"This MacBook is not for you"
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- It seems these days that gatekeeping on UA-cam has reached some new heights! Especially with the review cycle we've seen of the new M2 MacBook Air, comparisons, and testing Apple Silicon products in general. Some people are mad that tests aren't thorough enough, some that they're too thorough, some that tests are being done at all... It's nuts! Today I want to break down the arguments and discuss the M2 MacBook Air frankly: who is it for, what can you do with it, and should anybody care?
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I think that the only problem of UA-cam Macbook reviews is that most of video creators test Macbook from the perspective of their own profession, which is Video Editing, therefore I think if Macbooks were reviewed from different perspectives (Casual Usage, Video/Photo Editing, 3D Rendering, Gaming, Programming ...) each video would be much more informative/useful.
You're right, I wish there were real estate agents reviewing these products.
The use I give my laptop goes from light use like web browsing, videos and social media, to more "intensive" tasks like using the Google Earth Pro app, explore some government mapping websites, opening some heavy PDF's with blueprints or zoning cartography and maybe some light video editing.
But most youtubers focus only on video creation, exporting 4k videos and so on.
It also contributes to the image that Macs are just good for creatives, and that's it.
correct... Its a review based on THEIR experience. not your experience what you'll use a computer for.. That's fine, if your video editor, but not everyone is... At least its good to know it will be capable, if you ever get into the profession :)
That's what I always think when watching one of these MacBook review videos
This is what I always think of when I see a video about apple silicon macbooks vs x windows laptop. Most of these videos are made by content creators who use mac, so almost all their test are geekbench, photo/video editing and exporting, usually a bit of cinebench and perhaps a little bit of some other workload
The controversy is so silly. It's FUN to see how far we can push the M2 MacBook Air and show off how capable a fan-less design is. This isn't your grandpas MacBook Air, they can handle way more than you would expect - and if you have a $1000-$1500 budget, going over performance differences is valuable information to help make an informed purchasing decision. Old school reviewers saying some of this information isn't valuable are from a different era. Yes, most people aren't going to push these machines, but more & more people are into video editing, 3d modeling, photography than ever before - and it's important to let that side of the customer base know about this laptop.
In the same breath, if any reviewer that attacks the Air as being not good enough compared to a pro laptop because of thermal throttling, they're missing the boat, and they've failed at covering who this laptop is for and why it's great that you can push it even above those limits.
Exactly, I don’t get why we need to gatekeep what people are allowed to use a device for
@@lukemiani When I bought my first computer to do video editing on, I WISH I had the entry level apple silicon options people have available today.
@@lukemiani We all have different needs and different tasks to achieve using these machines. I personally got the base M1 Air a year ago and I do some quite heavy programming in Xcode for many hours every single day, and guess what, even if it is “intended for students, MS Office, web browsing”, I got insane result from it and it is the best purchase I’ve ever made.
My thing is that if you run a ton of synthetic benchmarks on it, you owe it to people to then contextualize how normal workloads, even editing 4K video, don't actually hit the CPU and GPU at 100% for that long. Also, if it throttles under certain conditions, we need to find out if that throttling is reasonable, instead of being like, "IT'S HOT! IT'S THROTTLING!" and just leaving it at that. I feel like there was a lot of that going on with the M2. There should have been more controlled testing against other computers, to see if it's still better than other computers when they start throttling, too, rather than finding out how much percentage of peak M2 performance we lost with the M2 under load. There were Intel fanboys trying to pretend that their computers don't throttle, lol.
I can only speak for myself; i bought a mid-2012 Macbook Pro 10 years ago. Currently, i can only get Catalina operating system (maybe i could get newer but i'm older/retired and don't have the ability to do that). I want to "video edit" with my GoPro. I've seen the 16" Macbook Pro and that larger screen looks nice. Being on a limited budget, i can't afford the current $5,000 or so to get what i would consider the model to do any kind of editing with. The 13" seems a bit small to try and do editing. I'd like to see video editing software reviews on the different models, how hard it might be to see what's needed to be done to do editing. I shot 40+ gigs of video on my last vacation, how much ssd space would i need, etc, to get on my machine. These are things i'd like to see done ....... somewhere. Budget limitations, size, performance, time to do things. I don't need UA-cam editing speeds, just want to get it done "timely", whatever that even means. I do enjoy the videos Luke puts out but some of the comparisons are above my understanding, but i'm just speaking for me. Thanks for all the work you do.
I'm a enthusiast/semi-pro photographer. Up until a few weeks ago, I was still on a 2013 15" MBP with discrete graphics and all. Just from the specs and testing done, I KNOW even the lowly M1 MBA would run circles around my old Intel powered MBP. I still went with a 16" MBP M1 Pro because as a photographer, i want the biggest screen to edit on, especially when I'm on the go. I was even close to getting the M2 MBA because of the Midnight color option, but ultimately, I need the bigger screen. No regrets here.
The M1 MBA is a great value still in 2022 and will do what 99% of people need it to do. The M2 with it's bigger, better screen, better processor (however little better, still better) MagSafe, fast charging, better speakers, better webcam, is also worth the xtra few hundred, you ARE getting a better computer with a newer design. Just make sure to get the 512GB SSD at least to get those faster read/write speeds. Apple should be ashamed of still offering 256GB SSD though.
While I don’t think they should be shamed of the 256gb, they should disclose it clearly and drop the price a little. People can decide if they are willing to make the trade off, which most people will. Then Apple is giving people what they want, and not hiding anything.
Good move getting the higher speed device even though it is pricier. You will be able to use it for another 10 years. Well played.
apple shudve put two 128s.
