M1 Air 16gb or M2 Air

[IsaacM]

16GB M1 will be much more future proof than the 8GB M2.

Base M1 and M2 are extremely similar and the 16GB upgrade will future proof your Mac so you can use it for many years to come.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

I'm on an 8GB Air as I type and if it's any help, just doing emails, browsing and YouTube with a couple of tabs open in Chrome, and my swap file is 1.46GB so I'm already taxing the 8GB.

My next Mac will be a budget-constrained choice too but will be 16GB RAM regardless of the processor.

I’m doing the same thing, only difference is I’m not using Chrome and I’ve got memory to spare.

I did switch away from Chrome (in part) because of how much memory it uses, but I understand not everyone can or wants to do that.

I would, however, go for the 16GB M1 MBA just for ease of mind/future-proofing if I were to buy a new one now and had no interest in the M2 version.

 

[w5jck]

Bit confused..

Waited over a year for the M2 air, but find it’s quite a bit more expensive- and of course unproven..

And speed wise not a huge bump right?

So if I only have fixed amount to spend I’m starting to think I gotta go back to 2020 and just do 16gb M1 for slightly less - is that logical?

Especially as it sounds like 8gb is limiting if we want to use it for safari/ms office work for say 4+ years right?

What do you all think?
Feels wrong tho for me to go back to consider M1 when been waiting so long with my 2014 mbp….

If, as it sounds, you are talking about relatively light duty use with things like MS Office, then the MacBook Air M1 with 16GB RAM is more than adequate for a few years to come, and as you mentioned, it has been out long enough to be tried and proven. I have a MacBook Air M1 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD and it easily plows through Lightroom with hundreds of 24MP RAW photos at a time, any Photoshop tasks I throw at it, and 4K video creation and editing in FCP for videos of a few minutes. (Note: It would likely do longer videos, but I've never created any that are more than about 10 minutes long.) I never have heat issues, it never seems to slow down.

 

[lleial]

I'm on the same boat with this question. Before the M2 was announced I was thinking of getting my partner the M1 MBA with 16/512, but then the M2 MBA came out (with all the bells and whistles), and I considered getting that one.

However, I've been testing the M2 MacBook Pro and IMO it's not that much of a boost at all (I'm returning it), just seeing how warm it gets and how it throttles, despite the fact of it having active cooling, makes me think the M2 MBA is going to be a disaster (in this regard).

I was thinking of getting the M2 MBA, since it will have the new design, screen, magsafe, etc., but given how they're priced, I'm rethinking my strategy.

M1 MBA (base model with 8CPU/8GPU): 1.100€ (student price)
M2 MBA (base model): 1.400€ (idem)

M1 MBA 16/512: 1.518€ (student price)
M2 MBA 16/512: 1.841€ (idem)

So the price difference is about 300€, and yeah of course for that money you are getting all the new features, however, comparing the stock M2 MBA 8/256 (1.400€) vs. the M1 MBA 16/512 (1.518€), I'm getting double the RAM and SSD (this one being faster), for only 100€ more aprox. Yeah it's the "old design", however 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD will def. hold up much better in the future.

I'm currently rocking the stock M1 MBA 8/256, and the only thing I regret is not getting more RAM. Storage is something that can be easily solved with fast external SSDs, but RAM is a one-time only thing.

But wait, it gets crazier. If I want the optimum configuration (for me 16/512), with the M2 MBA, it comes to a total of 1.841€. BUT for 180€ more you have the 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro at 2.024€ with stock 16GB of ram and 512GB SSD, active cooling, the new design, 8CPU cores and 14GPU cores. Which is more powerful than the stock 8CPU/8GPU M2.

So this puts me in a position where I either get the M1 MBA with 16GB ram and 512SSD (for 1.5k€), or just shell out 500€ more for the 14" M1Pro 16GB/512GB SSD (with more cores), fresh design, magsafe, etc., knowing it's going to perform much better than the M2 MBA (which I believe is going to throttle like crazy), and hand over to my partner my existing M1 MBA 8/256.

