The M3 MacBook Air "Problems"

My review of the M3 MacBook Air vs M2 MacBook Air. Addressing concerns around the 8GB RAM and double external screen limitations.
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[@Dave2D]

Some clarifications/details as to why I say “it’s just the nature of these chips” The M1/M2/M3 only have one display controller for handling external displays. These display controllers take up a large amount of space on the silicon. They are even bigger than performance cores. See here: ibb.co/7r0Z0SB The reason why they are so big is because Apple separates their display controller from their GPU. Qualcomm does this as well on their Snapdragon chips. These display controllers can process a lot of stuff without leaning on the GPU. This helps alot with power efficiency on ARM chips. If Apple wanted to add more display controllers to handle more external displays, they would have to make a die trade off. They would either have to reduce the number of CPU or GPU cores, or they’d have to make the base chips larger. IMO neither of these options are worth it for adding an extra external display on the MBA. Another thing - thermals. Let’s say they did add another display controller on to the base chips. When connected to an external display, these controllers put out heat. On a MacBook Pro, it’s a non issue. but on a fanless MacBook Air you do not want another source of heat. These laptop already have limited thermal headroom. We’d see the threads of “my MBA throttles when I have connect it to external displays” like the 2019 MBA. Lastly, there is the option of using a Display Link adapter to get more displays going. I’ve run 3 displays on an M1 MBA with them. These use software to get the CPU cores to handle video output. You can even split your 5K output to multiple displays using this adapter. It works but they have CPU overhead. Static images have very CPU use. Video has very heavy CPU use. DRM content has issues using this. (Netflix/Disney/etc) It’s not an elegant solution but it TOTALLY works and if you need more external displays, it’s a good option. However, I see some commentary that talks about how this Display Link solution is evidence that Apple could easily add more displays. I don’t agree. This is just Display Link doing it’s thing. It’s very cool but it’s not the same as display controllers on the chip. Hope that helps!

[@cameronbosch1213]

Then that's pretty poor display controller design then. Even the 2020 Intel MacBook Air was better in that regard. Apple isn't changing because they control macOS with an iron fist, and of course they want users to pay more for those features. That's utterly ridiculous imo.

[@dm2060]

If there are engineering limitations then the price should reflect that. You shouldn't make excuses for a 1000+ USD device supporting only 1 external display.

[@jorgeguzman8083]

I think the thing that sucks about the displays is that Apple only begrudgingly supports displaylink. They disable a bunch of features because display link is apparently "screen recording". I don't think the display thing would be so frustrating if they fully supported external gpus.

[@josephjoestar515]

@@cameronbosch1213 I won't cocksuck a trillion dollar corporation, but "Then that's pretty poor display controller design then". I'm pretty sure you, some random guy on the internet, don't know better than the very intelligent engineers at Apple. Apple has always been the master at price ladders. If you really need more, then they want you to spend more. These are still fantastic laptops for most people out there.

[@GreatTaiwan]

Been MacBook pro 14 get overheated / slower with 2 displays (mine included since day one)

[@ChippyGaming]

The nose test is vital, can't understand why more reviewers don't do it

[@nayabtanzim]

chippy's a tech nerd?

[@ventilate4267]

​@@nayabtanzim usually comes with the territory

[@munzutai]

​@fantaguyrealIf this is your strategy for growing, you might as well quit now.

[@flightevolution8132]

@fantaguyrealQuit, if that’s your strategy

[@ChippyGaming]

@@nayabtanzim Yeah all I do is watch tech videos aha I’ve been watching Dave in particular since his like 4th video

[@Marckiller2n]

The issue is not whether 8 GB ram is enough or not. It costs so little nowadays that it makes no sense to have anything under 16 GB considering it is soldered. It is a problem that doesn't exist.

[@morten1]

True. And I'm sure it would cost Apple very little to bump up the base model to 16GB

[@tenthhokage8564]

Apple have data scientist showing them the dollar lost from pp who need to upgrade from 8gb ram every launch

[@luckylucson]

My understanding is the RAM is integrated into the CPU but I don't know how much more efficient that is versus just putting normal RAM (which to your point is reasonable in cost). I'm happy with my M2 Macbook Air but the RAM is definitely a sour point

[@keerthan7558]

​​@@luckylucson yes you are correct. Apple silicon design limitation is that u can't use so-dim rams as they are significantly slower and inefficient. People do understand this but ssd doesn't need to be soldered for this neither should memory upgrades be so expensive

[@nitrobear]

And his argument was just wrong. You can open safari and three tabs and you can already see the laptop struggling with its swap. There's no way you can justify 8GB at this price point either, and it's just criminal that Dave is trying to (between some heavy quotes) "defend" it by saying that users won't notice a difference 6 years from now. It's just that it's just multiple issues in one. It's too expensive to carry that amount of storage. It's too expensive to carry that amount of RAM. And the SoC is just too powerful to waste it in such a paltry amount of RAM. This hardware is going to turn itself into e-waste 5 years from now just because we can't upgrade it in the future. And that's one of the reasons every single reviewer should be criticizing these laptops as heavily as possible. We've already seen the M3 on the MBP struggle and even crash in many real world programs and benchmarks just because it's being heavily bottlenecked by its lack of memory. And I can't argue this enough, an unified architecture means that the 8GB on this macbook are going to get filled faster than anywhere else, because you're trying to push whatever the heck many pixels these "beautiful" displays and icons and what else the laptop needs, compared to something with a proper dedicated GPU.