@@Jarrettfan the likely reason that didn’t happen is because as storage matures, it becomes more expensive and hard to procure large amounts of a chip. It likely did not make sense to get 128gb chips for one model of the M2 MacBook Air.
Apple raised the bar so high with the M1 Macs that it was just difficult to make significant improvements within a year or two, especially in the current world of the supply chain crisis.The M2 Air isn't a bad product. For most people, it'll be a phenomenal machine. It's just not the default option anymore like what the M1 Air was and still is.
They just think because it’s thinner means no cooling apart from the chassis
The problem is not they did not make a significant improvement. They made a significant downgrade on the SSD. Half the speed on the SSD is a lot more noticeable than 15% improvement on cpu speed because the cpu most often does it job in a split second while it takes much more time for the SSD to load a medium to large app. That is even more true for light users who is this machine target for. If my M1 Mac dies I would never buy the new M2.
@@danielfrappier3378 one of the reasons why I want an m1 MacBook Pro and not any of the m2 models
@@nanospace2389 Yes! 2020 M1 MacBook Pro w/ 8gb ram and 512gb ssd is $1229 refurbished on Apple. $1399 for 16gb/512gb. 20hr battery, 500nits brightness, active cooling… and 3lbs instead vs 2.8lbs.
My problem is - why use whether a computer has a heatsink or not as a means of product differentiation despite having a similar CPU. Apple even tout the Pro models having a heatsink right on their site.
That's a dick move, along with only the Pros having an SD card slot - a feature of the cheapest netbooks from a time long ago.
Also, I don't see why I should be excited about buying a new computer at a premium price with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB of SSD space, when my laptop of *ten years ago* had 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD space.
Totally agree with you Luke. Much respect for speaking up about this and staying motivated, because you’re doing perfect!
I mainly use my MacBook Air M1 for IOS and WatchOS development, its great for that, really is a dream machine to use, especially for the price… I love how my MacBook Air is only passively cooled, meaning its not going to get dirty inside and will last a long time.
I like mine a lot too but it gets so hot so often that I was thinking to resell it and buy an M2 when they come out before it dies on me. With the M2 out this is not an option, really pondering what I will buy next.
I run Hanbrake on mine, and aside from 7 out of 8 cores being used (Activity Monitor >>CPU History, the bottom only gets warm... (I don't do excessive 24 hours tasks, but few runs every day)... Light use still
The funniest part about this “controversy” is that NO ONE cared when the M1 Air was pushed in every real world scenario ever.
Seems it only becomes an issue when apple fails to meet their own quality control standards. Because, no one talked about “toxic benchmarks” when it came to the overheating issues of intel macs.
This has no heat sink, plus worse SSD performance than the M1 if anything deserves to be criticized it’s this machine. Keep up the good work Luke!
You're very correct, the M2 Air deserves the criticism it got from Tech reviewers especially for the Cheap SSDs. The M1 was put through the same tests and no One complained.
There are two issues here. The SSD issue is completely fair, but it won't be an issue for those who use 512 GB or greater. As for the chip itself, it throttles more often, but I have yet to see that it ever underperforms against the M1 under the same conditions, and that's what reviewers weren't pointing out. The M2 is already faster than the M1, so even if it throttles more, it doesn't make it slower. They were merely comparing the M2 under 20 minutes of 100% use against peak M2 performance w/o seeing how it compares to other Ultrabooks.
@@mbvglider max tech as shown that the M2 is slower than M1 in some real world workflows.
I mean the chip is only 13% faster. You’ll lose that performance once the throttling begins, but that’s not really the point. The point is that apple made the design choice to not include a heat sink to make this lighter than the previous version.
Any other tech product would be open for criticism, for nerfing functionality for the sake of design. It happened all the time with the intel macs.
Lol people keep forgetting these are $1300 laptops, I better hear all about the negatives and positives. People love boasting about how good apple silicon is until criticisms come up and now you hear the “for 99% of people..” arguments. Why are we giving these machines the expectations of a Chromebook and not a $1300 laptop? Hell, it becomes a $1500 machine when you want a decent configuration.
@@ultrasoundconcept exactly, but that’s because it destroyed the competition. I’m thankful for the work the tech space has done. I got my girlfriend a M1 recently. Not just because it was cheaper, but I know she never closes apps when she’s done with them so the slower swap speeds would effect her in almost everything she does.
Much easier to just get her the product that’s better fit for her then to try to have her “unlearn” the way she uses her computer.
I think there isn't really any point in pretending like we need to test if it can do basic tasks because the performance has clearly already been there since m1, so it's more about making actually useful videos like finding out what the limits of the new hardware is.
For today's computers, basic tasks include casual 4K editing in Final Cut, running Lightroom with 24 MP RAW photos, recording a whole band in Logic, etc. The very idea of what "basic tasks" means has changed a lot in the last 3 years, so for people who are sitting on their 2015 MacBooks and hearing that the M2 overheats when running benchmarks in direct sunlight, it's really confusing. It's irresponsible to dump all this information without putting into context what actual real-life use looks like.
TBH you can do 'basic tasks' on any MacBook that runs Big Sur or later
@Joel Miller If you look at channels like Luke's or Max Tech, I think it's for people looking for the best bang for your buck. Especially if you hold onto devices/ machines for years. M2 is a nice machine but for the $200 price increase the downfalls makes the value proprositions for the upgrades less appealing. I am still using my Macbook Pro 2012 15" and have been debating on gettting the M2 air or M1 air. The pitfalls doesn't seem to justify the purchase price for what I get and what has been the pitfalls of the M2. Not to mention if you go to a third party or wait then the price tag difference is even shaper: $200- $350 price difference now.
