MacBook Air M2 vs. MacBook Air M1: Worth the Extra $200

Speaker 1: Apple has got two different MacBook airs on sale. Right now. There's a classic M one air. There's a brand new M two air, frankly. There's a lot, that's the same about them, but also a lot of differences. So I'm gonna help you try to figure out which MacBook air you need. So I've started using Apple's new MacBook air with the new M two chip in it. That's only been out for a little while, frankly. I'd like it a lot, a review of it was very positive, but at the same time, apple is still selling this guy. This is the M one MacBook air, [00:00:30] which has the same look and feel and design as the Intel MacBook airs that came before it. This is literally the 2020 version of the laptop. Apple's still selling it. And obviously here in 2022, we also have this guy, which is the new updated refresh MacBook air. Speaker 1: It's not just the chip inside. That's different. It's a bunch of other things in the design and the features. So let's take a look and see what exactly the differences are. And maybe why you wanna spend a little bit more on this guy, or you wanna spend a little bit less on this guy because [00:01:00] the M one MacBook air it's still available for that classic thousand dollars MacBook air price, the new version, they jumped it up to 1200 bucks. I'm not happy about it. You're not happy about it. You can still get that thousand dollars MacBook air, but is it worth another $200? Well, we're gonna take a look and find out, Speaker 1: All right. The first difference that you're gonna see obviously is in the design, this MacBook air, the M one looks a lot like previous MacBook airs, frankly, going [00:01:30] back many years, this new version, the M two, it's a completely new design. Also as new colors. I frankly think it's the biggest change to the MacBook airs designed since the line was introduced back in 2008. The big difference here is that this air has adopted the kind of flat squared off design of the current 14 inch end 16 inch MacBook pro. So the top of the wood is completely flat. Uh, it doesn't kind of curve around around the edges. It doesn't have that taper anymore. It's one thickness throughout. I think it's [00:02:00] a cooler, more modern look, but much more important than that. You actually get some new color options before now you get a MacBook air and like, you know, gray and silver and gold. Speaker 1: Uh, now you can also get midnight, this midnight color. It's a deep black with kind of a bluish tinge. It reminds me a lot of that classic black Mac book from the mid two thousands, uh, before there even was an air that was just called the Mac book and it was made of plastic. Now, obviously aluminum. I really like the matte black [00:02:30] look, although it does pick up a lot of fingerprints, weight wise, they're virtually the same. I think they started 2.7 pounds versus 2.8 pounds. Uh, this is a little bit thinner. Overall. This obviously gets a little thinner at the front row tapers, but it's thicker at the back, but frankly, carrying it around every day wise, you're not gonna feel a big difference. You're gonna choose this new design because you want the newer design or you want the cool color. And that's totally legit. Speaker 1: The next big difference between these two is screen size. Now this is still a 13 inch [00:03:00] laptop, whether you go with the M one or the M two, but the M one has got a regular 13.3 inch diagonally measured display. Uh, that's a very common screen size for the new MacBook air. It's a 13.6 inch display. So it's just a little bit larger and you can see the lids are just about the same size, but the bezel is smaller here. So they fit a little more screen into the same space with one little asterisk. And that's this little notch guy up here, but we're gonna get back to that later. Another important [00:03:30] thing to note about the screen is that on the new M two, Aaron, the screen actually gets brighter. Uh, I think it's a 500 hit screen, very similar to what you find in the MacBook pros. Speaker 1: Uh, comparatively, the M one MacBook air screen is fine. It gets plenty bright, but it's not as bright. And that could be important if I dunno, you're working outside at a cafe in the sunlight and you just need an extra bright screen, the real big difference between these two. The reason they really exist at least on paper, is that they have different chips inside. They're both apple Silicon systems, which is a big change from [00:04:00] a few years ago when max all had Intel chips inside, apple has moved away from that to their own chips. The M one was the first apple Silicon chip, and that is in this MacBook air and a few other products. Well, now they've got the M two and that goes in the new MacBook air and the new 13 inch pro. Those are the first two devices to have the M two chip. Speaker 1: So yes, it's a little bit faster running benchmarks on the M one air and the M two air. It was faster, but it wasn't so much so that I would go and ditch my [00:04:30] M one just to get the M two version. In fact, if