M2 MacBook Air Review - Needs More Air

[@Dave2D]

This is an AWESOME device for light work but the M2 chip really does benefit from airflow

[@vijitdua]

Many say they are conflicted between a pro and an air, but personally even if I loose a lot of the other features- airflow is a must have.

[@peeranpc4262]

Yes, needs more AIR... its gonna die otherwise

[@Mattxwill1]

Dave what thermal camera are you using? That is awesome.

[@jeremyswift7514]

Hey Dave, at 1:33 you mentioned the USB C ports being Thunderbolt 4, aren't they only Thunderbolt 3?

[@andrew20146]

I get such Mr Bean vibes when you do the webcam comparison.

[@creativefun1758]

The reason we love Dave2D so much is that hes not gonna lie to your face and strait out tell you oh yeah its so good man. He would say ye its good only for shorter work loads where your not constantly pushing it for extended periods of time. I appreciate that and so do all of your subscribers. Thanks, Dave

[@canadaamerica7019]

I only trust Dave2D and a handful of others because they aren't sellouts. I respect that he tells you the truth instead! :)

[@froufou100]

@@canadaamerica7019 which are the other best please as I expand beyond Dave2D - who I love but 1 reviewer not enough 😊

[@rfichokeofdestiny]

Almost everything he said here was positive though. 😏

[@notpenguino]

@Jaquan Kelsor you typed a whole book for no reason💀

[@chandu.g]

This comment is the reason Why I subscribed to the channel Now

[@JarrodsTech]

I'm happy with it staying fanless, I use one for recording voice overs and it sits directly below my mic, so knowing there's never going to be a fan noise interruption in the studio is nice.

[@snowmanscarves]

What microphone do you use?

[@FinanceDude]

Jarrod! Bought my Omen cos of your review

[@jackedkerouac4414]

Same. I heard the right EQ'ing will allow me to keep the AC on (I live in a super humid country) and use a computer with a fan but no. I'm a stickler for dead air recording

[@JarrodsTech]

@@snowmanscarves TLM 103

[@PoliticalMatter]

It is ok on your MacBook pro too. They are quite.

[@TimeBucks]

Great video as always

[@kishungamer4036]

Nice

[@gh_gamer07]

Hi

[@subashgoud9805]

Thank you very much Dave for another great video

[@shubhananhe3572]

Ya nice video

[@rudy7631]

The 256 SSD downgrade not being disclosed is a shame. Well put and a great video. Thanks,

[@craz7644]

Mate, it feels so good to watch your videos, it's like I'm listening to my friend who is very good at tech, it's so natural. Idk how to explain it more.

[@Merjia]

I feel like it’s definitely positioned as an advancement of the M1 MBA, it’s easy to forget with how shockingly good the M1s were over Intel that the Air was never meant to be a pro laptop.

[@hariskhan01]

also, the 12th gen intel chips are way better than 11Th gen, so the M1 has helped Intel too. Also, the XPS 13 plus is actually better for extended workloads due to coming with a fan.

[@Merjia]

@@hariskhan01 absolutely, them having proper competition in both the portable and desktop markets for the first time in ages really lit a fire under their ass.

Difference between "pro" and non "pro" laptop is literally just a single fan. That's silly.

[@racecarjonny8460]

@ Agreed. They should drop 13" model altogether or at least offer something that's pro about that laptop.

[@Merjia]

@ sort of, it’s mainly about being able to sustain the workload for longer, so fan helps. Like the M1 Mac Mini versus the M1 MBP, both have fans and the same chip, but the mini runs off mains power, not a battery. Phones do similar things with using the same CPU cores in different configs

[@mishmishb]

Would have loved to see a comparison between this and the M1 Air, which also lost performance over time due to the lack of fan. From the tone I feel like it's more significant this time but would have been nice to see the comparison

[@mrt.7146]

But that would have spoiled Dave2D's entire spiel on how thermally limited the M2 Air is ... The Verge's review has a chart which shows that on single Cinebench runs the M2 Air performs 13% above the M1, but on multi-run (30 minutes) the M2 Air performs 25% better compared to the M1 Air. The right title for the video should have been "The macBook M2 Air - it has more Air" 🥳.

[@ganthc]

All his charts included the M1 Air though, so you can see the difference.

[@mishmishb]

@@ganthc unless i'm somehow missing something really obvious, they don't. they include the m1 mbp but not the mba

[@ganthc]

@@mishmishb in a few charts, it shows both m1 air and pro, like in the read speed. That would mean he tested both right?

[@theNimboo]

@@mrt.7146 Hell ya!!! I really want to get the M2 air, I don't think it's as bad as Dave makes it sound.

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Great video as always Dave! Thanks for pointing out the SSD discrepancy to your wide audience. People need to know this and Apple should be providing this info at the very least in that pop up box as you showed!

[@loughrey101]

Yep, especially as most of the average users tend to opt for tut base storage option, especially students on a budget.

[@spidergainzzz]

I think the SSD problem is going to be less important for the users of the M2 Air because unlike the Pro, which is made for better performance, they don’t do such demanding tasks

[@connorlearmonth665]

@@spidergainzzz that’s true, but the worst thing about it is that the previous m1 air doesn’t have this problem and costs less. So for the m2 products, you’re getting a downgrade in someways, especially when ordering the base models. This just shouldn’t happen at all no matter which spec you order.

