M1 vs M2: The Clash of MacBook Air Titans
Is the MacBook Air M1 or M2 better? Comparison
Picking the right MacBook Air can be tough! Even though the M2 might seem like the better choice at first, that’s not always the case. I’ve tested both the M1 and M2 models to the max, and I’m here to help you decide which one is best for you based on my findings. Get ready for the M1 vs M2 ultimate showdown!
COMPARISON OVERVIEW
#1: Design Comparison
#2: Display
#3: Camera and Ports
#4: Battery Life
#5: SSD Speed Test
#6: M1 vs M2 Chips
#7: CPU
#8: Geekbench 6 CPU
#9: Cinebench 2024 CPU
#10: GPU
#11: Geekbench 6 Metal
#12: Cinebench 2024 GPU
#13: Gaming
#14: Xcode
#15: Logic Pro
#16: Web Browsing
#17: Blender 3D Rendering
#18: Photo Editing
#19: HandBrake
#20: Video Editing
#21: Price
#22: FAQ
#23: Is Apple MacBook Air M2 Worth It?M1 vs M2: Design Comparison
The M1 MacBook Air is famous for its slim and lightweight design. Unlike the flatter shape of the Pro line, the M1 Air achieves its thin appearance with a tapered design.
In 2022, Apple will make significant design changes to the M2 MacBook Air. It’s still thin and light, but the new model looks very different. The major difference is that it no longer has a tapered design. Instead of the wedge shape seen in earlier models, it has a flatter appearance. The M2 is similar to the current 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
The M1 model is light at 2.8 pounds, slightly lighter than its 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M2 is even lighter, at 2.7 pounds. Apple says the new model has a 20% smaller volume compared to its predecessor.
Display
The display in the M1 MacBook Air will feel familiar to users, as it keeps the same 13.3-inch size as previous models. It uses an LED-backlit display with IPS technology.
The M2 MacBook Air features a slightly larger 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display. This change makes the screen slightly taller to fit the new notch for the webcam.
The M1 MacBook Air has a screen resolution of 2560 by 1600 and a pixel density of 227 pixels per inch. It also has wide color support (P3) and True Tone.
The M2 model has a resolution of 2560 by 1664, with the extra 64 pixels used for the area around the webcam. The menu bar fills this space and dims to hide the notch during full-screen apps. The M2 MacBook Air display also supports wide color (P3) and true tone. Additionally, it is brighter at 500 nits compared to the M1 MacBook Air at 400 nits.
Camera and Ports
The M1 MacBook Air has a 720p FaceTime HD camera built into the top of the lid. But Apple shifted to a 1080p FaceTime HD camera for the M2 MacBook Air. It’s hidden inside the display notch.
Apple claims it also offers twice the low-light performance compared to the M1 camera. Both MacBooks support an advanced image signal processor with computational video.
The M1 has minimal physical connectivity options compared to the M2 Air. It has only two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports and a headphone jack. The few ports on the M1 force you to constantly use one for charging. This means you only have one free port for other devices unless you use a docking station.
Not much has changed with the M2 MacBook Air, as it still has the same pair of Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports. With MagSafe 3 charging, you can recharge your MacBook Air without sacrificing a port.
M1 vs M2: Battery Life
The M1 MacBook Air packs an integrated 49.9-watt-hour battery. In contrast, the M2 MacBook Air has a built-in 52.6-watt-hour battery. Both MacBooks deliver up to 15 hours of wireless web access or up to 18 hours of Apple TV app movie playback.
For battery testing, I surfed the web continuously with the screen brightness set to 150 nits. The M2 MacBook Air lasted 14 hours, while the M1 lasted 13 hours, trailing the M2 by almost a full hour.
The M1 MacBook Air ships with a 30W USB-C power adapter. But the M2 MacBook Air offers different power adapter choices. The 8-core GPU model includes a 30W USB-C power adapter.
The 10-core GPU model with 512GB of storage includes a 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter. It can also work with the 8-core GPU. Additionally, it supports fast charging with an optional 70W USB-C power adapter.
SSD Speed Test
I ran the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on both MacBook Airs. In a surprising twist, the M1 hit a read speed of 2479 MB/s and a write speed of 2684 MB/s. In comparison, the M2 was slower, with a read speed of 1153 MB/s and a write speed of 1595 MB/s.
However, these differences are unlikely to be noticeable in everyday use. The M1 beats the M2 because it has two 128 GB NAND chips.
