WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.720 If you were a student looking for a MacBook in 2019, things were complicated. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:12.840 First off, all MacBooks had the horrible butterfly keyboard. 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 00:00:18.040 --> 00:00:22.200 up for an even hotter pro. 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. 00:00:26.680 --> 00:00:29.760 And I don't blame them. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:33.880 That's why the M1 MacBook Air was such a revolution when it came out. 00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:38.240 It turned what was a slow, hot, and horrible laptop into a great one. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.400 It made buying a Mac easy. It isn't anymore, and this here is why. 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:49.120 The all-new M2 MacBook Air, a laptop so good I want to call it perfect. 00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:54.000 But yet, underneath its surface lie weird flaws that you, a dutiful student, might never 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:04.080 find but hate knowing exists. 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 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 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:20.000 thinned down to its most essential. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.080 I really like it. It's so sturdy yet light. 00:01:23.080 --> 00:01:27.960 Sometimes I wish I was sitting opposite somebody using this, so I could admire this squared 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:36.800 off black screen. Excuse me, do you mind just using this laptop for a little bit? 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:41.160 Sure. Thank you. The new Air. 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. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.880 Instead of always having one Thunderbolt port tied up for charging, the addition of MagSafe 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 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:08.200 notch. And the webcam is now 1080p instead of looking like poo. 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. 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 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:21.240 the menu bar is now significantly taller too. 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:26.560 It also includes Apple's new M2 chip, notable for clocking a little bit faster, including 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:38.600 a couple more GPU cores and offering 8K and Pro's acceleration with the media engine. 00:02:38.600 --> 00:02:41.960 It is by all means the perfect distillation of a laptop. 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:48.200 No gimmicky touch-sensitive function keys, no noisy fan, and no stupid screen size options. 00:02:49.160 --> 00:02:57.240 So obviously the first question is, what color do I pick? 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 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 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:15.360 this midnight. Because it has a tint of blue, I thought I'd like midnight. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.600 This is sleek and reminds me of the old black MacBook. 00:03:18.600 --> 00:03:23.040 The problem is I have grimy hands, and you can tell. 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 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.280 with silver. Now that's a MacBook. 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:38.640 Unlike that black MacBook, I'm pleased to report that all the colors are available even 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 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 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.280 crucial regressions. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:03.440 Apple's base 250GB SSD is stingy. 00:04:03.440 --> 00:04:07.320 It's the same amount of storage included in the MacBook 13 years ago. 00:04:07.320 --> 00:04:11.720 Other SSDs these days are much faster, except this one. 00:04:11.720 --> 00:04:17.440 In the last MacBook Air, the base SSD was actually two stitched together 128GB modules 00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:23.760 working in parallel. Now there's just one bigger 256GB module. 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 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:41.160 use, but this could shorten the usable lifespan of the laptop long-term. 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. 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 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. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:06.160 I've been hearing that Premiere is having troubles generally these days, so if you're 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:09.160 using that app, maybe just wait a bit to buy. 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 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 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:26.120 Resolve project containing 8K RAW footage with noise reduction lets in some green screen. 00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:30.040 With an M2-powered MacBook Pro, it takes under an hour. 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:33.880 With an M1-powered MacBook Air, it takes under an hour and a half. 00:05:33.880 --> 00:05:39.160 So on this M2 MacBook Air, it takes an hour and 40 minutes. 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:43.160 What? How? Well, the reason for this is simple. 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 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:52.480 nothing. A little pad and an air gap. 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. 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 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. 00:06:10.280 --> 00:06:15.120 And when it estimated that it would take five plus hours, I said, nope. 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. 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 00:06:28.960 --> 00:06:32.200 them? The M1 MacBook Air arrival made things easy. 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. 00:06:39.280 --> 00:06:42.640 If you bought one back then, you made a great decision. 00:06:42.640 --> 00:06:47.480 Now though, they're still the same price. This is Apple doing inflation, by the way. 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 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 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. 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, 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:22.600 but only to those who won't notice the shortcomings of one SSD module. 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:27.600 But it's not an excellent value, like the M1 laptop has been until now. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:31.560 Because to get the equivalent SSD performance, you're bringing up the price to at least 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:38.160 $1,400. The 512 models get two 256GB modules, so it gets expensive fast. 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 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. 00:07:49.200 --> 00:07:54.400 And if you're thinking about upgrading both and might need more power, consider a refurbished 00:07:54.400 --> 00:07:59.480 or on sale MacBook Pro. Those go for around $1,800. 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:03.200 Only $100 more than the most equivalently specced Air. 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. 00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:18.800 And that's really annoying. So what about me? 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 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:26.840 and wow, is the difference stark. 00:08:26.840 --> 00:08:31.320 If I was coming from an Intel MacBook, this Air, even with its compromises, would feel 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 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 00:08:45.280 --> 00:08:48.920 go for is the M2 MacBook Air, in silver maybe. 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. 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. 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. 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 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:15.760 that would push the M2 into its really hot state?