The M2 MacBook Air: I was WRONG!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Has this video put you off buying the base model M2 MacBook Air?

[@kraigbailey]

Huh? I have seen the Max Tech videos on the M2 Air. The bottleneck is the internal SSD NOT the M2 SoC. Editing video is to storage like driving 120mph all the time is to your car engine. As you can't easily replace the Mac's SSD it's much better to put that wear and tear on the much cheaper external-which OBTW you can also use to easily take the project to another system.

[@quartlow7210]

No. But my wallet has. $$$!!!

[@ben.harnwell]

I never really thought it was 'enough' when the base Pro became so close in price when you add in the larger SSD and 16GB Ram. I don't see the point of 8GB today and the 256GB SSD is just a joke. Apple need to set the base level at the right level, I think they are doing themselves a disservice ...

[@javtimestwo]

I have the very same as you do and I really am enjoying the M2 MacBook Air. I am a casual user and never attempt any video editing, so maybe that is why it works perfectly for me. There has been several instances where the activity monitor shows some orange but isn't that typical when multiple windows/apps are open?

[@JoeDezibel74]

I have not regretted buying the base model. For one thing, I only do the things with this laptop that it is intended for, and for another, even my work would not overtax the laptop. I work in marketing but video editing is not one of my tasks. As you have already correctly recognized. Apple did not make this laptop for such tasks.

[@jesselam5867]

I believe the reason why you experienced a slow down with the M2 during video editing is because of the storage (SSD) speed. Because the base M2 uses a single NAND chip the SSD runs half as fast as the M1 which uses two NAND chips. 8GB of memory is just enough for day to day usage, once you do anything moderate (ie video editing, 20+ tabs) 8GB of ram isn’t enough and your mac is forced to use swap memory, which is essentially using your storage as memory. Because the M2 SSD is half as fast, when it is using swap memory it is no surprise the machine will stutter compared to the M1 which is twice as fast. Contrary to your advice given at the end of the video, from a performance standpoint if you wanted to upgrade your M2 Mac, I’d op for the 16GB RAM upgrade over a 512GB ssd upgrade. Having swap memory only covers up a problem which is a lack of memory, you can eliminate the problem to begin with with more memory in the first place. It is also practise for future proofing if you decide to hold on to your mac longer than say 5 years. As memory requirements increase over time.

[@tomburke5311]

Well done for coming back on this. I read those reviews, including MaxTech’s, with interest. I had already bought a 14” MBPro (far more computer than I’ll ever need) and had been wondering if I’d regret that once the M2 machines were released. I was very iunterested to learn that there were issues with the base M2 MBAir, and to realise that by the time you’d spec’d it up to avoid the problem you were getting quite close to the 14” MBPro price. I think M2 MBAir buyers in the UK are justified in feeling a bit miffed about this. More money - a lot more in £ terms - for a laptop that’s not as capable as its predecessor? Not good at all.

[@jabulaniharvey]

moral of the story....avoid the base model if you are a power user

[@nickjr2189]

The M2 MacBook Air is great and I love how fast it is and how much it can handle unlike what some KZbinrs throw at it

[@theclown888]

Picked up the 512 GB version today. At least it sounds like the problem is limited to the base version. Good timing on the video!

[@dndavidsonsnation2562]

i'm so glad i went with the base 14"... i didn't had to put it through hard task yet but just the screen and speakers already make for it imo. and i know that when i'll need to push it, it will respond.

[@wheelspin10]

Good to see a youtuber admitting when they get it wrong, too many just either deny it or just paint over it. Well done for your honesty 👏

[@ericpmoss]

Yes, but have you noticed that every (!) KZbin reviewer has posted at least one video saying "I was wrong". First they were wrong about how bad they thought it would be. Then how good. Then how bad. It always (!) starts with "I bought the base configuration", even after years of EVERYONE saying that one should NEVER get the base configuration. I swear they do this just to have something to vlog about.

[@danielleo3695]

Back when the M2 MBA launched, I watched a lot of your video and decided to go for the M1 MBA 16/512. Best decision I’ve ever made, especially when I care a lot more about reliability than pretty design.

[@davidmeyer2586]

I went with the M1 base unit as a test to see if I liked the Air, I fell in love with it !! At times it bogs down at work when I have 6-8 tabs in Safari, Outlook, Apple News, and several other small programs, Safari takes up 4GB on its own. I was contemplating upgrading to a 2022 M2 Air with 16GB Ram and 512Gb SSD. Does anyone have feedback on how much faster the M2 will be (or not ?) over my M1. Thanks for any input...

[@IamMrLebanon]

We all make mistakes in full confidence and that we don't realize we are making at the time. What some people cannot do is humbly admit that they were wrong. This is one of my absolute favourite channels on youtube and the fact that you can be this honest about your mistake makes me want to keep being informed by your videos! Keep up the great work !

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thank you!

[@pulkitchhabra13]

Lol😂

[@adrianaeric9159]