M1 Chip vs M2 Chip
In 2020, Apple introduced the M1 chip, the first to use advanced 5-nanometer technology with 16 billion transistors. It features an 8-core CPU — 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores — and a 7-core GPU in the base model. The base memory option for the M1 MacBook Air was 8GB, upgradable to 16GB. Apple’s M1 also includes a 16-core neural engine for machine learning tasks.
In 2022, Apple launched the 5-nanometer M2 chip with 20 billion transistors, 25% more than the M1. Its 10-core GPU delivers a 25% increase in graphics performance over the M1. The M2 retains an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. It’s got an 18% improvement in performance thanks to the larger cache. Memory options include 8GB, 16GB, and a new 24GB configuration.
The M2 continues to feature a 16-core neural engine and adds a media engine from the M1 Pro and Max. It enables hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding — a feature absent in the M1.
M1 vs M2: CPU
Both MacBooks pack an 8-core CPU with 4 cores for performance and 4 cores for efficiency. From the M1 to the M2, Apple has significantly improved the performance and efficiency of the CPU.
Each new chip has more transistors and a better manufacturing process. This results in a faster CPU and GPU, as well as a more efficient neural engine.
The M2 CPU features faster performance cores and improved efficiency cores. Together, they deliver 18% better multithreaded performance than the M1.
Geekbench 6 CPU
My Geekbench 6 CPU tests show a 10% performance increase. The M2 MacBook Air scored 2607 in single-core and 9707 in multi-core tests. The M1 scored 2380 in single-core and 8761 in multi-core tests.
Apple has increased the CPU clock speed on the M2 to 3.49 GHz, compared to 3.2 GHz for the M1. This results in better single-core and multi-core test performance than the M1.
Cinebench 2024 CPU
Turning to the Cinebench 2024 CPU, the M1 scored 110 in single-core tests and 458 in multi-core tests. The M2 scored 119 and 534 on the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. The M2 MacBook Air is 15% faster than the M1 MacBook Air, which I think is a modest gain. The M2 cores, as I expected, perform better than those in the M1. Cinebench does give us a very clear insight into the power of the raw CPU.
M1 vs M2: GPU
The GPU in the M1 stands out with top-tier performance and remarkable efficiency. It boasts up to eight powerful cores capable of handling nearly 25000 threads at once.
The M2 features Apple’s next-generation GPU with up to 10 cores, two more than the M1. It delivers up to 35% higher graphics performance than the M1 at maximum power.
Thanks to its high efficiency, the M2 offers exceptional battery life. It stays cool and quiet during graphics-intensive gaming or editing large RAW images.
Geekbench 6 Metal
The Geekbench 6 GPU Compute Benchmark evaluates graphic performance. The workloads include image processing, computational photography, computer vision, and machine learning.
In Geekbench Metal tests, the M2 hit 40066, while the M1 got 30948. This 30% increase in performance is due to the shift from 7 GPU cores to 8 cores. It’s 5% less than what Apple promised, but it’s okay. The M2 GPU’s performance has clearly improved, as seen in the Geekbench Metal results.
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Cinebench 2024 tests GPU performance using Maxon’s Redshift render engine. It measures how well a computer can handle rendering tasks. The test runs for 10 minutes to provide an average performance value. This accounts for the processor heating up and affecting its speed over time.
In the Cinebench 2024 GPU rendering test, the M1 got 1379, while the M2 performed 25% better, scoring 1722. This demonstrates that the M2 handles graphics more effectively than the M1.
M1 vs M2: Gaming
It’s well known that Apple’s Macs lag behind Windows PCs when it comes to gaming. You can run games on macOS, but your choices are limited.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, M2 gives you 40% more frames per second (fps) than M1. This trend continues across other benchmarks. The M2 made gains of 25% in GFXBench Aztec Ruins and 26% in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme.
The M2 has a more powerful graphics processor with extra cores, making it smoother in games. Yes, both the M2 and M1 got warm, and I noticed some CPU throttling during extended gaming sessions.
The M1 and M2 chips are among the most exciting developments in recent years. They deliver solid CPU and GPU power, along with impressive efficiency. However, Apple’s software and interoperability hamper gaming performance.
Xcode
Next, I’ll put these MacBook Airs to the test on real-world tasks. I’ll start by compiling the Firefox code base.