[@NK-er3ci]

Looking forward to your review Max Tech

[@alus992]

@@spidergainzzz it's a marketing tho. Plenty of office employees and even people into creative stuff use Air for their work. You don't have to be pro DaVinci resolve user to see performance difference between 2x slower ssd. Move 10 uncompressed big pdfs with some work manuals and you will se how it's affecting your workflow. KZbin reviewers keep saying that regular people will not experience the slow down problem because they are not creatives is a bad take. It's not a phone where difference between regular tasks handles by a12 and a15 will be insignificant. Sure if you are buying such an expensive machine to browse KZbin and Netflix you will not experience any problems but you still pay too much and you would be better buying iPad for such tasks.

[@t3fLoN77]

Big kudos to your no BS style of reviewing products, Dave. Getting right to the point is big for a guy like me, no lame intros, etc. I feel like a customer that you’re legitimately concerned about, not someone you’re just trying to wow with all the KZbin BS many other channels waste our time with. The last video I watched had a 15 second unskippable ad at the 1:30 mark and another at the 5:00 mark. I wanted to take the time to tell a guy like you how valuable your video style is. Thank you, keep up the good work. PS: Rocking the 14” MBP M1 Pro and love it. Used a 2011 Air forever and, like you, was really thinking the M2 MBA was going to wind up being my favorite. But after further consideration, sticking with the MBP M1 Pro.

[@ko-Daegu]

I personally appreciate a nice aesthetically pleasing intro as well as MKBHD that gives info (like product looks and feels) while it's playing hence why I watch both then I don't bother to watch others except if I'm looking for a particular solution to an issue I'm facing

[@justin78517]

same. as a dude who runs a 8 figure business i aint got no time for BS. this asian is the best

[@N13J]

M1Air was probably the most perfectly priced laptop on the market. If Apple decided to sell the M2 at the same price of previous M1 and dump the M1 price down a bit they would sell like hot cake.

[@krim7]

Yup. If this Air was 999, it would be beloved (even with its SSD issue)

[@itsmyright2229]

M1 air was the real price. Then they realised that they offereed a good price to performance test l ratio, so they've now optimised the price to juice every last bit that you're willing to give, from it.

[@ahsoka6807]

I think you mean if they dumped the price of the m1 down even further they would sell like hotcakes, thats kind of why i think they're not doing it because people would then just opt for the m1 air instead because the changes for the m2 are nice but nothing noteworthy.

[@YFun-ux5rs]

Well now, the 14 inch MBP looks like a good deal cause you can find it at $1799 on Amazon etc. I would rather pay $150 more for it for the same configuration then getting the M2 Air. Or go down to M1. The price hike of the M2 Air puts it in an awkward spot.

[@entrail8633]

@@YFun-ux5rs MKBHD did a video about that actually. Apple has kind of a ladder for their tablets where the lower tier ones are obviously cheaper in base configuration. But if you bump up the storage you are usually in a spot where the lower tier model has either slightly more storage for the same price the next tier tablet costs or the storage is identical but the price for the lower tier model is just ever so slightly lower that a lot of people tend to spend that bit extra to get the better tier option. I guess apple now does the same in their laptop department too. If you specc up a Macbook Air to match the base config of a Macbook 14 you end up being only 150$ lower. And Then you ask yourself "hey the 14 inch has the better and bigger screen, better battery life and is still performing a lot better overall so lets get this one instead"

[@obaid.mohiuddin]

I can't believe how informative Dave is under 10 minutes as compared to other youtuber reviewing the same MBA

[@dizian7926]

Dave's videos are always aesthetically pleasant to watch and learn from. Perfectly balanced, never overly edited.

[@HeISeNBeRg_____]

@@mo-akif I got that reference

[@BigDaddyKilla87]

Great Review, Finally someone mentioned the cooling advantage provided by MBP M2 over the new MB Air M2 meaning an updated one makes sense especially if you are not looking into the 14" MacBook Pro

[@Grumpist1]

It'd be interesting to test this with a fan-equipped laptop stand or dock to see if just passing more air over the body of the laptop can alleviate some of the throttling in heavy workloads.

[@khoifoto]

Just open it up, stick thermal pads on just like M1, then have a fan stand. If you feel like you want tinkering, stick a heatsink on that bottom too. Lolz.

[@sihamhamda47]

@@khoifoto Certified Linus Tech Tips method

[@JamesBryant4]

@@sihamhamda47 actually it was some Aussie guy Created Tech who did that first. Linus copied him.

[@ruzaroos]

Since it doesn't have a fan, the chassis is sealed. Fans in laptop stands are meant to push air into vents. You are basically asking if blowing room temperature air on one side of an aluminum chassis is going to cool a heat source on the other side of the aluminum. This is doubtful. You can sit it on a block of ice though. Throwback to Dave putting an i9 MacBook Pro into a freezer.

[@khoifoto]

@@sihamhamda47 well, many people did that before Linus published the video. I slapped the thermal pads on on release day for my M1 Air and actually have heatsinks on bottom. Works like a charm

[@rockyescape8989]

Dave is one dude that cares a lot about colour matching cables with your machine haha. He never changes.

[@AtlantaGuns]

Rock solid truthful reviews are why we come back to D2D every time.

[@AlexSchwartzATV]

This is the perfect laptop for like 90% of people. Or even the m1 is still. Vast majority of people, even with heavier workloads, still don't have a need for consistent full blast performance for an extended period of time.

[@mehshutup3041]

Not for 90% of people because a lot of people also play games on their laptop

[@ridhamh2966]

that statement is only valid in US. considering how heavy priced they are in 90% countries. here we pay 600$ more here.