[@stefaandutil5920]

It's not "just the nature of the hardware", it's the nature of Apple. This is intentional. Yes the hardware can't support multiple screens, but that's because it was designed that way. This should be called out not shrugged away.

[@ZhuJo99]

One display controller takes as much space as two performance cores. That means less chips on wafer, and that means higher price. More display controllers also means more transistors and thus, more heat. Apple would not be able to use these chips in passively cooled Air and especially, in iPad. Not at all. For what reason they would do that? For minority of people?

[@lbgstzockt8493]

@@ZhuJo99 Yes, the display controller is large, but Apple could just make the die a few square millimetres larger to accomodate it. Yes that would make it expensive, but I doubt the SoC is the most important part of the final product. As for the transistors: If they are not in use they consume no power, so there is no issue. Even if they run I would suspect the actual processing to kick out more heat, which could be dealt with by using a thermal solution that was actually worth something, the M3 is already overheating in a fanless case. And as a bonus they could use the ones with a broken display driver in the iPads, which cannot take advantage of two external monitors anyways.

[@ZhuJo99]

@@lbgstzockt8493 you should then go and advice Apple engineers on what to do. Remember, there are just few top processor designers who fluctuate between companies. From Intel to AMD to Nvidia to IBM then to Apple, Google, Amazon and so on. So people from Apple used to work in these companies, now they work for Qualcomm. Wonder why such people do not make decisions based on advices from KZbin and reddit then?

[@griffin8062]

"Nature of the hardware" would at least make sense if Apple was forced to buy chips from another company, but they design their SoCs in-house

[@AndyMilne]

Apple would like you to buy the pro model if this is something you need. I did, its great.

[@Maghoumi]

Thanks for coming back Dave2D! We missed you!

[@Shm0by]

The face rub test should become a staple metric in laptop reviews from now on

[@navjyothkannottil8144]

Or he may have cut it lol

[@karlernstbuddenbrock371]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@redesignedlife777]

I wouldn’t wana rub my face on it. Just eat some Doritos or fried chicken. Lick your fingers and then grab the laptop.

[@minagalexe]

Yes, but I think that for the Apple products there is another part that function better...

[@L3G3ND4RYiNDI4N]

I’m a medical student, I use the M2 MacBook Air w/8gb RAM. I usually have multiple tabs for studying and research. Sometimes I need to delete tabs because of memory usage. I still think this is “normal” use, and it’s really disappointing that Apple thinks 8gb RAM is still a viable baseline.

[@JaredGauthier]

Are you using Chrome or Safari?

[@sanuthweerasinghe7825]

@@JaredGauthier either way, 8gb ram on a laptop that costs $1200 USD is highway robbery.

[@eeli3]

doesn't it just go into swap memory? im typing this from a m1 base model air with like 50 chrome tabs open lol seems to be working fine

[@dechubasco830]

Same, I am an Engineering student, I know it's a stupid choice but I like the flexibility of carrying a lightweight device with me but god damn I open 1 tab of some google doc and the ram struggles to do anything.

[@JaredGauthier]

@@sanuthweerasinghe7825 Yes it is. But the poster already spent the money so I'm trying to assist.

[@dayslikethis82]

I love your videos - very informative, genuine and well thought out... thank you!

[@jimstearns1938]

Thanks! Good info delivered with a sense of humor!

[@TheLeafyo]

Installing call of duty takes €154 worth of storage from your hard drive. The pricing is absolutely insane.

[@pieterrossouw8596]

If that disappoints you you've got a nasty surprise coming when you try and run it...

[@h.goyal2616]

why would u install cod on mba anyway?

[@TheLeafyo]

You're right. Why do anything on a macbook.@@h.goyal2616

[@benjiro8793]

But but people keep telling me to use a USB-C dongle with a external storage. Forgetting that external storage has a higher latency and thus hurts 1% a lot on most games (the few that work on Apple devices).

[@smallqwaro]

Yall should chill out, blud(OP) is just tryna make a point

[@rubik8529]

4:26 Yes true there are 2 issues with the 8gb/256gb variant 1. 8gb 2. 256gb

[@devilkid1991]

Both non upgradable and the Ram is shared,

[@ch3vr0n123]

so you can skip it ;)

[@ZaXTheAlien]

other upgradable laptop, buying 16GB SODIMM RAM stick: $50

[@benrolle622]

I love the way you structure your reviews a lot of times when I watch reviews I'm kind of like okay cool but I don't really care but with your reviews they are concise and usually answer most of the questions I have without wasting my time thank you for that :)

[@masak1506]

An honest review that is straight to the point. Thank you, Dave!

[@godminnette2]

"It's just the nature of the hardware." Dave, this is the third generation. It's been a complaint for this long. They could have designed the hardware of the M3 to keep up with the competition considering the price of these devices, instead of just compromising.

[@adityamwagh]

Apple doesn’t have competition, they are the only ones with computers with MacOS.

[@cameronbosch1213]

​@@adityamwaghNot true. There are literally dozens of Windows competitors!

[@A_GodApple]

but you would have to most likely redesign the whole part thats works on the display output, which probably makes it cost more. really its not that big a deal, the 8GB ram is a wayyyy bigger issue

[@cameronbosch1213]

They're doing it to make people upgrade. Not doubt about it.

