8gb M1 Macbook Air or 16gb M2 MacBook Air

[bojack981]

Hi everyone, in need of some advice. Right now I have a 2015 13 inch base model MacBook Pro. I use it only for web browsing, YouTube, occasional work in google docs and that's it. I already have a work laptop so MacBook doesn't need to be super powerful as its just for personal use. My MacBook works fine but looking to get something lighter and which doesn't have a fan, hence me looking at the MacBook Air.

So with that in mind, I ordered the 16gb M2 MacBook Air (upgraded ram as I am looking to keep it for 5+ years) using the education offer. Taking into account the discount, and a cashback offer on my credit card, with 3 years of AppleCare+ the M2 MacBook Air with 16gb of Ram and 256gb of storage cost me £1320.

However, I then saw a deal on eBay for a used but like new M1 MBA base model (so 8gb RAM 256GB storage) for £700 with 2 years of AppleCare+, which I promptly went for. Now with both of these MacBooks in my possession, I can't decide which one to keep and which to return.

On one hand, I'm leaning towards keeping the M2 MBA because I really like the new design, slimmer bezels and having MagSafe back. Another benefit is not having the speaker grills next to the keyboard like the M1 MBA, which I feel would easily get clogged with dust and dirt. I'm also worried about the M1 MBA screen cracking which might not be an issue with the M2 MacBook Air.

On the other hand, I feel like paying £1300+ for a laptop given my use case is a waste, and the M1 MBA at £700 is great value. I'd be looking at keeping the M1 MBA for 2-3 years, and by that time an oled MacBook might be out which I would really be interested in OR I could get a more powerful MacBook if my needs change.

So with that in mind, should I keep the M2 16GB 256GB MBA (which I would look to keep for 5+ years) or the M1 MBA (which I would keep for 2-3 years)?

 

[EugW]

Honestly, for that workload, I would have just kept using the 2015 13" MacBook Pro, and then upgraded in 2-3 years as you were planning. In fact, I bought one for cheap last year for my daughter (8 GB RAM, 2.7 GHz Core i5), and IMO it's a beautiful machine with lots of life left in it since it officially is supported up to Monterey (which will get security and Safari updates for another two years) and it's more than fast enough to run modern websites extremely well. (Mind you, the one I got was mint, and had a recent legit Apple battery replacement, which includes new top case and keyboard.) She has the same workload as you, along with Google Classroom on top of that. I have a much faster iMac in the house, but in terms of speed it offers basically zero advantage for that type of workload.

But between those two Apple Silicon models and your very limited needs, I'd definitely keep the M1 Air and save £620. The M2 Air for basically twice the price (since it doesn't include extended warranty unlike the M1 Air) just seems like a massive waste of money in comparison. And I'm not sure why you're worried about cracking a M1 Air's screen but not a M2 Air's screen. That seems like a very strange thing to worry about. Return the M2 Air while you still can.

 

[macbetta]

If you like the newer design and features of the new macbook air then go with that one. However, if you really want to save as much money as possible I can almost guarantee that the m1 air will last you for years and be fine for your uses. I'm using a base model 7 core GPU m1 air as a full time graphic designer and marketing person. It is surprisingly capable even with only 8GB of RAM! I can have a browser open with a bunch of tabs, various office/productivity apps open along with Illustrator and occasionally popping photoshop open without closing Illustrator and it handles it all! I've only noticed a slow down a few times and it was not significant. So if you're just browsing the web and what not that m1 air will be perfect.

 

[bojack981]

Honestly, for that workload, I would have just kept using the 2015 13" MacBook Pro, and then upgraded in 2-3 years as you were planning. In fact, I bought one for cheap last year for my daughter (8 GB RAM, 2.7 GHz Core i5), and IMO it's a beautiful machine with lots of life left in it since it officially is supported up to Monterey (which will get security and Safari updates for another two years) and it's more than fast enough to run modern websites extremely well. (Mind you, the one I got was mint, and had a recent legit Apple battery replacement, which includes new top case and keyboard.) She has the same workload as you, along with Google Classroom on top of that. I have a much faster iMac in the house, but in terms of speed it offers basically zero advantage for that type of workload.

But between those two Apple Silicon models and your very limited needs, I'd definitely keep the M1 Air and save £620. The M2 Air for basically twice the price (since it doesn't include extended warranty unlike the M1 Air) just seems like a massive waste of money in comparison. And I'm not sure why you're worried about cracking a M1 Air's screen but not a M2 Air's screen. That seems like a very strange thing to worry about. Return the M2 Air while you still can.

Thanks for your response. The M2 air actually does have extended warranty (3 years of AppleCare +). In regards to screen cracking, there has been a lot of reports about this issue on the M1 air. I haven't seen that many reports for the M2 air however, which makes me think its less of an issue. But of course, there's no way to know for sure.

 

[EugW]

Thanks for your response. The M2 air actually does have extended warranty (3 years of AppleCare +). In regards to screen cracking, there has been a lot of reports about this issue on the M1 air. I haven't seen that many reports for the M2 air however, which makes me think its less of an issue. But of course, there's no way to know for sure.

Weren't a lot of the screen cracking reports from people putting covers over their cameras and/or using keyboard covers? Or was that just a small minority of them?