[@soki9303]

@@mehshutup3041 i would say that 90% do not play games. i havent met a signle person who owns a mba at my uni that plays games on it (consoles or better desktops in their rooms)

[@thikim8562]

ok

[@pxolqopt3597]

@@mehshutup3041 no one is buying a mac to play games. can get better game performance for the same price going with a windows laptop. Plus mac doesn't have very good game compatibility

[@anuragmeshram2157]

this thing in india starts at $1400 for base model. they also increased the price of m1 air after the launch of m2 air

[@mehuljain5916]

And 250$ for adding 512gb if you want to get pcie gen 3 speed which you can get in laptop half the price.

[@gadhawinner]

How much was the price increase for M1 one? Wonder how much it has to do with the rupee falling against the dollar

[@mehuljain5916]

@@gadhawinner There are other laptops from other manufacturers too, none of them saw a price jump that big ( the ones that did came with something way better than previous gen and not a marginal improvement ).

[@riceflakes498]

@@gadhawinner definitely wasn't the rupee drop, all other manufacturers have the same price and haven't changed it. Also why only MacBook increase from Apple if rupee depreciation? iPad still same price and iPhones are still the same price only the MacBook air M1 increased from 93k to 99k

[@anuragmeshram2157]

@@gadhawinner m1 was priced at 85k inr ,now its at 1lack

[@isitsustainable820]

I was surprised that the battery life between the M2 MBA and the 14” MBP were so similar

[@gugugaga9578]

that midnight tone is gorgeous

[@EduardoRohdeEras]

Gorgeous video quality! Close-ups, lighting... Dave nailed the production and edition in this one!

[@truongnguyenhongnhat6590]

ok

[@user-uc5xo7yu7n]

As soon as I saw the price tag for the 16/512 version in my country, I immediately ordered the 14inch pro with some discount. This laptop is way too overpriced for a 8/256 laptop in mid 2022. Especially, with slower drives than the competition. Maybe not in the US, but in most countries, I would just avoid this model and find a discounted 14inch pro.

[@canadaamerica7019]

I don't really have the budget for a 14 inch MBP, over this (the air) I was considering splashing out for the Pro (13 inch) just because of the better cooling and thus better performance. Is this a good choice?

[@KarrasBastomi]

A laptop with 8/256 RAM/SSD is abomination. Mid ranger phone that didn't offer 8/256 configuration would be rediculed.

[@user-uc5xo7yu7n]

@@KarrasBastomi I wouldn't call it an abomination. 8/256 is still acceptable for many people, but only if the price is right.

[@ThomasJarvis117]

@@canadaamerica7019 would get his over the pro. If it’s anything like the M1 Pro, the fan will never even spin up. Have since then moved to an M1 iPad and even that is ridiculously capable with no cooling at all. This Air is for sure the better buy.

[@차가운핫초콜릿]

굿👍🏻

[@joshdonne]

Honesty is the best policy. This channel certainly abides by it. Respect.

[@MegaTyler97]

I have a midnight m2 air on the way. While hearing that it can struggle so much under very heavy workflows is slightly concerning, I got it knowing i'm gonna be using it mostly for consuming content and doing school work. People who are looking to do hardcore editing and massive workflows are not looking at this laptop anyways. So for what I need out of a laptop I know i'm going to LOVE this laptop

[@markm0000]

That’s the reason why I’m keeping my 2017 Air i7. For the few hours a month I use it, I’m just surfing the web and editing spreadsheets. It’s plenty fast for throwing together a short vacation clip every year or so. Parts are cheap and easy to replace. It’s just fine for my needs. I worry the “M” processor Macs will be obsolete way faster than Intel Macs since Apple governs which model can get updates. It’s a slippery slope turning $3k laptops into smartphones where everyone is expected to upgrade every couple years.

[@RonLeblanc]

Exactly right. You shouldn't buy the Air if you want a machine to push super hard. It's not made for that really. It'll do it, but it's going to choke for sure. You buy a Pro for your 8K editing. I have the same model on the way too. :)

[@ephphatha230]

Cope

[@jamescassar5348]

So you spent 1200 to watch videos and write an essay? Really smart money management. Then again you bought a MacBook..

[@PvtAnonymous]

@@theoneonly5368 he is right though. With Apple Silicon Apple just gained more control over their hardware. They can easily decide to support a device for a certain amount of years. Considering they surprisingly dropped support for the iPhone 7 series, it's not far fetched at all they'll do this with their M1/2 whatever Macs as well.

[@AayushKrishnan]

I'd been waiting for the M2 for nearly a year, but when it did launch the price difference between the 512Gb M2 and the 512GB M1 was nearly ₹40k to ₹50k🥲($600). Realized the upgrades aren't worth that much and just bought the M1 lol.

[@_a_ss]

Same for me brother. I don't know which one to get really confused

[@turuus5215]

I’m buying M1 air with 16/256 configurations

[@hazyproduct1692]

Only worth M2 in America

[@Bloobloopoopoo]

So, I have a 2017 Macbook Air and i can't wait to get a hold of the M2 Air! I use my Air mainly for web browsing, emails, and using MS office. I do not video edit or game nor do I need a lot of storage to store my files. I love the aesthetic of the M2 Air so this will be a lovely upgrade! Thank you for the video review!!

[@oozehag2790]

Did you get 8/256?

