What’s the trade in value for your M1 MacBook Air? Also what does it go for in the private market?
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M1 vs. M2 Chip Buyer's Guide: How Much Better Really Is M2?
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The biggest ding on the M1 so far has come when comparing graphics performance on the higher end configurations to that of some discrete competitors. Not that the performance is necessarily bad — still need to see what the Ultra does. But relative to the outstanding benchmarks achieved by CPU, GPU performance appeared a bit underwhelming. In that sense, the upgrade could be significant when the M2 scales up, in that (one hopes) it brings Apple's pro-level SoCs more on par with the machines they intends to replace. Ideally, you want your new 4,000 investment to outclass other machines in every metric.
There's a 4nm process that's ready now in the meantime which the A16 has been rumored to be based on but from a performance perspective it doesn't offer much improvement over the 5NP node. Depending on timeline to launch the M3 it wouldn't surprise me if it skips the A16 core design and goes with whatever weather phenomenon-codenamed cores are in the A17. If we're on an 18 month update cadence then that would put the M3 in late 2023/early 2024 so the timing works.
Thinking Midnight but if I can't get my hands on that (I'm sure it will be the most popular), then I might try starlight.
I think it was something like $400 with Apple. I am going to try to get $600-700 on the private market...maybe that is optimistic but it doesn't hurt to try.
Aspetterei fino a ottobre. Per allora sono previsti Mac Pro. In teoria sono previsti anche Mac Mini e MacBook Pro.
È anche possibile che Mac Mini possa essere aggiornato a marzo. Quindi, è un'attesa
It has a fan.
Pros (professionals) are cool (everyone wants to be a pro)
Fans help you stay cool
MacBook pro has a fan
Thus, it is "pro" because it is cool
We share 3 Macs: a 2014 Mini, a 2015 MacBook Pro, and a 2017 iMac Pro (all Intel of course). We’re patently waiting for HDMI 2.1 for 2 Minis, and just watching what Apple does with their new Apple Silicon. The only real issue is Apple is no longer optimizing their OS for Intel anymore, which is leading to unnecessary bumps and slowdowns on our iMac Pro.
I'm mostly joking... mostly
In seriousness though, the fact that you're not sure if I'm joking tells you quite a lot about how the M2 MBP and M2 MBA aren't that different - which makes you wonder what truly makes the Pro "pro."
It does have a fan, which allows longer sustained heavy loads. It does have extra features like the Touch Bar which no non-Pro machine has had, but some MBPs have *not* had the Touch Bar, so clearly the Touch Bar may be a Pro-only feature, it's not a Pro-defining feature. Battery is larger than the Air's, but older MBPs have had equal or smaller batteries than other non-Pro laptops so battery size isn't a contributing factor to the "pro" designation.
I think it honestly really does come down to the fan, and slightly Touch Bar's exclusivity, as compared to the Air.
I understand the comparison that the original article is making it, and I it very informative. But many people are responding with the suggestion that getting this M2 isn’t worth it for reasons A or B. With the new MacBook Air at least it isn’t simply about the performance. There are lots of things to consider and the new MBA sports a lot of flashy and performance features. I am not sure that anyone (Apple included) is suggesting that the move from M1 to M2 is necessary, but for those new customers… or those looking to upgrade for their reasons, they are getting excellent performance.
I’m sure I saw an article that said end of the year, but 3-6 months either way is an acceptable wiggle room in this day and age. I am still think A16 will be based on the enhanced 5nm process as there is very little margin for error for Apple and TSMC at this point. I’m happy to be proven wrong though.
The thing is, 3nm is approaching atomic levels and getting the desired yields per wafer proves difficult. It's been incredible TSMC has been able to maintain their node reduction when giants as Intel have failed to drop from 14nm.
I just checked and it is $440. It is the base M1 with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB drive.
I'd comment I run that same collection of apps and a couple other all the time on my MBP 2015 without any significant problem (I hear teams mentioned alot but not an issue for me) so maybe you have a software issue on your system or maybe it is a RAM issue. My system is a Dual core i7 with 16GB..I did have some issues when my very small 256GB SSD got too full but after I got free space back to 30+ GB I haven't had any issue. All that said I am eyeballing an MBA M2, or the next 14 inch Pro assuming the M1Pro is updated in the next 6-9 months.
To me it seems like Apple should move the M series to the newest process...there are many fewer needed compared to what the iPhones need and frankly the A series are still ahead of most of the competitive phone processors... This approach would help keep the Ms at the cutting edge where they need to be to keep out ahead or competitive with the x86 and the GPU pressures from others. Basically make the M the leader and the A the follower being scaled back M which maybe also lags in the process size too.
Also obviously puts the reliable high yield process on the part where they need the most volume...
Much like skipping iPhone generations these days.
Major reasons to change though, would be:
- If you underestimated required RAM.
- Status points for owning the new design.