@@mbvglider using Final Cut and Lightroom are not light tasks.
The masses won't even bother to transfer their photos and videos on their Mac, they'll just tweek it using their iPhone's built in photo editor and whatever app like Tik Toc to edit their videos then post their stuff directly on social media.
@@midnightsnack1306 For a modern computer, most photo and video projects will be pretty light tasks. When people talk about "M2 can only handle light tasks," you said it yourself, even an iPhone can handle light photo and video editing, so even then, the M2 can handle a lot of photo and video editing. Which is why it's a bit ridiculous to be like "the M2 throttles when you put it at 100% load for 20 minutes" when not even Final Cut and Lightroom really do that.
I think people got carried away by the hype of the M1 being a beast compared to the 10th gen intel the previous MacBook Air had that they started getting a lot of false expectations for the M2
@Garrus Vakarian yeah for me it’s good news that the M2 is not a leap forward because I have an M1 device I plan to keep until 2030 😅
@Garrus Vakarian don’t worry man, with the release of the M2 you can pretty nasty deals on M1 and it’s still a beast chip
Still very happy with my M1 Air. This looks like a worthy successor (except for the 8/256 model). These MacBook Airs are extremely powerful devices, and for devices made for casuals its wonderful.
And that’s the problem. At that point get the 14inch MacBook Pro
I am not sure if it is a number of things like supply chains, Apple wanting to upsell, or cost cutting measures but some aspects of the M2 air is worst than the M1. I was debating for a while about getting the M2 air but the more I research and listen to reviews, the more it pushes my decision to buy the m1 air from a third party rather than buy from Apple. Even keeping the M1 air shows Apple is trying to keep profits high for those uneducated or unsuspecting customers who don't realize the M1 air is a two year old machine that they are charging full retail price from two years ago. Altough the design is nice it's not worth the $200 upgrade. Even some of ther other selling points like the improve front facing camera, improved cpu speeds, or speakers aren't that much of an improvement. Even the marketing for the improvement for cpu and gpu in their keynote is based on models with higher base storage, cpu cores, and ram which most people aren't going to buy.
@@tamwilfred yeah, the fact the M2 Air is not a cut and dry no brainer upgrade from the M1 is testament that the M2 Air is actually pretty mediocre.
@@midnightsnack1306 The M1 is so good and maybe the supply issue makes the M2 seems like they should have just called it the M1.5 or M1s. Overall the whole computing and mobile industry has advanced so fast that it seems like progression has slowed down; even the Macbook Air refresh cycle was two years apart. The only reason I have been thinking about upgrading from my macbook pro 2012 15 inch was because it's old, I want more battery run time, and I am traveling more and want something lightweight to carry around. Other that I would been happy to keep running it until Mac OS support runs out.
@@midnightsnack1306 It needed not be if Apple hadn't skimped on the base model's SSD and cooling (all M2 MA) as much as they did. Apple deserve all the flak they got for that.
Have you seen Max Tech's tube where he essentially limits the M2 to its efficiency cores in "low" power mode ?
That thing ain't mediocre on a performance per watt basis
But if I had an M1, I wouldn't upgrade
(I'm using a 2018 Intel Hot Plate, aka MBP and the M2 MA would definitely be an upgrade)
Congrats on 400K, Luke~!!! Been watching since like 50K, what a massive progress to witness :)
same brrooo
There was hardly this type of divided opinions when the M1 Air came out. The nerfed SSD on the M2 opened a Pandora's box!
True, the M1 was universally praised by almost everybody. It was Apple's cost cutting not the reviewers, "toxic benchmarks," or toxic fans that caused this controversy.
Good word. I enjoy your channel because of a more even perspective and no click-bait negativity as soooo many other channels. Keep up the good work.
I watched all the harsh reviews, and still bought the M2, because I wanted to. I appreciate knowing the extreme operating limitations, even though I know I will probably never push this machine that hard anyway.
M1 is just better, especially for its price
as an example: The Magsafe Duo is universally reviewed as too expensive, too slow, not good value. So I bought two, for my wife and I, we love them - one cable and one PSU each to charge our phone and a watch each.
Virtue is a mean. I've always found your content very balanced as it should be. I DO want to know how far I can push it because I'll buy different machines for different tasks. As you note, you can do a few light editing tasks on the Air which for many people is all they need. I also think people can take things a little too far either way. I don't need to see the marketing fluff, I can read that on Apple but I also don't really want to see 10 videos of why a product won't do what it's not really designed to do... to me it seems like some who always get the insider scoop are just attacking those who are pushing it too far. It's like the radio or streaming, you don't want to listen, change the channel. Great points Luke!
This why you are the best Luke, you break down the issue intelligently and ask us what kind of content we would like to see. I appreciate you and enjoy you pushing machines to see what they can do. Even if outside their normal use case. Thank you for what you do
please continue to do what you do ! now that the storm is over & being able to look back, i think the only change required is actually from the viewers’ end - we are consuming free content, getting free advice and information impossible to obtain ourselves without these videos. we should be the ones watching / reading as much as possible from diverse sources especially if the sole reason is to get relevant info prior to making a purchase. understanding our own usage and needs should also be our responsibility, so that the combined information gained through all these (free) resources should enable us to make an informed decision ourselves. i admit to being a little paranoid initially with all the negative reviews but when i took a step back to analyse my actual usage i realised i really did not need to over spec the base model of the M2air. the fact that i find magsafe essential already pushed the M1 out of consideration. reviews such as yours showed me what the machines can & can’t do so i know the limitations although videos by various creators stating that the M2s are perfectly suited to the vast majority of people have nonetheless been reassuring. bottomline is to first identify your needs in order to understand the solutions available, and then selecting the one that provides those solutions within a package that best aligns with your preferences or style.
