Love my 15" M2 MBA, it's the perfect remote work laptop for me. The additional screen area is key for me and I with my use case it rarely swaps even with the 8GB config. I have no regrets on the purchase.
I have a 13" MacBook Air, several years old, definitely needed replacing. I also have a 17" custom laptop, and recently bought a 15" MBA. It's like Goldilocks, the 13" is too small and the 17" is too big, but the 15" screen is absolutely perfect. And you're right about the audio, because I no longer need external speakers cluttering my desk.
Based on my past experience, I've learned to avoid configurations with less than 16 GB RAM and not to go for 256 GB storage. Two years ago, I bought an M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16 inch with 1 TB and 16 GB RAM, which has been flawless for my work. The only downside is the weight of MBP. This holiday, I got my little brother a MacBook Air with an M2 chip, 512 GB storage, and 16 GB RAM, upgrading from his older MacBook Pro 2015 with 256 GB storage and 8 GB RAM. Taking advantage of Apple's Black Friday offer, I managed to save $280 Canadian dollars on the MacBook Air for my little brother, making the purchase even more appealing. Despite considering the basic M3 MacBook Pro, I opted for the MacBook Air due to its lighter weight and preferred screen size, even though the Pro had a slightly better display technology and speakers. Every time I get hold of my brother MBA thinking how good is the weight of this machine holding it with one hand with no issues compared to my MBP 16 inch which is not comfortable to hold with one hand. Down the road, I plan to get MBA once the screen gets better.
Why do you avoid 256GB storage? For the same price as the 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD configuration, you could get 24GB RAM / 256GB SSD instead. The latter would be an equally good configuration.
Good overview, for my use (research, browsing (safari or firefox, not chrome) writing and office use, my trusted ‘old’ M1 base air was still perfect.. however, I felt for the bigger screen and opted for the 16/512 configuration (initially an 8/512 but used a black friday offer to boost the memory, the 8 was fine - as it was in my M1 but some anxiety crept in.. if the 256 would have had speedier storage, it would have been the 16/256. It’s a great laptop… excellent screen and very comfy keyboard…
Why are people expecting MacBook Pro 16 level performance from an Air machine just because it's 15 inches? It's important to understand what the use case for this machine is. It's not a pro machine.
There was 14 inch pro m1 base for 1295 refurbished at apple store. I got my air 15 512/16 over the pro for the same 1295 bc its newer so more years of updates, m1 came up 2 years ago, the 15 is 2023, plus I wont be using anything pro but I do long typing sessions so I need more portability, battery life, better typing and a bigger screen.
There is no possible reason on why someone would choose MBA 15inch over MBP M1 pro 14 inch. I could have understood your reasoning if you went for the regular 13inch model but portability is debatable with MBA 15. MBP14 and MBA15 have somewhat same weight and actually the latter is physically bigger in dimensions except for the slimness. You gave up that beautiful screen and speakers plus that chip for portability which you wouldn’t even enjoy. But you do you! Enjoy your purchase.
@@malviws the 15 has more battery life, my hands are big and I've used a 13 inch pro and a 14 feels just like it, it's not enough big for me, I thought about the 16 but I have a mini so I feel the features on a pro would be underutilized by me, I don't edit videos or any media, my job is in finance. If I want to watch movies in a nice screen I'll go to my 4k tv, if I want to listen to nice music I'll link the laptop or whatever to a nice external speaker that even a mb pro can't match, if I wanted power at home/office to work I'll get a mac studio which would be more powerful and cheaper than a mb pro...
I enjoyed your honest review. I had the M2 MBA 13, and due to its form factor it was the best travel laptop I've ever had. However, I felt constrained by the base specs (8GB/256GB) and ended up selling it to a friend and purchasing a refurb'd M1 Pro MBP 14 (16GB/1TB), which cost less than a spec'd up MBA 15. I do miss the size and weight of the MBA 13 when I travel but otherwise the Pro is a better fit for my use case.