[@kenneth_romero]

@@cameronbosch1213he means for hardware that can run macOS easily. sure you can make a macintosh but the general consumer will not go through the hassle of making that work. reason why apple won the lawsuit against Epic because "they offer a unique experience with the hardware and software they sell". if macOS was open or even apple silicon was sold to other companies, they would innovate a lot faster due to growing market demands.

[@peterthepanda]

The biggest problem is charging $1099 for a laptop with a measly 8GB RAM and slow 256GB Storage, which is highway robbery.

[@jayhuda7524]

but it'll outperform your 2k laptop with 16 GB RAM. Instead of looking at pure numbers, we should look more at the actual performance.

[@peterthepanda]

​@@jayhuda7524 still not a valid excuse. Charging that much for components that only add a few dollars in costs is clearly a scumbag behavior.

[@PixelPulseEdits]

​@@jayhuda7524at least it's modular and I can swap RAM/SSD

[@jooplin]

@@jayhuda7524256GB is literally a defective product. SSDs writing cycles are limited. If your SSD dies you can’t replace it and need a expensive repair or a new MacBook. Small RAM makes this problem even worse. No one would complain about this config if you could at least replace the SSD

[@Wilbur-em1hw]

@@jayhuda7524 Yeah in specific use cases. Also a computer with more ram and ssd is more future proof. You have to look at pure numbers. 256gigs for a laptop at this price is a joke. 8 gigs of ram for the macbook pro is a joke too considering the fact that it is going to be used for ram heavy apps and multi tasking.

[@teohyc]

Non-Pro models of M1, M2 and M3 Macbooks can run up to 3 external displays when you install DisplayLink driver. I have tested and it works, although I used a Minisopuru display adapter to achieve the result. The point is, it's a software limitation.

[@jbountalas]

I'm a former Mac guy (intel based), so my perspective might be a bit out of date, but here goes. Back in the day, if you used your Mac for work, you often used Outlook for email. If you were like me and made your living as an Exchange admin, you needed the features of the PC version of Outlook, so you ran a PC emulator of some sort, which required a fair bit or extra RAM. Nowadays, Outlook for Mac may have caught up feature wise, but the majority of my work apps are now web based, which means multiple browsers, each with multiple tabs open. Long story short, 8 GB doesn't cut it. Add in an enterprise instant messaging client, which is not web based and is resource hungry, and you pony up $200 for 16 GB, but it soon starts to look pretty cramped. The only other option is 24 GB for this model at an additional $200? So you spend $400 to bump your memory up by 16 GB. Check out the price for 16 GB of DDR 5 laptop memory at any of the online retailers and tell me Apple doesn't know how to make money.

[@raghavkaushal7561]

Thank you! I was waiting for this comment. Exactly! The web browsers and the web itself have become heavier. I don't understand why Apple and a lot of reviewers beholden to them pretend that 8GB of RAM is perfect for a laptop used for web browsing, opening up Electron Apps, Word, Excel & PowerPoint etc. I have Legion 5 with 16GB of RAM for which I bought 2x32GB RAM sticks( total of 64 GB RAM) for 175 CAD$. Apple charging 200 USD for a paltry 8GB of RAM upgrade from 8GB to 16GB is daylight robbery

[@jbountalas]

@@raghavkaushal7561 Exactly. I know the RAM is soldered on the Mac Books, but the price is still not reasonable.

[@denisruskin348]

Imagine a mid range 2024 laptop starting with 256GB of storage.

[@jooplin]

With storage that is not replacable

[@MichaelGGarry]

I see 17 Dell laptops, all around the price of the MBA, some cheaper, some more expensive all with 256GB of storage and most with 8GB of ram. Funny that.

[@user-qm9tj4me5v]

😂 Only Apple can do！

[@James_David]

Apple was shipping the 13-inch MacBook Pro with 128GB ssd for $999 in 2018.

[@yesyes-om1po]

@@MichaelGGarry where

[@samsung40_media87]

I don't ever want 8GB, but that price jump is so shocking I ended up not buying a macbook

[@rashedkhanmelon2453]

Me too 😂

[@robert29ti]

it's called a scam

[@1991DannyW]

I have a Mac Air M2. With a DisplayLink docking station (I have a Dell branded one) it does allow more than 1 external monitor - worth knowing 😊

[@rahz_k]

How? On my dell branded, I've tried to have 2 hdmi outputs and only one display will be powered

[@4D1_P74Z]

What an honest review! Thanks for this...

[@ravisoni1386]

I love the fact that Dave starts video without any warm up. It's always straight to point.

[@morten1]

yeah. Too many videos on YT are full of long presentations, explanations and word salad just to fill out a video with more content

[@mariovega4581]

The first three minutes of this video saved me from wasting my money on this thing faster than any other tech reviewer could be possibly capable of.

[@Daslicey]

I'd prefer an intro compared to calling not able to run 2 external monitors is a win

[@PixelVogue]

yeah other youtubers need the hit that 10 min mark with all their BS!

[@dandansfu]

And doesn’t just praise after praise Sadly those videos still got a lot of views Coz I guess many ppl love watching over dramatic over stylized KZbinr

[@alter-ego-]

"eats my soul looking at that configuration" is an accurate way of putting it.

