M2 MacBook was a bad idea…until I actually ran these tests

The M2 MacBook base models shipped with slower "drives" than the previous generation M1 machines. Does it matter for software developers?

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#m2 #macbook #programming

The Code used in this vid

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[sebastianlau]

This video is perfect, it alleviates my concerns about the M2's performance. Whilst there is a place for the 14" M1 Pro, I don't think I need that much performance for my current needs.

[yashasanapindi]

This video is perfect. I have an old MacBook Air and am getting the new M2, and the results shown are exactly what I needed to know about their differences. Thanks Alex!

[tomlee]

I love these videos. Most people on youtube try to use video apps to justify the performance, but I like to see real world comparisons. Not everyone buys macs to be video editors. So this is so great to see real world usages. Definitely will subscribe.

[garynagle]

If all you do is “user” type tasks, you don’t care about the drive speed. If doing programming, video editing, etc. then you care and would NEVER get the base level storage. Big YouTube deal about nothing. Thank you for a proper evaluation and perspective!

[steveoc]

I would like to see some benchmarks of sitting through 8 hours straight of Standups, sprint grooming sessions, retrospectives, corporate roadmap presentations from the marketing department, and a finally a 2 hour lecture from the HR lady about the importance of 'people and culture '.

ie ... An average day at work for the modern developer.

[PhantomObserver]

I do appreciate the point made that most reviewers I’ve seen seem to have forgotten: most buyers of computers produced in 2022 aren’t replacing models they got last year, they’re replacing computers that are already several years old.

[victorizquierdo]

Thanks a lot for these videos Alex. I gonna get one on Black Fridays in Mexico, so I am thinking if a M2 air base model or a M1 with 16 gb ram. But I really love the dark tones in laptops. So these videos help me a lot related to performance. I am going to use it for web and iOs development. Thanks!

[alangfp]

Thank you much!! This is the comparison I was waiting for! I currently have an Air 2016 and I guess so many people also do, and 5 years is what we expect a machine to last. Mine has been struggling with heavier workloads like using illustrator and photoshop at the same time. It works, but slowly. I've been considering 2023 as the year I'll save to buy a new one, because in Brazil the cost for a regular person to get an Apple machine is usually 10x the cost compared to the US, so you need both an extremely good reason to upgrade and the courage to save a huge amount of money. Just to put in perspective, you can buy a used entry car for that much money. It's too expensive. Anyway, thank you so much!! I'm strongly considering this M2 MBAir.

[sharonb.]

Great video. As much as some people will hate it, this comparison is more realistic for average buyers. It’s fun to watch you compare last year to this years model, but most people buy tech 2-5 years apart.

[onilbautista]

You always know what video to make! Thanks for working on this Alex!

[Shalomrutere]

Finally!!
A video that compares the M2 to Intel chips.

[blaser]

It's been a long time since I last created a build system for a project, but one of the things I recall doing was making sure the compilation was done on the RAM as much as possible - it was substantially faster. Though this was back when SSDs were not on most laptops/desktops, which is now making me curious how much faster RAM is vs a modern NVME - probably still quite a lot tbf.

[NicolajVR]

went from my 2019 Intel I9, to 2021 Macbook Pro M1 Pro.
WHAT a difference, and I can actually have it on my lap without getting burned! :D - even when I had it on my desk (about 5cm solid wood thick), it would get hot on the underside of it! - the M1 pro I have used it while running some programs etc and I have not felt it get "hot" only a tiny bit warm AND I had the battery lasting for SO much longer, a whole world apart there.
oh and I havn't even yet heard the fans come on, while the I9 model I had would have fans on just by being on the desktop lol

thanks Alex for your videos, I enjoy them very much, keep on going! :)

[cusniwtt]

I love your video Alex. This part 6:07 is touch my point. Trust Apple Engineer.

[LeconBRUHH]

Hey alex! Could you please please tell if 8gb 256gb m2 air would be enough for college stuff pursuing computer science engineering.

[rksydfs]

My 4 year old XPS 15 has SSD of similar speed. (1500MB/s read/write)
It works great until you use up all the ram (chrome, virtual machines, ....) . When it starts swapping heavily it's excruciating.
With XPS I just upgraded the RAM and problem was solved. If you can't upgrade ram or SSD you need top of the line performance for SSD and ram. I would rather get the pro...

[coaql]

Hey alex i would like to see a comparison of m1 with spec upgraded to same lvl as m2 price. It would really clear the doubts about which is worth the price. Love your
videos

[sandervangolen]

Could you do a 16GB 512GB comparison between the M2 Macbook Air and the 14" M1 Pro Macbook Pro (that name ...)?

[JoaoVitor-gmyf]

Hey alex! Great video. I'd love to see a comparison between the 16/256 and the 8/512 versions of the mba m2. It would be amazing for people who can afford only one the upgrades. Thanks!!

[kode]

For future videos, you could use AmorphousDiskMark instead of BlackMagic Speed Test. It is the closest macOS gets to CrystalDiskMark right now. The only thing I think it misses right now is that the dark theme really has no fancy colors, unlike the light theme, which clones the color scheme defaults of CrystalDiskMark, with permission from the author.