Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Chap, and as I was coming home from Apple's big WWDC conference,
00:05which was incredible by the way, it's my first time there, I got this message,
00:09which I think is the question we're all asking after they unveil the new MacBook Air M2.
00:14Is the M2 worth buying, or should you maybe just save some money and go with the,
00:18I've got so many laptops here, go with the M1, which is still on sale and a bit cheaper,
00:23or is it actually worth paying more and getting the MacBook Pro 14? There were a lot of questions,
00:28and also since my hands-on where I sort of gave my first impressions, I've had a few more thoughts.
00:34Now if you have been living under a rock, the headline upgrades with the new MacBook Air M2
00:38is, well, as it says on the tin, we have the new faster M2 chip, it's also slightly thinner and
00:44lighter, we get a brighter screen, up from 400 to 500 nits, also much thinner bezels,
00:49complete with the love or hate notch, but it does mean we have a slightly bigger 13.6 inch screen
00:54now, up from 13.3. We also have a new and improved 1080p webcam, we get MagSafe, we get better
01:00speakers, there's two new colors, starlight and a very snazzy midnight, and also slightly less
01:05exciting but also a full height function row on the keyboard. The question is though, is it worth
01:11paying $200 or £250 more than this? This is the current MacBook Air M1, which is still on sale
01:18for $999, they haven't discounted it, although across all models if you are a teacher or a
01:22student you can get $100 off, but this is still going to be on sale side by side with the new M2.
01:27The problem is though, and perhaps one area I got it, well, a little bit wrong in my hands-on video,
01:31was suggesting that if you are going to buy a new MacBook Air M2, is that you're going to want 16
01:35gigs of RAM and maybe 512 storage, that was the sort of sweet spot. The only reason I said that,
01:41particularly if there's 16 gigs of memory, is that on this one, which has 8 gigabytes,
01:45often I do get errors saying it's run out of memory and I have to close applications.
01:49Although I am curious if the higher bandwidth speeds of the new unified memory in the M2 version
01:54will make much of a difference, or if indeed it is still worth going for 16 gigs. But anyway,
01:59my original point, once you spec the M2 Air up to that sweet spot, you're only £250 shy of this,
02:06the MacBook Pro 14. I'm going to have to make this quick, I've only got 5% battery on this,
02:10but the MacBook Pro 14 is still quite a big upgrade over the MacBook Air, even with the M2,
02:14because we've got the mini LED screen, so much deeper blacks, and also it's much brighter,
02:19up to 1000 nits, this supports HDR, the MacBook still doesn't. Also, we have the 120Hz ProMotion
02:25and the M1 Pro chip. So the big question really, I think, is what is the difference in performance
02:31between the M2 and the M1 Pro? That is something, of course, I'll be testing properly when I get my
02:36review unit. The Pro also gives you more ports, we have the full-size SD card reader, full-size
02:41HDMI, we get an extra USB-C Thunderbolt, and also unique to the Pro is the ability to output
02:47to more than one external display. It's one of the first questions I asked Apple in my hands-on,
02:52could the new MacBook Air M2 output to two displays? And the answer is no, still not,
02:57that is reserved for the Pro models. Could be worth paying the extra for the Pro 14.
03:02There is also another elephant in the room, and it's called the MacBook Pro 13, which also comes
03:07with the new M2 chip, but otherwise has not really changed. Now, I don't know who's going to
03:12buy that. I think, honestly, it's going to be a lot of people going into stores thinking, hey,
03:16I want the Pro model, this is the cheapest Pro model, I'll take that. But it's not going to be
03:20really the best option, I think, for most people. The only real advantage to it over the M2 Air
03:25is the fact that it has a fan. So under sustained loads, if you're gaming or you're rendering,
03:30you may get slightly better performance. But honestly, for my tests of the current generation
03:33MacBooks between the fanless Air and the fan Pro 13, there isn't that much difference,
03:38it's just like a few percent. So I really don't know who's going to buy the MacBook Pro 13.
03:43Hopefully, I'll be getting a review sample, though. There may be some redeeming quality or some
03:47sort of price advantage, but that's something I'll have to test in the full review.
03:50But then there is this. This is the Dell XPS 13 Plus, which I would say is probably the closest
03:56competitor to the new MacBook Air M2. There are other options like the new Asus ZenBook 13S OLED,
04:02which I also reviewed recently, and I'll leave a little link to if you fancy. I'm going to be
04:06reviewing this as well, but you have to admit that is the most futuristic looking laptop I think I've
04:11ever seen. Function row lit up at the top, reminiscent of the touch bar. Not necessarily
04:15a good thing. And also, I'm not sure if I love the keyboard here. There is no gap between the keys.
