Keep in mind that this video is a BTS, a walkthrough of what's happening and what I'm seeing for the first time (just like you). I'm emphasizing playing back the footage, scrubbing through the timeline. I didn't discuss export times on this one, because this is a time where you get a snack. I'll follow up with more of that data, and I just got a notification moments ago that my upgraded M2 MacBook Air is ready for pick up. Keep rocking faces. 🤘
Hey brother. Yep! No thermal issues on short burst tasks, and definitely not for playing through these timelines. About to walk into the Apple store to pick up the 16 M2 😉 Always awesome to see you here. 🤘
Yep, I use to share export numbers quite often, and I still do occasionally, but those aren’t necessarily the headaches. If you can’t add effects, play back the footage and scrub through it, then forget it. You know what I’m talking about 🤘 Appreciate your time.
One of the best reviews. Really like the real world example. I’m upgrading from a 2015 MBP. Still debating between the MBA M2 16/512 and 14in MBP M1 Pro. What would you recommend to people editing raw images on Photoshop/Lightroom and occasionally editing videos in Resolve? Appreciate the video! Thanks!
Discounted/refurbished 14" base M1 Pro is just $100 more expensive than M2 16/512. You will be happier with 14". M1 Pro runs circles around M2 any day, along with better screen/audio and other life improving features like SD card slot.
Depending on where you live I just saw the base model 14 inch for 1799USD. I paid that much for the upgraded Air. I’ll get into why I actually purchased the air in upcoming videos, but having that thermal headroom in the MBP does help if you’re going to be doing creative work on the regular.
I cant believe a fanless laptop is doing this kind of work. Im a PC guy and looking to buy a machine as i have started content creation. When i got to stores that builds PC's they would recommend crazy gpu specs and ram. They also iterate the importance of cooling for smooth scrubbing to be possible but man... this blows my mind. Would definitely switch to macs.
It really is something that you just have to experience for yourself. I love building PCs, but honestly, to get that creative (video) work done it really is hard to use anything else right now.
Great real-world stuff. It would be interesting to see how the MBA M2 16gb compares against the MBP M1Pro 16gb - don’t know if you’re set up for that. But do appreciate all you bring to the channel and it helps with the buying decisions 👍
Yeah I can with confidence say that the MBP will certainly beat this one out, depending on the specific task. More tests to come. Working on them today.
Some feedback, I would suggest getting a camera with manual focus and setting your focus to the screens. Also a lot of glare on the monitors. Adjust lighting so we can see what you’re talking about. Otherwise good stuff.
This highlights that there is a narrow band where the MBA makes sense for anyone who wants to push it. Especially since the base 14" MBP has set the price point (US $1,999) for better features, ports, cooling, and performance. Upgrade either the memory, storage space, or both on the M2 MBA and you'll be close to the pricing of the 14" where you'll be better off.
There you go, right there. 👊 I’m currently testing the upgraded one, and hope to have more info soon, but for this level of work it’s confirming that the MBP is the choice.
Depends if you mind a heavier, bulkier laptop. I have both laptops, love the MBP 14 but compared to the air it’s insane how awkward, bulky and heavier the 14 is.
@@jaypalmer3806 This is an easy decision for most “casual users”. Go with the M2. But those who want to video edit or run Windows using Parallels (like me), you are more likely to give up some mobility for performance. And Apple’s pricing pushes you to the 14” MBP real quick. The M2 is amazingly performant but it shows it’s limitations for power uses. It’s awesome that it can do many of these things, but would you want to all the time? My base model M1 MBA runs Parallels fairly well but 5% of the time I wish I wish I bought something else.
@@markholle3450 if you’re a power user, the M2 Air is not designed for that. I have the 14 Pro and M2 air. The pro is great, but even moving it around the house is a mission compared to the Air. I keep the Pro on my desk, everything else (around the house and out) I use the air.
I just saw your channel and this is a really good real world test. 'm a graphic designer that does videos occasionally and I'd love to get me an air instead of a base M1 Pro. Also, do you think 16gb ram and 512 SSD is good enough for it not to slow down? I have an external hard drive so I don't really need a 1TB SSD
Yeah, my updated video with the 16GB vs the 8 did show some improvement. For occasional video editing, you’d likely be fine. As a primary video editing machine, I’d go pro, but that doesn’t sound like your day-to-day use case, so the Air could be a fit.
Is this conclusive that the only thing you lose using the M2 is export speed? Swap appears to still be smooth, not sure if there was a speed difference when dragging videos into the project?
