Okay, so as you might have seen WWDC 2022 was yesterday,
and there were a couple
of really exciting announcements from Apple.
But in this video,
I want to talk about the M2 MacBook Air specifically
because there are a couple of things
that Apple either just straight up didn't mention
or didn't really provide a lot of details on.
So, I thought this might be helpful for you to watch
if you're thinking of buying it
or upgrading from your current MacBook.
So let's start with performance.
So the M2 is using
a Second-generation 5 nanometer technology,
and using this improved 5 nanometer technology
has allowed Apple to cram 20 million transistors
onto the same chip surface,
or about 25% more than M1.
But apparently, these improvements only translate
to about 18% more CPU performance,
and that's based
on Apple's dubious industry standard benchmarks,
which no one but Apple has access to.
We're also getting an additional GPU core
on the base model
and with a larger cache,
and we're getting double the memory bandwidth.
And if you're a fan of the channel,
and you watched my M1 Pro
and M1 Max comparison videos late last year
where I compare the difference
between eight and 10 CPU cores,
or 14 and 16 GPU cores,
the extra cores don't actually scale linearly.
So, although, on paper,
if you go from say eight CPU cores to 10,
it might seem like a 25% increase.
But when you actually look at real life workflows,
so Photoshop, video editing, coding, for example,
it's actually much less than that.
Sometimes only around 10 to 15%,
sometimes even nothing.
Again, it really depends on the specific workflow.
So, basically, what I'm trying to say
is take what Apple is saying with a grain of salt
because we don't know what benchmarks they're using
to benchmark these new chips,
and we also don't really know how they're going to perform
in real life workflows.
It's probably not going to be that much
of a difference from the M1 chip.
And this brings me to my next point
which is RAM.
With M2, you now get better performance,
and you also get those media engines,
which helps massively with video editing.
But the problem here is with most video editing workflows,
you're going to need at least 16 gigabytes of RAM.
I mean, look, sure you can get away with eight gigabytes
for some relatively simple timelines,
like if you mostly do 1080p,
or a little bit of simple 4K,
you're probably going to be fine.
But once you start getting into adding effects,
or stabilization, or longer timelines, for example,
you really need 16 gigabytes of RAM.
And this also goes for other workflows,
not just video editing.
So, for example, if you're a developer,
and you're compiling code in one window,
and then multitasking in another one,
or if you use, say, Photoshop or Lightroom,
you very well could be bottlenecked
if you choose the eight gigabyte base model option
because you won't be able to take advantage
of the additional cores or improvements
with the CPU and the GPU
because you've only got eight gigabytes of RAM.
There's only so much you can do
with eight gigabytes compared to, say, 16 gigabytes.
And typically, you'll also likely
want an upgraded 512 gigabyte SSD.
So, at this point, you might as well spend a bit more,
and get the 14-inch M1 Pro.
And this brings me to my next point,
in my opinion, I think the M1 MacBook Air
is already powerful enough for 95% of people.
I mean, if you really think about it,
if you look at all the people out there
that own an M1 MacBook Air,
95% of people just use it to browse the internet,
or online shopping,
or emails,
or chatting with their friends,
or watching movies, for example.
They're not doing video editing,
or photo editing,
or any of that hardcore stuff.
And I think we're also rapidly approaching
the point of diminishing returns:
end of day, how powerful do you need
an entry level Apple silicon device to be?
One thing I'll also mention here
is that Apple seems to be marketing the M2 MacBook Air
towards a more "professional" audience.
But the thing is,
it still doesn't output to more than one monitor.
So if you guys remember,
back two years ago,
this was a massive issue with the launch
of the M1 MacBook Air
and the M1 MacBook Pro.
You could only output to one external monitor
unless you did some weird work around with virtual displays.
I made a video on that
if you want to check that out .
But even now, in 2022,
with the M2 MacBook Air,
that same limitation is there.
And that's going to put off a lot of people
because, personally, I know a ton of people,
specifically, developers and coders,
that this is a deal breaker for them
because they need two monitors at least with their MacBook,
and you just can't do that with the M2 MacBook Air.