Hi Mark. Keep doing what you do! I got the base MacBook Air M2, 8Gb unified memory, 256 Gb SSD. I did hesitated to upgrade it to 16Gb unified memory and 512 Gb SSD but decided to stick with the base model which made more financial sense to me. Upgrading was coming too close of the price of a MacBook Pro 14 inch, and I would have made the jump the latest. And then, what I really wanted was the 16 inch, so I would had invest even more money, way more than I felt comfortable to do. So I just kept it simple, to the base model, and hoped it would meet my needs just fine. And it did. I was blown away by the beauty, the build quality and the portability of this machine. I should let you know that it's my fist Mac. However, I knew what I was getting into because I got my wife a MacBook Pro for her birthday a year ago: 14 inch, 16Gb unified memory, 1 Tb SSD, 10 core CPU, 16 core GPU. Everything is just perfect with this laptop. It was love at first sight. But it was my wife computer and I needed to get my own to salvage my marriage!!! (I was using it to often according to her) . It didn't make sense to me to get exactly the same computer in the house, buying it twice! So I went for the MacBook air. I'm somewhat an average user, keeping it's computers until they die (+10 years). I'm still using an old Toshiba 17 inch laptop, Intel I3, purchased with windows 7. Over the years, I upgraded it to Windows 8, and later to Windows 10. These days, it become quite slow and is calling for a well deserved retirement... THE FACTS: A week after getting my new starlight MacBook air M2, I successfully brought it to a dead halt, and Chrome app crashed. I had to restart the program and went to check in the activity window: I was using a total of 17 GB of memory, and 9GB of it was swap memory. What did I do? 56 Chrome tabs open (2 of which were my 2 Gmail accounts, and 4 or 5 of them were KZbin tabs on pause; not playing) + 8 Safari tabs, + 2 more Safari tabs on an other window + Mail + Outlook + Excel + KZbin app playing in the background (I downloaded the app, but I think it's just an icon) + Photos + Map + Weather. I think that's all... a total of 9 programs were opened. Was I disappointed after it came to a halt? Definitively yes. Before the crash, It was acting slightly slower, and it would take a good half a second to open a Chrome tab. Than 15-30 seconds later, it became totally unresponsive, and then crashed. At that moment, I was quickly scrolling through pictures on TripAdvisor. I was just shopping... normal average stuff..., except I was doing a lot at the same time. I'm not into photo or video editing. The only apps I installed on my MacBook was Microsoft Office suite. Do I regret my purchase? No. But there is now a real scratch on the perfect happiness I was experiencing with my new MacBook Air M2. Would I trade it for a 16 inch MacBook pro? Absolutely. The big screen is too appealing to me. But I'm not ready to put that kind of money (again...!) into a laptop. I just hope that my MacBook Air will last more than 5 years. Maybe 10? We'll see in 2034! From now on, I've just have to keep a few tab less in Chrome, and no more than 4 or 5 apps open at once. PS: I did the same on my wife's MacBook Pro 14 in. and it never slowed down... Loved her MacBook at that time, and still loving it even more today. As for my MacBook Air: It's not a bad choice because I kept it to the base model; but I don't expect it to run like a MacBook Pro (14 or 16 inch). I get what I paid for: an entry level MacBook! Thanks for your great reviews Mark, and I hope my comment will help some of your readers.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thank you!

[@MsGjoci]

I bought a M2 Air based model, i use for programing its super smooth, works very well, this laptop isn't for hard work like editing videos, for daily use and programing its very good.

[@centuriomacro9787]

Regarding the performance difference between the SSD with one NAND chip vs two NAND chips: each time the M2 accesses the SSD (read/write) he does it through the SSD controller. The bottleneck for accessing the data on the SSD are the storage cells inside the NAND chips. If there are two NAND chips on the SSD, the controller probably can access them concurrently, and thereby effectively doubling the data rate. He could write to one NAND chip, and at the same time read data from the other. He probably even distributes large files across both NAND chips, thereby speeding up access to them.

[@dreamsofgrandeur]

Thanks for the honest follow-up. Unfortunate that the Air didn't seem usable at all. I've always assumed that I could do this sort of video editing if I really needed to. I am somewhat mad that this machine performs worse than its predecessor, but only in principle. After all, I didn't buy this computer to edit videos of this quality--I'm not a KZbinr, and that's what a MacBook Pro is for anyway.

[@erkkocak]

Hi Mark.. Unfortunately i am also a Canon shooter who needs to deal with HEVC 442 10 bit codec 4k. I was just about to buy the base 256gb model.. But you know 256 gb would never be enough anyway so I was planning to keep my footage/project files on a fast external drive. Do you think using a faster external drive would be fine? In the end only premiere core files will be read from the local ssd. My main workflow is 4k 10bit hevc video editing. Maybe I should go with a M1 mini instead?

[@karlmunford7000]

I have the MBA/M2/8GB/512Gb and its been fine, but on a few occasions it was sluggish when moving a 10GB-ish of data to an external drive. It was like the chip was saying _"Hey I'm busy right now, call me when I'm finished!"_ Almost as though it had committed all its attention to a single task. I'm still on Monterey and will be for sometime as it offers nothing of interest but only the possibility that I'll have to pay for upgrades for some of my current apps.

[@intestinomedicino]

I got the base model of an M2 air, and is amazing, sure I don't do video or photo editing video, and for the basic tasks that used to drive me nuts with my windows laptops (I was a HP and linux user until 6 months ago and I just change to apple ecosystem) this thing just rules.

[@christianhotter]

Interesting results! Still looking at the base model for a student who is not going to stress the system or fill a hard drive. She’s moving from Intel Mac and is mostly interested in the no fan of the Mx chips. Hopefully they start with a larger base hard drive in the next generation when I’ll be ready to replace my own machine.

[@guitarlab7772]

Don't beat yourself up too much. I still value your opinion on this stuff. I will be getting the Air M2 512 here shortly and I'm sure I'll love it.

[@KhurramQazi]

Great insight .. I’m in a dilemma of getting new Mac book and can’t make my mind up as to what to get. My main usage is Lightroom and photoshop. I’m trying to get into Final Cut Pro and adobe after effects . What would you recommend for me? Budget is really really tight. Should I get M1 MacBook Pro base model? Or M1 with 256 storage with 16GB ram Or M1 with 512 storage and 16GB ram Or M1 with 512 storage and 8 GM Ram. I would really appreciate your reply.

[@RM-hy4so]

Really like your honest reassessment of your earlier analysis based on newer data. I am a researcher and a lot of times we have to backtrack in the face of new data. Swallowing one’s pride and following what the data tells you, makes you a stellar researcher, not an apologist.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

How refreshing - thank you!

