DAMN THATS A CHONKY TOSHIBA!!! I do agree that M1 MacBook Air is great for basic editing! My creativity and amount of editing I can do is being severely limited by the lack of performance with the M1 however! But yes, everything you said in this video is so true! The M2 is not worth it at all in Canada!!! The MacBook Air should be the "affordable" laptop line from Apple! Amazing video Kevin! 😁
Hey brother, great to see you over here. And you are definitely one of the examples as you have been very vocal about your experience with the M1 MBA, and rightfully so. And yes, that Toshiba is ridiculous 🤣
I will be testing this device with creative workflows as well as more day-to-day tasks. I will also be testing this against the M1 MacBook Air. Be sure to stay tuned for the real world use cases rather than just synthetic benchmarks. Sending you all my best.
Just watched another channel that was all about shouting benchmarks at us. Snooze…. Specs are important, but real world is where it’s at. Your content and delivery style are greatly appreciated! 👍
Appreciate that. Well the next video is a playing through a few different timelines. Spoiler: the first timeline was pretty manageable, while the next two…forget it. Hope to have that BTS video up soon, and then hope to compare the 8GB with the 16GB to see if that makes any difference.
Hey I was looking for a laptop as I’m going into software engineering do you think m2 MBA with 16gb ram and 512gb ssd is good enough or should I get the base model m1 pro 14inch the price for me is $500 cad?
Yeah the 14 inch pro would be a better bet. Short burst tasks would be fine, but I assume you’d have some sustained demands that would slow you down in the long run.
hey everyone, off topic here but thought my experience might be worth sharing. 16” m1 max pro (10-core, 32-core gpu, 64gb memory, 2tb ssd), purchased in april, singed/branded my couch while doing some batch work with topaz and premeire overnight (5 hours). aside from handbrake, nothing else was open/running and it was fine about an hour in. apple was very amicable and responsive. implored me to immediately return it to the closest store. mgmt greeted me at the door. replacement was delivered the following morning and they even hinted at reupholstering my couch cushion. spaceship never followed up, though. i didn’t go down any rabbit holes but it appears to be an anomaly. replacement is performing same work flawlessly. anyone aware of similar incidents like mine? just curious. ps i know, i know… why did i leave it on the couch? wife has already asked me dozen times. i fell asleep, ok! lol 🤟
Wow! Now that’s a first that I’ve heard, although I know that others have reported being too warm to have on their lap. However, I’m still impressed by that level of customer service on their part. I’ve typically had great experiences with returns and replacements, so far. Bummer about the sofa, but appreciate you sharing this bit of info.
@@KevinRossRN yep, i’ve always had positive experiences with apple too. $#*% happens. easy to underestimate the importance of customer service until ya need it. for me, it can be as important as the product i’m using. couldn’t have expected a better response/outcome. 🤟
"This is not the M2 you want". This is a transition device, about a year from now you will see what Apple is up to, and it will destroy one of the great Apple saws that will open the next $Billion for Apple. "No one plays games a Mac."
Hi Kevin, as discussed with you earlier I have bought MBA M1 Gold colour base model today from Apple Authorised Store here in Mumbai (India). I got it at USD 900 and spent arnd USD 25 for accessories. I just have one query with you. Is it normal to have battery 0% for sealed box? I mean when the store guy unboxed the laptop, it didn’t switch on despite he tried few times. The manufacturing year is August 2023. Then he plugged in for few seconds for switching it on. It took some 10-15 seconds to switch on the laptop after plugged in. Battery percentage was nil. I checked the battery health. Cycle count was 1 and showing health normal 100%. This has happened with me first time. Is it normal or there is any issue with battery or laptop? Have you or anyone ever faced such issue? I am just worried. Will appreciate your feedback.
It’s possible that when it was boxed up that it was placed in standby (sleep) mode instead of turned off completely. Typically when it’s turned off the battery should have some charge for quite a while, but again, if it was by chance in sleep then it would have likely drained the battery much quicker down to zero.
Been watching your videos for time. I have a 24” iMac. (Basically an m1 air) 16 ram 8gpu 8cpu. Ima photog and now I’ve been doing client work for video. Using fcpx. All has been well. But I’ve been making better and better videos lately and sometimes videos aren’t playing back, dropping frames, beach ball. No matter if I use proxies or not. Tbh if I import my r5/R6 ii videos with no proxies or no optimization it seems to run way better. BUT still falls on its face. So now I’m considering the m2 mba. But I’m starting to think this won’t help either and I need to just make a M1 Pro or M1 Max happen. Le sigh. 😢
Honestly, if you’re doing client work or trying to scale what you’re doing, that thermal headroom is going to be needed. The M2 MBA is awesome, but without a fan you’re going to start to become limited with that particular footage. I still love the M1 Max that I have. I haven’t needed anything more. These chips are just different. The M1 might seem like “old” tech, but hands down they are extremely capable.
hello Kevin.. your videos comparing M1 air vs M2 air vs M1 Pro are informative. i intend to use my next laptop for some full-frame videos for online channels (much like the cooking clip you showed in this video) with 1 or maybe 2 camera angles in 1080p or 4k video. i was considering M2 air with 16GB RAM but it looks like an M1 air with 16GB RAM will do just fine. do i understand you correctly? i'm likely buying a new laptop today.