Once again, Apple at its finest giving us a hard time at deciding what to purchase.

 

[Neverless]

I would pick a second hand 16/256 M1 MBPro. Has the same screen brightness as M2 MBA, fast charging, larger battery, active cooling, better speakers and mics. M2 has better webcam but worst everything else than M1 MBPro.

 

[darngooddesign]

So this puts me in a position where I either get the M1 MBA with 16GB ram and 512SSD (for 1.5k€), or just shell out 500€ more for the 14" M1Pro 16GB/512GB SSD (with more cores), fresh design, magsafe, etc., knowing it's going to perform much better than the M2 MBA (which I believe is going to throttle like crazy), and hand over to my partner my existing M1 MBA 8/256.

Once again, Apple at its finest giving us a hard time at deciding what to purchase.

Are you testing your workload or your partner's workload? Is it throttling under all workloads or just the heavier ones? Is you partner willing to accept that in exchange for the new design? If you are doing the kind of work that can throttle either 13" MBP, then the equivalent generation Air is not for you. 500 is a lot, but you get a much nicer computer, size aside, and if they will keep to for like five years the additional cost spread over that length of time isn't too bad. Just look for a nice discount.

 

[rocketpig]

M1 and it’s not a contest in my eyes. You get twice the memory and a faster SSD. That more than offsets the bigger screen and ~15% processing bump.

 

[Juuro]

$1799 Aud for m1 16
$1899 Aud for m2 8

So it’s like, would you sacrifice having 16gb ram to get an M2?

Just so many posts everywhere freaking out about 8gb not being enough, now and in 2yrs etc etc

Someone said apple had just moved from 128gb storage to 256, so the next leap for base models should still be far away..? Hence atuff will still be made for 8gb.. thoughts?

I have an M1 Air base model. I replaced an 2017 iMac with 32 GB with it. I do 4K video editing on the Air and also photo editing in Lightroom. Though I can feel the missing memory compared to my iMac it is not extremely bad. And you don't seem to do such things, except for a little bit of iMovie. I would say 8 GB are ok if you stay at that kind of things you do. And yeah you don't know how good that is in a couple of years. If you will not miss Mag Safe and stuff you will probably have a bigger benefit from the additional memory than from the additional CPU/GPU speeds.

16/256 M1
your hard drive will be twice as fast as well

We don't know that. Only because Apple did use only one 256 GB chip in the M2 MacBook Pro they don't have to use that exact same configuration in the MacBook Air.

 

[GuruZac]

go for M1 Air 16gb, 256

My exact build. I went with a base 7-core GPU with 256GB of SSD and 16GB of RAM. It’s a fantastic computer. And I picked mine up with student discount for $1079.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Getting your kids a 16/512 M1 Air is better than getting them an 8/256 M2 Air; it will reduce the chances of them needing a better computer in two or three years if their needs change, reduce the annoyance of having to constantly manage files and hang an SSD off their laptop, find a hobby, or change their major. Keep checking but you should be able to find the 16/512 discounted, refurbished, or even lightly used which will help offset the RAM/SSD upgrade costs.

Some people with established regulated workflows who are great at eliminating file clutter do well with 256GB, but those are not college students.

And if you are careful with used or refurbished, you can get an M1 MBA 2020 with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD for less than the cost of a brand new M2 MBA with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. That's what I did. I made the mistake a year ago and went with the M1 8/256 and decided never again--sold that one.

