1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,720 If you were a student looking for a MacBook in 2019, things were complicated. 2 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:12,840 First off, all MacBooks had the horrible butterfly keyboard. 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:18,040 As for models, you could get an inexpensive air that was slow and hot, or you could pay 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:22,200 up for an even hotter pro. 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,680 You know, I don't know a single person who bought a MacBook from the USB-C generation. 6 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,760 And I don't blame them. 7 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,880 That's why the M1 MacBook Air was such a revolution when it came out. 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:38,240 It turned what was a slow, hot, and horrible laptop into a great one. 9 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:43,400 It made buying a Mac easy. It isn't anymore, and this here is why. 10 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:49,120 The all-new M2 MacBook Air, a laptop so good I want to call it perfect. 11 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:54,000 But yet, underneath its surface lie weird flaws that you, a dutiful student, might never 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:04,080 find but hate knowing exists. 13 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:08,160 Even if you do find the flaws, which I will tell you about in a minute, you'll still 14 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:16,120 want this laptop. I want this laptop. Gone is the iconic MacBook Air wedge shape, and instead we have the MacBook Pro's aesthetic 15 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:20,000 thinned down to its most essential. 16 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,080 I really like it. It's so sturdy yet light. 17 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:27,960 Sometimes I wish I was sitting opposite somebody using this, so I could admire this squared 18 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:36,800 off black screen. Excuse me, do you mind just using this laptop for a little bit? 19 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:41,160 Sure. Thank you. The new Air. 20 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:50,000 It is. The new Air solves a lot of the minor day-to-day criticisms we still had left for the M1 model. 21 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,880 Instead of always having one Thunderbolt port tied up for charging, the addition of MagSafe 22 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,640 frees up both. Instead of big bezels, the screen is bigger and taller, thanks to the inclusion of the 23 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:08,200 notch. And the webcam is now 1080p instead of looking like poo. 24 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:13,640 The taller screen is great. I feel like I can fit so much more in, even in default display scaling. 25 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:18,240 The extra tallness is afforded by the notch, but some of it is robbed by it as well, as 26 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,240 the menu bar is now significantly taller too. 27 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:26,560 It also includes Apple's new M2 chip, notable for clocking a little bit faster, including 28 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:38,600 a couple more GPU cores and offering 8K and Pro's acceleration with the media engine. 29 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,960 It is by all means the perfect distillation of a laptop. 30 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:48,200 No gimmicky touch-sensitive function keys, no noisy fan, and no stupid screen size options. 31 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:57,240 So obviously the first question is, what color do I pick? 32 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,440 I must confess that I'm very disappointed that this isn't available in the iMac's 33 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:10,520 bold colors with white bezels. The options are really rather serious, space gray and silver, plus the new starlight or 34 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:15,360 this midnight. Because it has a tint of blue, I thought I'd like midnight. 35 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,600 This is sleek and reminds me of the old black MacBook. 36 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:23,040 The problem is I have grimy hands, and you can tell. 37 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:30,400 You'll want to keep a cloth with you. Also our resident Gen Zers thought this doesn't even look like a Mac, so I might have to go 38 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,280 with silver. Now that's a MacBook. 39 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:38,640 Unlike that black MacBook, I'm pleased to report that all the colors are available even 40 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:47,480 on the base model, which this is. The base model is notable because at $1200 it's a full $200 more than the M1 MacBook 41 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:55,520 Air that Apple still sells. But while it has many day-to-day improvements over its predecessor, there are still a few 42 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,280 crucial regressions. 43 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,440 Apple's base 250GB SSD is stingy. 44 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:07,320 It's the same amount of storage included in the MacBook 13 years ago. 45 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,720 Other SSDs these days are much faster, except this one. 46 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:17,440 In the last MacBook Air, the base SSD was actually two stitched together 128GB modules 47 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:23,760 working in parallel. Now there's just one bigger 256GB module. 48 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:29,560 This makes things slower. The slower transfer speeds are not something I've noticed too egregiously in day-to-day 49 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:41,160 use, but this could shorten the usable lifespan of the laptop long-term. 50 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:48,200 Next is the CPU. The M2 is more powerful than the M1, blasting through quick benchmarks and Lightroom exports. 