you need a lot more speed, a lot more power, you're gonna be trading up to something in the 14 inch or 16 inch MacBook pro, which is the M one pro chip or the M one max chip. And then in the max studio desktop, you can get the M one ultra chip. And those are all much, much faster than either the M one or the M two. Now MacBook air laptops have always embraced a certain minimalism when it comes to ports and connections. I remember the very first MacBook air back in 2008, I think just [00:05:00] had one us B, a port, and that was it on the entire thing in the modern era, MacBook airs have had two us BBC Thunderbolt ports, and that continues both on the old air and the new air, no HDM, I, no SD card slot, anything like that. Speaker 1: You have to go to the pros to get that there is however, one new port, I should say, a returning port on the M two MacBook air. And that is the mag safe power connection. So you have two BCS and the Mac safe connector here, here, you just have the two BCS, both [00:05:30] still have headphone jacks, which is not something you can always count on in tech products these days, but I'm glad they're still in both of these. Now, personally, I find it hard to carry an extra proprietary cable around. So even though this has Mac safe, I, 99% of the time charge is just using the same USBC cable I use for this or any other USBC device that I have. But beyond all of that, I really think the biggest point of differentiation and the biggest reason I would choose the new M two version of the MacBook air over the M one version [00:06:00] is the webcam. Speaker 1: Uh, we finally have an updated modern version of the webcam here in the M two MacBook air because here in the M one air and the last several generations of MacBook air, before that these have had seven 20 resolution cameras, basically low risk cameras that were kind of dated and nobody ever thought they looked very good, especially because we spent the last two, two and a half years doing a lot of zoom meetings, a lot of FaceTime meetings, a lot of video chatting the camera really [00:06:30] is much more important than it used to be. And these were just not keeping up. So here in the M two MacBook air, you've got a 10 80 camera, a full HD camera. You could also now get that on the 14 inch MacBook pro the 16 inch MacBook pro and the 24 inch iMac. So 10 80 cameras are slowly taking over the Mac line. Speaker 1: They're not everywhere yet. Uh, but it's, it's the standard now for new max, except for that new 13 inch M two MacBook pro that's a whole nother topic, and I'm happy to [00:07:00] see it because frankly side by side, it looks a lot better. It's not just the increased resolution and the camera, although that helps the image processing is also a lot better. And if you look at some clips side by side, you can definitely tell the difference. Now you do have to give something up to get this new camera. Of course you do. Uh, that is the screen notch up here, which is similar to the one on the iPhone that either really bothers you a lot, or you just get used to, and you don't notice anymore. So cut into the screen camera notch versus over here, the top [00:07:30] beg of thicker. So the camera module just fits into it, and it doesn't cut into the screen at all. Speaker 1: Your tolerance for this will vary based on, you know, how much you're gonna be able to mentally ignore it and how much you're just gonna obsess over it. Along with the camera. I should also note that the M one math book, air's got two speakers in it. The M two version as four speakers. Uh, none of these are fantastic for audio. Uh, frankly, the microphones are pretty good for, um, you know, webcam chatting and things like that. Uh, but that's not gonna make the decision for you one way or the other. If [00:08:00] you wanna find out more about all the little details of the M one versus the M two, uh, we've got a full review of the M two, we've got a lot of comparison stories about them. You can find all those links in the description below. I think at the end of the day, the big decision points for you are gonna be priced 9 99 to start versus, uh, $1,200 to start. Speaker 1: It's gonna be the design, obviously the new colors and shape versus the old, and it's gonna be, uh, the webcam and other new features. Do you need the higher res webcam? Do you need the M two chip? [00:08:30] Do you really love Mac SAP and what I have in your MacBook air? If so, even at $1,200, the new MacBook air is reasonably priced. And I still think of the air as one of the most universally useful laptops you can buy. That said, if you just want the thousand hour plane version, even though this model is a couple years old at this point, I was using it regularly up until a couple weeks ago, when I started using and testing this, this one still works fine, still great for students still great for taking out to the coffee shop with you, easy to put in your bag and take anywhere. So I'm glad apple [00:09:00] still offers a thousand dollars version of the MacBook air. Even if you can't get the cool new midnight color.