Developers, take note! The M2 shaves off valuable time when compiling code in Xcode. The M2 completes the task of compiling the Firefox code base in just 23 minutes and 5 seconds. This is a whopping 14% faster than the M1, which takes 26 minutes and 40 seconds. The M2 compiles faster thanks to its improved CPU performance and efficiency.
Logic Pro
My second real-world task includes music production with Logic Pro. I’ll check how many tracks I can play without showing the “System Overload” window.
The M2 plays up to 96 tracks, compared to 90 tracks for the M1. Although the M2 CPU is improved, it offers only a fairly limited jump over the M1. Both MacBook Airs are a better choice for handling more complex music projects.
Web Browsing
Speedometer is a browser benchmark that tests how responsive web applications are. In my third task, I’ll test these MacBook Airs for web browsing.
Benchmarks using Speedometer 3.0 show the M2 completing tasks around 14% faster than the M1. This translates to roughly 3 more web pages loading per minute on the M2. But even with my 4-year-old M1, I still find it completely fine for browsing.
M1 vs M2: Blender 3D Rendering
The M2 delivers a speed boost of 1 minute and 15 seconds for rendering 3D scenes in Blender. It can render a classroom scene in just 4 minutes and 10 seconds, 23% faster than the M1.
This jump in performance is credited to the M2’s 8-core GPU versus the M1’s 7 cores. So, if you’re working on demanding 3D projects, the M2 could be a real time saver.
M1 vs M2: Photo Editing
In Lightroom Classic, the M2 shows a limited boost in exporting time. Batch exporting 100 raw photos (45 megapixels each) takes just 2 minutes and 50 seconds on the M2. The 8-core GPU in the M2 provides a 15-second time savings compared to the M1’s 7-core GPU.
HandBrake
Encoding videos with Handbrake is noticeably faster on the M2 chip compared to the M1. Converting a 4K video to 1080p took 9 minutes and 25 seconds on the M1, while the M2 completed the task in just 8 minutes. That’s roughly a minute and 23 seconds of time savings, thanks to the M2’s upgraded media engine.
M1 vs M2: Video Editing
In Final Cut Pro, the M2 shows no improvement over the M1 in exporting a 10-minute 4K video in H.264. The M2 takes 6 minutes and 56 seconds, just 1 second faster than the M1’s 6 minutes and 57 seconds. Both M1 and M2 perform similarly in this task, even with the M2’s enhanced CPU and GPU capabilities.
M1 vs M2: Price
At its launch, the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air cost $1199. This model included an 8-core GPU, 8GB of unified memory, and 256GB of storage. Now, Apple offers the same M2 version at a discounted price of $999 with the same basic specs. The 10-core GPU upgrade adds an additional $100 to the base cost.
As Apple has stopped selling the M1 MacBook Air, the popular laptop seems to be phasing out. However, you can find it on Amazon for $625 in excellent condition.
The 15-inch M2 MacBook Air with a 10-core GPU, 8GB of memory, and 256GB of storage costs $1299. However, it’s currently unavailable directly from Apple. You can still buy it from Amazon at a 15% discount.
The base memory of 8GB in the M2 model can be expanded to 16GB for an extra $200 or to 24GB for $400. As for storage, starting at 256GB, you can upgrade to 512GB for an additional $200, 1TB for $400 more, or 2TB for an extra $800.
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M1 vs M2: FAQ
Is M1 really better than M2?
The Apple Silicon M2 processor is an improved version of Apple’s M1 chip. It features cores that are slightly more powerful and more efficient compared to the M1. Both processors in the MacBook Air have an 8-core CPU. They include four high-performance cores and four energy-efficient cores.
Is M1 Air Worth It in 2024?
Even in 2024, the MacBook Air M1 will remain an outstanding laptop. It has a timeless design, impressive performance, and unbeatable battery life. All of that makes it a top choice for students, casual users, and even some professionals.
Is M2 slower than M1?
In my testing, I found that the MacBook Air M2’s SSD was up to 47% slower than the MacBook Air M1’s SSD. This means tasks like downloading, installing, uploading, or accessing files will take noticeably longer.
Is Apple MacBook Air M2 Worth It?
The M2 MacBook Air impressed me with its MagSafe, redesign, and screen — great upgrades. If you plan to keep it longer, spending a bit more is worth it.
However, don’t expect much extra performance from the M2 chip. Real-world use shows very similar results. So, if you want the best bang for the buck, you can pick up the M2 for $899 on Amazon with 15% off. It’s a solid choice at that price.
