshop edits, here and there I use final cut to edit 4k clips for promo.
I’m also an engineering student half of my SSD is shared with Bootcamp where I run windows OS to use software such as Solidworks, CAD inventor, etc.
ohh last but not least, I DJ with the same laptop. However, with all the stuff I do on my 2015 MacbookPro It gets really loud and hot.
Would you recommend the m2 air 16gb 1TB?
I'm going to go on recommending it like this.
If you're looking for the deal, and you're not sure which machine to get, there are only two sensible choices of which MacBook to buy.
Either you have $750-$850 (depending on whether you shop education during back to school, or refurbished) for the base model M1 MacBook Air (which, by the way, you should already have bought by now -- it sure hasn't gotten any cheaper for all your waiting)
OR
You buy the $1700-$1800 (again, depending on deals) 14" MacBook Pro. The 13" doesn't make sense because it costs about the same as the 14" for the same RAM and storage, and you're giving up EVERYTHING else. The M2 Air doesn't make sense because it's almost the same price for less performance than the M1 Pro. You shouldn't buy the base model M2 Air or M2 MacBook Pro when the M1 Air is barely more than half the price for almost the same experience as the M2 MacBook Pro, and you shouldn't pay Apple prices to get more RAM and storage in the M2 devices because it brings you straight into 14" MBP pricing territory.
Above these configurations, you have the 16" MacBook Pro, but if you wanted one of those, didn't you buy it already? I did. I paid $3500 for mine last October, and if you're a student you can save 1/7 of that price today. Otherwise, you can buy refurbished and save 1/10, but come on! That's not a deal; pre-order season was the time to buy THAT.
So, Apple Silicon in a nutshell: if you wanted the deal, you bought the M1 iPad Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, or iMac when they were announced, or the 14" or 16" MacBook Pro when they were announced, or any of same the first time your desired configuration came up on the refurbished store. (I'm sure glad I took my own advice and got the iPad, the mini, and the 16"!) If you're buying now, you accept that you're not paying any less money but the machine you're buying won't last as long anymore because M2 is out, or you overpay for the M2 Macs. Not a great situation, unless you're a student and you're buying the M1 MacBook Air for $750 or the M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14" for $1700. If you're not a student, it's $100 more if you shop smart. Don't buy full price M2 machines, but if a few months from now you see a deal on the MacBook Air with M2, perhaps refurbished, and you want the new QoL but don't need performance beyond M1, and you still haven't bought up to that point, fine, get the M2 MacBook Air refurbished. MBP 13" is a a hard pass. Anyone concerned about "pro performance" should be looking at the 14" and up.
This M2 products specially the base model does not make sense..
Great review, thanks, and also brilliant choice of wallpaper, I use the same one😅I wanted to get the new MacBook Air but decided to get the 14 inch MacBook Pro, since I believe as a filmmaking student the 14 inch is a better option (no need to pay extra for 16 GB ram and also mini LED)
can you share the download link of that wallpaper please and thank you
Great starting look
Any suggestions for a nice clear case for this new MacBook Air in midnight?
Is 8Gig unified memory enough or would you get more (I don’t create movies and I don’t really play video games either. But I tend to have my MacBook Air for 5 to 7 years. I’m going to replace the one I have from 2015.) Thanks!
I would strongly lean towards 16GB. Reality is most people will be fine with 8 because of how macOS and the M2 chip manage memory it feels like 16. But if your goal is 5 to 7 years and you even want to dabble with any media, I'd personally go 16.
Hey Brian. Any DaVinci Resolve performance tests available? Would love to know before I make a purchase.
Survived till the end 2nd time. Really informative. I am considering to change my Macbook air but after your comparison I know what I have to buy. Thank you. Best
I was very tempted to get the M2 MacBook Air when it was introduced to replace my original iPad Pro. After looking at all the specs and what my needs are I decided to go with the M1 12.9” iPad Pro and the Magic keyboard. For my needs and productivity it was the better choice mainly because I also have a Mac Studio Max for all my higher level production work including my video editing. I also hung on to my Late 2015 iMac as an extra computer for some simpler tasks.
@@lor7780 they are certainly not replacements for a computer as some think.
Great review! Um, I need that rainbow sweater! 🌈 What brand?
Came here looking for this comment ! 👍👍
First review I’ve watched. Great job Brian.
Thanks Canosis!
short shorts test is the most important test of them all :))
Riiiiiight?