I use an M1 MacBook Air for coding and music production. I know programmers who are still using 13 inch Intel MacBook Pros. Could I use the power of an M1Pro? Maybe, but I didn’t need it, and I like the fanless design of the Air. The M2 Air looks nice, but I think I’ll wait to see what M3 or M4 brings to the table given M1 Air is still more powerful than my old Intel MacBook Pro that I was getting along mostly fine with.
I made this decision after watching UA-cam channels like this one push the machine to its limits. It is good to know how capable it is
I have an M1 Max 16 in Pro fully loaded. Great base machine but for travel got the M2 Air fully loaded. Love it. Because of testing tech videos i got loaded and put in thermal pads. Use a lot in bed so got cooling fan platform. No throttling speedy as hell. Also saw tip about low power mode that maximizes use of four efficiency cores. Run TG Pro to monitor temps and all i can say is WOW!
The low power setting is great. Temps of CPU stay at 50-55 C. Battery temps stay at ambient room temp and without fan cooling, just thermal pads.
That intro was HILARIOUS! That cut followed by that elevator music! 😂😂😂😂😂
I think a balanced approach is the best way to do it and in my opinion you often do it quite well in your videos. Benchmarks aren’t necessarily good or bad, but like you said it’s easier to make popular videos when using negativity instead of positivity and personally I think here is where the problem lies. HOW ideas are presented and explaining WHY makes a huge difference. For example: Reviewer A saying “The M2 Air has a huge SSD speed downgrade, it’s really bad, look at the numbers! Apple is ripping you off!”, versus Reviewer B saying “The base model of the M2 Air has slower SSD speeds than the 512GB model due to X and Y factors. Depending on what you’re going to use it for it may or may not impact your experience. Here are some comparisons of several different laptops in different test scenarios to put things into perspective.”
A well thought out video that I really appreciate. Apple didn't become a 2tn market cap company doing random things and hoping for the best. It has detailed usage metrics from users (CPU, GPU, HDD, RAM) their products are designed specifically for that. They KNOW what the 95% of MB Air users do 99% of the time and are catering to them (and pricing accordingly). The only one I don't understand is the M2 Macbook Pro - I don't know who/why anyone greenlit that.
The only think I can think off is that they have an excess of inventory of old 13 Macbook Pro parts and need to get rid of them. I look at group discussions online and there are still people buying them.
@@midnightsnack1306 You know what - that actually makes sense in a strange way. That would explain why the externals of that laptop are exactly the same from the days of the Intel laptops
@@midnightsnack1306 Indeed. I saw someone eyeing one up in my local Currys at the weekend. I overheard her saying to her friend that was the one she preferred over the 14" Pro and M2 Air. I don't even think price was a factor. She just preferred the design.
I recently bought the 14-inch MacBook Pro for my professional and creative work, and I couldn't thank you enough for the information provided in your review videos. I think that, as you said, there are several types of audiences, and I respect each of their points of view because, after all, the decision to purchase is a subjective value. Still, I consider that as a person passionate about technology, in-depth analysis is an essential aspect when purchasing a new product, and it's fair that the consumer recognises the capabilities and shortcomings of its components.
Keep doing what you're doing Luke; thank you for all the hard work and passion you put into your content.
I believe the major issue is with the price, and the SSD speeds. As the MacBook Air is meant to be a budget friendly option, last year's M1 Air suddenly seems like a much better option compared to M2 air
Thank You, that's exactly what I thought. I guess Appl Jnew this, that's why they kept it around.
i think most people are not gonna notice the performance increases. but people are definitely gonna notice the price.
I consider myself a high end user and I like having detailed information so I can better spend within the budget I have set for tools, but I could do without some of the added drama. Using the removable (but not upgradeable) SSD situation from the Mac Studio as an example, why not just report your discoveries without making it seem like it was something unexpected? For me it was a mild surprise that it was a removable part, and only a slight disappointment that I could not put in a bigger one. Knowing about it helped me plan before purchase, but I did not take it as a personal insult. 🙂
I personally like seeing tech reviews (like you and Max Tech) pushing machines to see their limits. Even if I’m not planning on buying a computer, I still just find it interesting. 🤷♂️
I watch your content for the exact stuff you put out! I want to see the gear pushed to the breaking point. Keep up the great work!
congrats for reachin 400k
ive been watching your vids since 2020❤
This issue appears only when there is something negative about Apple. As the Apple apogists on UA-cam will start making videos saying how toxic benchmarks are, how some youtubers like to hate on Apple for views, when they are some of the most clickbaity youtubers themselves. Anyway your video is spot on. Tech enthusists are the main viewers of these videos anyway.
Luke you just keep doing what you’re doing , I think we all appreciate the in-depth intelligent and multi angle viewpoints that you take on most subjects and the fact that you’re upbeat about most of it shall not be apologized for, keep up the great work if any of the big networks had any sense they would recruit you as a full-time correspondent. But of course there is a value in working for yourself
I got my wife an M2 Air to replace her buggy hovercraft-like Intel Air. Even though it was only 3 years old it ran horribly. Fans always on, RAM always full, so everything was sluggish, awful webcam for Zoom and it crashed during sleep all the time. I asked her after a week or so how much she liked the new Air. I was expecting her to be blown away. Her response, oh, whatever, it’s fine, I don’t really notice these things.