Yes, I’ve been able to edit 1080 and 4K on my M1 MBA. Is there a big price difference where you are? I just ask because in the U.S. there always seems to be a deal on the M2.
Hi Kevin, have you or anyone ever faced any issue of battery draining in MBA M1? I ve bought MBA M1 on 25th January and found out that its battery draining overnight even I completely shut it down. It’s really frustrating. I closed all application before shutting it down with 55% battery and when I switched it on next day it is showing 2% only. I checked with apple team who suggested me to run diagnostic, then activate low data mode, optimised battery etc. But the problem remains the same. Now Apple suggesting me to bring the laptop to their store in Mumbai for physical inspection. After inspection they ll advise the next step. Here in India, we have 7 days return policy from date of purchase. Now just want to know whether it is any software issue or I got bad unit?
I personally haven’t experienced this, and if you’re shutting down and still getting this drain I would say that it’s possible there is something going on with the hardware. Honestly, you shouldn’t need to make such accommodations to avoid having that level of battery drain. You should just be able to use the machine as you would day-to-day and have the same experience as most of us with these machines. So I assume you’re still within that window of return?
Kevin, I am based in India and planning to replace my 5 year old intel MBA with either MBA M1 or MBA M2 base model. But unable to decide which one to opt? My usage will be for browsing, you tube, zoom meeting, word/excel, file transferring etc and not for any heavy task. Which one do you suggest? I ve read that MBA M2 has heating issue with slow SSD etc. Here in India, base model MBA M1 cost USD 900 and MBA M2 cost USD 1200. Will appreciate your input.
As far as the heating issue, I would say that I haven’t noticed that on the base model I tested and I do use the M2 MBA (1 TB) every day for non-creative work. I will also say that the M1 is still in rotation and my wife uses it every day for the use case you’re talking about and there hasn’t been a single issue. What I will also say is that going from the Intel model to the M1, you’re going to notice the difference. I would say that the 300 USD cost savings is worth going with the M1 in my opinion if you’re going with the base model.
Hi Kevin, as discussed with you earlier I have bought MBA M1 Gold colour base model today from Apple Authorised Store here in Mumbai (India). I got it at USD 900 and spent arnd USD 25 for accessories. I just have one query with you. Is it normal to have battery 0% for sealed box? I mean when the store guy unboxed the laptop, it didn’t switch on despite he tried few times. The manufacturing year is August 2023. Then he plugged in for few seconds for switching it on. It took some 10-15 seconds to switch on the laptop after plugged in. Battery percentage was nil. I checked the battery health. Cycle count was 1 and showing health normal 100%. This has happened with me first time. Is it normal or there is any issue with battery? Have you ever faced such issue?
Man, I thought I finally decided that the M2/16G/1T MBA would be the way to go for my use (light photo editing, light LumaFusion/DaVinci). SD card slot could be via Anker or something. But now I’m second guessing again, 14” M1Pro MBP for just a few $$ more… Apple does not make it easy!
Based on my testing, and a video to follow, if you have the funds and you do want to consistently do some creative work, I’d save the frustration and get the Pro. It’s doable, but I’d be nervous if it was my only machine.
I love the MBP 14, but it is very heavy and pretty chunky, definitely not easy to lug it around with you in your bag or around the house. I have the M1 air as well and it’s night and day in terms of weight and bulk! Obviously the Pro has more power, better screen etc, but that comes at a cost of a much heavier and bulkier laptop. I’ve ordered the M2 air as well as a secondary and more portable laptop. I’m a geek and love the Air laptops and couldn’t help myself.
This is my first foray into Macs. I chose to get a fully maxed out M2 Air. In all honesty, it's overkill for what I will ever use it for, but I'd rather future proof myself for as many years as possible, and have a decently functioning laptop for as long as I can. I did want the 16" pro, but there were no recent enough upgrades to justify a pricetag twice as high.
Yeah, it’s funny (not really) that I ordered two MacBook Airs for less than the M1 Max MBP I have 🤷♂️ The fit and finish on these updated devices are really nice. When does yours come in?
@@KevinRossRN pickup is mid-August. And I'm pretty damn excited, as it does look premium AF. It'll be quite the upgrade over my nearly decade old Alienware laptop. 🤣 The one thing I'm not excited about (apart from entering the Apple ecosystem) is having to deal with the headache of learning an entirely new operating system. I'm just hoping that there are no engineering issues that pop up down the track. 🤞
Agree on the engineering issues. I think you’ll find the transition over to the OS pretty fluid. It’ll take a little time of course, but hopefully the learning curve will be easier than say, from MacOS to Windows. Feel free to keep me posted when that build comes in. Would love to know what you think.
Im left in the dust!! Want to continue and thanks for sayin intel! Doin great but i do have m1 14. Is the 16 gb ram by your testing good gor i mean for fcpx?
Yes, it’s good for FCPX. I’ll be diving more into it tomorrow, but I am surprised at how quickly I used up 8GBs of RAM and I barely had a couple of browser tabs open. 🤷♂️ I should get the 16 in next week, but all of my other M1 machines have 16 or higher.