[@Bloobloopoopoo]

@@oozehag2790 my 2017 Air was 8gb RAM/128GB storage, and so I just got the base spec for the M2 , the 8/256 which is suitable for my needs

[@IslamistSocialist371]

that's kinda overpriced for this kind of use

[@ameliabuns4058]

I got myself an m1 Mac 1 weeks ago and just got the notification that it's shipping Early xD I'm jealous of that screen speaker and keyboard and 20% performance isn't bad but 240$ is nice to save and I can always build a proper PC in 1-2 years with a GPU and everything

[@nnk777]

Ok, all I needed to hear was the fact its got the same storage configuration as the m2 pro shipped with to know Im returning my m2 air. Ill give trial it for the 14 day period but 95% chance I will return and get the 14 inch pro. Much better display, battery life, CPU performance, port selection, display connectivity, GPU performance, charge speed and also comes with base model of 16gb/512gb ram/storage for less than 1k more discounted (Aus)

[@hankyt2928]

That’s exactly what I did and love the 14 inch

[@darthraider450]

That's what I'm doing, I prefer some future proofing compared to something that is valid only for a year before declining in quality and speed. The M1 Pro chip destroys the M2, and to add the M1 Pro 16GB/512GB has pro-motion as well

[@chromaticvisuelle]

So just get the 14". Why bother so much trouble.

[@deathbond2780]

Same here man the ssd shit pisses me off. Imma be working like the sun is directly under my palms when I open a bunch of chrome tabs 😂😂😂

[@RunForPeace-hk1cu]

Apple already planned this when M1 came up ... this is why Mx MBP13 exists ... because they know the thermals will be affected for sustained work flows. It's not really a big surprise seeing that MBA target market aren't video editors. It's a media consumption and everyday workloads. It will handle that EASILY. Especially given the single threaded scores are AMAZING.

[@nerd2544]

"Apple already planned this" they sure did 😏😉 in half a decade or so when apps naturally get more demanding and the cpu has a higher load placed on it watch millions of people complain about how their m1/m2 MBAs overheat at the most basic multitasking while the pros are completely fine fanless (especially when it's also the thinnest on the market) can only go so far and this is probably another type of planned obsolescence by apple yet again

[@Kxneki2433]

I went for Starlight, it's on the way! I'm so excited honestly (I didn't go with Midnight cause of the Smudges and the ports and other parts of the lappy would get chipped and reveal its aluminum)

[@saitodosan9377]

Man, I'm going back and forth between Starlight and Silver. Never had a Mac before so I want an "OG" color for my first one, but also Starlight does just look so GOOD

[@Kxneki2433]

@@saitodosan9377 Starlight honestly looks premium, It doesn't get too gold'ish and at some point it looks like silver color itself I also have the MacBook M1 Air (Silver) And i can say that both look super premium Go with either of those colors, i bet you wouldn't regret

[@marcosevaristo6119]

this video was precisely what I needed, thank you for the direct and clear info

[@UnwantedSelf]

Love to see it running with one of those laptop fan coolers from years back.

[@RonLeblanc]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Or maybe the thermal pad mod we did with the M1 air!

[@jayaseto]

0:19 yeah me too absolutely not what I was expecting

[@spacetoast7783]

You've made me even more glad I went with the MBP 14.

[@randyragsdale23]

Thanks for the review Dave. I appreciate all your hard work and the time you put into these videos.

[@enzmondo]

I really like the content but kinda disappointed how much this was compared to the M2 MacBook Pro instead of what it’s supposed to replace (eventually), the M1 MacBook Air. Too much focus on lost performance in the Pro model than on the previous Air generation.

[@romano5785]

I got the same question, how does against the M1? is it so much better? a little better? is it worth it?

[@ruzaroos]

Look at his M2 13 Pro review for a comparison to the M1 13 Pro. Basically most of the M1 vs M2 coverage has already happened. This is about which M2 to get since they are only $100 apart now. In a nutshell, M2 is slightly faster for CPU and significantly faster for GPU. It draws more power and produces more heat. This will probably make the gains M2 Air experiences over M1 Air smaller than the gains M2 13 Pro has over M1 13 Pro. This is removing the slow SSD story out of the equation.

[@NalinKhurb]

@@ruzaroos Well summarised

[@Dave2D]

@@ruzaroos yup yup

[@AdeebVlogs]

@@Dave2D hiiii

[@Shan-vq3rt]

Great to see the consistency in uploading videos from your side. Keep them coming Dave !

[@Jajdjejwi28]

Here in Europe they increased the price by €400! This Air costs the same as an intel macbook pro back a few years ago. An Apple macbook pro is just way too expensive here costing close to €2k right now. Blame it on chip shortage, inflation or whatever, but these prices are criminal!

[@mcoz747]

Dave, in this case, I think you’re vastly over-exaggerating the performance difference between the M2 MBP and MBA. Look more closely at your graphs. You said it’s “very noticeable” in gaming, when there’s just a 4 fps difference between the two. You also demonstrated the throttling after 10 and 20 consecutive Cinebench runs, which is a very extreme use case, considering that test pegs the CPU to 99% for the duration of the test. Even pretty heavy 8K video editing doesn’t do that for the entire time you’re working. This machine will be very good for even power users who want a thin and light machine.

[@Mohammadkashifkhan2093]

I think programming doesn't necessarily fall down in the category of sustained workflows mostly because we don't compile our code that often. Plus we don't need GPU for most of the tasks so, I guess this is a great machine for Developers as well.

[@NathanHedglin]

Yup. It'll me my main dev machine.

[@hugoh364]

Let's note that M2 is way better than M1 in GPU performance but only slightly better on CPU performance. So maybe a M1 machine would be better for programming only purposes.

[@mishikookropiridze]

@@NathanHedglin You need memory tho so that at least 400$ more then base model.

[@Kidynamo123]

Not to mention that, in the situations where you might need a beefy GPU, like training a convolutional neural network, you're probably connecting to a compute cluster for execution anyway

[@Endelin]

Very true, my M1 MBA runs VS Code flawlessly, way better than my Pixelbook ever could. I can ssh into another machine if builds are taking too long.

[@DE0BIZONE]

I feel very satisfied in my decision to get the pro when it came out even though everyone made fun of me for not waiting for the air! I work from home and have a pretty heavy workflow so i definitely feel like i made the right choice.