I own and run a small company. I had a HP desktop and laptop. Used them a bit for work, spreadsheets, purchasing, accounting - you know small business things - because they were slow boat anchors. I picked up the Air M1 back in the early summer 21. HOLY CRAP. I watch this channel as you did many rebuilds etc and I thought about an older one and upgrading it but I am glad I did not. Found a seller doing $100 off and snapped the Air M1 up. Now I am putting together small videos on our products, selling online via more channels and built our social media up more than I did in the last 5 years since we opened. Nothing hard for this and probably way less than 95% of the viewers of this channel. I never would have considered it if it was not for your reviews. I know its more than I need but hopefully it will go 5 years (or longer) before I need to upgrade - unlike the HPs that were at 6-7 years when I gave up on them because things too too long.
wow man what a video I think you have put your whole heart and soul making this video.
Thanks for absolutely nailing my thoughts on this. I wrote a blog post about it after the Rene Ritchie benchmarking video and my feeling on it as I expressed it there, was “In some ways, it gets a little close to ‘these UA-camrs aren’t really journalists’ for my taste.” Reviewers very much are, even if the road to getting there is benchmarks and stress-testing rather than commentary on the device itself. It’s an area The Verge and Engadget are not covering, so that’s how you distinguish your work.
The fact of the matter is, there’s a presumption that you’re speaking for the average consumer with these videos, but in many ways, you’re focused on the enthusiast, which just happens to be a lot more passionate about what they want from a device. Great work Luke.
The fact is that that the M2 Air base should not be slower than the M1 Air base in any of these tests when it costs so much more.
Luke - I’ve been a subscriber since the early days of your channel. Keep on your own creative course! I enjoy your content as is. Yes, the tech community can be dramatic, and while folks like Renee Ritchie bring up many excellent points, I’m still in the market for your classic types of reviews :)
👋🏻 Still here editing all of my videos on an M1 Mac Mini. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the controversy is due to the emphasis UA-cam places on titles and thumbnails. You basically don’t get views by packaging your video as a balanced review, even if it is just that. As a small channel, I really struggle with this but look up to Luke as a great source of inspiration for how far he pushes machines!
I really hope to see this channel at 1 million subs one day
Congrats on 400K dude!! 🥳
Luke, keep doing exactly what you have been doing!I picked up a 512 with 16 g of ram for my husband because of the portability. (I use and need a Mac studio). I borrowed it for some 4k editing (outside in the heat I might add 😉), and it was great! I really appreciated knowing it's capabilities before my purchase.
Your video about the last of the Intel MacBook airs is the first one I watched AFTER buying it and I have been hooked every since.
I don't understand half of what you are talking about - EVER! But I LOVE hearing you talking about it. And even though I don't understand things about thermals, or performance; CPU or GPU, when I hear you say something is better, or even that it will be "good enough" for the things I do, I still take what you say into consideration when I buy my apple products, so KEEP DOING IT!!! 🙂
Nailed .Before I got the basic Mac air m2 entry level , I watched “max tech “ he ripped the thermal throttling issue , regardless that I still got it , I needed to change from intel Mac to apple chip silicon ….
Yeah I think that’s what most folks are missing about m2 it’s an upgrade if you don’t already have an Apple silicon mac. No one upgrades an iPhone every generation expecting a massive performance increase. Why would it be different for macs?
Agree with you about the tech community getting dramatic! There's also the element of clickbait obviously. But I do agree with you, it's sometimes frustrating to just watch videos that say "oh yeah, the Mac Studio ultra can do this and this and this in 0.3 nanoseconds", while what one would really like is a more understandable, relatable opinion of what works in the real world. Mac users are not necessarily divided into the pros and the non-pros. (Isn't the brand also concerned with trying to enable the creativity in non-pros?) So yes, I do appreciate your real world, balanced, middle of the road perspective. Your video about how a 2010 Mac can still be worthy of holding on to (from 2020), for example, is great because you share the necessary expertise, but it's rooted in trying to do something in the here and now with what you have. Benchmark testing is insightful yes, but with the wealth of information out there, it's still hard to figure out, for instance, if I truly need the Mac Studio M1 Ultra with 128 GB RAM or if I'll be fine with the Max and 64 GB. Too many perspectives that at the end of the day really don't say anything relevant, meaningful or helpful. If you can manage those things (and you can), you're in a good place, and your subscribers are better off for it. Keep doing what you're doing!
well, I've been having the base m1 air since it came out, i bought it for $899 back then, and it's a such a great machine to do stuff on. I do occasional programming in Xcode and Android Studio, use Photoshop, and try to write some songs in the logic pro. And I have no issues with my Mac whatsoever.
Dear Luke, similar to car testing. If I buy a car the budget is decisive but still I would like to know if the car in question performs my intended use with ease or if I would reach certain limits already. And of coz all these findings put into perspective by a professional opinion. Thanks a lot for your good videos!
Pm me ⬆️ have something for you,,
Good discussion. The decision to buy any Apple silicon product right now is "high stakes" since you can't upgrade after purchase. If you need performance, there are multiple Apple laptops to consider that are similar in price. That's why the M2 MBA isn't a slam dunk the M1 was.
congrats on 400k
Pm me ⬆️ have something for you..
I'm a tech lover. I have never bought a Mac. I'm a PC guy. But I'm still interested in what macs doing. I think apple silicone is a spectacular architecture. But getting to my point. Your the only apple related channel I watch cuz it's all about the performance to me and far my dollar can be pushed. Keep doing what your doing cuz you got where your at by doing what your doing. Don't let those plans rock your boat.