When you’re adding effects and correction you’ll notice some throttling with either one, but I’d usually do these once the rough cut is done. It also depends on what codec you’re working with and editor.
I was trying to decide between the M2 MBA and the 13" M2 MBP...but now I'm thinking I should stretch to the 14" M1 MBP...not least because the previous two are so close in performance.
You should be fine as long as the workflow doesn’t get too complicated, and so what that would mean is a higher bit rate, higher than 4K, multiple LUTs, transitions, layers, etc. I’ve managed multiple photo edits, but I do notice a difference in responsiveness with the Air compared to the Pro when editing photos, or rather import and export.
Hi Kevin, thank you soooo much for doing all this extensive testing. Your work made it easier for me to consider replacing my old 2018 i9, 32GB MBP with the M2 MBA. As an underwater filmer I don't do very long and complicated timelines (max. 30 minutes), but I need to do a lot of color correction. 4 LUTs aren't unusual. On the other hand I also don't edit underwater footage all day long. Just two or three projects per year. Now I am a little bit torn. The lightweight M2 MBA would be perfect for travel, but on the other hand... will it be as fast as my old i9 while it throttles? My current MBP works fine editing 4K footage. If it wasn't for the fan noise, the weight and the poor battery life I wouldn't be thinking about a replacement. When using the new M2 MPA with 24GB, will I have to edit with a slower machine than my 2018 i9 MBP is now? Export doesn't matter. As you say, this time can be used to get a snack. I am more worried about a laggy system that makes editing become a nightmare. So... I am really looking forward to you video about the MBA 16GB! Thanks again for your great work here on RU-vid! Andreas
So I’ll be testing these two machines today, and filming of course. Hang tight and I can try to circle back to this comment to let you know what I find. I’ll be posting that video, but I’ll at least make an attempt to have a better answer for you after I test. Chat soon.
I want to get the M2 MacBook Air for content creation, like video editing using fcpx and some little effects on AE (resolution no less than 1080 (40 seconds max per video) will it be good?
Hi Kevin, thanks a lot for sharing your experience! I have a question: i want to buy my first Macbook and i need a Laptop which good for Pic and Video editing! Like for Instagram Reels, TikTok and RU-vid just a normal using! No special editing. What is the best one in your opinion? Thanx you
Not sure of your geolocation, but the base model 14 inch for creative work is a good value, especially because it’s been on sale. I always recommend 16GBs of memory if you’re doing creative work, even if it’s “simple” because you end up having several programs open all at once and honestly you shouldn’t have to sacrifice time or having to shut down apps just so you can work on another.
@@KevinRossRN so you prefer Macbook Pro 14 inch ? In Germany it costs about 2.395€ for 10 Core CPU, 16 GB Ram and 1 TB SSD. It’s a little bit expensive but i don’t want to pay less and regret later that i haven’t got the pro haha but when you say Pro is better for creative work so it worth it
You’d be basically trading money for time, and time to me is just more important. The MacBook Air is “fine” but if creative work is what you’re doing then I’d say you’d be questioning it down the road.
Hi Kevin and all the others! As promised I want to give you a short report about my experience using the M2 MBA for color correction and editing of underwater footage. As far as I can tell after my first hours of using the new M2 MBA to edit my latest underwater footage I have to admit that all my worries were unnecessary. Compared to my 2018 i9 MBP the M2 handles the 4K (10bit, 4:2:2, 30/60p, max. project length 30 minutes) footage like it weren't even there. And all this without listening to a noisy fan and burning my legs! I am quite sure the M1X MBP would have been overkill for my use case (I only edit underwater footage 2-3 times per year) and I am perfectly happy with my M2 24GB MBA. Best, Andreas
That’s great! And yes, definitely an upgrade over your other machine. That’s where most will find a leap in performance. Really glad to hear this is working out for you and appreciate you following up.
Good evening Kevin! I'm looking for a MacBook for video editing and production. I have no experience in this at all and I'm just starting out. Which option would you recommend? Brand New MBA M2 (16GB / 512SSD) - $1279 or Refurbished MBP M3 PRO Chip (18GB / 512SSD). Thank you.
The Pro all the way. If you’re going to be using this for video editing, you’re going to want that fan and that larger thermal capability. I love these MBAs…I’ve actually been using mine all day, however for non-intensive tasks that is. I’m still rocking with the M1 MBP and it hasn’t slowed down.
@@KevinRossRN Understood, thank you very much for the quick response. The price difference is $460, do you think it's worth adding? And it's no problem if it's a refurbished MBP ?