[@baskorosuryaputra1925]

I still don’t understand the “controversy”. Is it that controversial to expect a newer product to be better than an older product in every single aspect? In any case, the M2 is not a terrible laptop, it’s just caught between a way cheaper/ more well rounded option (M1 Air) and a slightly more pricey but way more powerful option (14” M1 Pro). I personally think both are better options than the M2 Air at its current price.

[@andrewcrossley2448]

Good honest review. I got a 16/256 M1 Mac mini from Apple refurb. It drives a 5k studio display and a Dell P2715Q superbly. Same for my work provided 16/512 M1 MBP13. Getting more ram is a better investment than more HD then use a TB linked external SSD….

[@RaghavHari]

Mark, I have to say it takes courage and honesty to admit your mistake, and you have shown both of them very clearly! Not only do people stick to their own personal views and discard reality, but to admit so openly to the fact that you didn’t pay attention to the glitches and feedback, and that you were wrong clearly, brings value to your content. Keep up the fantastic work and great reviews (and re-reviews!😅)! Happy Christmas 🎄to you and keep rocking in the new year! 🎉👏🏻🎊

[@MarkEllisReviews]

That means an awful lot - thank you!

[@lovehjerte]

It all comes down to what you need. I run the basemodel as my main protools rig, working on big mix sessions. I am amazed how well this little fellow hold up. All in all its a good laptop.

[@HOPGamingZone]

will it work smoothly on adobe audition with lots of audio podcast files?

[@lovehjerte]

@@HOPGamingZone it will :)

[@Johak1982]

Respect to you for admitting that you may have been to quick to judge the m2 MacBook Air. It’s a weird one. People just looking for a basic laptop is better of choosing the m1 MacBook Air since it even performs better in some situations then the m2. And as soon you start to upgrade the m2 MacBook Air it’s just better to go for the 14 inch MacBook Pro. I just picked up the MacBook Pro for about the same price as a m2 mbair when upgraded with just 16 gb ram or 512 gb ssd.

[@alexeyruigomez]

Thanks for the update!

[@tankhistoryfordummies]

I went all in for the 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. This is the best laptop I've ever purchased and it's so fast. It doesn't struggle in multitasking and even when I did some gaming - which Macs aren't known to be good at, I got 90FPS on maximum graphics settings in Geo FS with buildings, clouds and vegetation.

[@peterbreis5407]

Agreed. It is one of the best Macs I have ever bought. Fast, brilliant screen, audio, ports, speakers, camera, microphone, trackpad and battery life. Not perfect, it has trouble keeping external drives up, the common RAM/VRAM seems to suffer from leaks, and the cursor disappears on me, but those may be software issues fixable in later releases of Ventura. macOS has been buggy in late releases.

[@dccoletrain]

This is why I’ve been real tempted to buy the older one at $800. Just want to be able to do 4K editing

[@KamaniBrown]

Great video my brotha! I actually own the base model M2 MacBook Air and I’m loving it! I actually bought it because my spouse also has the M1 Air and I loved the look, performance and all. The M2 Air is my very first Mac and I’ve had absolutely no regrets or problems with it at all. I’m actually running my own KZbin channel from it and edit and render up to 4k 60fps with no observed issues at all… no slow downs, no hiccups, or anything alarming at all 🤷🏾‍♂️… all while living in tropical Jamaica 🇯🇲. So I guess mileage varies or something 🤷🏾‍♂️. But I’m loving it so far! Definitely worlds better than my old Haswell i7 gaming laptop I’ve had before it in every single way hands down!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thank you! And I’m glad you’re happy with it!

[@MrMgd33]

Great video again as you have churned out lately! Which camera did your footage come from? I don't believe it was mentioned, if it was my apologies!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thanks! It’s a Sony FX3.

[@MJLee-wl6kt]

I use M2/512/16G, normal office work and some xcode coding. It works just fine. I choose m2 (not m1), regardless of price and performance, I just want a bigger screen and light body.

[@jojag5]

It's possible that the variation you noticed was due to thermals. Theoretically, if it was an issue with the SSD configuration then it should remain consistent. You shouldn't be doing it fine one day and slow the next. Macbook Air has notoriously poor thermal control, and when the processor heats up, the computer will throttle down the processing speed. The M1 Air has slightly better cooling than the M2 due to a larger/thicker metal plate to dissapate heat. I would be very interested to see if people notice this issue on the M2 Mac Mini, which has a fan-cooled system.

[@OrangeismyNewGreen]

I got the MBA M2 with 16GB/512GB and I noticed something weird, I was resetting a Numbers spreadsheet and making a repeatable entry in many fields, entering $0.00 and the M2 couldn’t keep up, I would finish entering the $0.00 for 4 fields and I had to wait for the M2. I had M2 connected to the Samsung M8 and 2 spreadsheets opened. I wasn’t impressed…

[@Rocodil]

I already decided I will buy the second basic MacBook Air 520 Gb because of the reason you described. But now what about the discussion 8 vs 16 Gb RAM? I will use the MacBook for the basic stuff, but I usually have a lot of apps running in parallel. On my iMac with 24 Gb RAM I can see it usually uses about 12Gb RAM. The only real RAM consumer is Lightroom. I may use Lr sometimes while traveling like you do. Than buy the 16Gb you may say. However, the base models one can buy with 10-16% discount. The 16Gb version at Apple only: the difference is about €400, just because I want more RAM. What should I do, and not regret afterwards?

[@ricksmith3628]

Mark: I appreciate your reviews and comment videos more than most other tech reviewers, so especially appreciate your candor regarding the M2 Air. I was not on the verge of purchasing a new laptop, as I bought the M1 iMac and am still delighted by it many months after. Keep up the good work!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

That means a lot - thanks, Rick!