Tech UA-cam: melts down over M2
Me: Eats popcorn while being entertained
I can appreciate the honesty and the clear-cut approach to reviewing the MacBook Air! Most of us could care less about “throttling.” It’s like selling a guy a pickup truck and trying to sell me on towing capacity when I’m only commuting to work…and dare I say it…hauling a couch.
For the most part, I agree with you. For most people, stress tests to the point of throttling are irrelevant, as is the slower SSD in the base model Air. As you rightly say for most people, price is the driving factor, and for those people, the base model M2 Air is a fine machine that will cope with most tasks the average user with throw at it. However, for that group of us you mention who are a little more discerning, who do take notice of the specs and want the best bang for buck, the price factor gets a little blurry when you upgrade the SSD and ram of the M2 Air, which brings the price into 14" MBP territory, which gives you a lot more than just better stress test results.
As such, your comments make more sense if comparing base models of the M2 Air and 14" Pro. But once you start adding extras to the spec of the M2 Air, the price factor gets a little icky.
PS. I wish the M2 Air had an SD card slot. It would be perfect for me, even after upping the ram and SSD specs.
Regarding Macbooks, the price you pay is roughly half for the hardware and half for the "MacOS experience". Basically, if you pay for a $1500 machine you're in practice getting $750 hardware, compared to a spec-comparative Windows machine. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, and some Mac-exclusive features are worth a lot to some people. However I would never recommend a Macbook over a Windows laptop if their primary focus is getting the most "bang for your buck", in terms of specifications.
Very well put. The bashing of the M2 got a little repetitive for a minute but what really was inexplicable was tech youtubers bashing technical reviews. At the end of the day, having a plurality of opinions and reviewing approaches benefits the customer and it is weird to argue that it is actually a disservice to the audience. Arguing for dumbed-down reviews or calling benchmarking and stress-testing of entry level products "toxic" is so contrary to the spirit of tech reviews that I cannot wrap my head around it. OF COURSE we want to see a product tested to it's limit. Not relevant to the average consumer? Not a problem because that consumer does not watch in-depth tech reviews. There are plenty of channels putting out easily accessible content for the non-tech oriented.
Congratulations to 400k!
I have been a sub since you were at about 100k or so and look forward to all of your videos. Your very first video is one of my all time favorites. Your honesty and integrity shows in every video you make. Keep doing what your are doing and what makes you happy which will lead you to more subs and ongoing success.
Great video topic, Luke!
A breath of fresh air in the UA-cam tech reviewer landscape.
For a while I've been thinking of a MacBook Pro M1 pro for photo editing but now I think the air could suffice. But, I have a few gripes that could never pull me from my Thinkpad:
SD card reader
Upgradeable ram and SSD
Hot swap batteries (this is more of a nice to have than must)
Relatively reasonable prices
Multiple SSD slots
And of course, Intels excellent thermals (JK. I've never seen how apple silicon thermals feel as my Thinkpad has a 4 core intel 8th gen i5 that routes its heat to the side so it's cool on the keyboard)
Professionals are more likely than not using external storage via a server. A large percentage of professional machines - Mac Pro, Mac Studio - are optioned with the lowest amount of internal storage because it's simply not needed.
It doesn’t make sense to not find the limits of new laptops since the tasks that “normal” people use their laptops for have been fast enough on decade old devices or even iPads. What is the point of buying a $1300 machine just for watching videos, responding to emails, and doing office stuff?
BTW Luke, thanks a ton for changing your music up for something fresh! bravo
I'm slightly annoyed by the assumption that professional refers to "video editing".
Mine gets used for programming, scientific visualization, Excel, Word, citation tools etc, typically all at once. Wish there was more real world benchmarks better reflecting how I use the machine.
Very true on 99.9% of this video, the real issue is the clickbait titles that influence instead of reviewing! Don’t take your videos as stone cold truth. Review. Love the channel.
You don’t need to justify your video content. Only been watching 4mths and enjoy the vids. Testing to extreme is interesting to see how far a product can go especially in the new m1 era. Everyone’s needs are different so , the consumer is the only one who can say this is good for me or this is not good for me . Thanks for the vids
Please continue testing the product and find its strength and weakness. As you said most of the people who buy probably don't care but there are still quite number of people who care (the one watching your channel). Thank you for creating a good content BTW.
just have to say, on the little thumbnail, it looked like you were in old man pajamas for some reason, but close up the shirt looks nice 🤣
99% of people don’t give a shi
1% of tech enthusiasts
Fitting I got an ad for the m2 MacBook Air before this video. Not sure if they’re struggling to sell it but I’ve seen a LOT of ads for it which apple tends not to do - least from my experience in the uk
I think the reviews/coverage have been well done. They have consistently pointed out both the good and “bad” issues, in particular, the notable regression in SSD performance and how/when that may affect your usage.
I think the issue is when tech reviewers complain that a MacBook Air can't do what the MacBook Pro does and can't get passed the fact that it was not designed too.
Testing what the limits of a product is, is a healthy guide to know not just what it can do, but also how well it does whatever and how far it has come.
In order to gauge human growth/progress one must always come to the limits of what we can do and see if we can surpass it. While tech doesn’t necessarily do that, as each generation of tech advances its good to know if it does whatever it used to do better/more efficiently.
The issue of the m2 chip is basically that it doesnt do as much for what power it draws (and heat generated). We just wanted to be wowed again like we were the first time as well as by a the same price. What we got was modest gains but for way more price. Add in ssd gate and its a recipe for disappointment.