Okay, let's talk about price as well.
Now, obviously the M2 MacBook Air is now $200 more expensive
than it's predecessor at $1,200 US.
Now, personally,
I still think this is actually really good value
for what you're getting.
I mean, if you look at all the specs of the M2 MacBook Air:
the screen, the speakers, the webcam,
it's honestly an awesome package.
But the problem is,
we are talking about a base model entry level device.
So this is Apple's cheapest laptop,
and that means it's marketed at people
that don't have a lot of disposable income
to spend on electronics.
So for a pretty large target market of the MacBook Air,
they're now completely priced out.
This is a 20% price increase
on what has traditionally always been a $1,000 laptop.
And in some places, including a lot of European countries,
it's not just $1,200 US,
it's up to 1,500 euros,
which is a lot of money.
In Australia, it's between 1,800
to 2,000 Australian dollars depending on
what kind of configuration you get,
and that is a lot of money.
And don't forget,
that can buy you a lot of laptop from other brands,
such as Dell or Microsoft.
Now, there are obviously reasons for this price increase.
So number one,
again, you get a ton more features
over the M1 MacBook Air,
but secondly, as well,
Apple is actually having a massive supply issue
with their Max.
Now, I did make a video on this a couple of weeks ago.
Essentially, there's just not enough chips
and not enough manufacturing going on in China right now
to actually keep up with the demand.
So even though the new MacBook Air
is now 20% more expensive,
I'd say that Apple's profit margin on this machine
has been greatly reduced
simply because it costs more to manufacture them now.
And that brings me to my next point,
there are so many other options.
Now I did think it was strange
that Apple is keeping the old stuff around.
So the M1 MacBook Air
and also the M2 MacBook Pro chassis is exactly the same.
But I think Apple is trying to kill two birds with one stone
with this approach.
So, first of all, get rid of all of their old stock
so that chassis's been in production for years.
I bet they've got tons of it lying around.
They just want to get rid of it all.
And secondarily, it just makes the M2 MacBook Air
look like a more enticing option.
So if you actually compare the three,
the M2 MacBook Air is clearly the better option right now
if you can afford it, of course.
Like why on earth would you buy an M2 MacBook Pro
when it has less features,
and it's using an old outdated chassis and design?
And why would you buy an M1 MacBook Air
when for just $200 more,
you get a ton of really, really awesome features
like MagSafe.
You also get a much better screen,
brand new chassis.
You also get the 1080p webcam,
and also, things like Spatial Audio.
And speaking of the M2 MacBook Pro,
the M2 chip can pull a little bit more wattage than M1.
So you might actually run into some increased thermal issues
on the Air, at least that's my theory,
'cause don't forget that the chassis on the new M2 Air
is now also thinner and lighter
than the previous version of the MacBook Air.
So you probably won't see any difference between the two
in just short bursts,
but for those sustained things,
so rendering a long video,
or compiling code over 20 minutes, for example,
the fan and the increased cooling capacity
on the M2 MacBook Pro might really start to kick in
and make a big difference compared to the M2 MacBook Air.
And this might be the only selling point
of the M2 MacBook Air
because as we all know,
there really was not much of a difference
between the M1 MacBook Air and the M1 MacBook Pro.
There was maybe about five to 10%
in really, really hardcore sustained stuff,
but apart from that,
they are both pretty similar.
So yeah, certainly a interesting WWDC this year.
I definitely didn't expect the M2 MacBook Air
to be launched this early.
And I think it's going to be very interesting to see
how all of these new models of Mac stack up
against the predecessors
and also some of the competition out there
because at this point in time,
all we've got is a couple of random graphs from Apple.
We don't really know what they mean.
We're fed a lot of specs
from these presentations that really have no meaning.
So, I'm looking forward to getting them into the studio,
testing them out like I did the previous gen of Macs,
and hopefully, we'll see
what kind of differences we can find.
But apart from that, guys,
thanks for watching,
and I'll catch you in the next one.