[@mystickal6342]

Hi I am a HR and I need to buy a laptop , my most work will eb documents , Word files , Pdf etc and i will be browsing at a time like in 15-20 multiple windows with heavy ATS software running what would you suggest M1 mabook air or M2 air

[@21Something.]

This goes to show that new or more expensive, is not always more expensive. I bought my aunt the m1 air while I was rocking a MBP 2012, and after a lot of thought I decided to get a new one, after testing the M2 air and seeing how slow it was in comparison to the m1 air, I just went straight ahead for the M1PRO 14 base model. I imagine that the m2pro may have issues to.

[@thewiirocks]

The M2Pro shouldn't have any issues. You're looking at a laptop with better storage, more memory, and active cooling. When the M2Pro MacBooks arrive, they will easily defeat the M1 models. I just don't expect them to crush them very hard as the M2 chip is a relatively small upgrade over the M1.

[@sharonb.9128]

Great video. I’m sorry to hear this. I really did not want the M2 Air to be a lemon. It’s so popular to trash Apple products and accuse the company of being run by money-grubbing conmen, I just tune out the noise. The only thing I can say in their defense is they fell victim to the same quality reduction I’ve seen in products across multiple industries. From corn to cars to RV’s to furniture the QUALITY from about 2019 to present has nosedived significantly. More recalls and warranty claims than ever. Missing or substituted parts and features or lower quality materials are common. I don’t know why I believed Apple would be able to buy themselves out of the supply chain problems everyone else was experiencing.

[@kaneclements7761]

The issue with the Air M2 isn't really relevant to me. I'm a photographer and work with some very big files. So I need at least 16 Gb of RAM. I wonder whether there is a sufficient difference between the M1 with 16Gb and the M2 with the same RAM, both with 512 Tb to justify the very desirable blue model? I'm currently on Intel with an iMac and Air and I think an upgrade may well be in order. To give an idea of the challenges RAW files from my main camera run to 120 Gb. When edited in PS and enhanced they can grow to 200 or 300 Gb.

[@marg8315]

I got the M2 base 256 gb MacBook Air when it was launched. Don’t regret even a bit for my use case! So you ain’t completely wrong!

[@li-ham803]

Haven't had this problem. I don't edit videos (and never will XD, I'd pay someone to do it for me). It works circles around my old intel Macbook Air. Never gets warm or slows down using day-to-day things. This is a great Macbook for people that just want a great Macbook to do basic day-to-day things (non-pro things).

[@topgazza]

Love your reviews and in this case admitting you got something wrong. No fuss, no fanfare just a very useful step back and revisit. The honesty and direct dealing with everything is why we all come here. One slight tip if I may. You were bobbing a bit close to the camera at times which is slightly "disturbing" . Especially when I can see right up your nose 😱

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Cheers, mate! And point taken on the framing 😉

[@suprafan246]

All I’m doing is running Wave accounting apps and looking parts catalogs for my business. So I’ll still get the base model. I think the hardest thing it will do is power two monitors. That’s all really.

[@paulwoodward8265]

I'm glad you've realised that benchmarks are of some value. In this case, they shined a light on an area where the base M1 MBA outperformed the more expensive base M2 MBA. You were defending it, and saying it didn't matter, even before you'd got your M2. That pushed my buttons. I'm running a 2020 Intel MBA, which has incredibly bad thermals, and I can tell you Apple can/do ship bad products - I have one. The only issue with benchmarks is knowing how to interpret them - how often the identified 'issue' will show up in normal use. It seems that for most people it rarely shows up, certainly less often than I feared it would. But when it does show up, it's pretty bad. And 'normal' people will only have one computer, and it will have to deal with anything they throw at it for 5 years or so - they can't just take their MBP with them instead. To me, it makes sense to spec the machine defensively, especially since you can't upgrade it later. I'd either get it with 16GB, so it's far less likely to use swap, and the slower SSD won't be an issue, or get it with 512GB storage, so you get the faster SSD speeds, which makes use of swap less of a problem. I'd suggest doing both upgrades, except that puts in in the same price bracket as 14" M1 MBP. That's exactly why my wife has the 14" - she doesn't need all that power, but in the sales it came with 512/16 for less money than a specced up M2 Air, and has more ports, better screen, better sound, faster SSD. TL;DR - base model M2 Air is underspecced and the upgrades are outrageously overpriced, sadly.

[@rocksinger45]

I did the one up on my Mac Air 512 ~ But my complaint is that because of the larger screen you can't open the lid without smearing the camera screen with your fingerprints ~ You can't even touch the sides without leaving your fingerprints on the screen ~ Otherwise, my other problems are transferring a video to my Facebook page from a KZbin page ~ I use to be able to drag and drop but now it's a PIA ~ I don't have any overheating problems as they said I would ~

[@BiblicalBasics]

Good to see a genuine admission of error! After seeing your video, I bought a M1 with 256GB a few days ago, simply because it was cheaper & more than good enough for my purposes. I love it to bits - its so snappy & it sips power. I'm waiting for the 15" MBA to come out - that's what I want next a larger screen but I don't want to pay the earth for a Pro.

[@dean-marr]

Me too 8gb 256 amazing

[@BradCramerMusic]

Bravo, Mark. Glad I can still go out and buy an M2 without remorse and I think that's all thanks to your excellent stories!

[@DarkFire515]

This sort of honesty and professionalism is exactly why I enjoy this channel so much.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thank you!

[@RameshKumar-ng3nf]

You got a new subscriber today 😊. I was searching in YT for honest reviews on MBA M2 as i am going to purchase it and your video was the best 👍 Never saw anyone in youtube accepting honestly what you told wrong before . Huge respect for you 🙏. World needs more people like you ❤️ I am going to purchase now M2 MBA 512 GB 😊. Thanks for your help 🙏

[@MarkEllisReviews]

This means a lot - thank you! And thanks for the lovely words!