@les6326 Well, I should have asked where you’re getting the refurbished from because I’ve personally gotten refurbished computers directly from Apple and I couldn’t tell a difference, and I tried really hard to find anything that would indicate it wasn’t “new.”
Well, as I said in the video, it really depends on how complicated your timeline is, and what 4K footage you’re actually working with. However, I am on my way now to go pick up the 16GB/1TB version right now, and I will test it.
Depends on the game, but in some cases it can be more demanding based on my experience. I hit a thermal ceiling when gaming on my MBP. I’ll test to see what I can do with it, but not promising it’ll be great. I’m happy to be surprised though.
Hey kevin i really appreciate if you answer me, for amateur content creation for me who edit videos 1080p or 4k do you recommend the MacBook pro M1 2020 16gb ram or the MacBook air M2 base model, thank you for the great work you're doing ❤
Beautiful review. Thank you. I'm planning to buy M2 Air. I'll need to edit 4k. Videos around 15 GB size in IMovies. You think I would be okay with that? Thanks
Thank you so much, this is the type of content I need to watch as I hesitate between these models. I can’t wait for the tests with the 16gb/1Tb version. Was the first timeline « made » on of these computers, though? Of course you can’t show the whole process, but it is still part of the editing experience. And, second question, calling for the viewers as well, what the M2’s media engine would bring when editing h264 1080p and h265 4k footage, transcoded to ProRes?
Working on those tests today. As far as cutting the footage, the MBA is going to be fine with that task. But to your question, the footage had already been cut into the timeline. I will be putting together another video of cutting footage. And, I’ll also show testing of adding effects, but these are short “burst” tasks. However once all of that 4K footage is in the timeline, all the effects and transitions are added, and everything is unrendered, this is where you start to notice a machine getting bogged down. Playing and scrubbing through that timeline then starts to go beyond just short bursts, but more of a constant. However you also have to consider that the program is only going to read and write so fast in this scenario, and even though the M1 got up to 80-90C it still didn’t really throttle back, but was certainly teasing to throttle. However something like a Blender render, this is where you’d see this thing in constant throttling mode because of how that program just slams the CPU and GPU. I’ll run an export in the next video just to see what’s going on with the CPU and GPU during export. Not so much concerned about the times, but really how that sustained task is handled.
@@KevinRossRN Thanks again for such a developed answer. I’ve learnt a few workarounds when the timeline accumulates too much elements, especially when editing 4K. I can always "render and replace" or lower the timeline’s resolution so as to keep it all smooth enough. Sometimes, I feel like I overthink this choice of a new computer. The M1 Air with 16gb alone will be a major step up for me, coming from a 2017 intel PC which, last time I used After Effects, closing it after rendering was LONGER than the actual render. Like… what?! But, you know, as you said, I want to be sure to pick the tool that matches my workflow, with as little compromises as possible.
Exactly, the compromise can be real. You can certainly set the editor to better performance, but then the footage just takes a hit and I want/need to see what I’m looking at as it will be displayed in the final export. You will notice a bump from that Intel, for sure. But as I’ve said in my other video, I have multiple machines to fall back on, however if this was my only machine, I just couldn’t comfortably use it as a main. Just my thoughts.
@@KevinRossRN We obviously have our own experiences, thoughts and needs. My plan is to go back to my studies and create on my free time, rebuilding my portfolio, which is definitely not the same roadmap as yours. Therefore, I hoped the M2 Air to be the perfect combination of portability and performance. It is to a certain extent and it brought me to stand for it before its release. Now, it turns out to be not that obvious.
For sure. And these updates are starting to become iterative just like in the latter part of the Intel days. Incremental bumps in performance, however silicon is obviously a different architecture and blasted out of the gates with fury. So, that’s what we’re also measuring against. I think once we hit the the 3nm tech in these devices, then that’s when it’s going to be really fun. Never an easy decision. I’ll share more of what I’m finding on the creative side before I “retire” these machines to a corporate environment 😉
So, if I need an entry level 4K editing computer for videos, that are 15 minutes or less, the M1 MacBook Air with 16GB Ram is an Okay choice, but not a Great choice?
Well, it depends on the actual 4K footage you’re working with. The codec. For entry level it would be just fine. As long as you’re using FCPX or Davinci Resolve. Or iMovie.