[@Beartato1989]

I just got the 14in M2P MacBook Pro for 1400 at Costco, it was well worth the wait because at Christmas it was at 1600. The warehouse was trying to get rid of them and at the time both Costco in my area had 2 left when I bought mine. There is such minimal separation from previous and new generations it doesn't make sense to buy the latest unless it has 1 koller feature

[@devkasunlakshitha]

You always talk about the truth. Respect, buddy!

[@JamesJohnLam]

Tim Cook's apple is selling a premium product, at premium prices, with old tech components

[@dandansfu]

And it starts to show Roman empires don’t collapse one day and not saying apple is going to fall apart NO they won’t yet But based on stock price , sentiment from comments , sales figure You can see ppl r finally starting to see and get tired of the BS cook is Sadly cook can easily leave and still be wealthy and rich and happy There is a saying where I am from , it’s hard to preserve wealth past 3 generations because 1st works hard work the most ( Steve jobs ) to build the wealth 2nd generation ( cook ) never have to work hard like first one. Enjoy the success and money 1st one leave. Never have to do much but due to nature of never have to really work hard , it starts to decline and leaves Then leaves the 3rd generation which has to really push it through Same thing kinda happen with Microsoft too and we all know what a joke Steve was Cook was not as bad as him but you get the idea

[@wonderbread6100]

Its just the nature of the hardware bro. Mine came with old features that his didnt have.

[@danielvogler2797]

"its just the nature of the hardware bro" well the nature of windows laptop hardware is useful cheap reliable and consistent campatible@@wonderbread6100

[@phil-l]

The M chips outperforms any Intel or AMD cpus on half the power 🤷‍♂️

[@dandansfu]

@@phil-l still doesn’t give them excuses to limit that and that’s what Apple does all the time did something better and can do other things that are common or already exist for a while , but purposely limit them Also part of reason is the TSM chips. If instead of Apple , other companies secure Tsm chips , it may be different

[@colindavidch]

The ram and storage pricing is something that I can’t get over because it’s highway robbery how much they price 8gb of ram or 256gb of extra storage. You can look up how much companies charge for ram and storage and it’s pennies compared to what apple is charging you and they are definitely paying less then that because they are buying in massive quantities

[@LawlessNate]

I bought RAM for a laptop recently $110 got me 32 gigs of RAM. That's as a consumer buying just two sticks at one time; the big companies that buy in bulk get way better deals than that.

[@ajfromca]

I manage a MacOS environment for my employer. The multi display limitation pretty much sank the M1/M2/M3 base devices. Sure DisplayLink is a thing, but that is extra steps and touch. Each step and touch is a chance for a user to call the Helpdesk for support. M3 MBA having Multi Display native is causing us to consider it. Now to see if they back port this to the MBP14 M3, and the M2 devices (which also have the hardware changes required for this to work).

[@messicomps344]

so disappointed by the thing starting at 8/256 AGAIN.

[@andyH_England]

Just ignore that config. If they had base `16GB/512GB they would have been £300-400 more expensive so it is not that you are missing out on anything.

[@yesyes-om1po]

@@andyH_England thats not how that works at all, for 300 dollars I could buy 128gb of RAM, and still have money leftover.

[@Jdnicks00]

All laptops are doing 8gb RAM.

[@andyH_England]

@@yesyes-om1po Can you name me a 2024 Core Ultra ultrabook with which you can do that? Core Ultra laptops use LPDDR5X (the fastest) and are non-modular. Do you know why you're spreading misinformation?

[@sihamhamda47]

@@andyH_England 8/256 to 16/512 should cost only 30 bucks more, as RAM and SSD chips are very dirt cheap nowadays. Apple are pumping those upgrade prices way too far

[@Kurazaybo]

They got Dave on the "8GB is enough" thing, I've lost faith in humanity.

[@rocketmunkey1]

Judging by the comment section being very aware of the Ram and storage issues, its not humanity we've lost faith in, its KZbin content creators.

[@coachvalente]

he's a sold out.

[@yippeekyay]

k​@@GOOD_FARMER

[@GreatTaiwan]

@@GOOD_FARMERwindows sucks more but doesn’t change fact my 16GB maxed out M1 Pro (all cores and GPU paid extra for it) gets slower when opening more than 12 tabs and 1 VSCode 16GB for basic web dev (which’s in my Dell xps I run front end with multiple back end that is heavy spring apps (Java) (and also pytho) with bunch docker container) and still cheaper my Dell xps for work with Linux on it MacBook could definitely do better (the only department it’s doing phenomenal is the power.. yes lives longer but it’s way slower) Apple pro MacBooks that costed me more than 2200$ is not really that powerful U truly need 32 min I can’t even imagine using chrome or 5 6 safari tabs with 8gb

[@sarthakshende9]

​@@GreatTaiwanwhats your tech stack?

[@maledr53]

Do you know if 2 displays work with the lid open but the internal screen off? Reason is, what about Touch ID? I use that quite often so even if I don’t use the laptop monitor I still need to keep it open

[@mkleng]

Great smudge test from the get go, man! And the rest too! Thank you !!

[@Aggress92]

$350 windows PC with integrated graphics from 2008: can drive 3 total displays and 2 external displays with absolutely no issue $1300 apple laptop in 2024: why do they allow 2 external displays for free? it's too good! (I get what Dave was saying, I just think that Apple deserves to be called out for this limitation way more than they have been, coming from someone who bought both an m1 and an m3 machine)

[@uchiaslaya7]

I can run two external displays with my phone lol

[@xdka826]

Yeah Dave misses the mark so much this video is the coldest take on the planet.