[@achilochus]

I agree with the new opinions. I think the m2 base model is only good for basic editing and non-memory-eating apps. I recently tested Jetbrain Fleet on m2 base model and I found the memory is not enough. However this may be because Fleet is still in a beta version.. In general I only use it for bbedit and scrivener. I even do not often use it for Matlab.. anyway from m2 I feel apple is going back to its typical apple style: basic functions for ridiculous price and they want to charge more in this country as well..

[@SinghalRishi27]

*Tasks it's intended to be done* what tasks are intended on a 1200$ computer 200$ ram upgrade (must do for long run) 220$(apple care) optional 200$(storage) idk why He are deciding one computer's intended purpose based on its name I don't think it's just a web browsing computer a 300$ iPad can also do this I think it is a photo editing, 4k video editing computer checkout competitors of m2 MacBook Air like XPS 13 plus I purchased an M2 MacBook Air 16gb ram model with AppleCare+ and 35watt charger for 2100$(or 1,63,000INR) in India. And he is saying it's intended purpose is email I meant what if he wants to decide intended purpose based on their names like pro is designed for pro workloads and air is designed for no workloads then we don't even need these reviews we will simply buy a product upon its name

[@sangamts1841]

Appreciate your honesty

[@michael_dugan]

I swapped my old intel MacBook Pro for the M2 Air. But I did spec up the memory to 16GB and the SSD to 512GB. When I saw those benchmarks on the 256GB SSD I knew it would impact me negatively. If you're getting the base model I don't see the advantage of the M2 compared to the M1. I also have an M1 iMac with 8-core GPU, 16GB of memory, and 1TB SSD. I literally notice no performance differences between my M1 iMac and my M2 Air. Funny enough on black magic, my 1TB iMac SSD clocks in a good bit faster than even the 512GB SSD on the M2 Air. So going to 512GB doesn't even fully fix this SSD speed issue

[@bikermike]

Have a M2 13" air coming from the refurbished store with 512g and 16g ram, and the 10 core GPU. light weight portibility and plenty of capability for doing any editing I need it to do! The pros are nice but they do come with more heft making them more cumbersome to move around with IMO.

[@aerobrain2001]

Great video Mark!

[@paulhinds8868]

I got the 2TB version of the M2 Air, not had any issues here.

[@elmedin26]

I dont understand why Apple is selling a) a 256GB SSD b) a 256GB SSD that is slower than the other SSDs. It’s harder and harder to choose the “right” device. MacBook Air, Macbook Pro 13”, 14”, 16”, Mac mini, Mac Studio, iMac 24”, Mac Pro, M1, M2, M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, iPad Pro, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, 10 Core, 16 Core, 24 Core, 32 Core, 48 Core, 64 Core and so on… So how to be sure what’s the “right fit”? Reminds me of the problem in the 90s when the product palette get cluttered and nobody knew “what’s the right fit”?

[@akhenaton3]

Well... that's the difference between a technical review and a power flower review. Max/Vadim seem technical enough so... maybe (less technical inclined) people should pay more attention to what the techies have to say when it's about technology; just saying... I saw Vadim's testing back then, understood his point and kind of... disagreed with yours, even tho I haven't voiced my opinion on your channel about it. Anyway... I still like more how you present the stuff on your channel. Maybe it has to do with your charm, I don't know... And I also appreciate the honesty. Your channel is still one of my favourites. Cheers, mate 😊

[@MarkEllisReviews]

‘Power flower’ is one of my favourite new phrases. Thanks for the kind words 👍

[@jmtnr6787]

Well, 256gb storage isn't really enough for video editing anyway :P

[@shivambhatnagar11]

Is MBA M2 with 512gb ssd and 16gb ram worth buying over MBA M1 of same specs ? Planning to buy macbook for long term use 6-7 years

[@bigsean6045]

Sold my M1 16gb/512Gb air and upgraded to M2 16gb/1Tb air and I am quite happy with it.

[@jenniferjuarez595]

I was thinking of doing the same. So far how is it going does it heat up quickly.

[@Wokiis]

Put aside that this *might* be as simple as a base m2 disk-swap issue, I'd like to share my findings as well. What I have found is that if you're running it so hard (gaming, rendering) that the M2 SoC needs to throttle down to sub-5W power draw, performance suffers greatly. It's really interesting as the typical ~8W throttle is barely noticeable, but if you hit the hard throttle you will suffer greatly. Situations where you might hit the worse throttle include: higher than average ambient temperatures, which is a given, and using the laptop docked in clamshell mode(!). I really didn't expect the latter one on a passively cooled laptop. It turns out a lot of heat escapes through the keyboard, so if there is a lid blocking it you can actually lose out on enough thermal headroom to the point where it can cause major usability issues.

[@Charkatak]

As a main laptop this base model may not be good enough, however as a second device for simple or lighter tasks - sufficient.

[@chewyluigi]

It still is an air. Always safe to assume a base model macbook pro would always be a better fit for editing than a base macbook air. Bit all the changes along with an M2 chip, did get more people to bite and buy the air.

[@mackan072]

The base M1 should have been 512 GB. 256 is unacceptably low for this price range. While it used to be perfectly fine, files have gotten so large today. Especially when they leave performance on the table as a result, 512 should have been the default.

[@morrisfraser7236]

Well done for fronting up and for explaining the issue so well. I explain the issue Max Tech rightly flagged up (that Apple cut costs by using just 1x258 nand in the M2 base model instead of 2x128 nands in the M1 base model) like boiling a pint of water in two kettles is always quicker than in one kettle. If you want to render video getting two smaller processors working in parallel is quicker than i processor doing the same task in series… M2 base model is indeed fantastic and faster than M1 model unless you need to do big tasks for which you should have got a MacBook….