@@KevinRossRN kinda in my region, refurbished 16gb m1 with above 84. percent battery health and new m2 both 256 gb, which would be a better buy? disclaimer i am not a pro user but i do some casual edits like color gradung footage from my iphone 12, which doesnt shoot pro res badic 4k edits from my phone, and i also do not multi task, sometimes i will play a youtube video in my lecture and highlight on 2 or 3 pdfs, and i am learning da vinci not a pro user nor have i ever used fusion
I would usually say to go for that extra memory and the M1 vs M2 isn’t too noticeable, but if the price is the same, and you’re saying that the battery health is around 84% then I’d change my thought here and advise on the base M2. You may find that over time as you start to use the machine with Resolve, maybe having a couple of other programs and browser tabs open that there may be a few hang ups here and there, which just happens over time and you may just have to close and restart that browser or other apps, but you should be just fine on that base as a start.
@@KevinRossRN usually i dont do that when i am using an app i will solely use that app, i have an old macbook pro 2012 that i am currently using doesnt stutter for my work flow, i also occasionally do edit videos from my iphone 12 on the 2012 macbook and it does the job, ya battery percentage was very confusing so i thought i should ask an expert whats their view on this matter, thank you
I believe for light editing, the base would be fine. My most recent video compares the upgraded M2 with the base. If you’re not trying to scale too big, then it will work.
Yes I’ve watched both,excellent videos btw. Much better content than other people doing comparisons. I’m referring more to a the performance between the base M1 and base M2. I know the base M1 could do my needs fine editing and such. But this M1 has more RAM than the M2 in the video. If you say that the base M1 and M2 are about the same to editing performance, than I know I will be fine. I have just seen a lot of negativity towards the M2, making me hesitant. Thank you for any reply.
Sure. And I love both of these machines, and I just tried to find a balance with expectations. But in your case, it sounds like you should be good to go.
Just that the RAM, or in this case the unified memory has a limit, right? So, let’s say that the device is using all 16GBs of RAM for tasks…well, to be able to perform additional tasks the device will put some of that memory onto the drive and hold it there so that the program can access the actual RAM, which is faster. Basically it’s virtual memory. So let’s say that you working with a photo editing program and it starts to use up all that RAM, and then let’s say that you want to start using the video editor, which also needs RAM…well, the device may take some of that memory that the photo editing program isn’t using (because now you’re using the video editing software), store it on the drive and use the (faster) RAM so that you can work on your video. Now, you can also use these programs simultaneously, which this happens so quickly on these devices (the swapping from the drive back to the memory) that you really aren’t aware that it’s happening.
@@KevinRossRN Software development mostly and of course the typical uses of chrome and university work (it’ll be my last year). I do use a PC for more heavy workloads tho.
Well I’d say if you’re needing to run virtual machines for your workflow and testing the 24GBs could come in handy. I personally got 16 because of this but personally felt 24 was overkill since I’m going to eventually use these in a corporate environment and not really for video editing since I already have machines for those tasks. RAM is definitely where I see developers making those upgrades though.
Hi Kevin, I am looking at buying my first Macbook for school and your video was really helpful. I was wondering if I were just to use the Macbook Air M2 for school work and some light editing (let’s say for youtube videos). Would a 16GB/256GB be fine or should I opt for the 16GB/512GB option?
The M2 for light editing would be fine. As far as the 512, I’d recommend it if you plan to edit on the internal drive. You can edit off of an external drive, but if you don’t already have that external, then that’s money you’d be investing down the road. Certainly don’t blow out your budget, and of you’re buying it from Apple directly, it’s a fairly easy return policy.
Light video editing would be no problem. You could even cut and scrub through some more complicated timelines. I would say to add effects once you’re done cutting, which is what I recommend regardless…but once you start adding the effects and especially rendering and exporting, this is where the thermal headroom ( and a fan) really matter. But this thing isn’t going to heat up like a toaster oven like the machines with the x86 chips in it.
Hi Kevin, Thank you for such a detailed video... Could you please guide me if a MacBook Pro 13" with M2 Chip 8 GB Ram, good for GoPro 4k 60fps video editing? Or 16 GB Ram in above config would do? If that's not suitable, would 14" MacBook Pro with M1 Pro Chip, 16 GB Ram would be good? I use IMovies. Thank you.
I believe the M2 in the MBP would be fine. However the 14 inch is going to be more powerful. You can work with GoPro footage on the M2, and even the M1, however it is highly compressed and takes quite a bit of resource to work with unless you transcode it before working with it. Is there a big price difference between the two machines where you are? I often see the 14 inch on sale quite often so that’s why I asked.