[@Noggles10]

I run my M1 Air with 2 external screens and the internal screen no problem. Bought a Dell USB C dock and a specific set of drivers on my MacBook and everything worked great the first time I plugged it in.

[@maZec31]

"I upgraded my Asus G14 2023 from 16GB to 64GB using a non-binary 48GB DDR5 module, and also added a 2TB Samsung 980 SSD. Even with these upgrades, the total cost was still less than $1500. In comparison, a similarly configured Macbook 14 Pro would cost five times more (in my country). Does not make a sense to me to buy Macbook.

[@andyH_England]

Does it run macOS. That is the main reason I buy MacBooks as I much prefer Macs. I wont go into the reasons but it is a litany of Windows disasters that has severed my respect for Windows OEMs.

[@clickbaitpro]

​@@andyH_EnglandDamm.. Year's later you're still simping for Apple 😅 Glad you're alive though

[@andyH_England]

@@clickbaitpro thanks! Hanging on in there the best I can.

[@Wilbur-em1hw]

@@andyH_England N yet the world runs on Windows and apps made for it. The more expensive versions of windows laptops are just as fast as a Macbook if not faster.

[@andoletube]

Sounds like BS to me. More like 3x more, max. It's not 5x more in any country. You need to make your point with facts, not fiction. Name your country if you want to prove your point.

[@WhittyPics]

If you are using both ports to drive 2 displays, how can you charge it? Can you run one through a hub in order to charge the laptop while you are using it along with expand the ports?

[@cf6978]

Guys, can you imagine this BOY is actually 44 years young?

[@linked3]

He looks like he'd be in his twenties in this vid, ngl

[@philamonhemstreet8632]

My work gave me the 8GB m2 model. Even for with just super basic stuff open, web browser, word, excel, slack, and a couple other electron apps, I was getting “out of memory” errors and the system was prompting me to close applications. The web is getting heavier all the time. 8GB is not acceptable on a $1000 laptop.

[@andyH_England]

That is a buyer error. Your company cheapening out rather than testing whether 8GB was enough for your workflow. Common sense is a requirement when choosing a laptop! My elderly parents are fine with browsing and watching YT on 8GB, but a business machine with your workflow should be at least 16GB!

[@vikrambalaji4126]

@@andyH_England "erm 🤓🤓 dwis is actuaway a bywer ewwor"

[@philamonhemstreet8632]

@@andyH_Englandit is buyer error 100%. But also, why is Apple selling a computer that is incapable of the most basic workflows for $1000 dollars? In my opinion, they are trying to trick their customers into buying a substandard product. The base model MacBook Air is a bad product. It’s deceptive, it’s marketing in bad faith, and it is disgusting coming from the RICHEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD.

[@ezBeanie]

@@andyH_England Haha of course its the buyers fault for not spending even more money xD

[@andyH_England]

@@ezBeanie Sadly, as you get older and understand life more, you will see that if you want more or better, you have to pay more. Who would have thought!

[@akashneogi]

Too broke to even watch this

[@tipusensei]

No​@fantaguyreal

[@omeysalvi]

Bro 😢

[@JuanJimenez.]

A good majority of us are broke

[@perseus31]

Second hand M1 Air got you bro..

[@mastroitek]

I mean, we are talking about an entry level machine starting at 1100$ but the first real sensible config (512gb SSD, 16gb ram) goes for 1'600$. Even having the money would be difficult to justify such a purchase....

[@johnnymaccool9828]

I picked up a brand new MacBook m3 15 “ Tuesday morning and returned it Tuesday afternoon , sure hope the next iPad shows some real improvement !

[@reubendias18]

This thing about going for the previous gen products might apply to the upcoming iPads in a few weeks, especially the iPad Pro lineup. There could be some great deals on the M1 or M2 iPads soon.

[@5530aslan]

Prices for upgrades of M3 macbook air 15 are disappointing. Was considering to buy one, but the configuration I need costs crazy $1700 (16GB, 512GB), so now considering to move from my macbook pro 2019 to a windows laptop.

[@torjalaenjir5322]

2019 ? Bro I have a MacBook Pro retina from 2015 and I’m still happy with it. Now I’m starting to think about an upgrade

[@clementcollier8432]

Just do it honestly. It's unlikely they will change their way anytime soon, and too be honest as a lifelong macOS user, it has become so much of a pain in the ass for many "advanced" things that I find Windows surprisingly less annoying. Oh and for the price you will be able to play some relevant games, not overpriced... The Windows laptop market is very hot right now, they are even closing in for efficiency on the relevant task (while keeping max power for when you are plugged in). Considering the planned obsolescence and very hard depreciation Macs gets these days, those prices make no sense at all.

[@Gurenn83]

Same. I am planning to buy an Asus 14x OLED which is way cheaper and does the job. I am getting sick of this entry level 8GB/256GB configuration trend. And Apple is wondering why their macbook sales are going down - I find it really funny.

[@LawlessNate]

I spent about $1700 on my laptop and it has 32 gigs of RAM and 2tb of storage with an x86 chip that performs similarly to the M2 chip in terms of horsepower and power efficiency. If I had bought from a different brand I probably could have had a similarly specced laptop for around $1,000.

[@heliumfreak5364]

So Apple was complaining that intels small performance increase each gen was not good ... And now they do the same :D Either its harder than they thought it was or its intentional

[@andyH_England]

You rarely have massive gen leaps year on year; that is only for people living in their dream world. The major leap was Intel to M-Chip, and now, 15-20% improvement year-on-year is very good. I really do not understand some people's expectations; wild!