51 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:53,360 A GarageBand project that would make an Intel MacBook Air's fan blast doesn't even make 52 00:04:53,360 --> 00:05:01,000 the M2 sweat. However, when the going gets tough, long and hot, well, that's when things unwind. 53 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:06,160 I've been hearing that Premiere is having troubles generally these days, so if you're 54 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,160 using that app, maybe just wait a bit to buy. 55 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,800 Because editing some MXFs did push the system, something that wasn't as big of a problem 56 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:21,120 when editing in DaVinci. And speaking of DaVinci, to compare the Apple Silicon's SoCs, I have a very intense 4-minute 57 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:26,120 Resolve project containing 8K RAW footage with noise reduction lets in some green screen. 58 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:30,040 With an M2-powered MacBook Pro, it takes under an hour. 59 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,880 With an M1-powered MacBook Air, it takes under an hour and a half. 60 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:39,160 So on this M2 MacBook Air, it takes an hour and 40 minutes. 61 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:43,160 What? How? Well, the reason for this is simple. 62 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:49,360 While the M1 MacBook Air has a chunk of metal to absorb and dissipate heat, the M2 has virtually 63 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,480 nothing. A little pad and an air gap. 64 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:57,480 And so, that means that this thing is fast, right up until it's hot, and then it's slow. 65 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:03,480 Very slow. If you have any intensive workload that takes 10 plus minutes of computing, prepare for it 66 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:10,280 to be stretched. Though, to be fair, I did start this export on an Intel-powered, fan-cooled MacBook Air. 67 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:15,120 And when it estimated that it would take five plus hours, I said, nope. 68 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:23,760 Well, if you do want to do this workload quickly, a $2,000 MacBook Pro will do it in 18 minutes. 69 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,960 I'm not sure many poly-sized students will be pushing things that hard, so what about 70 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,200 them? The M1 MacBook Air arrival made things easy. 71 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:39,280 There were no trade-offs. It was so much better than any Intel MacBook that at $1,000 it was a great deal. 72 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:42,640 If you bought one back then, you made a great decision. 73 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:47,480 Now though, they're still the same price. This is Apple doing inflation, by the way. 74 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:54,480 Usually, the older technology gets less expensive as it matures, but this is $1,000, and this 75 00:06:54,480 --> 00:07:03,960 is $1,200. So therefore, the best value for a student getting a MacBook is a refurbished M1 MacBook 76 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:11,400 Air. Sure, we had a bit of hassle buying ours, but at $850, it's great value for a Mac. 77 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:18,360 I even prefer this keyboard. Despite the compromises, I'm still willing to recommend even the base M2 MacBook Air, 78 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,600 but only to those who won't notice the shortcomings of one SSD module. 79 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:27,600 But it's not an excellent value, like the M1 laptop has been until now. 80 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:31,560 Because to get the equivalent SSD performance, you're bringing up the price to at least 81 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:38,160 $1,400. The 512 models get two 256GB modules, so it gets expensive fast. 82 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,320 If you are humming and hawing over what to upgrade, I'm going to lean towards the SSD 83 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:49,200 upgrade. Unless you're one of those people who cannot close browser tabs, then get the RAM. 84 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:54,400 And if you're thinking about upgrading both and might need more power, consider a refurbished 85 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,480 or on sale MacBook Pro. Those go for around $1,800. 86 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,200 Only $100 more than the most equivalently specced Air. 87 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:08,920 See? Ah, it's so complicated now. There's no easy answer like there was a year ago. 88 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:18,800 And that's really annoying. So what about me? 89 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:23,680 In the weeks leading up to the launch of this M2 MacBook Air, I used an older Intel model 90 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,840 and wow, is the difference stark. 91 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,320 If I was coming from an Intel MacBook, this Air, even with its compromises, would feel 92 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:37,680 great. It really did give me a sense of how revolutionary this Apple Silicon transition is for this 93 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:45,280 form factor. I actually do have a choice between any MacBook to use at work, and so I think the one I'd 94 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,920 go for is the M2 MacBook Air, in silver maybe. 95 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:56,360 But if it was my own money, I think I'd go with the M1 model, refurbished and gold. 96 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:02,560 Thanks for slowing down this Mac Address. If you're just as confused about the M2 MacBook Air as I am, well, give this video a like. 97 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:06,480 And if you want to see what color I actually do end up with, well, you might as well subscribe. 98 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,600 Now, I'm curious in the comments below, how many of you would actually have a workload 99 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:15,760 that would push the M2 into its really hot state?