@@KevinRossRN Thanks Kevin for the prompt reply. Yes there's a difference of around USD 600 in both. I've been using the MBA 2014 and to edit a 4k video it takes a lot of time. Using Handbrake to convert HEVC, then importing files to IMovies all takes time. And then saving a 30 min 4k 30 fps video it takes around 3+ hours.. I was also contemplating if it's worth waiting for launch of M2Pro Chip MBP.. Thanks
Can you wait for the launch of those pro machines? I know many have a great experience with the M2 MBA and MBP, and I think you’d be fine, however with these M1 machines and likely M2 Pro, you won’t have to use any workarounds. It’ll just fly. I’d just say with the M2 MBP, that extra RAM will help. Just my opinion.
@@KevinRossRN Okay. If my understanding is right, with the current M2 MBP 13" with 16GB Ram, I should be fine. And even won't need to use the Handbrake anymore.. Thanks
The M2 has an even more efficient media encoder than M1…The M1 Pro would still be more powerful though. But the M2 should be fine. However the bigger issue may be iMovie. It’s fine to start with, but you find it really getting bogged down with this codec. Have you thought about Davinci Resolve? There’s a free version.
I do not find this helpful as clearly 8GB of RAM, as you say, on a fanless machine, for these workloads is not professional, if that is what you do for a living. The 8K would need 24GB to be okay, but a MB Pro 14 Pro would be far the better choice. I will await like -v- like, 16GB -v- 16GB as that is the minimum any sensible person would buy for work like this. Do you turn background rendering off when going through the timeline? You do not really need that on with the M2/M1 and that will save a lot of resources.
Well and I did update this video and compared the 8 vs 16 M2 MBA. I still wouldn’t recommend it for someone doing this as their actual work. And yes, background rendering is off. With the 14-inch pricing online, there are definitely deals to be found on that device, depending on where you live.
I know you said the disclaimer at the beginning but literally pointless comparing with different ram models as you don’t get a like for like and true comparison.
Well, you may or may not be surprised, but in this video I was trying to answer a common question I was getting about a base model M2 and higher spec’d M1 because at the time these two machines (the M1 with the extra memory) was around the same price. However, I do still appreciate your feedback here. 🤘
1080 will be easier on the machine, but I don’t do any creative work on this machine and with 16GBs I’m still swapping. It takes a few days to get to that point, but it does eventually swap.
My MB air M1 ran awesome until the new ones came out conveniently. I’m not going to lie, it sucks now and it’s almost impossible to video edit a basic video on now
Oh really? Which spec are you rocking with? And are you noticing a slow down on a similar timeline you’ve edited before, or have you started to scale up?
Thanks for the hard work, Kevin!!! Now, to continue with you about the NVME discussion: Terra bytes Written (per day) spec... I don't hear that spoken with the swap file 'gate on the M1 SSD... YT Channel - Tech Notice has a great (30+ minutes) video on Drives for Creatives and other OEMs of NVMEs to consider ["Terra bytes Written (per day) spec"] - "How to Set Up your Storage Workflow as a Video Editor?" "Best-Bang-For-Buck DIY Portable SSD: Better, Faster & Cheaper!" But the best NVME SSD enclosure for M1/M2 = Acasis TB3/4-USB4 40GB... other NVMEs to consider? Seagate FireCuda 530 & TEAMGROUP T-Create Classic/T-Force CARDEA Ceramic C440; due to "Terra bytes Written (per day) spec"... Samsung might be a great performer today? But 9-14 months later?!? What is the "Terra bytes Written (per day) spec"? 30% of the drive capacity can be written over and over, per day, and then degrade. Check into that specification!!! The M2 Air is a machine for someone like me. I won't be doing long 4K edits, if I can help it? That's why I bought a M1 Mac Mini, but I need to up the RAM to 16GB to be able to work decently with a 4K timeline. At the moment I still have the M1 MBP 13" base model, it works but hasn't been used for video editing, just light Graphics work for Social Media and in-store signage.
Thanks, always appreciate the time of the community here. The Acasis is still solid, and the Fledging TB3 is also great. Have been using them all day, and many days before. I’ll be branching out and testing more, but honestly there aren’t a ton of similar enclosures, although Trebleet and Sabrent being a couple of others. That FireCuda is awesome, but to me a bit of a waste in an enclosure that can’t come near its performance. I was going to pick one up for a PC build. As far as that Mac mini, the 16GBs of RAM still performs really well for video editing. The fans never spin above idle. Just silly how well it performs at that price.