[@nylonyt228]

lol people wanting thinner and thinner and not knowing that it costs performance

[@ItsSimplyAless]

Do you have the 13 inch pro or the 14/16 inch?

[@LouieTran]

Great review Dave! Appreciate the straight forward honesty unlike other reviewers gushing over the aesthetics and slapping fancy 8K b-rolls into their videos

[@QuentinDamour]

You didn't elaborate on why you would not use it as your main laptop, curious to hear ! Great video as always

[@selfhelp9175]

I have the M1 MacBook Air (Space Grey). It does everything I need. It’s the best laptop for the price. IMO for the average user - it’s not worth upgrading anymore. The upgrades are incremental at best. Plus the laptop notch is not for me. I hope you don’t have to wait 3 months to receive your laptop. Great video btw.

[@MattExzy]

I agree. I'm not impressed with the performance difference between the M1 and the M2 at all. Especially given the M1 has faster drive speeds... weird situation.

[@juliustan9647]

Had a sudden realization that, that thing is super thin. I remember the thick laptop days and it's stunning to see how much the engineering has come to design a product like this and with one of the fastest processor to boot

[@mli3793]

Fingerprints are something every reviewer mentions but i think that no person would ever find it to be something that matters.

[@ShFred]

Finally a damn proper review and not a 12-min teaser like the other big channels have been putting out for a couple of days now.

[@SEVENTEENPOINT1]

I love this thing it is so nice the keyboard is much better than the M1 Air. Magsafe is also a huge deal for me. I wish more computers had a magnetic charging option.

[@timpage9424]

Got an M1 Air about 9 months ago and love it. Maybe I wish I waited, for the better screen, but honestly. I never owned a Mac before and the M1A is so good. Mainly because I just type on it, watch TV and maybe edit some photos.

[@Parmigiano1]

Not a long time ago we couldn't even imagine a laptop without a fan and now we are already complaining about minor throttling :D

[@NNNNDDD08]

been using my MBP M2 base model for a month now for morethan 12 hours a day, and man! loving it!

[@raminMTL]

Dave my man. Those regular people you describe doing regular things also do not need to spend over 1500€ for a base model laptop to do those things

[@ghost-user559]

Depends. I CAN do those things on a decade old Acer netbook with a gig of Ram. But it takes painfully long to even move a folder around on the desktop. Some people want a snappy premium experience that syncs with their phone and tablet for the next 5-10 years. You don’t HAVE to be a professional or expect to desire saving time? Or to appreciate less than 3 pounds weight? Or to appreciate top of the line Display and excellent audio? Even a cheap laptop is a serious investment for many people. Why not get one that actually is worth the cost, both excellently designed and performant? Plus they hold their value for a decade too. I would be lucky to GIVE my old windows clunkers away.

[@meroshango9603]

Just because that notch this Apple laptos are a big no, there is no one justification to have something like that in a laptopn

[@FULLM3T8L]

I chose a 12.9 2021 iPad Pro over the M2 Air, wasn’t expecting mini LED or Pro Motion to come to the Air, but they are big enough improvements in tech to skip the Air.

[@FrankJackson]

You’re the most brutally honest reviewer on tech regardless of the manufacturer or product. NonBiased Dave - yeah that’s your new name.

[@dillybilly2611]

This is a good review but I don’t think anyone was expecting to run heavy loads on this computer. It seems perfect at what it was designed to do, nothing more or less

[@sotonin]

But you could on the M1 air...

[@dillybilly2611]

@@sotonin I don’t think the m1 air had a fan either, and the tests I’ve seen shows that this m2 is matching or outperforming it in every way

[@sotonin]

@@dillybilly2611 It never throttles for me. Can mess with 4K+ video nonstop. So yeah. it's throttling more on M2. I'll stick to M1. It doesnt even get remotely warm either. (M2 does). Low power low heat chip always wins for a laptop like the AIR

[@nikarhyme]

2:05 - please note how hard to pick up new MBA comparing to previous model

[@CPoston420]

ill stick with my M1 air....got the base model for $749 over a year ago at Best Buy and it's far and away the best laptop Ive ever owned

[@joemahma3457]

I’ll be sticking with the M1 Air, but dang it, finger prints or not, it’s a sexy AF MacBook!! 😍

[@youtindia]

$1500 in most countries including Europe for base 8GB 256GB model. Configuring it to 16GB 512GB is almost $2000 or higher. At those prices, it's a terrible laptop. Hard pass. I picked up LG Gram 17 512GB 16GB version for $1150 instead.

[@AB-uv9kg]

Imagine paying 1500 and getting 8gb ram and 256🤡

[@-HolySpiritDove-]

Yes the performance for price specs don't match as well with other manufacturers, however the battery life does surpass others which run about 2 hrs. So there is a tradeoff of battery VS price & speed (Do most people use laptop away from outlets?) Waiting for solar-power charging btw ~hope for the future! 😇✨

[@woeye3251]

The upcoming Asus ZenBook with the AMD 6800u also looks promissing. To me it's what the new Air should have been. Solid specs (memory & disk), good energy consumption and battery time with a reasonable performance. The M2 is just way to expensive for what it aims to be.

[@AB-uv9kg]

@@woeye3251 thanks for letting me know about this. Looking to purchase a Linux laptop at the end of the year and the Asus looks solid for that

[@sherwinkp]

So good to see documentaries from Corridor showing up.