@@KevinRossRN my intel averages 12 to 16 gb but i have 64 on that machine. Havent spent any time on my m1 14 w 16 ram cuz its for travel but aint went nowhere. I just curious. Thanks SIROSS!
Great video, Kevin. Thank you for your work. Btw, I found a Thunderbolt 4 USB4 hub by Pluggable the same type and amount of ports as the Anker but, without the drawbacks you’ve mentioned in your other videos.
@@KevinRossRN yeah!, I’ve been testing it for 2 weeks and it’s performing very well. It recognizes all the drives (5 in total) after you’ve ejected them plugged them in again and only a bit of a speed penalty for them except one. The Samsung 980 Pro in the Acasis encloser, no penalty hit!
Hey Boulderite (Kevin)! Since the M1 chip dropped and iOS apps can be used on MacOS, do a test with the M2 Air (Base Model) and M1 iPad Pro using LumaFusion, just to see how the M2 Air Base Model (1 NAND Flash chip) operates with that Video NLE...
Hey, what are you doing over here? Great idea. Let me see if I can put together a timeline in LumaFusion. I expect it to perform pretty well as it’ll have better thermals than the iPad, however we could be surprised 🤷♂️😉
@@KevinRossRN I've been lurking for awhile and this video nailed it on the head, much better than most! "What do you really need the M2 Air for?" Me? Going from the M1 13" Pro base model to a spec'd up M2 Air in Late Sept. I don't do video but I do graphic/media work and multitask clerical/office work, but not at a traditional desk... (10 core GPU, 16GB U-RAM, 256GB SSD) I offload the work I do to spinning hard drives but I just bought WD Blue SN570 2TB & Orico USB3.2 2x2 enclosure (yes I know, M1 devices only do 10Gbps, but it's good enough for light 4K footage, iPhone 13 pro) for a time when I need more storage...
Oh that’s awesome you got that working out. And hey, I wasn’t going to say anything about the Gen 2x2, unless you had asked why it doesn’t work at 20Gbps😀 But that’s great that it’s all working for you. Awesome to hear.
@@KevinRossRN I've been watching way too many videos since Lockdown! Outside of VLC and Handbrake, there's another transcoder called Shutter Encoder... It can change the wrapper of video as well! Between you and two other youtubers, I am sitting in front of the M1 Mac mini with 512GB SSD & LG 32QN55T 32" 1440p Monitor! The 13" M1 MBP will be traded in for the M2 Air soon. So viewing your videos will have me ready when I get back to video production!!! I have to wait. I had retinal detachment and cataract surgery recently and I need to wait a little bit longer before diving back into graphics and video work!
Yikes! Really bummed to hear that on the retinal detachment. I definitely hope for a swift recovery on that. Thanks for the heads up on that program. I’ll have to take a look at it. I’ll be running some BTS video tests with a few different timelines to see what we get out of these machines.
Why on earth did Apple put in slower Ssds in the M2 air than they did the M1 air, its unbelievable, what is even worse is the thermal throttling, this PC on its current design is a pointless disaster, super fast processing, slow transfer speeds from the ssd and super hot processor, im sure other Apple fan boys like me will be extremely disappointed as well
I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing an even bigger uptick in consumers considering the M1 versions. I’m even more curious to see any differences between the base and upgraded models.
hi Kevin.. thanks for the informative videos! i might buy a new laptop in 1-2 days.. use case is mostly web browsing, streaming music, making videos for online platforms w/ 1-2 camera angles (like the cooking clip you have in this video), and moderate programming (blockchain & AI/ML). i'm leaning towards M2 Air 16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD but would i be served equally well by M1 Pro 16GB RAM or M1 Air 16GB RAM? Either M1 option would save money but i'm focussed on a smooth workflow when editing videos and not wasting time. What is your opinion please?
@@KevinRossRN Thank you for the suggestion, and sorry for a delayed response. From Apple certified refurbished site in the US, M2 8GB, 256GB is $230 more than M1 8GB,256GB ($1079 vs $849), and M2 16GB,512GB is $330 more than M1 16GB, 512GB ($1529 vs $1189). I have not yet bought a laptop because I became quite interested in the M3 laptops potentially being released late this year. Please do let me know if you have thoughts on that.
@@KevinRossRN i assume 3nm fabrication will deliver more transistors (= more processing power) to M3 chip than even M2 Pro. Which potentially makes it "future proof" for next 5-7 years (i take good care of my equipment). Plus i do like smaller bezels on M2 laptops (13" and 15"), which i assume will carry over to M3 body
Hard to say whether this may get announced later this year since M2 is going strong in their lineup. I’m still holding out for that M3 though as I think it’ll bring an actual “refresh” to the line up. These M2s are fantastic and all, but I’m just really wanting to see what the battery performance holds.
Dude, it is the pricing from Apple that is screwed up. MacBook Air is clearly meant to be a student's type of device, but Apple has too many laptops that are too close in price. This is where the main problem lies, in my view. Waiting for the M2, 16 GB, 512, midnight myself. And nope, not a student, just looking for the ultra-portable device
It’s definitely confusing. And I agree that the MBA is primarily for portability and performance for general day-to-day. Even though they’re marketing it as a device that can do video editing, I just couldn’t recommend this as a primary device to do so. That’s awesome you have one on the way.