Apple screwed the pooch with the hard drives. It seems that all the reviewers got the 512Gig. Bad form from Apple. I am now very happy that I did not wait for this and rather went for the 14inch Macbook Pro.
Problem is that with 16 GB / 512 GB upsell, this laptop is priced untenably high.
excellent explanation i have decided to get the M2 for what I need reading, nnetflix sometimes, e bay, surfing, thats it no gaming..you are great..thanks for the best review on M2 I have read yet your smart & entertaining sure everyone watches the whole video keep up the good work
Great review Brian
Thank you, Brian.
After this video, i ve subscribed to your channel
Thanks for watching Dragos!
Have been watching you, Brian, for years, since the C-Net days. Love your personality and presentation style and your point of view. Also like that you really let Apple have it when they do something stupid. And I watched the video beginning to end. Wishing you continued success.
Thanks…I enjoyed your review. Blessings on your day.
I watched you video all the way! A creative, very thoughtful and outstanding production! 🙂 Greatly appreciated and very helpful to a tech challenged old timer like me. I was so favorably impressed that I subscribed. On July 8, I ordered the M2 with16GB RAM with 512GB SSD in Midnight. Your video verified my selection. By the way and for what it's worth, one recent review indicated that the 67W USB-C Charger does not use MagSafe. Thank you.
This is one of your better reviews....thanks What MacBook Air m2 are you using>?
I mentioned the specs in the video :)
8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB HD
Great review! Especially the comparisons. Thanks
Great video.
Someone's gotta test the 256gb/8gb model.
M2 Air - the "M1 Pro 14inch Promoter" hahahaha
Great In Depth Review, Thank you for the comparisons.
where is the audio coming from ? i don’t see any speaker grill does it comes under the keyboard? does it cover the sound if i use a keyboard cover?
honestly still prefer the wedge design for the air.
Is the keyboard more comfortable compared to M1 Air? thanks
i still want apple to make one without a notch/camera as a build option so i can enjoy that full screen experience. a detached webcam to me is far superior to anything they build into the chassis .... imo the next step for video conferencing is VR support, and for that i think you'll need a detached 360 degree cam. that way a group on one side of the call don't have to use multiple laptops or squeeze into the frame for group meetings. they can sit around a table and the viewer at the other end, using a VR headset, can look around at will. this feature should also support spatial audio ofc
*Which codecs did you export to and from in your Adobe premiere exports?*
Great review Brian, much appreciated!
Bought a m1 macbook air literally like 2 months ago. 😢
got the midnight this morning, I don't even care if it picks up my finger prints easily lol
Just dropped by the Apple store to take a closer look and the midnight is kinda sticky. There's a sticky texture to the coating (which explains the fingerprints) and it doesn't feel nice when typing. Other than that, it surprisingly runs on lesser RAM when idle, everything loads up quickly (SSD speed would be issue if it goes into virtial mem swap), web page speed seems the same as the M1, lighter by 50grams but it feels more than that. Overall a nice little upgrade from M1 Air. 👍
16:55 best shot of the video
😳😬
Can I charge too via the USB Type-c-slot?
Great review bruv wish you also did a display compare with a 14” pro.
Dual Monitor ? why is this not supported yet. I always use multi monitor on windows and this is the main reason I really want to move to mac air.
Hats off - we share the same wallpaper.
Is the Liquid Retina Display better than LED? (as I am aware LED is better than LCD because of the black colors)
It's the Mini-LED display that has the deeper blacks. LED is a type of LCD display. Mini-LED is also a type of LCD with improved tech and deeper blacks and more accurate color representation. Then the next tech step up is OLED. Yes, it's confusing.
Hey, can i use it for coding for long hrs and app developing on m2 air..
Which one gives more performance ? 256 and 16 or 512 and 8?
Second
First by a long way. The storage speed is only important for multitasking and pro apps if you use swap. With 16GB you will rarely need swap so 256GB will be fine. If you need more storage you can use external SSDs.
Been watching you since your C-Net days, love your videos. I just had one question. On the apple website it says it's thunderbolt / USB-C 4 but you said it was 3. It is USB 3 or 4? That would be a make or break for me.
USB-C 4, Thunderbolt 3.
I assume the distance between the two ports are the same as on the M1? (Using an external ports that have a cable that has 2 on the end)
Want to use in clamshell operation. Other than turning it on is there anything I need to know about clam shell operation?