[@ampleimpala]

I bought a space grey M2 macbook air a week ago and am excitedly waiting for it to arrive. While I do recognise that not having a fan will taper off high intensity workloads, I really don't think it's an oversight by apple. They know who the biggest demographic for the air lineup is, especially the base models: students. While not all students are going to have the same workflow, the general idea is that they're just taking notes, performing a few specific college tasks and using it leisurely. I bought this laptop as I am one of those students and I absolutely adore the design of the laptop! The notch, the rounded screen and the cubic chassis really jumped out to me as such a unique looking apple product that would slot perfectly into my workflow.

[@Mr20001]

Absolutely! It’s good to know the drawbacks but it’s important to also remember the target audience for these devices. They may struggle with high work loads but are fine for just note-taking, research and other basic work/school-related tasks. Not everyone needs some high-performance beast of a laptop.

[@sundawg911]

A lot of comments that come off seemingly against the M2 air seem to think this is something that should be almost on par with an MBP. But it is not for Pro work. It is for a different client base. So many people are invested in benchmarks and so on. But in the grand scheme of things most people won't notice/care. The air is a daily driver and good for students who need something portable with some extra juice. The only reason why I went with the M2 is cause of the form factor. I love magsafe! Apple always overprices their products. When I purchase something Apple, I don't expect or think I will be getting a good deal. Do I agree with the prices set for the latest rendition, no. But did I expect the jump, yes cause it is Apple. The air M2 is something I plan to own for years. I won't be upgrading in two or three years. This is something I will own to death just like my previous macs. I am coming from a 2015 MBP and am excited for something different/new.

[@HUrbieta]

Great vid- but on your next video could you just hold it in different possess to get a sense of the look and feel? Maybe one where you hold it on your side, next to your hip, like you hold a book when you are walking to class. And maybe another one holding it up against your chest like a 50’s girl waiting near her locker talking about her crush… hopefully this made sense. Thank you in advance.

[@seanjiang3174]

2006， i bought my first dell laptop, a mid tier computer from their lineup, it had 4gb ram and 500 gb storage. 16 years later, apple is still swinging that 256gb as a base model.... man... no wonder they have been milking it so well.

[@Noaddedsalt01]

Ssds not hard disks, apple also had 500gb hard disks at that time, SSDs cost a lot more than a hard disk for the same capacity

[@originalkk882]

@@Noaddedsalt01 Apple charge MUCH more than anyone else for their proprietory glued in SSDs.

[@azeemazman6921]

Your honest review earned a subscribe, rejoice.

[@iswish_41]

KZbinrs are obsessed with smudges and Geekbench. 98% of us couldn’t care less about that.

[@johnepic2422]

THANK YOU Dave. finally, someone mentioning the keyboard quality. if it's better than M1 Air - I'm all in. Love this Midnight colour!

[@BenjayTay]

What I miss in this review is how the M2 MBA fits into Apple's overall laptop lineup from a price perspective. for $1400 (let's face it, the 256GB version is not really an option), it's actually really expensive vs. the M1 MBA which is still a really good laptop and probably adresses the same kind of audience but for $200 less. If you then bump the M2 MBA specs up some more (like 16GB of ram etc.) you'll be in MBP territory pretty soon...

[@pad9x]

they should sell an option to remove the camera and notch. i'd personally rather use a detached camera for when i need it, which is only like .9 per cent of the time

[@billholmes2166]

Nice video. This is a good example of how apple silicon / ARM is changing the perception of chips, laptops, and performance though. Two years ago I don't think anyone would have ever said they were surprised that adding a fan would improve performance significantly on an intel build. The fact that performance is now reasonably expected in a fan-less system is a fantastic change! But physics is still physics!

[@amitnagpal1985]

You don’t have any of the MKBHD cockiness…my new favorite tech blogger. 👍🏼

[@Therealbrowndad]

Great review.. I am questioning my life choices when you see the review just 38 seconds after your published.

[@SaranKRS]

😂😂 Peru nalla iruku bro

[@Therealbrowndad]

@@SaranKRS Peru vechathoda seri, innum sorru podala

[@marzbitenhaussen]

the grease in the human fingertips is a natural occurrence, it will be left when a human hand touches any surface, just blows my mind that is a big deal, “if you walk on the sandy beach the downside is that you will leave footsteps on the sand”

[@vedaryan334]

Its way overpriced where I live. Like the original M1 was priced so good , it was an easy choice but this one , I can't recommend to everyone blindly. Still a nice device , for most people. Side note : Ik since arm is much ahead in general in terms of efficiency, but still having some windows processors/laptops around this price for comparison would be nice. Also, the notch sucks , can't look at that thing . Looks decentish to alright on phones , on laptops it's an eyesore for me

[@PrateekGuptaOfficial]

Facts.

[@fantasytky28]

Sorry but it's terrible even in phone

[@PrateekGuptaOfficial]

@@fantasytky28 You mean the iphones?

[@mcsad2785]

M1 Air is still the best option for the absolute majority of people

[@gorey-wr1bf]

notch new shape without the tapered edge makes it feel more bulky higher price unless you're a power user M1 is better value with better look and feel like, the point of the MBA air is portability, why change it to resemble the MBP makes no sense

[@dheerajraj02]

Love your videos man So much information in such a less timeframe

[@Lassavins]

I think the magic of M1 was how efficient and low temp it is. If iterations get hotter and more powerful each time, we're about to get into intel territory. I'd cap the max temperature and watt consumption of the base M series, and let the pro/max/ultra ones with fans do the muscle. I know that's what they are trying to do, but when you see thermal throttling whereas the M1 MacBook Air barely had any, it starts to be a concern.

[@Tasso-d2]

Intel territory gets 2X hotter WITH a fan. We aren’t event close.

[@sotonin]

yeah. I never notice throttling on my m1 air.... I don't want the M2 i want an M1 in the new body style.