Hi , Pls help me in buying decision - I am student with tight budget, I can either upgrade ssd to 512 or RAM to 16gb. Which should I go for 8/512 or 16/256 model ? I would be using app like MARGINNOTE for notes, mindmap and flashcard making + I would also like to use it for making educational video via ipad screen mirroring and recording. + I am also thinking of learning Programming language. So pls help me in making right decisions.
I’d say you don’t want to necessarily be tethered to an external drive and as a student I can imagine that even with cloud storage you’ll still want more on the internal. I usually recommend more memory, but for your use, I’d bump the storage up.
I am going to buy a new MacBook air because my old one is a 2013 MacBook air. I’m going to use it for studying and internet surfing mainly and some light gaming maybe trying out for some digital art/graphic design . Should i go for the m1 or the m2 version and wich specs should i buy? I dont have that much money but enough for both versions and i want it to last for atleast 5 years or even more.
Even for light gaming, and more games are coming all the time, I’d recommend bumping the RAM, especially if you want to keep it for a while. I have the 16GB M1 MBA, and it is a fantastic device. I’ve done some light gaming on that machine. Just keep in mind that anything somewhat heavy with throttle on either the M1 or M2 MBA. I plan to keep my M1 MBA for years, and I still think it’s a fantastic purchase.
@@KevinRossRN Do you think its worth spending the extra money on the m2? I’m a student and have around 5 k in my savings so it would be Nice to know if the extra cash is worth spending. Thank you!
I don’t. You can likely find a 14 inch on sale for around 1799USD…I’ve personally seen these. But you can also find an upgraded version of the M1 MBA for around 1,000USD as well. We’re students for life, however there’s a point where (I hope) we’re not always making “student” money. I’d save where you can and reinvest back in yourself in other ways. I’ve come from very meager beginnings, but it wasn’t permanent. 😉
@@KevinRossRN thank you for your response:) would you recommend buying the m1 used with 512 gb and 8 ram? In my country the m1 with the same specs costs about 1550 dollars.
The 8GBs would be fine for that light use. If you can find 16GBs at that price, I wouldn’t hesitate (based on what’s available in your country), but I think you’d appreciate the extra storage a bit more for your studies, and the 8GBs may be more limiting with gaming, but not entirely.
i have the base model ordered through best buy so if itr doesn't work out i can just return it faster an instead of paying $200 for the 16gb upgrade i'll just buy the m1 pro 14inch for $1799 from amazon. apple has some really weird pricing
I just finished a test with video editing. If it’s “light” you may be fine, but anything heavy, it’s a no go. Or at least that your time is worth having a more capable device. I’m still going through the tests and should also have the upgraded one in soon to compare. The thermals however are better than the M1 MBA with a “simple” timeline. I hope to have that video up soon. I just filmed it and it’s a behind the scenes look.
@@KevinRossRN ok i finally got my m2 air. so far im liking it. doesn't seem to be throttling too bad. ive been doing my normal routine of light video editing vhs to digital or the random cell phone videos of the kids. and photo editing. im pretty happy with base model. im going to wait for your videos until i make my final decision. may not even need 16gb.
That’s awesome to hear. I have the 16GB confirmed for pick up on Thursday. For light video editing, the base model was fine, but I did start to push it, and it was not happy. Video of that behind the scenes posting soon.
Easily one if the most helpful videos - not only did it touch on price floors, but also the juxtaposition we put ourselves between lower and higher price bumps/up-selling. Thank you! Also a great opportunity for me to subscribe, only just came across your channel. Clean desk setup btw. Thank you for your input sir! Great things to consider, and think I’ve definitely spent far too much headspace worrying over specs, when there’s a lot more important things in life.
Well I appreciate you taking the time to be here. Glad to have an opportunity to help you get closer to making a buying decision. Glad to have you around the channel and looking forward to seeing you around. 😉
DAMN THATS A CHONKY TOSHIBA!!! I do agree that M1 MacBook Air is great for basic editing! My creativity and amount of editing I can do is being severely limited by the lack of performance with the M1 however! But yes, everything you said in this video is so true! The M2 is not worth it at all in Canada!!! The MacBook Air should be the "affordable" laptop line from Apple! Amazing video Kevin! 😁
Hey brother, great to see you over here. And you are definitely one of the examples as you have been very vocal about your experience with the M1 MBA, and rightfully so.
And yes, that Toshiba is ridiculous 🤣
I will be testing this device with creative workflows as well as more day-to-day tasks. I will also be testing this against the M1 MacBook Air. Be sure to stay tuned for the real world use cases rather than just synthetic benchmarks. Sending you all my best.
Just watched another channel that was all about shouting benchmarks at us. Snooze…. Specs are important, but real world is where it’s at. Your content and delivery style are greatly appreciated! 👍
Appreciate that. Well the next video is a playing through a few different timelines. Spoiler: the first timeline was pretty manageable, while the next two…forget it. Hope to have that BTS video up soon, and then hope to compare the 8GB with the 16GB to see if that makes any difference.
after hearing how much you loved the m1 MacBook Air, I thought you would love the m2 guess we'll have to see ;) thanks Kevin!
