MacBook Air M1 vs MacBook Air M2 — Here’s the Winner
The only article you’ll need to find the perfect Macbook Air.
With the launch of the M2 MacBook Air, it’s become even more difficult to determine which MacBook should you choose and why. Questions like: Is it still worthwhile to pick the M1 Air, over the M2 Air? are becoming even more popular.
In this article, we’ll look at Macbook Air M,1 and the recently launched Macbook Air M2, and will find which one should you take into consideration and why. For simplicity. We’ll compare both on crucial parameters, and then will provide you with my final judgment.
1. Design:
The design is a topic of debate, some find it amazing, while others say that the old layout was the best. Still, the design is good enough, to give you a feel of the MacBook Pro 14".
2. Notch and Webcam:
While, you get a 720p webcam on the M1, as compared to a 1080p webcam on M2. But on M1, you don’t get the weird notch, on M2 the higher quality webcam comes with a notch. While, you will get used to it over time, but still something to take into consideration.
3. Keyboard:
The M2 Air’s keyboard has a slightly different feel to me, then the M1 Air’s keyboard, but the change isn’t significant, and I can’t say that I have a preference one way or the other. I prefer the haptics of the M1 trackpad, but the M2’s trackpad is still fantastic.
4. Price:
It should be the most obvious one, with M2 being expensive as compared to M1, and the price difference is $200 taking the base variants, of both into consideration.
Ports:
MacBook Air M2 is the straight winner here, with the return of MagSafe. The 3.5mm headphone jack was updated, to have improved support for high-impedance headphones. Still, one might need to buy a multiport adapter, if needed to connect SSD.
Screen:
When it comes to screen, the M2 has a clear edge over the M1, as it comes with 500 nits, and a liquid retina display.
The SSD Issue:
With an upgrade, Apple decided to give a downgrade to the SSD. In M1 there are two different chips of 128GB each, while in the M2 Apple decided to go with a single 256GB chip. Which resulted in reduced performance.
But if you need M2 for performance. Why would you go with the base variant? and if you don’t care about performance at all, then why are you concerned about the SSD issue? It should not be a matter of concern.
Color Options:
The M1 comes with 3 color options, while the M2 comes with 4 color options.
Customization:
M2 comes with a lot more customization options. You can choose from different colors, and battery options and one can choose from two different system options.
Performance:
The new MacBook Air is equipped with the equally new Apple M2 chip. During our testing, the M2-powered MacBook Pro wowed me, and I’m happy to inform you that, the Air M2 is even better. It’s no surprise that the current MacBook Air M2 outperforms the M1 in terms of performance.
Audio and Speakers:
The M2 comes with a four-speaker sound system, it also supports spatial audio with dynamic head tracking.
The MacBook Air M2 comes with a four-speaker sound system, as compared to MacBook Air M1, which comes with two speakers only. The M2 is also equipped with Apple’s spatial audio.
Conclusion:
There’s no “perfect” laptop for everyone. It’s always better to know what will be your primary task on a laptop.
Who should consider the Macbook Air M2?
Those, who want better screen quality and audio quality as compared to M1. For, storage and performance l would say, it would make more sense to consider the MacBook Pro 14".
Who should consider the MacBook Air M1?
Everyone, the MacBook Air M1 won’t disappoint you, until you are doing a side-by-side comparison, and with the launch of the Macbook Air M2, you can get the M1 even at a good discount as well.
Thanks, for reading, If you enjoyed the article, consider following me for more such awesome articles. Additionally, you can consider reading the following articles as well.