[@ItsSimplyAless]

Trying to choose between this MBA vs the 2021 14 inch MBP..

[@Tasso-d2]

@@ItsSimplyAless if ur planning on going with a base config air go with that, as soon as you even add one upgrade to it the price makes no sense, just go with 14 pro at that point. 14 pro has a insanely good display 120htz HDR, 500GB storage, 16GB ram, more ports, faster processor and much faster graphics etc…

[@ItsSimplyAless]

@@Tasso-d2 so even if I get the 512 GB one, which is a $600 Canadian dollar difference from the pro, it’s still worth it?

[@t.hjberg1603]

I love that you always keep the product in frame... Too many talking heads out there. Great vid - super informative! 🙌

[@magicseadog8674]

Seems ok, I like the design. I think M1 was such a jump I'm happy with incremental improvements. These machines are probably not designed for power hungry creatives.

[@kritesh_purohit]

how greatly all the tech experts are showing unity by not reviewing the Nothing Phone 1. you guys are amazing, like you gonna never lie or confuse us, as Nothing put so many limitations on the review videos, all the good tech enthusiasts were like - NO!! We can't make a video under pressure where we can't even talk about the bad things in the phone. And Dave! you did the best by putting 2 other stuff videos despite the Nothing hype. It's the perfect way to show them.

[@theunheardprophet4315]

I, for one, was happy with the USB-C charging.

[@chefalbino]

until someone stumbles over the cord

[@user-uc5xo7yu7n]

You can still charge it with usb c. you just need to buy a extra cable or use an existing one.

[@azyrael96]

He mentions in the video that you can use both, and actually charge with slightly higher power via USB-c. (67 vs 70W)

[@JohnMHammer]

@L. A. That’s because you have neither a child nor a clumsy coworker who tripped over your power cable and sent your laptop crashing to the floor.

[@alexmercer1330]

I feel like everybody expects too much from the air.

[@Noaddedsalt01]

Feel like that happened is that the m1 is such a massive jump in performance over previous generations that everyone wanted to see it happen all over again with this generation, the MacBook Air was never intended to run massive workloads, it can do it especially in video but it’s not the point of the air

[@durianpeople]

The moment the M2 MBA is revealed, 14" M1 MBP design seems ugly by comparison I once wanted to buy the 14" MBP but then considering M2 MBA for software development. However, considering the throttling issue, this is a tough choice to make

[@YFun-ux5rs]

14” seems like a better deal. You can buy it for like $150 more on Amazon and it offers better specs on pretty much every area except weight. Apple should have made the M1 cheaper and sell the M2 starting from $999 or at most $1099.

[@SirAdamDuxbury]

This guy is so cute to watch with his little hand gestures and facial expressions! ☺️♥️

[@a4andrei]

Well, this is a bit disappointing but also kind of expected. I guess the M2 SoC really needs a beefier cooling solution, preferably with a fan, to get good performance out of it. It's respectable that it can do what it does without that but still, i was hoping for slightly better numbers. I was looking forward to this laptop for development/programming tasks but the 14 inch MBP seems like a better fit.

[@mbvglider]

If you look at the numbers, it’s generally better than the M1 devices. It still gets good performance. It’s just not maximum performance. And as a software engineer, I personally spend most of my time in an editor and the laptop stays silent. I’m not doing full builds 24/7. My incremental builds take like 5 seconds most of the time. I do use an M1 Pro because it was given to me from work, but I used an M1 Air before that, and it was completely fine.

[@a4andrei]

@@mbvglider I guess it really depends on what tools you use and what your typical workload is like. The M2 is definitely a capable SoC, kudos to Apple. And the fact that they can squeeze so much out of it using a passive cooling system is amazing. What I'm saying is that I just wish it had the extra oomph for when it's needed. I'm sure they could have made the cooling better if they wanted to, this seems to be a deliberate move by them to cap their CPU like this. Also, the difference in price between the M2 MB Air with 512GB SSD, and the M1 Pro MBP (14 inch) with similar specs is not that big, they could have priced the Air lower and make it even more appealing.

[@mbvglider]

@@a4andrei It's a fanless computer, so of course, it's a deliberate choice to make the CPU be passively cooled, but that's specifically the design parameters. With the M1 Air, it was shown that if you use a thermal pad on the SoC, you could keep the CPU cooler, but then the computer itself would get uncomfortably hot (and possibly run up against safety regulations). The CPU does have plenty of oomph when needed. It just can't be more than 5-6 minutes at a time. It's not possible to defeat thermodynamics. If you want more sustained performance than that, you need a fan, and unlike the M1 Air, the M2 Air was designed in a chassis that has actually no room for a fan. If you should be upset at Apple about anything, it should be that they should have redesigned the 13" MacBook Pro for M2 because I think they could have gotten more cooling performance out of that form factor, but they rehashed it. I think the M2 Air is pretty amazing as it is.

[@heastin92532]

I have been using the MacBook Air M2 as both my personal and work machine. The MBA M2 started out as my work device but had turned into my personal device when I became dislocated from my previous position. Suffice to say I was able to keep the MBA M2 as my personal device and I absolutely still love it. I love the fact that the device is super quiet as the device has zero fans as stated in the video. In my time using the MBA M2, I have had zero heat issues as compared to my previous M1 MBA. Majority of the time I am using Safari and now that Sonoma now allows me to create web apps using Safari, Safari has now been my default browser. Compared to using an iPad Pro 12 inch before, I love both devices but deep down inside I am a true laptop person. Using a laptop for me over an iPad, I don't have to worry about any work arounds or compatibility issues. I also can download anything I want and not be limited to the file system of an iPad. For me the MBA M2 to the iPad 12.9, are very similar to functionality but with the MBA M2 I don't have to buy any other peripherals other than a hub dongle for external plug ins.