Oh it’s nice for sure, but I think this just adds to more of the confusion as to whether it’s “enough.” 🤷♂️😉
Hey I was looking for a laptop as I’m going into software engineering do you think m2 MBA with 16gb ram and 512gb ssd is good enough or should I get the base model m1 pro 14inch the price for me is $500 cad?
Yeah the 14 inch pro would be a better bet. Short burst tasks would be fine, but I assume you’d have some sustained demands that would slow you down in the long run.
Thanks! This was very helpful in addressing the actual (not synthetic or hypothetical) situations you’d need more than a base M2.
Real world tests coming. Appreciate you hanging out with us here. 🤘
hey everyone, off topic here but thought my experience might be worth sharing.
16” m1 max pro (10-core, 32-core gpu, 64gb memory, 2tb ssd), purchased in april, singed/branded my couch while doing some batch work with topaz and premeire overnight (5 hours). aside from handbrake, nothing else was open/running and it was fine about an hour in.
apple was very amicable and responsive. implored me to immediately return it to the closest store. mgmt greeted me at the door. replacement was delivered the following morning and they even hinted at reupholstering my couch cushion. spaceship never followed up, though.
i didn’t go down any rabbit holes but it appears to be an anomaly. replacement is performing same work flawlessly.
anyone aware of similar incidents like mine? just curious.
ps i know, i know… why did i leave it on the couch? wife has already asked me dozen times. i fell asleep, ok! lol
🤟
Wow! Now that’s a first that I’ve heard, although I know that others have reported being too warm to have on their lap.
However, I’m still impressed by that level of customer service on their part. I’ve typically had great experiences with returns and replacements, so far.
Bummer about the sofa, but appreciate you sharing this bit of info.
@@KevinRossRN yep, i’ve always had positive experiences with apple too. $#*% happens.
easy to underestimate the importance of customer service until ya need it. for me, it can be as important as the product i’m using. couldn’t have expected a better response/outcome.
🤟
Exactly. One of the reasons I don’t mind making the investment because customer service is just as important as the product.
"This is not the M2 you want". This is a transition device, about a year from now you will see what Apple is up to, and it will destroy one of the great Apple saws that will open the next $Billion for Apple. "No one plays games a Mac."
Knowing how capable the M1 has been, and then even more powerful the M1 Max has been, I can’t even imagine what we’ll be talking about next year.
Thumbnail: it just reminds me iPhone Xs series
It does? Well alright then.
@@KevinRossRN Yes, it does. It was my favorite iPhone ever
That’s awesome. And I guess I didn’t think of the X or XS when making the thumbnail. But now that you mention it.
Nice shirt! I want one.
Thanks! I picked it up on a road trip at a random restaurant in a small town.
Hi Kevin, as discussed with you earlier I have bought MBA M1 Gold colour base model today from Apple Authorised Store here in Mumbai (India). I got it at USD 900 and spent arnd USD 25 for accessories. I just have one query with you. Is it normal to have battery 0% for sealed box? I mean when the store guy unboxed the laptop, it didn’t switch on despite he tried few times. The manufacturing year is August 2023. Then he plugged in for few seconds for switching it on. It took some 10-15 seconds to switch on the laptop after plugged in. Battery percentage was nil. I checked the battery health. Cycle count was 1 and showing health normal 100%. This has happened with me first time. Is it normal or there is any issue with battery or laptop? Have you or anyone ever faced such issue? I am just worried. Will appreciate your feedback.
It’s possible that when it was boxed up that it was placed in standby (sleep) mode instead of turned off completely. Typically when it’s turned off the battery should have some charge for quite a while, but again, if it was by chance in sleep then it would have likely drained the battery much quicker down to zero.
Been watching your videos for time. I have a 24” iMac. (Basically an m1 air) 16 ram 8gpu 8cpu. Ima photog and now I’ve been doing client work for video. Using fcpx. All has been well. But I’ve been making better and better videos lately and sometimes videos aren’t playing back, dropping frames, beach ball. No matter if I use proxies or not. Tbh if I import my r5/R6 ii videos with no proxies or no optimization it seems to run way better. BUT still falls on its face. So now I’m considering the m2 mba. But I’m starting to think this won’t help either and I need to just make a M1 Pro or M1 Max happen. Le sigh. 😢
Honestly, if you’re doing client work or trying to scale what you’re doing, that thermal headroom is going to be needed. The M2 MBA is awesome, but without a fan you’re going to start to become limited with that particular footage.
I still love the M1 Max that I have. I haven’t needed anything more. These chips are just different. The M1 might seem like “old” tech, but hands down they are extremely capable.
hello Kevin.. your videos comparing M1 air vs M2 air vs M1 Pro are informative. i intend to use my next laptop for some full-frame videos for online channels (much like the cooking clip you showed in this video) with 1 or maybe 2 camera angles in 1080p or 4k video. i was considering M2 air with 16GB RAM but it looks like an M1 air with 16GB RAM will do just fine. do i understand you correctly? i'm likely buying a new laptop today.
Yes, I’ve been able to edit 1080 and 4K on my M1 MBA. Is there a big price difference where you are? I just ask because in the U.S. there always seems to be a deal on the M2.