 

[Dnzilla]

OP probably knows his requirements
256GB can be great for many, especially if you put stuff you don't always need on external hard drives as back ups
and video file libraries etc often are better off on some kind of NAS server / on your router anyway or streamed from some internet service

Was thinking cutting into ssd size was ok as most my stuff lives on iCloud and onedrive

My 128gb one atm just getting killed by the iMovie library file, so I keep deleting the projects out to get space back 😬

Maybe I need to just cop it and stick with mbp and just wait another few months for the extra cash, just been getting hammered with bills so not feasible to spend more on upgrades 😱

 

[Dnzilla]

I'm on the same boat with this question. Before the M2 was announced I was thinking of getting my partner the M1 MBA with 16/512, but then the M2 MBA came out (with all the bells and whistles), and I considered getting that one.

However, I've been testing the M2 MacBook Pro and IMO it's not that much of a boost at all (I'm returning it), just seeing how warm it gets and how it throttles, despite the fact of it having active cooling, makes me think the M2 MBA is going to be a disaster (in this regard).

I was thinking of getting the M2 MBA, since it will have the new design, screen, magsafe, etc., but given how they're priced, I'm rethinking my strategy.

M1 MBA (base model with 8CPU/8GPU): 1.100€ (student price)
M2 MBA (base model): 1.400€ (idem)

M1 MBA 16/512: 1.518€ (student price)
M2 MBA 16/512: 1.841€ (idem)

So the price difference is about 300€, and yeah of course for that money you are getting all the new features, however, comparing the stock M2 MBA 8/256 (1.400€) vs. the M1 MBA 16/512 (1.518€), I'm getting double the RAM and SSD (this one being faster), for only 100€ more aprox. Yeah it's the "old design", however 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD will def. hold up much better in the future.

I'm currently rocking the stock M1 MBA 8/256, and the only thing I regret is not getting more RAM. Storage is something that can be easily solved with fast external SSDs, but RAM is a one-time only thing.

But wait, it gets crazier. If I want the optimum configuration (for me 16/512), with the M2 MBA, it comes to a total of 1.841€. BUT for 180€ more you have the 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro at 2.024€ with stock 16GB of ram and 512GB SSD, active cooling, the new design, 8CPU cores and 14GPU cores. Which is more powerful than the stock 8CPU/8GPU M2.

So this puts me in a position where I either get the M1 MBA with 16GB ram and 512SSD (for 1.5k€), or just shell out 500€ more for the 14" M1Pro 16GB/512GB SSD (with more cores), fresh design, magsafe, etc., knowing it's going to perform much better than the M2 MBA (which I believe is going to throttle like crazy), and hand over to my partner my existing M1 MBA 8/256.

Once again, Apple at its finest giving us a hard time at deciding what to purchase.

Yes frustrating, and I don’t see anyone taking a stab at when base would ever go to 16/512 only because that’s ‘pro’ as of now 🥺

 

[darngooddesign]

Yes frustrating, and I don’t see anyone taking a stab at when base would ever go to 16/512 only because that’s ‘pro’ as of now 🥺

Apple could make 16/512 the base... for several hundred dollars more. 🤣

 

[boss.king]

If you’re working to a strict budget, the M1 Air with bumped RAM and possibly storage if you can swing it (or if you need it) is absolutely the way I would go. It’ll be way cheaper, plus you will avoid the potentially slower SSD transfer speeds if Apple is doing the single 256GB chip like in the M2 Pro.

 

[smoking monkey]

I would not get any laptop with less than 16/512GB.

This. This is the starting point. OP needs to find the money to go to 512GB.

The M1 MBA design is really great. It's also super silent and stays cool unless you are really pushing it. I had it for 10 months before the big fellas were released and really enjoyed it apart from screen size. Loved the wedge design for typing.

 

[Dnzilla]

This. This is the starting point. OP needs to find the money to go to 512GB.

The M1 MBA design is really great. It's also super silent and stays cool unless you are really pushing it. I had it for 10 months before the big fellas were released and really enjoyed it apart from screen size. Loved the wedge design for typing.

Find more money is always the easy option.

