Yes, I’m only considering 16GB RAM at this point. It’s just, will the 256GB SSD speed be obsolete later on with NVMe 4.0 (which has 5.000 MB/s read speed compared to 1.500 MB/s read speed on 256GB MBA M2) is already available? I mean, can apps or even web browsing be affected by the slower SSD 5 years from now? (I hope not). Cause I know the fact that I can’t upgrade any of it (RAM and SSD) so I’m being super careful on my decision.
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M2 Air help - 8 or 16 GB?
- Thread starter GabbiDB
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It will be fine and only noticeable if you are transferring huge files regularly. With 16GB RAM you won't be able to tell any difference between the 256/512 SSD speeds in normal use, probably ever.
if you dont need the storage and want to save the money, just get the 256gb and the 16gb ram. I got the larger storage just to make sure I dont have to worry about running out of room a few years down the road as I hope to see this as long as I can.
Honestly, I don't think 5000mb/s vs 1500mb/s will even be noticeable at all. In fact the difference isn't even all that noticeable between 2GB/sec nvme and 540MB/sec SATA SSDs for day to day tasks. The OS loads what it needs into RAM and runs it all from there, so as long as it's fast enough not to be a huge bottleneck, the computer will feel snappy on most tasks.
The reason those 540MB/sec SSDs were such a monumental step up above ~150-200MB/sec hard drives was not just due to increased speed/bandwidth, but especially due to significantly reduced latency. Hard drives required tens of millions of CPU cycles worth of time to fetch something, even if it was a tiny 4K file. SSDs required "only" hundreds of thousands, which sounds like a lot, but it's a massive, massive reduction that substantially reduced the amount of time the CPU spent waiting on the disk/ssd. Most disk accesses are very small, the OS isn't necessarily loading gigabytes of stuff in one fell swoop. It's loading bits and pieces at a time as it's initializing and working with them, so low latency is critical. Any of the Apple SSDs are going to perform great here, even on the 256GB models.
For some users (folks doing video editing or compiling massive react native apps), getting the faster SSD speeds makes more sense, but honestly, 1.5GB/sec on a low-latency SSD is more than fast enough to where I think it'll be barely noticeable for the vast majority of users. Especially on the 16GB RAM model, where the swap file will get hammered less.
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For some reason people dont want to believe logic, they prefer to follow feelings and clickbait lol. Its a shame, but is what it is, they still seem to be selling quite well either way.
I'd say I think there is just a lot of misunderstanding about how these things work, and I guess it's hard to really blame people when there is a lot of youtube hysteria generated by folks who, in my opinion, probably should know better (not going to name any names, but I think some already know who I am talking about). People are just going by what they are told, and hearing that an SSD is half the speed that it should be (and hearing it from pretty much every technology site and youtuber on the internet) makes you feel kinda like you're missing out, like the computer isn't all that it could be.
And I mean, I can't really blame 'em. I do kind wish Apple had found a way to make both configurations equally fast myself (although the practice of having the higher-tiered storage configurations performing faster isn't really all that uncommon in the industry I suppose). But 1.5GB/sec is definitely fast enough for the OS to not be bottlenecked by the storage speeds during bootups and normal application launches, so I think it's safe to say it's probably a barely noticeable difference in the end.
I have a similar workload and never had any issues whatsoever with my base m2 air.
Great thread, very helpful to read all the comments!
I’m pretty much settling on the M2 MBA (8/16/512) for my use case, which is similar to the OP but also includes some light photo and video editing as well as some GarageBand guitar stuff. For most of its use at home I run through a Studio Display for screen real estate and overall comfort, but on the go I think the upgraded MBA will be the right fit as opposed to paying a premium for the 14 MBP horsepower that I really don’t need.
I was half considering the base model, but this thread has *definitely* steered me towards the RAM upgrade. I’m still partially open to the 256 SSD, mostly because I have a TB on OneDrive where I do most of my stuff, and even there I’m a bit under 100 GB used.