[@kdreamscosmos4279]

Does mba m1 has heat and compatibility issue?

[@BenyaminLorit]

Yet another great, no bs, and informative video. Gave me all the details I needed and wasted none of my time. Thanks, Dave.

[@randyragsdale23]

I love how comprehensive your review is Dave.

[@vals7266]

I'm curious how you tested the battery life. The chart is literally identical both in numbers and design to the chart on the Max Tech youtube channel, apart from the M2 MBA which they haven't tested yet. If you did your own test for this M2 MBA and just added it to that pre-existing chart, how do you know the testing conditions were the same (unless you're the one who produced the data for Max Tech's chart)? It just seems wrong to put data from different sources into the same chart, implying that they were all tested in the same environment when they weren't..

[@hassibrustemi2176]

it's because Max Tech took the chart from him you dumbass

[@AsifAnsari-nn8kk]

rather than questioning him, you better ask Apple why M2 sucks?

[@swarming1092]

What about real-world use? Most people aren't buying a Macbook Air for xcode, video production or gaming. Many are students, and most are not CompSci students. Far more useful would be an examination of how the RAM capacity and SSD speeds factor into things like browser tabs, how many PDFs, word documents, excel spreadsheets and background apps you can have open at the same time without running into slowdown, the beachball, etc. For example, does the lower SSD speed on the base storage model actually make any difference in normal day-to-day use? Will I notice a difference in the boot time, or opening up Brave, Spotify, Discord, or Pixelmator Pro? That sort of thing.

[@YouGotPropofol]

The notch is so unnecessary. Honestly whoever is pushing notches at Apple needs to go. Same with whoever is preventing macOS from getting proper window snapping. You can tell when you see decisions like these that there are a few very powerful people at Apple that push their will on others. I feel it's not a committee when it comes to certain things. My guess, Craig Federighi has become sort of a douche and insists on "Stage Manager" instead of window snapping (the current "new space" with side by side windows in macOS is not window snapping) and this new female chief of hardware design is probably pushing notches.

[@kellymoses8566]

The notch is just moronic

[@SpAceDrragon]

Got one coming in the mail in a few days , this is my first ever MacBook, I think it will fit my needs I almost went for the pro but figured getting the newest computer will last me for years to come

[@alwaysasn]

Question Dave, or anyone. If you got one of those stands with a built in fan, and you ran the MacBook on that, would the external fan help with throttling? Like for me, I’m okay with throttled speeds when I’m out and about. But if I have a desk fan to cool it when I’m home working on something bigger.

[@Rinajahau]

Really Love your Aquascape. Im a fan of bonsai diorama type aquascaping. Great WORK

[@parampatel6932]

I ordered the M2 MBA 512/16 GB and I don’t think all these issues will affect me because I’ve never owned a proper laptop and Im not going crazy

[@shivamverma7151]

The no-fan can really be problematic if you live in hot environment. you reached 40 C on your device while the room temp is shown 27C . I live in region where room temp is 35-40 C , so that thing will really be problematic for me.

[@commentarytalk1446]

I don't think it was emphasized enough at the beginning: Given the actual CPU is same as the M1 = M2 except it's now larger. That really is worth emphasizing considering the price difference between them and then the performance ratio difference.

[@KochJohannes]

The CPU isn‘t the same. The M1 has the same core design as the A14 and the M2 has the core design of the A15. Especially the efficency cores are much faster on M2 than on M1

[@modulusshift]

On the performance cores, there’s about a 3 percent year over year architecture improvement, and a 9% higher clockspeed, combining to about 12% better single core performance. The efficiency cores saw a bigger overhaul, they bump the overall multi core performance up to 20% faster. So I wouldn’t say the CPU is the same.

[@commentarytalk1446]

@@KochJohannes Apologies, you are right. Must have heard some wrong info or else not read/heard it correctly. More concerning it sounds possible M3 may not move to ArmV.9: "[We have heard that the] A16 will not utilize the next generation Armv9 based core which is quite sad if true given Apple was the first to implement Armv8."

[@Raist3db]

Thank you Dave! You answered one of may questions posting FPS of StarCraft and TomRaider after 20 mins which is- would this still go faster than my M1 MBPro 13''? The answer sure seems to be "yes." I preordered one- a 24GB, 1TB model. The first two things Ill do is try world of Warcraft as I have a good baseline with my 13'' M1 MBP and exports using DXO Photolab since its deep pRime AI takes full advantage of the ANE. Since the new ANE is 40% faster than the M1's, I want to see even with throttling if it out does the M1 at a batch of RAW conversions... it should, as using ANE only (mainly) should also reduce heat.

[@Archivist42]

Great video, highlighting the flaws and strengths. I bought the Air already so am really just here to set my expectations, after the controversy with the Pro I kind of already expected thermal throttling - at the end of the day it is what it is. I personally use my current Air recreationally only - and so my only hope is that it can play World of WarCraft decently well for at least an hour or two

[@joaoramalho1409]

I placed an order for the M1 MBA. Althought M2 is a great machine with a cool design, I honestly don't feel like spending extra money on it. For me, I want it to read and do investigative work and software development, and the M1 MBA has plenty of power for that. Also, want a laptop without a fan screaming at me all the time and lightweight when travelling. M1 MBA suits my needs perfectly.

[@Kystifyable]

M1 MBA is a great machine. Love mine. Try to charge between 20-80% and even the battery won't eat too many cycles.

[@joaoramalho1409]

Thanks for the tip 🙂