Perhaps then it’s best I wait few months till spending few $100 more is a good idea… and I start the cycle of waiting for M3 all over again haha 😭

I’m actually pretty amazed how my 2014 mbp is going OK.. just kills efficiency when switching desktops/quickly trying to do something adhoc at work when it lags a few secs etc

 

[darngooddesign]

Find more money is always the easy option.

Its really easy for us to suggest. 🤣

Maybe waiting a bit to get something nice is good, your last computer lasted eight years, no reason to skimp on your next, long-lasting computer.

 

[ian87w]

Clearly the choice is the M1. The 256GB M2 will have half the storage speed, so that’s a no go. Go with 16GB M1.

 

[Juuro]

Clearly the choice is the M1. The 256GB M2 will have half the storage speed, so that’s a no go. Go with 16GB M1.

And again, we don't know that yet.

 

[Dnzilla]

Its really easy for us to suggest. 🤣

Maybe waiting a bit to get something nice is good, your last computer lasted eight years, no reason to skimp on your next, long-lasting computer.

Yep you might be right, I may end up waiting around then..
Unless someones in the mood to get be a $500 apple gift card haha..

Sell some stuff around the house...hello Facebook marketplace!

Its actually amazing how well the 2014mbp is going really.. The shell is pretty good condition, do love the keyboard and trackpad.. I guess thats why I have had a high expectation for my next step.

I usually never worked on my own laptop before, but last 12months changes roles, and now always laptop..
How good is MagSafe for kids running around your office space too..

Just yes need a bit more zip now...
If anyone has a trick for making iMovie not eat internal storage space let me know..
Otherwise Canva is another step down hack job to not use internal storage.. its so much worse than even iMovie tho..very laggy in browser.

 

[boss.king]

This. This is the starting point. OP needs to find the money to go to 512GB.

The M1 MBA design is really great. It's also super silent and stays cool unless you are really pushing it. I had it for 10 months before the big fellas were released and really enjoyed it apart from screen size. Loved the wedge design for typing.

256GB isn’t that bad if you don’t have a lot of local files. I have a 256GB laptop and I still have 80GB free. More is obviously always better, but if you’re on a budget and don’t actually need the storage, it’s the first thing to cut. Your needs aren’t everyone else’s needs.

 

[darngooddesign]

Yep you might be right, I may end up waiting around then..
Unless someones in the mood to get be a $500 apple gift card haha..

Sell some stuff around the house...hello Facebook marketplace!

Its actually amazing how well the 2014mbp is going really.. The shell is pretty good condition, do love the keyboard and trackpad.. I guess thats why I have had a high expectation for my next step.

I usually never worked on my own laptop before, but last 12months changes roles, and now always laptop..
How good is MagSafe for kids running around your office space too..

Just yes need a bit more zip now...
If anyone has a trick for making iMovie not eat internal storage space let me know..
Otherwise Canva is another step down hack job to not use internal storage.. its so much worse than even iMovie tho..very laggy in browser.

I also had a 2014 13", upgraded to an 16/1TB M1-Pro 16" and love it. MagSafe is just as good as on my 2014 with the added benefit of fast charging. Wait a bit longer and get something really instead of just nice, something you'll really enjoy for the next 6+ years.

 

[calstanford]

Definitely M1. 8GB just won't last you long mate and the M2 has a half speed 256GB SSD too. Not worth it if on a fixed budget really to get like 10-15% more speed which one won't notice.

 

[aevan]

Hmm so your argument is that all the 8gb’s selling atm are actually a poor choice even for moderate office work..? Hmm

8Gb is quite enough for office work and more.

 

[ian87w]

8Gb is quite enough for office work and more.

No it's not.
8GB is enough maybe if you are not multitasking and only have 1 browser tab open.

Office work is no longer simple tasks. Today's office work means having dozens of tabs open, Teams, Outlook, Zoom, and dozens of Word/Excel open. It can easily use up even 16GB RAM.

Add on the slower SSD speed for swapping, it's no brained to simply get 16GB RAM.