MacBook Air M1 vs. M2: Buying advice for the Black Friday sale

The MacBook Air is one of Apple’s most popular laptops because it is light, stylish and cheaper than the manufacturer’s Pro versions. Normal users usually use the Air, i.e. people who do office work and plan to stream and surf on their laptop. These are all tasks that don’t require a lot of power. The question arises as to whether it really has to be the latest version of the MacBook Air in 2022? After all, the cheapest version on Amazon costs a whopping 431 euros more than its predecessor.

Danger: The prices refer to the smallest storage variants (256 gigabytes of storage and 8 gigabytes of RAM) of both models on Amazon (im August 2022) and are subject to fluctuations.

Appearance and connections

A lot has changed in the look of the new MacBook Air with M2 chip. When it comes to choosing colors, Apple offers its customers more design options and the almost black version in particular is likely to make the retro hearts of many Apple fans beat faster. In 2007 there was once a black MacBook whose look remained in the memory of loyal Mac users. Apple also changed the design of its Air. Traditionally, it tapers, is slightly thicker where the ports are and becomes thinner towards the trackpad.

That’s how it is with MacBook Air with M1 processor. The new version, on the other hand, is evenly thin. Nice: The new MacBook Air not only comes with a new design, it also offers the MagSafe charging port in addition to the two Thunderbolt sockets. Finally, the MacBook Air can be charged without having to sacrifice one of the two Thunderbolt ports. Anyone who thinks he or she can connect two external monitors to this MacBook Air M2 connect, he’s wrong. Even in the new version, this is only possible with additional software and an expensive adapter. A pity.

After all, the MagSafe connection comes loose if the user accidentally trips over the charging cable. The MacBook Air with M1, on the other hand, charges via one of the two Thunderbolt sockets. This is where clumsy people rip the laptop off the desk. What both Airs have in common is the fact that they work absolutely silently. Apple does not install fans in any of the models. The new Air is also 50 grams lighter. But this shouldn’t be noticeable in everyday life.

Monitor and camera

In addition to the processor, the monitor is probably the biggest update to the MacBook Air M2. Compared to its predecessor, it is 0.3 inches larger at 13.6 inches. The reason for this is the significantly narrower display edges. In the eyes of most buyers, it also looks more stylish, but there is now a so-called notch in the middle on the upper edge, i.e. a notch in which Apple installs the camera. Most buyers are already familiar with this notch from their smartphone. There is a notch on the laptop that takes some getting used to, but that’s a matter of taste.

The inner values ​​of the camera and screen remain more important. And here has this Apple MacBook Air M2 far ahead of the M1. On the one hand, the camera is significantly better and has a resolution of 1080p (i.e. Full HD). Your counterpart will recognize you more clearly in video conferences if the internet is fast enough. Of course, this is not always an advantage. When it comes to the display, Apple has given its M2 Air a 10-bit panel. This covers several billion colors in the P3 color space. In comparison, the 8-bit panel in the M1-Air seems just too puny: in the P3 color space it only covers a few million colors.

This is not important for the normal user. But if you want to edit photos and videos, this is where the deciding factor for the M2 lies. Only if a screen displays colors true to the original is it possible for professionals to make color corrections properly. Otherwise, the MacBook Air’s screen is a full 100 nits brighter than that of the M1. Nice but it’s still not bright enough to work outside in the sunlight.

Processor and battery

Yes, the M2 chip is faster than the M1 chip and not too close either. Both the M1 and M2 have eight processor cores, which are divided into four efficiency and four performance cores, but according to Apple, they work 18 percent faster with the M2 chip – at least when they all work together. The performance difference per core, however, is around eleven percent, as the stern test for the MacBook Air M2 found out.

The performance difference is even greater when it comes to the graphics unit of the chips. According to the manufacturer, the M2 is a whopping 35 percent faster than its predecessor. But this is also due to the fact that the M2 has three more graphics processing cores available than the M1. It only has seven GPU cores, the M2 has ten. In addition, the M2 can theoretically handle more memory (RAM). Buyers can install a full 24 gigabytes in the Apple MacBook Air with M2 processor. The M1 can only handle 16 gigabytes.

At least both have the same battery life. According to Apple, in theory it lasts a full 18 hours. And because in life all theory is gray, the battery life naturally decreases when you surf. This lasts a full 15 hours on both MacBook Airs. Now the question arises as to who will benefit from the M2’s additional performance?

And that probably won’t be very many users, because the M1 chip is actually a bit oversized if you do office work, surf and stream on your laptop. The additional performance of the M2 chip, however, is significant when you edit videos with Final Cut. This is mainly because the program maxes out the M2’s graphics unit. The same applies if you want to edit photos. Like the screen, the M2 chip primarily makes professional users happy.

Keyboard, speakers and memory

The Apple engineers even tinkered with the keyboard and speakers. So they enlarged the function keys on the Apple MacBook Air M2, which are now the same size as the normal keys. In comparison, they are significantly narrower on the Apple MacBook Air M1. Additionally, the older MacBook Air only has two speakers. Apple has given the MacBook Air M2 four. At least both MacBook Airs have the same memory again. Buyers can choose between 256 and 512 gigabytes as well as 1 or 2 terabytes of storage.

Price and conclusion

The MacBook Air M2 is without question a very good development of its predecessor – but at a price of 1489 euros it is simply 200 euros too expensive. Most professional users prefer the Pro versions of the MacBook, also because they have active cooling and can therefore carry out particularly computing-intensive work for longer. The MacBook Air is more of a student or office laptop. This is available for Word, Excel, browsers etc MacBook Air M1 simply the better price-performance ratio.

However, if you occasionally edit photos and/or videos, you can use the MacBook Air M2 or the MacBook Pro 13 inch with M2 processor grab. It currently costs 1429 euros on Amazon and is therefore only 23 euros more expensive and 160 grams heavier. The battery lasts a good two hours longer, although the camera (720p) is worse but the microphones are better. Crazy Apple world, only made crazier by the Pro version’s pointless TouchBar.

You might also be interested in:

This article contains so-called affiliate links. Further information are available here.

Sources: apple.de