Hi Kevin, have you or anyone ever faced any issue of battery draining in MBA M1? I ve bought MBA M1 on 25th January and found out that its battery draining overnight even I completely shut it down. It’s really frustrating. I closed all application before shutting it down with 55% battery and when I switched it on next day it is showing 2% only. I checked with apple team who suggested me to run diagnostic, then activate low data mode, optimised battery etc. But the problem remains the same. Now Apple suggesting me to bring the laptop to their store in Mumbai for physical inspection. After inspection they ll advise the next step. Here in India, we have 7 days return policy from date of purchase. Now just want to know whether it is any software issue or I got bad unit?
I personally haven’t experienced this, and if you’re shutting down and still getting this drain I would say that it’s possible there is something going on with the hardware. Honestly, you shouldn’t need to make such accommodations to avoid having that level of battery drain. You should just be able to use the machine as you would day-to-day and have the same experience as most of us with these machines.
So I assume you’re still within that window of return?
Kevin, I am based in India and planning to replace my 5 year old intel MBA with either MBA M1 or MBA M2 base model. But unable to decide which one to opt? My usage will be for browsing, you tube, zoom meeting, word/excel, file transferring etc and not for any heavy task. Which one do you suggest? I ve read that MBA M2 has heating issue with slow SSD etc. Here in India, base model MBA M1 cost USD 900 and MBA M2 cost USD 1200. Will appreciate your input.
As far as the heating issue, I would say that I haven’t noticed that on the base model I tested and I do use the M2 MBA (1 TB) every day for non-creative work.
I will also say that the M1 is still in rotation and my wife uses it every day for the use case you’re talking about and there hasn’t been a single issue.
What I will also say is that going from the Intel model to the M1, you’re going to notice the difference.
I would say that the 300 USD cost savings is worth going with the M1 in my opinion if you’re going with the base model.
Hi Kevin, as discussed with you earlier I have bought MBA M1 Gold colour base model today from Apple Authorised Store here in Mumbai (India). I got it at USD 900 and spent arnd USD 25 for accessories. I just have one query with you. Is it normal to have battery 0% for sealed box? I mean when the store guy unboxed the laptop, it didn’t switch on despite he tried few times. The manufacturing year is August 2023. Then he plugged in for few seconds for switching it on. It took some 10-15 seconds to switch on the laptop after plugged in. Battery percentage was nil. I checked the battery health. Cycle count was 1 and showing health normal 100%. This has happened with me first time. Is it normal or there is any issue with battery? Have you ever faced such issue?
Man, I thought I finally decided that the M2/16G/1T MBA would be the way to go for my use (light photo editing, light LumaFusion/DaVinci). SD card slot could be via Anker or something. But now I’m second guessing again, 14” M1Pro MBP for just a few $$ more… Apple does not make it easy!
Based on my testing, and a video to follow, if you have the funds and you do want to consistently do some creative work, I’d save the frustration and get the Pro.
It’s doable, but I’d be nervous if it was my only machine.
@@KevinRossRN The extra $$ is not a deal breaker, so this advice is gold 👍
I love the lightweight and the design, but you’ll get a better return on that Pro. I just know it. 😉
@@KevinRossRN Do you think the base M1Pro 8/14 core chip is sufficient? I’m not doing 8K video or huge batch editing…
I love the MBP 14, but it is very heavy and pretty chunky, definitely not easy to lug it around with you in your bag or around the house. I have the M1 air as well and it’s night and day in terms of weight and bulk! Obviously the Pro has more power, better screen etc, but that comes at a cost of a much heavier and bulkier laptop.
I’ve ordered the M2 air as well as a secondary and more portable laptop. I’m a geek and love the Air laptops and couldn’t help myself.
This is my first foray into Macs. I chose to get a fully maxed out M2 Air. In all honesty, it's overkill for what I will ever use it for, but I'd rather future proof myself for as many years as possible, and have a decently functioning laptop for as long as I can.
I did want the 16" pro, but there were no recent enough upgrades to justify a pricetag twice as high.
Yeah, it’s funny (not really) that I ordered two MacBook Airs for less than the M1 Max MBP I have 🤷♂️
The fit and finish on these updated devices are really nice. When does yours come in?
@@KevinRossRN pickup is mid-August. And I'm pretty damn excited, as it does look premium AF. It'll be quite the upgrade over my nearly decade old Alienware laptop. 🤣 The one thing I'm not excited about (apart from entering the Apple ecosystem) is having to deal with the headache of learning an entirely new operating system.
I'm just hoping that there are no engineering issues that pop up down the track. 🤞
Agree on the engineering issues.
I think you’ll find the transition over to the OS pretty fluid. It’ll take a little time of course, but hopefully the learning curve will be easier than say, from MacOS to Windows.
Feel free to keep me posted when that build comes in. Would love to know what you think.
Im left in the dust!! Want to continue and thanks for sayin intel! Doin great but i do have m1 14. Is the 16 gb ram by your testing good gor i mean for fcpx?
Yes, it’s good for FCPX. I’ll be diving more into it tomorrow, but I am surprised at how quickly I used up 8GBs of RAM and I barely had a couple of browser tabs open. 🤷♂️
I should get the 16 in next week, but all of my other M1 machines have 16 or higher.
@@KevinRossRN my intel averages 12 to 16 gb but i have 64 on that machine. Havent spent any time on my m1 14 w 16 ram cuz its for travel but aint went nowhere. I just curious. Thanks SIROSS!