Mba’s have always been great at productivity work, it was only in m1 air that we saw they could be more. And its not a wild thought to wish that the m2 could achieve more.
The problem is sometimes people only talk about the bad side of a product，and viewers without independent mind can only see a product‘s bad side
Both sides have a point and the best approach is likely somewhere in between. Steven Wyatt’s comment that tone is a major issue is spot on. For an average consumer, the SSD in the base model is never going to create an issue. We should ensure that people know about potential problems, however, a large number of reviews made it seem that all M2 machines have a problem which is simply not true. Reviewers should be expected to be both balanced and honest. Fantastic video Luke!
Personal opinion: This laptop (or even the M1 MacBook Air) is for regular people, who do work/study for university and OCCASIONALLY hard work like like 4k rendering. I have edited a 20min 4k60fps video and I was totally impressed that it finished faster (not much, but a few seconds faster) than my RTX 2060, i7-10870h, 16GB ram gaming laptop. Both laptops were at 90-100 degrees celsius, but the M1 is fanless, where the fans of my gaming laptop were at 6500 RPM sounding like it was about to take off.
I have a base model m1 air, i used it for Photoshop, i make banners and other promotional content, many chrome and Firefox tabs, mails, music, Skype, WhatsApp web, Excel, everything open and running all the time, i multitask between them, i get 10hs of battery life and a laptop that is silent, is literally cold all the time and never lags. I don't need anything else.
Good take, Luke. This whole “throttling” hysteria had my eyes rolling.
That’s the reason why I think the simplest metric to go with is not what you want to do with the computer or what the computer can do but it is your budget.
This felt like an apology video kinda, but I watched all your earlier videos on the M2 Air and I bought one anyway. You didn't do anything wrong! Not only did I still buy one, but I did what *no one* recommended, I maxxed out the specs. Dumb move, when I could have gotten a 14" for the same price, right? I say No. I've been using my M2 for a week now, with 24gb, 2TB and the full cores. I dont regret a single thing and I know I will enjoy this thin and light laptop for many years. I really didnt want a heavier (and faster) 14" pro model that will be 'last year's model' this fall or spring. I am super happy that my M2 will be cutting edge for years to come.
Congrats for 400K!
Great video. It isn’t hard to apply context to pushing hardware as far as you can as a reviewer. The viewer should be able to make a decision based on what they want to do with the computer.
yep
I bought a MacBook Air for work. I didn’t want to drag my 13” M1 because lighter is what I need in this case. And I also want to work on vlogs when I’m on vacation
I use my M1 MacBook Air to stream UA-cam.. occasionally Apple Music. In the last five months had two kernel panics and five times where it just lagged out doing nothing so hard I had to force restart with the power button..
Automatic updates are on and I’ve never downloaded anything not off the official app store. I love this thing, but starting to get pretty nervous cause I can’t afford to upgrade.
It is a base but that shouldn’t be an issue for watching videos at 1080p on UA-cam. 😮
Love your videos. I'm upgrading my 2009 MP this week from a single CPU 6c 3.46 Xeon with 48GB Ram to a dual CPU 6c 3.46 with 96 GB Ram, so there is still some life in the old machine!
I used a 2008 quad Xeon 2.8 Mac Pro as my daily driver with upgraded RAM, Storage and GPU. Finally sold it on FB for 225 dollars just after buying an M1 Mini. While the upgrade path is better on a 2009 than a 2008, I gotta suggest you "test drive" a Mini......even after almost 2 years of use, I am still blown away by the speed of this little guy....and it could be potentially far more cost effective for a new (or Apple refurb) Mini than upgrade parts for your trusty 2009. I truly loved my Big Iron but it really was no match for a $700 modern Mac.....also consider future Mac OS updates as well.
Luke keep doing what you do best ol' bean! Personally as a savvy tech purchaser I find all videos useful, even negative ones, mostly because I like to see what the limitations of devices are before I buy. As an example I looked into the different M1 Mac available and looked for one that would meet my needs and longevity.
I considered the M1 Mac Mini, the M1 Air, the M1 MacBook Pro and of course the M1 Pro MacBook Pros. Cost was certainly a factor but more importantly I wanted a device that fitted my personal needs and budget and as a result of techTubers reviews and benchmarks, I settled on a base 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro with the 8 Core (6 performance & 2efficiency cores) with 16 GB RAM and 512GB Storage in Space Grey. It is by far the best choice I made, next to my last MacBook which was the late 2008 MacBook (not Pro) Aluminium Unibody which I owned until the new one this year!
I'm a bit of a techie myself so I find all tech reviewer videos fascinating. I don't however, like the bitching between UA-camrs when a new product comes up. The M2 Air being one such product. Like you said many people will purchase the new Air and for the vast majority it will service their needs more than adequately, if you are a performance user then you will need to look for a Pro device its that simple. People should just enjoy the journey when watching YT vids. Everyone will have an opinion, its up to us the viewers to take what they need and move on! It's that simple. Good vid and I agree with your centre line approach!
I appreciate your transparency, honesty, and keen observations from the public. I will say that tech UA-camrs give the detailed specs of a new product and people generally like to watch them. Sadly, for the vast majority of people, it’s lost on them and most people, like the father daughter situation at the Apple store, just go based off of price and newish-ness. I like to see products compared to like products. Air to Air, Pro to Pro, etc. I also like to see comparisons up like Air to Pro, etc.