[@Noeyy6]

Does anyone have any issues with this one? I just bought this one just for fun. I have my main desktop with a 3090 ti for gaming. But i want the air m2 for schools work and e-commerce. I’m still on time to return it. What y’all think?

[@vincentleong9701]

I have bought the base model M2 Air. Have to admit the air is still the air and doing professional video editing or anything demanding is just not practical on the machine. But I am happy with my purchase as I won’t do demanding tasks on my MacBook Air. Good review, love to see KZbinrs actually being honest in their reviews

[@markholle3450]

Base M1 MBA owner here. I agree that the problem is probably limited to your use-case scenario (i.e. video editing). That certainly doesn't affect me. Even so, I couldn't let myself buy the base M2 MBA. I wouldn't want to go backwards on SSD speeds (even if I couldn't discern the difference). I KNOW it's there. I could see myself wondering if I made a mistake each time I felt a slight slowdown. Just a reminder of what a steal that base M1 MBA is and has been. Seeing it go for $799 lately is ridiculous, considering how great it still is.

[@Teluric2]

Steal is what apple charges for storage.

[@mbontekoe3358]

3 months ago I purchased a M1 Mac book air from a neighbour at a very good price (Eu600) because he had got the M2 version - 3 months on he is indeed no so happy with his choice - indeed for one who has used Macs on and off their memory policy is at best difficult and opaque.

[@goobfilmcast4239]

I would rather use a base MacBook Air M1 or M2 ANYDAY over a flagship Windows Laptop....it all about the OS for me.....

[@butchgo8930]

I would go for the flagship Windows laptop, sorry.

[@LooneyTo0n]

Thank you for the straightforwardness, it's a rare trait among tech youtubers.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

I appreciate that!

[@hollydolly088]

I got the air 16 memory 1tb. M2. I love it.

[@RobinTFH]

Great video! I 100% endorse that you make sure you buy the 'tool for the job', whatever that job is! I have a 2017 iMac Pro Quad-core i7 21½" for my publishing work. This is does exactly what I need. No surprise. But I would never expect THIS computer that I am currently using to watch KZbin videos (a 2012 MacBook Air 1·7 GHz Dual-Core i5) to do the same. Having said that, I have installed 480 GB of SSD - up from the original 64GB - which immediately boosted its performance and is probably part of the reason I can still use it today. So I would always recommend when purchasing any computer to include as much RAM and disc/SSD capacity as you can afford; the long-term benefits are always worth the extra expense. Thanks for your feedback on the M2 MacBook Air in use.

[@AKinator96]

Hey Mark. I really like your videos cause you’re honest and don’t treat tech like its only for content creators and benchmarks. However the title of the video looks like clickbait to me and i don’t think you need to do that because i would click on that video anyway :) if you do titles like this please just give a hint on the thumbnail what specifically you are wrong about. That would be honest and everyone can decide wether to watch it or not :) Sorry for my english i am not a native speaker.

[@SinghalRishi27]

*Tasks it's intended to be done* what tasks are intended on a 1200$ computer 200$ ram upgrade (must do for long run) 220$(apple care) optional 200$(storage) idk why He are deciding one computer's intended purpose based on its name I don't think it's just a web browsing computer a 300$ iPad can also do this I think it is a photo editing, 4k video editing computer checkout competitors of m2 MacBook Air like XPS 13 plus I purchased an M2 MacBook Air 16gb ram model with AppleCare+ and 35watt charger for 2100$(or 1,63,000INR) in India. And he is saying it's intended purpose is email I meant what if he wants to decide intended purpose based on their names like pro is designed for pro workloads and air is designed for no workloads then we don't even need these reviews we will simply buy a product upon its name

[@JorgeAndresVazquez]

Let’s say that the M1 MacBook Air has two very fast cars with trunk capacity of 128GB each, whereas the M2 has one car with the same speed but a trunk capacity of 256 GB. For the majority of the tasks (i.e., everyday tasks or even video exporting), chances are you would only need one car to “deliver” the performance you need. However, when you’re too busy and need to run several tasks at the same time or as soon as possible, the M1 can assign each 128GB driver with separate tasks at the same time, while the M2 would have to wait for the 256GB to come back to assign a new task. This is why under heavy memory load issues (such as 4K video editing), the base model M2 will experience more issues than the previous M1

[@bukki007]

How many cars does the M2 MBA 16 ram 512 GB have?

[@priyankmehra532]

Hey! I am just starting out my content creation journey and going to go all into Video Editing! I have a budget of Macbook air M1 with 16 GB of RAM. Should I go for it in 2024, is it still worth it? Or should I increase my budget and purchase an M2 Macbook air. Also, Actually I have already ordered M1 MacBook Air 7 days ago, and as they have launched M3 Macbook Air today, M1 has gotten cheaper, and probably I will be getting the refund of the price difference (of around 121 dollars). Please help, if I should cancel my order of Macbook Air M1, and order M2 with 256 GB and 16 GB RAM? The price difference is 121 dollars! I have just graduated and want to spend wisely! My main reason for buying a macbook is performance and video editing, I want to know if its really slower than the Macbook Air M1 as many people claim, and will 16 GB RAM upgrade solve the problem which you talked about in the video?!

[@james_godfrey]

That’s what I like about this channel complete honesty even to the point of revisiting mistakes. I think the best buying advice for the M2 is get the base model for basic needs, if your tied between upgrading the ssd or the ram for more than basic needs upgrade the ssd, because just upgrading the RAM still gives you a slow SSD.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thanks, James! And my buying guidance for this laptop hasn’t really changed - yours is great, too!