Great review Brian. Do you have any idea when the M2 processor will come to the 14” MacBook Pro?
Most likely, the 14” MacBook Pro will have the M2 Pro and M2 Max, not the base M2. Some rumours point towards that taking around a year to release.
Can’t wait for my M2 Air Space Gray.
Thanks for the review. It would be great to put the chapter marks on it too!
dat clock /rings scratching metal 😖
Dude, I stayed till the end because I like you. Compared to the wedge design on the previous version - how is the typing comfort? Because I love typing on 2020 Air.
You did it!
My M1 Air is super. Why should I switch?
You don't have to if it does everything you need it to do!
I won't be doing any video editing or content creation, but I will be coding - front end and some mobile development. Will the Air be good enough for that if I upgrade the RAM to 16GB?
I can swing the 14 M1 Pro, but paying close to $2k for a laptop just isn't quite sitting right with me.
Same for me, I have the 2015 pro, I need more than 8gb of ram but paying over 2k for a laptop doesn't feel right, I'm getting the air M2, it should be more than enough for me as a mobile developer, Im already happy with my 7 year old 2015 MBP, even if the M2 air isn't the best like how bad can it be, of course it would be miles ahead of my 2015 pro
@@mahersafadii And I'm upgrading from a much older macbook.. 2010 Macbook Pro. Literally anything would be an upgrade from that hahaha
@@vsChris wow, in that case the M2 air would be great, save a few bucks rather than getting the pro, fans shouldn't be that big of a deal, when I'm doing mobile dev, the only time the fans kick in for my 2015 pro are when I'm building the app bundle for android, they kick for a few minutes.
8gb 512gb is enough
Why is there not a PURPLE one?
Would you recommend this for someone just getting into TH-cam as a hobby not full-time
This would be able to handle it for sure, that’s what’s so impressive about the machine.
Thank you, a beautiful device and I dream of it,but because of its high price ,I didn't get it, or if I find a used MacBook ,thank you.🙂
working my pro photo business with a 2015 MacBook Pro 13'' 256+8gb and still working fine but getting slower with the most recente raw files from the latest cameras. This time I'm not thinking with going pro and this Air is really making me think on it.
Awesome review with some hilarious moments!
Is it 16GB/512GB model? Great review
Thanks for the info.❤️
ONWARD!!!!!
@ Brian Tong Thanks for sharing your opinions. Were you reviewing the 512 SSD M2 Air? Seems Apple sent that version to early reviewers due to the SSD performance. What do you think of this POV: That's a $1400 machine, quite a bit more than the $850 M1 Air (refurb or on sale) that , while having fewer features, performs almost as well in most use cases. That $550 difference pre-tax can buy a lot of external SSDs, or an external display, or Final Cut Pro... and still have $ left over.
Check out some other videos that show the M2 (10 core GPU) is around 40% faster in some real life tests. That is due to 25% more GPU and the media engines that are not in the M1 Air, also there is the 50% improvement in ML and 50% more bandwidth along with far faster RAM. Do not get fooled by the 256GB slower storage as that is just a small part of the M2 Airs. Please also be wary, as I have heard that the M1 Airs now have the 256GB storage module, so an older refurb that has the two NAND setup is essential otherwise performance will be much worse base M1 -v- base M2.
@@andyH_England I got the base model M2 MacBook Air for an upgrade.. I see everyone talking about 10 core and the base model being slower then the M1.. I don’t do much on them but search internet - I will be working on writing a book - but most of that will be saved in my ICloud.. Otherwise I don’t do much but Social media and maybe some school work…
@@mistismith4498 Yes, I see you as the main demographic for the Air, and why the base model will be great for users like you and me. I am in the cloud as well. Enjoy!
does this variant also loose color around ports like midnight?
You forgot to reiterate the ssd upgrade necessary for performance at the end - it’s important that people are aware the 256gb ssd is half as fast as the m1 air/pro .. the easy solution to that is obviously just get the 512 or higher like you said in the middle of the video but it bears repeating ..!
At the time of the recording it wasn't 100 known if that was the case and I did explain it in the middle pretty well.
Your video give me more excitement to buy my first macbook which is the Air M2. Badly, it's not yet availble to order here in Taiwan. 🥰🥰🥰
Is it worth getting if I get the cheapest configuration for M2 MBA?