[@lbgstzockt8493]

Chip design is incredibly hard and Apple has some of the best engineers in the world, the fact that we are even seeing these gains the past few years is quite an accomplishment, especially in such a power constrained system.

[@dilraj8842]

It was a chip size issue when they switched from intel

[@Pingwinho]

They were complaining about intel not delivering the promised 7nm architecture, which caused the entire 2016-2019 MBP design to fail due to bad thermals.

[@isaacschiff-lewin8590]

Wait, so with your theory about the two displays, does that mean that there could potentially be a patch to the M2 or M1 airs that would allow for the same thing? Would love that for mine!

[@deanhantzis9630]

Dave2D's take in this video is mind boggling. I don't even think I need to explain why.

[@RichWithTech]

New hair looks way better you just got 20 years younger!

[@hautwater]

16gb is most definitely needed now a days. most people aren't buying these laptops just to see emails and a google search every now and then, anything past that with 8gbs makes the experience noticeably worse. if ur typing a paper with multiple google tabs open you will see bottlenecks that shouldn't exist at that price point.

[@vacc1001]

I typed a paper out last month on my 8 gigs M2 Air with tons of browser tabs, word, notion, apple music and docker running two containers doing ETL jobs. I found no issues. What bottlenecks are you talking about?

[@heroninja1125]

@@vacc1001 That won't last for long. It doesn't seem like your computer is struggling but everything that cannot be put onto RAM will be instead ssd swapped. This is going to damage your SSD over time and cause it to slow down/break.

[@vacc1001]

@@heroninja1125 For what definition of "over time"? Give me a number. I've had this for close to 2 years now and don't see any differences. Also SSD Swap is there precisely for that reason. You sound like you're parroting something you read off the internet. Educate yourself.

[@SuperSviki]

@@vacc1001 So your experience is representative of everyone else's? There are multiple comments of people with m2 products that do struggle with 8gb's, but I guess all of them are lying while we're supposed to only believe you. Not to mention the FACT that apple did this on purpose, since they charge 5 times the industry standard for ram and memory upgrades. At this point if you're not familiar with apple tactics, then you're clearly an idiot.

[@br4infrezz339]

​​@@vacc1001SSD have limitation of read and write, because of SSD running every time your ram full its going to consume SSD life span, so if your SSD broken, you have to buy new laptop because of soldered SSD, such a waste for good chip, you may not noticing but in the future it Will happend because SSD have limit read and write.

[@luke_skyknocker]

1:46 Does Apple allow you to disable the screen and use the laptop's keyboard and speakers, or do you have to close the lid to display image on two external monitors?

[@SomeTenth]

What’s the whole fuss with those external screens? I’ve been running 2 externals plus laptop screen on M1 using displaylink for the past 2 years, no issues

[@Blue-sb4hv]

Uncle disappeared for a month with no s24 ,oneplus 12, nothing phone 2a or mwc2024 videos and appeared back like nothing happened.

[@Conqueror25]

FUIYOH!

[@keerthan7558]

he has a life lol. And none of those products are anything special, all reviews have already covered everything that's there to.

[@ricktp6821]

​@keerthan7558 this Mac ain't special either, but what do I know.

[@KSiggaardA]

We had the problem as well with the single external monitor on the docks at my workplace. Our IT department "solved" it with DisplayLink docks. Again can't compete with true multi monitor support.

[@ponderingfox]

Very tempted by the dual external displays. Though I’ll wait for refurb pricing.

[@jacksukerman5150]

Thanks Dave that was a really good no bs short video. One thing is new. Normally amazon etc only have the in store base spec models. The m3 now has a 16gb / 512 ssd spec that will be on resellers so hopefully this will end th❤ price theft

[@p0st-nutclarity]

Bro honesty you look younger, I love long hair but looks suits you the best

[@recordedanemone6399]

Ima say, 2024 laptops have definitely given some competition, especially the hp spectre 2024

[@danielagbeni]

The most honest review about this Macbook I've seen

[@PandaMoniumHUN]

Baseline 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD = artificially inflating prices of the usable models = not buying.

[@MyNameIsBucket]

"B-b-b-b-but if all you're doing is browsing..." Then a $200 used Windows laptop will also suit your needs just fine. The bloat issue is overblown - and besides, that's usually the manufacturer's fault. Uninstall the redundant anti-virus and crap and 8GB is fine for basic usage. Abracadabra, you just saved yourself $1000.

[@Emeril242]

If all your doing is web browsing & you insist on Apple, then a discounted M1 MBA while you can still find one is a far better deal. No point in getting the M3 with 8GB ram & a 256GB SSD, but then it’s $1500 for 16/512.

[@VolkanAyse-bm7du]

There is so much power in AWT66W I need to hit the toilet again and get rid of it, can't take it all

[@cameronbosch1213]

Yeah, time to take a shit on the bot! 😂

[@vikrambalaji4126]

AWT66W sold me fentanyl

[@Bill-Rink]

Dave's hair is amazing today, of courses his reviews are always the best.

[@notrandomrandomusername8890]

I thought about going with a MacBook for half a year now and not once I heard that it only supports one screen - I never used less than two screens when I'm not on the go so.. thanks 👍

[@FrankThompson-iw5fy]

Still using my M1 Mac air and got no complains over all these years. The battery is still at 95%. Still looking good over all these years and have absolutely no plans or extra money to jump on a newer macbook M2 3 4 5 6 7....