[@onion2787]

Yeah, but the main issue with the SSD isn't that it's slow, in fact, pretty much nobody that doesn't transfer large files would ever notice as the random read/writes of the M2's SSDs are in fact better than the M1's, even in the base model, the issue is that if the machine is swapping memory into the SSD, that can lead to "data jams", which means that the system cannot do two things at once and just put whatever is prioritized lower on hold while it's finishing the other task. That's where the slowness comes from while the system is under heavy load. It's swapping memory into the SSD and therefore cannot execute read/writes from it for other purposes, or if it does, very slowly and scattered in between of the swap memory phases. Therefore, what happens if you upgrade the SSD is the following: The system will be faster transferring large files and it still will use swap memory. Swap memory being used isn't a problem in terms of using the SSD for something else at the same time anymore then, but the SSD will always be slower than the memory bandwidth. Therefore, if you upgrade the SSD, you will gain benefits in terms of transferring large files and you will still get frequent app refreshes as the system is loading things from storage to memory. If you upgrade the RAM, swap memory will not be used in the large majority of cases and therefore won't impact the storage's read/write speeds. Transferring large files will still be slower but for many people, that doesn't really mean anything as the random read/writes are faster than previously, which is the reason why programs should still launch faster than on M1. Furthermore, you will not experience (the same degree of) app refreshes and other things being pulled out of storage into memory anymore. Therefore, I would suggest upgrading the RAM, not the SSD, unless you need the extra storage space of course. Buying more RAM also comes a long way in future-proofing your device and making sure you never have to worry about having too many word documents open at the same time.

[@james_godfrey]

@@onion2787 great explanation, but in general those who know they need 16GB of RAM generally would need a larger than 256GB SSD, plus I feel that most of the demographic this device is targeted at won’t be using a lot of swap and if and when they do they generally won’t notice any difference whatsoever with how well apple silicon deals with swap memory, that’s likely the reason why the ‘ready to ship’ models from apple are both 8GB of RAM and 16GB is only available BTO. I just feel the target demographic the MacBook Air M2 is aimed towards would benefit more from the larger storage option rather than the RAM, as for future proofing people have been advising to go with 16GB RAM in order to future proof their device for the past 4-5 years, yet here we are seeing 8GB RAM working perfectly fine for the vast majority of the user base, if apple were still using intel today 100% I would say upgrade the RAM but now with Apple silicon I wouldn’t say it’s as much of a necessary upgrade IMHO. Overall though it’s each to their own, but for the user base who will utilise swap memory on occasion I think spending $200 on a RAM upgrade seems a bit of waste vs spending $200 on more memory plus a much faster SSD.

[@onion2787]

@@james_godfrey Well, you see, I personally use my computer for full note-taking, document editing, PowerPoint, web browsing with quite often more than 20 tabs and similar stuff. I am currently sitting on 177 of 256 gigs being used (albeit on a windows device), so I think for people that edit documents and do productivity stuff, this will never be an issue. However, RAM might be. It might not be a big issue but I feel like it's certainly a better idea to invest in more headroom there, especially since you can always purchase an online cloud subscription or an external SSD if you run out. Furthermore, the only things that require a lot of SSD space (as far as I am concerned) are gaming and video editing, both of which I wouldn't necessarily chose the M2 MacBook Air for, given that it's powerful but still designed as a thin-and-light productivity machine. So yes, I think you are right about the target demographic not necessarily needing either of those, but I still think that you should opt for the additional RAM unless you know you are going to use a lot of space and not using any heavy programs that are taking up a lot of RAM and on modern systems, it's quite easy to use more RAM than you predicted, especially if you are clumsy with window-closing or if you are new to macOS and don't always properly quit apps. But yes, it of course comes down to individual use case.

[@SLACKPLAN9]

I just got an M2 Air, definitely NOT the base model, for all my productivity, and I have 0 complaints. I like it.

[@markoconnell804]

Need to add get the highest amount of ram too. It will save your ssd. Once the ssd is gone you will need to buy a new MacBook Air as the cost to get it fixed will be comparable to a new one.

[@osgiliath86]

Maybe because of the Max Tech tests I bought mine in the 16/512 config, primarily to make it more future proof. On the other hand I don't do heavy load of work on my m2 mba, just everyday stuff and it flies through it. I still think their tests were exaggerated, because this laptop is not for sustained heavy professional use such as continuous video editing or running meaningless benchmarks for hours. To be fair though, I thinks for a premium laptop (especially from Apple) it should've had the 16/512 config as base or at the very least clear info about the ssd stuff - why is it slower and why in one nand chip. in my opinion it would mitigate the bad press this laptop received, at least in some form.

[@m.hreels9822]

I absolutely love mine!❤💻🙏🏻 it is seriously the best computer I’ve ever had in my life!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Awesome!

[@JasonEdmondsgplus]

Try it with a 16 gig / 256 gig. Please. Looking to get this machine soon.

[@lesliegraham8478]

Hi there there. I live in Montreal. Where were you when you visited?

[@rowdyrefs]

Hey Mark, I was wondering what your thoughts were on light gaming on the M2 Air as obviously when you're gaming you aren't going to be using any other apps or have that many running in the background so wouldn't run into the same issues?

[@ryanschofield2809]

I have a base model m2 MBA and it's great but I'm gonna guess ventura was the issue, I think it's much worse than previous versions and changes have been made that shouldn’t of been, for example system settings the old layout was much clearer.

[@paulwoaert]

Do you occasionally 4k video editing of family type on your basic Air M2 ? If so, how are these editing activities going ? Le Air M2 is it slow during dinal export of video ? Does the computer get a little warmer ?

[@ryanschofield2809]

@@paulwoaert I don’t do 4k but full hd quite often on Final Cut Pro and it handles it with no issues. I’ve not tried 4k.