Sure thing. More tests to come. 🤘
@@KevinRossRN sorry correction m1 13 16gb ram
Ah, gotcha. I remember you saying you had the M1 with 16GBs.
Great video, Kevin. Thank you for your work. Btw, I found a Thunderbolt 4 USB4 hub by Pluggable the same type and amount of ports as the Anker but, without the drawbacks you’ve mentioned in your other videos.
Oh that’s awesome! I think I was going to review that hub. So you like it?
@@KevinRossRN yeah!, I’ve been testing it for 2 weeks and it’s performing very well. It recognizes all the drives (5 in total) after you’ve ejected them plugged them in again and only a bit of a speed penalty for them except one. The Samsung 980 Pro in the Acasis encloser, no penalty hit!
Whoa! Nice to hear. Well, I might have to put that one on the list to review then. 😉🤘
Hey Boulderite (Kevin)! Since the M1 chip dropped and iOS apps can be used on MacOS, do a test with the M2 Air (Base Model) and M1 iPad Pro using LumaFusion, just to see how the M2 Air Base Model (1 NAND Flash chip) operates with that Video NLE...
Hey, what are you doing over here?
Great idea. Let me see if I can put together a timeline in LumaFusion. I expect it to perform pretty well as it’ll have better thermals than the iPad, however we could be surprised 🤷♂️😉
@@KevinRossRN I've been lurking for awhile and this video nailed it on the head, much better than most! "What do you really need the M2 Air for?" Me? Going from the M1 13" Pro base model to a spec'd up M2 Air in Late Sept. I don't do video but I do graphic/media work and multitask clerical/office work, but not at a traditional desk... (10 core GPU, 16GB U-RAM, 256GB SSD) I offload the work I do to spinning hard drives but I just bought WD Blue SN570 2TB & Orico USB3.2 2x2 enclosure (yes I know, M1 devices only do 10Gbps, but it's good enough for light 4K footage, iPhone 13 pro) for a time when I need more storage...
Oh that’s awesome you got that working out. And hey, I wasn’t going to say anything about the Gen 2x2, unless you had asked why it doesn’t work at 20Gbps😀
But that’s great that it’s all working for you. Awesome to hear.
@@KevinRossRN I've been watching way too many videos since Lockdown! Outside of VLC and Handbrake, there's another transcoder called Shutter Encoder... It can change the wrapper of video as well! Between you and two other youtubers, I am sitting in front of the M1 Mac mini with 512GB SSD & LG 32QN55T 32" 1440p Monitor! The 13" M1 MBP will be traded in for the M2 Air soon. So viewing your videos will have me ready when I get back to video production!!! I have to wait. I had retinal detachment and cataract surgery recently and I need to wait a little bit longer before diving back into graphics and video work!
Yikes! Really bummed to hear that on the retinal detachment. I definitely hope for a swift recovery on that.
Thanks for the heads up on that program. I’ll have to take a look at it.
I’ll be running some BTS video tests with a few different timelines to see what we get out of these machines.
Since I do not know what 4k video rendering nor RAW photos mean I cannot relate to Mac Tech reviews. I did get this one though.
Then you may be just fine. Have you been using it, and if so, how do you like it?
@@KevinRossRN Sorry, I meant it understood your video but intend to get the base model Air M2 tomorrow. Thanks
Gotcha. Well, best of luck with your new device.
Why on earth did Apple put in slower Ssds in the M2 air than they did the M1 air, its unbelievable, what is even worse is the thermal throttling, this PC on its current design is a pointless disaster, super fast processing, slow transfer speeds from the ssd and super hot processor, im sure other Apple fan boys like me will be extremely disappointed as well
I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing an even bigger uptick in consumers considering the M1 versions. I’m even more curious to see any differences between the base and upgraded models.
hi Kevin.. thanks for the informative videos! i might buy a new laptop in 1-2 days.. use case is mostly web browsing, streaming music, making videos for online platforms w/ 1-2 camera angles (like the cooking clip you have in this video), and moderate programming (blockchain & AI/ML). i'm leaning towards M2 Air 16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD but would i be served equally well by M1 Pro 16GB RAM or M1 Air 16GB RAM? Either M1 option would save money but i'm focussed on a smooth workflow when editing videos and not wasting time. What is your opinion please?
Well, I was responding to your other comment, and indicated that the M1 would be fine. What’s the price difference where you are?
@@KevinRossRN Thank you for the suggestion, and sorry for a delayed response. From Apple certified refurbished site in the US, M2 8GB, 256GB is $230 more than M1 8GB,256GB ($1079 vs $849), and M2 16GB,512GB is $330 more than M1 16GB, 512GB ($1529 vs $1189). I have not yet bought a laptop because I became quite interested in the M3 laptops potentially being released late this year. Please do let me know if you have thoughts on that.
Well as far as the M3, not to ask a question with your question, but what are you most interested in with the M3?
@@KevinRossRN i assume 3nm fabrication will deliver more transistors (= more processing power) to M3 chip than even M2 Pro. Which potentially makes it "future proof" for next 5-7 years (i take good care of my equipment). Plus i do like smaller bezels on M2 laptops (13" and 15"), which i assume will carry over to M3 body
Hard to say whether this may get announced later this year since M2 is going strong in their lineup. I’m still holding out for that M3 though as I think it’ll bring an actual “refresh” to the line up.