My current 2020 i5 MBA (which will go to wife and kids as my 2010 MBP is finally at the end of its road) has the 512 SSD and I’m half wondering why I got that as most of the space goes totally wasted. But I guess…future-proofing and all.
I’m pretty much settling on the M2 MBA (8/16/512) for my use case, which is similar to the OP but also includes some light photo and video editing as well as some GarageBand guitar stuff. For most of its use at home I run through a Studio Display for screen real estate and overall comfort, but on the go I think the upgraded MBA will be the right fit as opposed to paying a premium for the 14 MBP horsepower that I really don’t need.
I was half considering the base model, but this thread has *definitely* steered me towards the RAM upgrade. I’m still partially open to the 256 SSD, mostly because I have a TB on OneDrive where I do most of my stuff, and even there I’m a bit under 100 GB used.
My current 2020 i5 MBA (which will go to wife and kids as my 2010 MBP is finally at the end of its road) has the 512 SSD and I’m half wondering why I got that as most of the space goes totally wasted. But I guess…future-proofing and all.
theres no premium on the 14, the price is the same as your specced mba if not lower.
Really? Not $1999 for the MBP 14 vs $1599 for the MBA I spec’d?
I googled and didn’t see these mythical sales on the MBP 14 that people were mentioning unless I suck at google or the the price for refurbished…?
MacBook Pro (14-inch) - Apple M1 Pro Chip with 8-Core CPU and 14-Core GPU, 512GB SSD (2021)
MacBook Pro (14-inch) - Apple M1 Pro Chip with 8-Core CPU and 14-Core GPU, 512GB SSD (2021)
There are different sales at different times. Most likely in November the M2 MBP 14/16" will be announced so we should see similar sales around that time.
Of course you should buy what you want. Some people value different things not just "specs" and a sale price.
You can possibly qualify for a student discount and some retailers also have higher spec configuration of the M2 air on sale as well.
For a short time Microcenter had a 14" MBP with M1 max and 64gb ram and 1tb ssd for $2499. That would be tempting if I had the budget for it and a need for a "Pro" machine.
Don't underestimate the M2 MBA it is a great laptop for most people with excellent battery life, high performance, no fans and extreme portability!
OK - nice! That was non-existent yesterday! Haha. Same price as the M2 I spec’d out, with more power and such.
MacBook Pro (14-inch) - Apple M1 Pro Chip with 8-Core CPU and 14-Core GPU, 512GB SSD (2021)
MacBook Pro (14-inch) - Apple M1 Pro Chip with 8-Core CPU and 14-Core GPU, 512GB SSD (2021)www.costco.com
There are different sales at different times. Most likely in November the M2 MBP 14/16" will be announced so we should see similar sales around that time.
Of course you should buy what you want. Some people value different things not just "specs" and a sale price.
You can possibly qualify for a student discount and some retailers also have higher spec configuration of the M2 air on sale as well.
For a short time Microcenter had a 14" MBP with M1 max and 64gb ram and 1tb ssd for $2499. That would be tempting if I had the budget for it and a need for a "Pro" machine.
Don't underestimate the M2 MBA it is a great laptop for most people with excellent battery life, high performance, no fans and extreme portability!
But yeah…more than I need I think…and I just don’t really need the larger screen or extra weight. In fact I consider them considerable drawbacks. So yeah, I think the M2 MBA is the sweet spot for what I need!
I do wonder…would either the M1 Pro or the M2 Air offer an advantage to longevity over the other?
it's not just a larger screen, mini led means very conformed uniformity with no uneven backlight issues, you should see both in person.
I totally get it. I agree.
Not sure it will make any difference since these are all Apple made chips. Until there is something these early M series chips lack that new ones have that make them incompatible with MacOS I think it shouldn't make a difference.
I have a feeling all Apple silicon chips will be supported for a long time, probably longer than Power PC or Intel but I don't know.
Obviously if we are looking strictly at release times M1 was about 18 months before M2 so I would think M2 would have that much extra time extended for support.