Transcription
[Music] Apple is close to releasing an M4 version of the MacBook Air, which, of course, is going to be more powerful than ever. Since we kind of already have seen what the M4 chip can do in both the MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and of course, the redesigned iPad Pro, so the performance of the device shouldn't come as a surprise.
The big question, however, is, would it be beneficial to upgrade to the new M4 MacBook Air when it releases in a few months, or should you just get an M2 MacBook Air? Let's find out.
The biggest deal for most people is, of course, going to be price. Because if you had infinite money, you would, of course, choose the new one. I predict that when the M4 for the MacBook Air releases, it'll either make it so that you won't be able to buy the M2 versions on Apple's side anymore, or it'll start to be sold for a little bit above half the price of the newest one available. Either way, it'll become really cheap, probably even cheaper from third-party stores. It'll most definitely also come on sale more often, so be on the lookout for that. Refurbished models are also going to be quite desirable.
Right now, I own the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air, and even though it's 1 and a half years old by now, it's still a phenomenal laptop. But why should you consider an older model rather than the newest one, apart from price, of course?
With a MacBook Pro, power is really what you're going for. So here, I would say that even if you have an M1 Pro or Max, or M2 Pro or Max MacBook, it's perhaps time to start considering upgrading to an M4 Pro or Max, since the leap forward is starting to become quite significant. But I will probably wait until the M6. Whether some leaks that suggest that Apple will come with a redesign, just something to note.
The story is a little different for people that choose the MacBook Air, since tasks that need extreme power often isn't what their users need, because otherwise, you should just choose a MacBook Pro. The M2 chip still delivers performance that's outstanding, and that's good enough for many years to come. The MacBook Air is also more designed for students and lighter workloads, like writing, administration stuff, watching content on some streaming services, working in web-based applications like Figma, and all kinds of stuff like that. So, more power, which the M4 chip delivers, is going to be nice, but really not anything you'll notice if this is the kind of stuff you do with it.
I've mostly been using mine to do basically that, together with some light video and photo editing, which, if I do say so myself, it handles absolutely amazing. I've never had any issues doing any of that. I did, however, have to edit a project where the people on set had used the Sony FX6 camera with its MXF file format, and to be honest here, I needed to make some proxy files because it simply couldn't handle that at all when I came a little further into the project. But again, this really shouldn't be something you do on a MacBook Air, because then you should just get a MacBook Pro. But it was the only laptop I had with me on the go. At home, my desktop PC would have handled it like it was nothing.
I'm not sure how the new M4 chip would handle something like this, though, because it might be the same story. Because yes, there's some improvements to the video encoder, but it's probably not going to make a massive difference.
You shouldn't be concerned about the battery life, since it's an aspect where they're going to be almost identical. Both the M2 MacBook Air and the M4 MacBook, and right now, the battery life is just amazing. It can easily last me a whole day.
You'll probably get some faster USB-C ports, which is going to be upgraded from Thunderbolt 4 to 5, which is an improvement from 100 GB per second to 120 GB per second. So this is going to be nice, but probably not something most people is going to notice.
If you're from the US, Apple Intelligence will also be available on the M2 devices, so you're not missing out on that aspect either. You are missing out if you are from Europe, like me, but that's for another day.
The removal of any 8 GB RAM solution is, however, something that's super nice, since it makes 16 GB RAM the new standard. So this is a nice improvement, since the price is still the same. RAM works kind of like a temporary storage pool where you put all opened applications and tabs. When they open, when you close them again, then you regain that space within the storage pool. 8 GB of RAM is a lot for most tasks, but since it's becoming more common to have a lot of tasks open, having 16 GB of RAM ensures that you'll never run out of temporary storage, so it's really a nice upgrade.
So, the M2 chip is more than capable overall. It might just be a 20 to 30% increase in performance from the M2 chip to the M4 chip. And just so we are clear, the M4 MacBook Air is not out yet, so all this is based upon what has happened to the M4 MacBook Pro performance-wise. So when it releases, it might be a little different from what I'm saying right here.
The reason I chose the MacBook Air, even though the MacBook Pro might have been more beneficial for me, was simply because of the slim form factor, better price, and because a 15-inch model was released, which was something I had been asking for for many, many years.
The build quality of my M2 MacBook Air simply is just amazing. Everything from the super slim chassis to the premium aluminum build and amazing hinge to the screen. The keyboard's typing experience is still phenomenal, especially compared to the atrocity they made before this redesign, because that was horrendous, but this one is amazing. MagSafe works without a problem, even though I mostly use a USB-C cable to charge my device. I'm super glad that both options is available now.
The two USB-C Thunderbolt ports are more than enough for this laptop, but I would have liked for them to be on both the left and right side instead of just the left side. But it'll probably be the same on the new device, but I've never wanted more ports on this device. Two USB-C ports is more than enough.
The Liquid Retina display is still looking great, and this is most likely also not going to be upgraded with the next version. But 1 and a half years later, it has gotten a little dirty, but it can easily be fixed. Other than that, it looks amazing. I've seen some leaks talking about it getting a better webcam, but to be honest, I never use mine, so it's really not that important to someone like me.
If you're a student that wants to save a few bucks but still get a phenomenal laptop that's going to last you for many years to come, choose the redesigned M2 laptop in either the 13 or 15-inch. It's the best option. M3 and M4 is really not necessary, so you can get a great laptop at a great price.
If you're a content creator just starting out, this might also be suitable for you, especially if you use some of Apple's own software like Final Cut Pro, since I've heard that it runs great on these M chips. But if you want to take it more seriously, you should really consider getting a MacBook Pro with an M Pro chip in it, since there's some media engine benefits in that chip. Even an M1 Pro refurbished would be a great choice. And in general, if you don't have really heavy workloads, the MacBook Air is really just going to be the perfect option for you. The MacBook Pro is really just becoming something for the pro users.
And as mentioned before, one and a half years later, the battery life is still just amazing. It doesn't seem to have been degraded that much since I got it. If you're someone who's worried about not being able to update the software in the future, don't be, because not that long ago, Apple improved the duration for which you can update your device. It's now 7 years up from 5 years, which means that if you buy an M2 MacBook Air now, you'll still have around 5 years of software updates left, so it can still last for a long time.
I agree that the new model with the M4 chip might have slightly better specs and also has the ability to last you a very long time, but in my opinion, then whenever the M4 chip releases, I'm sure the M2 models is going to end up hitting the perfect sweet spot of performance, price, and reliability. So if you can wait a little longer, I'm sure you'll be able to find some fantastic deals on this absolutely fantastic piece of machinery. So my best advice is to wait until the new chips release and then try to find an M2 MacBook Air for a fraction of the price. In the description below, I'll leave a few links to the best deals I found for the MacBook Air M2, but if you can wait a little longer, that's going to be my best advice. See you in the next one. I'm up.