These M2s are fantastic and all, but I’m just really wanting to see what the battery performance holds.
Dude, it is the pricing from Apple that is screwed up. MacBook Air is clearly meant to be a student's type of device, but Apple has too many laptops that are too close in price. This is where the main problem lies, in my view. Waiting for the M2, 16 GB, 512, midnight myself. And nope, not a student, just looking for the ultra-portable device
It’s definitely confusing. And I agree that the MBA is primarily for portability and performance for general day-to-day. Even though they’re marketing it as a device that can do video editing, I just couldn’t recommend this as a primary device to do so.
That’s awesome you have one on the way.
you're right, just happy I got my m1 air (G) 8+8 16 gb 1 tb delivered dec 15, 2020
That’s awesome. Still a great machine. Appreciate your time.
Hi , Pls help me in buying decision - I am student with tight budget, I can either upgrade ssd to 512 or RAM to 16gb. Which should I go for 8/512 or 16/256 model ?
I would be using app like MARGINNOTE for notes, mindmap and flashcard making
+ I would also like to use it for making educational video via ipad screen mirroring and recording.
+ I am also thinking of learning Programming language.
So pls help me in making right decisions.
I’d say you don’t want to necessarily be tethered to an external drive and as a student I can imagine that even with cloud storage you’ll still want more on the internal. I usually recommend more memory, but for your use, I’d bump the storage up.
@@KevinRossRN Also, I want to know your views on one another alternative M1 with 16/512 gb
If that fits your budget, that’s the one I’d go for. I have the M1 MBA with 16GBs of RAM and there are no signs of it slowing down.
I am going to buy a new MacBook air because my old one is a 2013 MacBook air. I’m going to use it for studying and internet surfing mainly and some light gaming maybe trying out for some digital art/graphic design . Should i go for the m1 or the m2 version and wich specs should i buy?
I dont have that much money but enough for both versions and i want it to last for atleast 5 years or even more.
Even for light gaming, and more games are coming all the time, I’d recommend bumping the RAM, especially if you want to keep it for a while.
I have the 16GB M1 MBA, and it is a fantastic device. I’ve done some light gaming on that machine. Just keep in mind that anything somewhat heavy with throttle on either the M1 or M2 MBA.
I plan to keep my M1 MBA for years, and I still think it’s a fantastic purchase.
@@KevinRossRN Do you think its worth spending the extra money on the m2? I’m a student and have around 5 k in my savings so it would be Nice to know if the extra cash is worth spending. Thank you!
I don’t. You can likely find a 14 inch on sale for around 1799USD…I’ve personally seen these.
But you can also find an upgraded version of the M1 MBA for around 1,000USD as well.
We’re students for life, however there’s a point where (I hope) we’re not always making “student” money.
I’d save where you can and reinvest back in yourself in other ways. I’ve come from very meager beginnings, but it wasn’t permanent. 😉
@@KevinRossRN thank you for your response:) would you recommend buying the m1 used with 512 gb and 8 ram? In my country the m1 with the same specs costs about 1550 dollars.
The 8GBs would be fine for that light use. If you can find 16GBs at that price, I wouldn’t hesitate (based on what’s available in your country), but I think you’d appreciate the extra storage a bit more for your studies, and the 8GBs may be more limiting with gaming, but not entirely.
i have the base model ordered through best buy so if itr doesn't work out i can just return it faster an instead of paying $200 for the 16gb upgrade i'll just buy the m1 pro 14inch for $1799 from amazon. apple has some really weird pricing
Apple does have some interesting pricing. What would be your primary use?
@@KevinRossRN photo editing and restoration... an light video editing. like family stuff
I just finished a test with video editing. If it’s “light” you may be fine, but anything heavy, it’s a no go. Or at least that your time is worth having a more capable device.
I’m still going through the tests and should also have the upgraded one in soon to compare. The thermals however are better than the M1 MBA with a “simple” timeline.
I hope to have that video up soon. I just filmed it and it’s a behind the scenes look.
@@KevinRossRN ok i finally got my m2 air. so far im liking it. doesn't seem to be throttling too bad. ive been doing my normal routine of light video editing vhs to digital or the random cell phone videos of the kids. and photo editing. im pretty happy with base model. im going to wait for your videos until i make my final decision. may not even need 16gb.
That’s awesome to hear. I have the 16GB confirmed for pick up on Thursday. For light video editing, the base model was fine, but I did start to push it, and it was not happy.
Video of that behind the scenes posting soon.
Easily one if the most helpful videos - not only did it touch on price floors, but also the juxtaposition we put ourselves between lower and higher price bumps/up-selling. Thank you! Also a great opportunity for me to subscribe, only just came across your channel. Clean desk setup btw. Thank you for your input sir! Great things to consider, and think I’ve definitely spent far too much headspace worrying over specs, when there’s a lot more important things in life.
Well I appreciate you taking the time to be here. Glad to have an opportunity to help you get closer to making a buying decision.
Glad to have you around the channel and looking forward to seeing you around. 😉