04:20It means the key caps are bigger, but it's a little bit hard to sort of figure out physically
04:24where your hands are. Anyway, it took me a while to get used to. But with the 13 Plus,
04:28we're getting a touchscreen. It's also an OLED display. We're still LCD on the Air. It still
04:33doesn't even support HDR, which is a bit disappointing. And also, well, I just love
04:37the design of this. However, the upside of the Air, and I am pointing towards this,
04:41but I'm referring to the new M2 Air, is that we have a much better webcam. There really isn't a
04:45better webcam on a laptop at that price. It's also completely silent because there isn't a fan inside.
04:50And as soon as I was setting this up in Windows and downloading updates, I could hear the fan
04:55roar up. Going from the Air, that just kind of feels like a dinosaur. I also love the scissor
04:59mechanism keyboard we get on MacBooks. It is my favorite keyboard at the moment. And one big
05:04advantage of both the M2 and also the M1, to some extent, is that we have that video rendering
05:09engine. So when it comes to my workflow, which is primarily editing these videos in Premiere Pro
05:14and using Photoshop and Lightroom, there are no other laptops like the MacBooks that can scrub
05:20through my 4K 10-bit H.264 video like a MacBook, even the Air. Now, I tend to use the Pro 16 as my
05:27main laptop. I actually have a pretty high-end desktop over there with a 3080 and a 12th Gen
05:33Intel processor. But for editing, I always want to go back to the MacBook or maybe the Mac Studio.
05:38This is pretty much the same price as the MacBook Air. And two, there are some slight differences
05:42depending on what country you're in. And also, on the higher spec, this actually comes out a
05:46little bit cheaper in the UK. But really, it's going to come down to what software you prefer,
05:49macOS versus Windows 11. So there's a lot to think about. But I think for most people,
05:54the overarching question will be, should I go for the M1 MacBook Air and pay a little bit less or
06:00the M2? Assuming, of course, you don't already have one of these. Well, I can't say for sure
06:04until I get the new one to test. But one of the big advantages that I think will influence people's
06:08decisions is that new webcam as we're all working from home and hybrid working. And of course, the
06:13new M2 Air has that new 1080p webcam with better low light image quality because of the ISP in the
06:20M2. However, all new Macs will be getting the macOS Ventura software later in the year,
06:25which along with iOS 16 on the iPhone allows you to use your phone's camera as a webcam.
06:31I haven't properly been able to try this yet, but it would sort of negate one of the advantages of
06:36the Air if you are just happy to use your phone as the webcam instead. It's also interesting that
06:43the battery life hasn't really changed with the new M2 Air. According to Apple in terms of video
06:47playback and light use cases, it's about the same. They quote 18 hours of video playback. Although
06:52when it comes to graphically demanding tasks, because the new M2 Air I think can actually draw
06:57up to 15 watts compared to 12 watts here, that may actually reduce battery life a little bit.
07:02Although the flip side of the argument is if it completes a task quicker, say rendering,
07:06then maybe it doesn't draw as much battery because this takes longer. But to be honest with you,
07:10I'm not bothered at all. Battery life is already incredible on the M1 Air. And actually the
07:15transition from the Intel Air to this I think was the most revolutionary upgrade in a laptop I've
07:20seen in the last 10 years. It really is insane. And yes, I know this has slightly chunky bezels,
07:24the webcam isn't the best in the world, but this is still the absolute best all-round 13-inch
07:30laptop you can buy. And if you are a teacher or student, you can get this for $899, which is
07:34insane. It is all you need. Obviously the new M2 Air will be a little bit faster, it's a little bit
07:39sleeker, we've got the better webcam, although you can always use your phone going forward.
07:43So I just don't know if it is going to be worth paying that $200, £250 more for the new Air.
07:50I think for most people, this is still going to be all you need. And for anyone who needs
07:54some proper pro levels of performance along with that mini LED 120Hz screen and all the extras,
08:00then the Pro 14 or 16 is still going to be a better option.
08:03So where does that leave us as I ramble along for 10 minutes? Well,
08:07I don't know. We'll have to see. No judgements just yet until I get my samples in to test
08:11properly. There's a lot to talk about, but whether it remains the best value option for most of us,
08:17we'll have to see.
08:18Thank you so much for watching, guys. If you do want to see more from me,
08:21including all my upcoming reviews and comparisons, make sure you hit that
08:24subscribe button and I'll catch you next time right here on The Tech Jam.