[@benjiro8793]

That is the issue Apple created themselves... Look, what if the M3 Air is 16/512GB or ... heavy forbid, 16/1TB ... Now all of a sudden you may be a bit more tempted to upgrade. Faster CPU, way faster GPU, AND more memory / storage. But they lost a sale, as you feel no reason to upgrade. In the Windows market, you feel when you upgrade a laptop 2 generations later, that there are noticeable gains and you feel more tempted to upgrade. O, now i can play 1000's of games at 1080p low, and get ... 16, 32GB memory and more storage and better screen and ... The irony is, its actually hurts their own potential sales. I do not feel temped to buy a M series anymore. I was tempted with the M1 (and owned a m1 second hand for a short time), but the m2... uch, 8/256... m3 ... UUUUCH 8/256.... Any temptation is below freezing (not counting the price increases between the m1 and m3).

[@faraz1926]

I got my Macbook air M1 in 2021 and my battery maximum capacity is 88%. i dont know if i should be worried lol. when did you get yours?

[@thekittyspy]

Kind of curious what kind of battery cycles you have on it? I have the same M1 air (2020) and about 620 cycles on it so battery at full charge is 86%.

[@FrankThompson-iw5fy]

@@faraz1926I pre-ordered mine right when it was launched, so it's safe to say I got it on day one. 88% is still pretty strong. Probably you used it more than me. I wouldn't be concerned tbh.

[@FrankThompson-iw5fy]

@@thekittyspy sorry, no clue. Guess I gotta check.

[@ayanoakune]

1:36 bro casually puts laptop into pocket

[@doctorogenki]

Dave's out here asking the hard, greasy questions!!

[@JimP-tc7gg]

If 8gb is fine, Dave, why don't you do a video showing us a base macbook air with more than 3 chrome tabs open. I'll wait.

[@b10nc09]

I can have like 20 tabs open. I don't know what kind of things you're doing but I'm am usually in blender while having these tabs open and it runs fine.

[@arandomguy9669]

@@b10nc09 I'm sure RAM comes to play when you export videos or playback stuff in AE, PR or DaVinci. People proved that MacBook's 8GB RAM falls way behind its 16gig variant. Thus ruining it's only quality of "productivity" which people seem to throw when questioned. No matter how optimized your system is ( fancy dynamic yada yada memory ), physical storage is physical storage. What doesn't exist, doesn't exist lol.

[@AzeemKhan-ly9eu]

New hair 🤯

[@li_tsz_fung]

Both looked really cool on him

[@TerranViceGrip]

Dont defend costcutting measures, critical functionality should always come first.

[@ZackCase]

Looking fresh Dave!

[@berkoukes-design1134]

i had the macbook air m1 since it came out in 2020, i was an engineering student at that time, it survived 2 years of running matlab simulations with just 8 gb of ram (runing on rosetta2)

[@cylltndn7935]

8 gig is enough for the most people ... decided who? I personally would like to have 16, because, as you said, upgrade can't cost so much, and the fact that Apple is treating its customers as a cattle, is insane. I have my zephyrus G14 Ryzen 9, 16 GB, 1 TB SSD, Radeon RX 6700S for just 1450 euro

[@matejzima8210]

2:02 that's an awesome ortholienar keyboard! Is it custom made? Can you share the brand/model?

[@Polymath2B]

I noticed that too and wondered if anyone else did or even cared. It’s cool to see very popular tech people using something so niche.

[@enGLmaXi]

it's a Technikable :)

[@MermenDos]

I love your rage towards apple pricing and I'm with you it's just insane at this point

[@thudang3039]

Appreciate the content! I still tell most people to consider an older M1 Air just because of how good they still are at doing just about everything most people need it for - plus, it's light and the battery life is still better than most of what you will get in the Intel world. It's just nice having more data to support my claim besides my own anecdotal usage these past few years on seemingly bullet proof product.

[@AndrewGeleff]

The cost of upgrades is my biggest issue. I have been debating an M3 MBP for software development, but feel like I could be just as fine with a M3 MBA with 24GB of RAM. Once I get to that 512GB/1TB storage configuration with max RAM, I’m close to the MBP spec price anyway. At that point, I feel like I’m choosing form factor and display quality. I may very well just bite the bullet, get the Pro, and plan on keeping it for a year longer than I would the Air.

[@patrikfloding7985]

Being fanless is a major advantage IMO.

[@AndrewGeleff]

@@patrikfloding7985 Not from a throttling perspective.

[@Ronniezim]

The design the upgrade paths to push people into this exact situation. Just went through it myself.

[@anb1142]

What's that keyboard? 1:49

[@rare6499]

My MacBook Air from 2011 had a 256GB SSD. I’m very disappointed that 13 years later Apple thinks 256GB is a reasonable base model size along with 8GB. It’s comically poor.

[@sidzhottake]

thank you for addressing the fingerprint smudge (nose) issue. Oddly, this is a deciding factor for me... M2 vs M3...

[@booptidyscoop7790]

My man deaged by 15 years

[@Beymaster7]

You are completely wrong on RAM. There is no excuse for Apple starting at 8gb

[@thebeanstalker631]

8GB is not bad the price and soldering it in is bad.