[@RichBriere]

I feel Better about my M1 256 Ventura now. You've made my Day. 🍎Thanks.

[@martinmueller4673]

I don't think it has to do with the ssd per se. Various things contribute to this. Sure the smaller ssd is slower BUT in real life applications you won't max out even these slow transfer speeds. In reality tons of small files that are transfered or swapped slow down the system because the file systems are still all slow as hell. You'll only get realy hight transfer speeds with large files that fit in the cache (ram) of the ssd. Practically all consumer ssds gain their high speeds by caching incoming data in a separate ram chip which is a part of the ssd (and write it from there "slower" to the ssd nand chips). If you take away the caching a nvme ssd is nearly as fast (well, slow) as an "old" sata ssd. Teardowns of the Mac Studio showed clearly that the mac ssds are not full fledged ssds but dumb storage cells. Since in M1/2 Macs the storage controller is part of the chip then the mac probably uses its regular ram as cache for the ssd. With 8 gb Ram it is pretty obvious that this won't work very good. This is not enough for apps and caching and the simple storage chips Apple puts into its devices can't write fast enough to "clear" the ram. Another thing seems to be temperature. M2 chips seem to get hot - especially in the Macbook Air - and become then unstable. My guess is that Apple has some kind of problem with the M2 chips. Otherwise we would have seen other M2 Macs for christmas shopping. Could be a supply chain problem but I don't think this is the only reason.

[@ryanduffy5887]

Been contemplating getting m1 air, getting a refurb for £849. Either that or replace my 2017 ipad pro. Im a basic user but really contemplating studying in the future and cant guarantee all apps i might need will work on the ipad. Love ipads though.

[@harrison00xXx]

I can feel you. I would rather get a affordable iPad (Air?!) AND a MacBook (Pro?!). I was beginning studying with a 16“ M1 Pro base model, not too bad especially for anything more serious, multitasking, researching, excel sheets etc. But something was always missing in university: touch/pen support. Since i have a iPad Air 5 as well its pretty perfect. 90%+ of the things i need for studying are the best done with the iPad, for the rest i know i have to get my MacBook Pro with me or i just live with the hassle the iPad gives you regarding to Office suite limitations or multitasking/small screen.

[@anmishel]

macbook air m2 base model + mateview 28.2 = i love it

[@bluefire025]

honesty love it thank you good video

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thank you!

[@SimonBreedon]

My trousers need a fire extinguisher.

[@murtazachaudhary3339]

I like your honesty.

[@mikldude9376]

We all get things wrong sometimes mate, it is human to err , good to know you are one of us mere mortals😊. One thing about new gadgets or any material thing in life for that matter that I have learnt the hard way because I’m nearly as old as methuselah is that because something is new, that is no guarantee it is better than previous products , and we see this in all sorts of things from smartphones to cars , and this is a reason why this little black never rushes out to buy a newly released product until it’s Been on the market a while , and we’ll used and tested. For me I like the idea of buying bigger and better and excess to my needs so it will hopefully last me for many years, I bought the 14 inch MacBook Pro, a bit pricier , but it is a nice bit of gear and I’m pretty happy with it. Cheers.

[@adeshchopra]

Time to turn the channel into BenchMark Ellis Reviews

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Round of applause, please 👏👏

[@matsetizar65]

Immediately after your first video I went out and picked up the….. M1 Air.

[@DonutAgain]

Good for you for admitting it. But it is odd that you still don’t think it’s important to understand the technical side of things, as a tech reviewer. If I remembered it correctly because M2 was using single module for 256gb, the bandwidth to persist storage was halved compared to the M1 version which has dual 128gb SSD modules that add up to 256gb. It isn’t hard to understand. Half the modules, half the bandwidth.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thanks! And as for not wanting to understand the technical aspects - I just have zero interest in that stuff, mate, and it hasn’t harmed the growth of my business. I just need to know ‘enough’ for my audience.

[@hooky17]

A lot of your audience, myself included, explicitly don’t want the technical overload. It’s precisely why I like this channel

[@Ile-des-Soeurs_Verdun]

I got the 512 SSD/8 RAM with 10 core GPU. The slow SSD is the reason why I skipped the base model. I could have upgraded the RAM instead of the GPU. Who knows why I didn’t do that. Yet, I still see so many people making ASMR unboxing videos buy the base model regardless if it was the MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air. For those who watched SSD reviews on both laptops like me, the decision to buy a 256 SSD model is just absurd. I’ve seen some people upgrading the RAM to 16 GB, getting the 256/16 model. Nevertheless, the 256/16 model might fix the SSD issue, but having 256 GB of storage is just unbelievable for a laptop of any brand in 2023. For reference, the 2012 intel MacBook Air had 256 GB storage. Yet, the 256 GB version still exists 10 years later somehow. I personally believe that the base model of the M2 MBA and MBP should have been 512GB SSD with 8GB RAM and 8 core GPU. For any laptop of any brand, the base storage should be at least 512GB. Technology needs to progress, not stay stuck in the same position as 10 years ago. Other than the SSD issue, the M2 MBA is really worth buying. It’s even better than the “Pro” in hardware. I think that the Air is worth over the Pro. Honestly, I don’t think that a 720p camera with a 2016 design is worth $1,299. Other than the fan, the M2 chip and the Touch Bar, which some people may like, the M2 pro is basically a 2016 MacBook. This is 2023, not 2013. It’s crazy how some webcams are still 720p. Today’s laptop needs those advanced features. A good example is the Dell XPS 13 plus. It’s a clean-looking and modern laptop. The hardware is amazing on that thing, but the performance and battery life is just oof! That’s why I chose the M2 Air over Dell XPS 13 plus and M2 Pro.

[@MobileDeveloper1965]

I am happy using the base model for iOS development. I am planning to produce productivity apps, so m2 should work for me.