As a casual observer of tech reviews and a pro user of MacBooks, I just think M2 MBA discussion has lost perspective. The whole story can’t be demonstrated by comparing only the M1 and M2 MacBook benchmarks. Many people are still upgrading from older Intel machines, and there is no doubt that the M2 MacBook Air is leaps and bounds beyond those machines from the chip to the keyboard to the camera to the screen.
I think it would be helpful to take into account more scenarios than just upgrading from the previous gen of MB when making comparisons. I also think the real-world style benchmarks are useful such as showing the length of time it takes a video to render on one machine via the other so users can apply that to the kind of work they do. Are they rendering multiple videos a day where those extra minutes will add up quickly or are they rendering only one video per week? And also showing what real-world scenarios users may encounter where thermal throttling or a slower SSD will negatively impact them.
It’s one thing to show that those things could happen, but it’s another to demonstrate how likely they are to happen for different types of users.
The people who are angry that a fanless M2 Air cannot sustain high cinnebench loops seem to miss the fact that so many PC laptops with active cooling need to be plugged into the wall to get similar results and cannot get them at all when running off battery power.
This is the best apple related channel.
Would you like to make another video about the m1 Imac 24". Compared to the new m2 macs. And whether the Imac is still a good choice?
Fun look at something that invariably makes me smile rather than upset. One minor point - at 1:09 there shouldn't be an apostrophe in the caption. Should be "its weaknesses and limitations" not "it's". Keep up the great work!
I bought an M1 Air mostly for work (I do fullstack development for a living), I do also make music and draw on my free time and it handles all of them like it's nothing and, I've no doubt the M2 would perform even better. Of course it's gonna struggle if I push it too hard, but for a fanless ultrabook I wouldn't expect otherwise, I'm even amazed that it basically replaced my custom PC for basically everything.
Exactly!! It’s crazy how many people leave comments saying that the M2 Air isn’t designed for video editing, and other heavy tasks and so talking about it is stupid. It’s right on the homepage as clear as day: this product is designed to be faster at video editing 4K/8K, etc.! If you don’t want to see critiques of products, stay away from tech UA-cam channels… They should make a “safe zone” within UA-cam for people who just want to hear that every new product from Apple is glorious and perfect.
Very well said Luke, a Macbook can be used for anything. For example I was gonna go for the M1 Pro for Music Production but I've decided on the 24GB RAM M2 Air with some Thermal Pads...it'll do just fine for my uses
That is the idea, and why I found your channel and follow it... my old laptop has 8 years, and I want to buy a new one... but is a difficult choice, M2 Air 16/512Gb or M1 Pro 14'' 16/512Gb HDMI port, and the SDXC card slot are tools that I use 2-3 times a month... I need to think about how I will use it to decide, and your reviews are essential to make that choice. ... my home computer is an iMac 24'' M1, and I love it, and I will not change it for one with an M2.
I went for M1 pro 14. Screen and speakers are incredible. I cannot compare it to anything i know in laptops but honestly can't say i would buy it again over M2 air. Although I made my decision I still have doubts inside :D
Maybe we have just hit “peak” reviewing. M2 air is way more capable than its intel predecessor so in many ways the product is in a class of its own.
I think the real underlying issue is the $200 price bump, not the test. If it was still $999, most people wouldn’t care that it was so capable but now at $1199, it is approaching MacBook Pro status with out any fans and with the Air name. So really I believe the problem is an Apple marketing issue, not really a reviewer issue.
I think that for some of the bigger, more consumer oriented products, it might be really cool to do a video where the test is people who value those things that most consumers value.
Like what you did with your partner, bringing her in and showing how her opinions about an android phone.
If you got a few people that you know who just wanted something apple and something that looks good, and some thing that doesn’t cost a lot, and you do tests with THEM, that video would be of a lot of value to people who are looking for just that.
then, of course if you make the normal videos for us Tech junkies, those would still apply to the same product, yet bring value to us.
I think the tech review side of UA-cam is very similar to the car review side of UA-cam. Meaning that anyone who’s watching the videos is already an enthusiast to some degree. So the reception is going to be skewed from the vast majority of people shopping for and buying these products. So I’m sure there’s a balance between catering to the enthusiast and also providing helpful information for the normal consumer looking for buying advice.
I believe the tech community is dramatic most of the time and sometimes confuses people like me: someone who just wants a computer to do light work like writing papers and emails, using the internet, watching videos and movies, etc. I was very excited about the new M2 MBA and just love the new design, but after so many bad reviews, I'm not so sure if it's the right computer for me, or for someone who doesn't do any heavy work. Tech people should give more realistic opinions and be more honest about who this new MBA is really for. I don't believe it is for those whose job involves a lot of video and photo editing and long periods of heavy gaming.
Another thing to understand when making and/or watching UA-cam videos, or anything for that matter, is that there is no such thing as "unbiased." everyone has an opinion, everyone has things that they like/dislike. So watch videos with that understanding, and make up your own mind. If you like the MacBook Air, great. if you don't, great, it really is dependent upon you to decide these things, and no matter how many videos praise or bash it, it is still YOUR decision.
I think it’s coming across as, “wow this can’t render multiple 8k videos while also compiling a simple app on Xcode at the same time without throttling. My desktop gaming rig can do it flawlessly. Don’t buy this.”
Most people want their normal day-to-day laptop to be able to handle some video editing or creative stuff fast and on the go. OBVIOUSLY it’s not going to be a workstation if it doesn’t even have a fan! I think it’s important to look objectively at it. Yes, Apple says about MacBook Air performance on its website. It’s not going to replace a dedicated workstation. Why anyone is mad that it can’t is beyond me