- Hey, Geoff. - Hello, Chris.
- Do you remember that time we went down
to Apple Park for WWDC,
and Apple made a huge to-do about new MacBooks
with the new M2 processor?
- It is -- drum roll, please -- 18% faster than the M1 chip.
And I literally laughed out loud.
- You did.
- There is no way on Earth a normal person
could tell 18% better. - That's why we're here.
We have the MacBook Air with the M2 processor.
We have basically the same model from last year
with the M1 processor.
- I'm gonna hide each of them,
not tell you which one you're using,
and see if Chris can tell the difference.
- [Whispering] I think I can.
I got this.
- [Whispering] I don't think he can.
- Let's start with what a lot of people use these computers for.
Let's open up a web browser, get a bunch of tabs going.
I've got the same 4K video running in multiple tabs,
Gmail going, I've got Reddit -- I'm kind of doing my thing.
I'm all over the place.
Based off of that, I feel like this might be the M2.
I thought there would be some sort of telltale thing,
but there isn't.
I'm coming to realize, even in these moments,
that 18% is a little tricky to suss out.
This is just stopped.
So, okay, we've now hit the point where none of these
YouTube videos are playing.
I'm thinking this is M1.
- The answer is -- -Oh!
Let's go! Test 2 -- here we go.
- Test 2 -- what are we gonna do here?
- Well, so, you told me about this thing called
Snap Camera last night.
Apparently, people with certain CPUs --
like, it just puts a lot of strain on a processor.
Right off the bat -- check out the --
check out the wobble on the bottom half of that potato.
That's actually pretty smooth.
- You are a smooth potato.
- Let's switch to the other computer.
- Let's hang it up.
- Order of operations -- Snap Camera, then Zoom.
I'm going. We're gonna switch to Snap Cam.
Hey!
I can't tell if I'm losing my mind.
I can't help feel that this looks somehow less smooth,
which isn't to say that it's bad --
it's just different.
So that leads me to believe that this is the M1 again.
- Ohh!
- Okay, so, we've got these files queued up in Premiere.
We're going from 4K down to 720x480,
so it should be a decent amount of work for this computer to do.
- And you're gonna time it. - I'm gonna time it.
3, 2, 1, go.
- Oh.
11 minutes, 5 seconds, 52 milliseconds.
- Yeah, 11:05. Same test.
We're gonna fire up Premiere here.
11:05 is the time to beat.
Boop. Here we go.
Here we go. Here we go.
Alright. - Okay.
- 14:17 is the final count on that one.
I have to say that this one is probably the M1.
- Survey says -- It's the M1.
What did we learn?
- I mean, the thing that I have to take away from all of this
is that, truly, if you're just using this for web browsing,
for truly basic computer use, there's no difference.
- So what I'm really hearing here, Chris,
is that I was right?
- Yes, yes. You were right.
- I want to talk about why this even matters.
Ultimately, this isn't so much about technological differences.
Yes, there's technological differences
in the processors here.
But it's more about a marketing thing.
I feel like maybe Apple kind of
pulled the trigger a little too soon.
- I got to agree.
It does feel a little bit confusing, too,
when you think about Apple's chip layout.
'Cause you've got the M1.
Last year, we also got the M1 Pro and the M1 Max,
and there's an M1 Ultra out there,
and how does that compare to the M2?
Well, it's better, but it doesn't sound
like it based off of the names.
- If you're shopping for a new computer,
what should you think about
in terms of the differences between these?
- This does cost $200 more than the base-spec MacBook Air M1.
And to be fair, there are other improvements beyond the chip.
You've got a slightly more expansive screen,
though you have to deal with a notch
that's not gonna be great for everyone.
The webcam is also quite a bit better,
so if you spend a lot of time on Zoom calls or on FaceTime,
that's legitimately helpful.
- If you have a really old MacBook Air,
one from five-plus years ago,
you're gonna feel a big upgrade with either of these computers.
- But if you're under that line, if you have an M1,
for example and you're thinking, "Maybe the M2 is good for me,"
just stop and put your wallet away and enjoy what you have.
It's gonna last you quite a while yet.