[@Beymaster7]

@@thebeanstalker631 8gb is unusable

[@pieterrossouw8596]

8GB is rough, I had a 8GB M1 MBA for a personal laptop and now use a 32GB M2 MBP at work. Lots of technologies including local LLMs, WASM etc. are going to want RAM this poor thing doesn't have. Apple's RAM isn't magical, an 64 bit integer is still going to be 8 bytes. String encoding in UTF-8 or whatever is going to have the same size on Mac or Windows... Apple isn't stupid, they know as well as you and I that 8GB is the most limiting spec on the machine. They really just have an 8GB MBA so they can say to investors they've got affordable options but get most people to push for a MBP considering the upgrade in equivalent RAM costs nearly as much as the difference between a MBA and base MBP with all its advantages.

[@Get-Erazed]

​@@pieterrossouw8596 8Gb is enough when all you need to do is check your mails, browse the web and watch netflix. That's like the usage of the majority of people.

[@slob5041]

That nose test is amazing! (Honestly I think the ram is a way to keep that base model price what it is, like it's more for optics if that makes sense because realistically it should be at that higher price point)

[@felixcd3799]

What do you even mean

[@Zero]

Is there a new camera being used? I'm not sure what's different but camera looks new?

[@MichaelBertolino]

Dave using an HHKB 40% is CRAZY!

[@schmoab]

I have the M2 15 with 16GB and I love it. Battery life could stand to be slightly better, but it’s been a nearly flawless experience for me so far.

[@tristfularcadia]

Wait battery life on the 15 mba could be better? 🤣 Doesn't the 15 inch have some of the best battery life of any laptop on the market excluding the 16 inch mbp? I mean I rarely have to charge my m3 pro 14 inch unless I'm using unreal for some live production stuff or exporting a lot of photos in lightroom/AI noise reduction (hits the m3 pro way harder then video exports interestingly enough, I've legit seen the battery estimate go down below 2 hours when doing a large noise reduction batch on battery life when at like 80% but only doing that, I've done heavy video editing on battery life and have it last me hours. )

[@Coldsteak]

all I'm wondering about the display thing is why cant they apply that same rerouting fix to the previous chips? And can they do that with the M3 Pro enabling 3 instead of 2 external displays with the lid closed?

[@VictorAdad]

thank you dave

[@SoLogy]

"Buy the old one," is great advice until Apple decides to stop providing updates and force obsolescence on an otherwise still useful computer.

[@pinguman13]

Apple is the best at providing upgrades to old hardware though…

[@griffin8062]

​@@pinguman13Not on Macs. The latest version of Windows 11 will run on a computer from 12 years ago, Macs only get 7 years of updates

[@agoniavr]

What’s the game at 8:40?

[@MrSergpank]

beast bio exo arena

[@agoniavr]

@@MrSergpankthanks, never heard of that!

[@captaincaption]

​@@MrSergpankstraight up reminded me of Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2

[@KasualNoBrainer]

dave looking like dave back in 2019...lets goooooooo

[@TechAfterThoughts]

I traded in my 2015 MacBook pro for a 15 inch M2 air. Support was ending and the battery life is much improved. But, it feels cheaper, lacks utility, and the screen notch causes a lot of design programs to crop in the upper part of the work space. So, it's more like a 15 inch than 15.3. Lesson? Hold onto that 2015 pro til the bitter end!!

[@brookvillekansas90]

The mental gymnastics necessary to be a happy M3 customer is unreal.

[@Malc180s]

Bizarre take. Maybe look at your weird bias...

[@joshp6061]

1:10 Dave you’re willing to rub devices against your face this is why your tech reviews are _unparalleled_

[@robertoghinato5754]

true facts dave....5 stars review bruh

[@dil6969]

The 8/256gb Macbook Air is a decoy product. They know a significant percentage of people will eat the insane added cost of 16gb and 512gb+ of storage. They get to advertise a starting price that seems reasonable, until you arrive the configurator and read the fine print. Even a $550 Steamdeck comes with 16gb of ram and a 512gb ssd. I'm sick of Apple's shit. If they're going to make the device 100% non-upgradeable and a nightmare to repair, the least they can do is offer a sensible base model.

[@erickauffmann_official]

The new standard should be 16gb ram and 512gb storage 😢

[@robertolopez9483]

Then Apple will start them at 1700$ +tax and +accessories 😂

[@moonshot85]

The first and last MacBook Pro I bought was in 2009 Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro. The base model had 4Gb RAM and I paid extra for 8Gb RAM. And 15 years later and the base models only ship with 8Gb RAM 🤯

[@MrGreenTITAN]

what game is that at the end?

[@anderbeau]

Thank god! He looks so much better!

[@user-yv5hj1cd2h]

It would be great if they allow to turn off the screen of the laptop to use two monitors, but still use keyboard and truckpad. Sometimes you don't have another keyboard but you have two monitors available. Espacially in business offices.

[@MrHamncheez]

what cartoon shooter game was that at the end?

[@RianMalik]

BEAST: Bio Exo Arena Suit Team

[@malifestro3319]

Thanks for pointing out that cost for adding more hardware. I've always wanted to try Apple products but because they aren't upgradable I can't bring myself to buy one. I see the costs they want to charge even for a 2 TB SSD and it is crazy! I decided this year to switch back to Linux and call it a day.

[@renoleon8298]

Hey Dave, what keyboard is it? Looks so nice.