Basically, pay us more and we will give you a usable laptop.. but if you get the default unit he says "It's a bad idea"... and the upgrade is INSANELY expensive!
Well… 8GB isn’t really enough, but the next RAM upgrade adds an extra 200$. With that and the storage upgrades, you’d be walking into MacBook Pro prices 😂
Yes that's true! Haha that's the unfortunate side effect. I will say that the thinness and portability is a feature in itself for the Air, so some people may prefer that still.
it performs similar to the pro for most use cases (including web development). so if you want the light design, slightly larger display and decent performance go for the upgraded air. however, if you want the increased cpu cores and the better graphics performance go for the pro. also 200 usd is quite a big difference for a lot of people. however the price of the base model air is unbeatable for Mac.
I've always used laptops with 13" screens, so the 13" M1 MacBook Air is PERFECT for me. Yes, I opted for the 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, because intend to be using this for a good long time. My sister has one with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage and she's perfectly happy with it. I'm convinced this M1 MacBook Air is the pinnacle of MacBook Air design. It's everything that the 2014 12" MacBook wished it could be but it was hobbled by that awful intel Core M CPU. Heck, the M2 MacBook Airs don't even LOOK like MacBook Airs! I've gotten used to a larger screen, but that's just going to cost you more money. The speakers on my M1 MacBook Air sound pretty "spatial" to me. I won't bother to even think about upgrading this until at least the M5 or M6.
And what is a MacBook air supposed to "look like"? That's such a subjective statement. The M2 Macbook Air is thinner and lighter than the M1 MacBook Air and in that way, is more Air. It seems like you're justifying your M1 purchase and your inability to upgrade by putting down the M2 Air.
@@ArthropodSpideyThe wedge shape that the MacBook Air has had since it was first introduced by Steve Jobs pulling one out of a MiniPlayer envelope has become iconic and quite differentiating from the MacBook Pro. Now it just looks like a thinner MacBook Pro.
Plz guide .. if it throttles with OBS LIVE STREAM .. I am planning for LIVE STREAM - ONLINE CLASSES with ipad as sidecar use and also i can screen share also with OBS
@Terren Rule, I want to replace my aging intel based MBA 2017 and have shortlisted MBA M2 13 or 15 inch. My use will be official work basic task like web browsing, emails, facebook/zoom meeting, you tube watching, MS office (word, excel, powerpoint), pdf file creation and normal file transfer thru emails etc. I wont need it for coding or photo editing etc but just for normal basic use mentioned above. My question is whether the base model 8/256 GB is enough for me or do I need to upgrade RAM or SSD for MBA M2 due to slow SSD issue. Will appreciate your feedback.
I felt disappointed with this review due to basic configuration on this MBA Especially I thinking to purchase this model to start learning mobile application so now I’m confused 8ram is not enough 😔
It's enough to get started! It definitely wasn't intended to make you think the base model wasn't great. It is. I was trying to get across that speed and multitasking can between base and a speced up model, as well as future proofing. If you only have the budget for the base, get the base model!
I used to fly every week for work. I still use my 2013 11" (upgraded to 1TB with an M.2 adapter). It fits on the airplane tray. I'm hoping Apple will make a smaller Air, but it's unlikely.😞
Does your screen have any scratches? I had mine, sold it after a week. The retina screen scratches too easily. A breadcrumb can break the screen. For the price, I shouldn't need to baby this thing. I miss my MBP, best laptop I ever had. Can't wait until Apple releases a touchscreen something with MacOS. Then I can safely say the computer will last more than 10 years reliably.
The M2 MBA fell short on performance? What the heck are you doing on that thing? 😂 It should be more than enough computer for anyone not doing really intensive work... and those folks clearly should have a MBP machine. EDIT - I just got to the part where you explain... so it's not a shortcoming of the MBA M2 at all... you just don't have enough RAM. I guess you can't do much about what Apple sent you but, yeah, I'm a firm believer that 16gb is the minimum RAM anyone should get unless you are on ChromeOS.
