Macbook Air M1 or M2 : Should You Still Buy?

Apple’s entry-level laptop receives a completely new design and a new chip with the M2 MacBook Air. Is it worthwhile to choose the M2 Air over the M1 Air, which costs less but has a slower SSD and may overheat? Which MacBook Should You Buy? Still deciding which Mac to buy? Is The MacBook Air M1 Or M2?

Macbook Air M1 Or M2 : Overall Design

The MacBook Air received a complete redesign this time around. Taking significant design cues from the 14– and 16-inch MacBook Pros, the M2 Macbook Air has adopted a squared-off appearance as opposed to its prior wedge-shape; it is also somewhat thinner at its thickest point than the M1 Air. I find the Macbook Air M2 somewhat more difficult to hold than the M1 Air. The curved wedge design of the M1 MacBook Air made it quite easy to raise up the front edge.

Macbook Air M1 Or M2 :USB-C & Charging Ports

The M2 brings back MagSafe to the MacBook Air, making this the most straightforward comparison. Furthermore, the 3.5mm headphone jack has been modified to support high-impedance headphones better. Aside from that, each Macbook has two USB-C ThunderBolt ports on the left side. When charging the M2, the returning MagSafe port frees up one of the Thunderbolt ports.

Macbook Air M1 Or M2 : Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard on the M2 Air feels slightly different than the keyboard on the M1 Air, but the difference is insignificant. The primary upgrade of the M2’s keyboard is that the previously half-height function row keys are now full height. When I’m about to utilise the Touch-ID sensor, I notice the larger top row of keys most. It features the same circular, indented sensor as the 14– and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Additionally, the trackpad on the M2 Air is somewhat larger than that of the M1 Air and has a unique haptic click. I prefer the haptics of the trackpad on the M1, but the trackpad on the M2 is still excellent.

Macbook Air M1 Or M2 : Screen, notch, and camera

The new M2 Macbook Air’s display is superior to the M1 Macbook Air’s. It is marginally larger overall, with a thinner top bezel, but has the same horizontal resolution. This reduced top bezel does give the M2 MacBook Air a notch, similar to the larger MacBook Pros that came before it. When programmes have a large number of menu options, sometimes some of them get pushed to the right side, which makes the top feel a bit cluttered. However, this is not an issue for me the majority of the time.

This notch also houses an enhanced camera; the M2 Air’s FaceTime camera has been upgraded from 720p to 1080p. As the video demonstrates, it is an improvement; nevertheless, if you want an even better camera, you may use Continuity Camera with MacOS Ventura.

The screen on the M2 is also 100nits brighter than the screen on the M1 Air, which might be helpful when the sun is out. It reserves the miniLED display technology and high refresh rate for the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with the highest price tags.

Macbook Air M1 Or M2 : SSD Speed

One of the two primary “problems” with the M2 MacBook Air has been the base model’s slower SSD. With the transition to M2, Apple switched from 128GB NAND chips to 256GB NAND chips, hence the base M2 laptops now only have one chip. This significantly reduces the read and write speeds of SSDs. This will be obvious when transferring especially big quantities of data, but it may also be noticeable as a slowdown when the 8GB of RAM on the standard model fills up and the computer must use the SSD to swap files.

Even with the slower benchmarked speeds of the base M2, most users will not notice a difference in real-world performance, especially if the M2 Air is just used for document editing, video playing, and web surfing.

Macbook Air M1 Or M2 : Performance

But what is the real CPU performance of the M2? Well, this is again another instance when “most people will not notice a change in everyday use.” The M2 Air performs marginally better than the M1 Air, although the M2 Air has a significantly smaller heat spreader. Neither laptop features a fan for an active cooling system, but the M1 Air’s metal heatsink was significantly larger. This implies that both laptops will overheat and eventually choke when subjected to intense, continuous workloads. Considering the efficiency of the CPUs and the fact that none of these laptops is designed to replace a workstation, this should not affect the majority of users.

Some individuals seeking a bit more performance from the M2 have conducted the same thermal pad modification as was possible with the M1 Air, but this is not advised.

The increased performance of the M2 over the M1 is primarily due to the enhanced media engine. The M1’s H264 and H265 hardware encoders are complemented by ProRes and ProRes Raw hardware encoders. If you work with a significant amount of video, you are aware of the performance gains that can result from hardware-accelerated encoding. If you want to work with ProRes video on the fly and desire a thin and lightweight machine, the M2 Air provides a significant advantage.

Which Macbook To Buy? M1, M1 Pro Or M2?

There is no single solution that works for everyone. If you already own an M1 MacBook Air and are satisfied with it, I would not recommend upgrading unless you truly value the new design and MagSafe. If you are still using an older Intel system, the M2 MacBook Air is an excellent alternative. It will be more powerful than necessary for the majority of use cases, while also being incredibly portable and silent.

If you are intending to finally make the switch to Apple silicon, you should also consider purchasing a secondhand M1 MacBook Air. The M1 MacBook Air is initially cheaper than the M2 MacBook Air. Used models are available for roughly RM400-RM1000 cheaper (depending on the condition & specification) than the starting price of the M2 Air, which is a wonderful value. Most use cases will not notice a significant performance difference between the M1 and M2 Air, therefore it may be worthwhile to save the money.

Consider the 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro instead of the 13-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro if you want to edit videos frequently or otherwise subject your laptop to a sustained, high-powered workload. It will have an increased number of connectors, a larger display, a more potent processor, and an active cooling system. It is not significantly more expensive than the M2 Air when all factors are considered.

There is not always a “bad” answer in this situation. Each laptop is well-suited to its audience; it’s simply a matter of determining which crowd you belong to.

Personal Opinion

It is really tough to choose between Macbook Air M1 or Macbook Air M2. However, every battle needs to have a winner, so does our comparison. Me personally will get the Macbook Air M2 due to its new design that I really love and the color – midnight blue Macbook Air M2 is just STUNNING!

The Macbook Air M2 is packed with a new M2 processor, greater processor, but the down side is I will have to upgrade the RAM/Memory and the storage in order to bring the Macbook Air M2 to its full capacity.

My personal vote will be – Macbook Air M2

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