Why is this still around? | M2 vs M1 MacBook Air

The M2 MacBook Air went on sale today, but why is M1 MacBook Air still a thing?

#macbookair #m2macbookair #m1 #m2

[Luis-trri]

Air M1 is the Steve Jobs vision started in 2008. Iconic design now with high performance and battery life.

[andyH_England]

The reason seems obvious, with TSMC charging $100 more for M2 chip Apple has had to push its prices up and the MB Air M2 is now starting at £1250 in the UK, £250 more than the M1 version. Anyone that has studied economics understands the demand curve theory, so Apple knows that higher prices=less sales. So keep the M1 at the lower price to stop that leakage, and maybe discount regularity to get further along the sales demand curve.

It is a very strategic business model which they have used with the iPhone and has boosted sales considerably.

The M2 has no issues for sensible people, though the MB Air M2 is likely to throttle if you do stupid workloads as it does on the M1 Air. The main reason the MB Pro 13 M2 hits high temps is the two extra GPU cores and the base M2 MB Air does not come with those. There are still supply-side issues so that could be a reason, but unlikely IMHO. Def Apple expanding their lineup for higher demand.

[anantakrishna]

Personally I think the M1 will be the new MacBook SE in a few years. Apple watch 1 stuck around for a while for the students etc. Similarly M1 MacBook air will be hanging around for years to come. The design is good enough for penny pinchers, but of old enough not to poach many sales from those with money.

[mk]

The classic air design is Apple’s most popular laptop ever. It’s going to take people a little while to get used to the new design. And they completely hit it out of the park with the M1 Air quality and performance for the price. I think the original plan was for the M2 to be based on 3nm and now with the 5nm design there are just a lot of compromises and fewer performance improvements than hoped for. A lot of this situation is just caused by TSMC being behind schedule on their 3nm process. As an aside, my teenage daughter loves her M1 MacBook Air and doesn’t like the design of the M2 at all. I like the new design, but bought a 14” Max instead.

[daveadams]

M1 is still a great machine and has lots of life left in it 👍😀

[corvinyt]

For a long time, Intel has used a product segmentation strategy for their processors to get people to buy their more expensive processors. It appears, that Apple has also moved to this strategy. Now that they have only themselves to compete with, they'll only improve the specs for a price point if they have to either because of new competition or softening demand.

[matheus.amazonas]

Great video, Alex. I personally think it's a combination of theories 2 and 3. I'm not sure how to feel about theory 1, given all the price hikes we've seen lately. Maybe that's the new normal? Sad? Yes. Likely? Also yes?

[m.hreels]

I also ordered mine on launch day! However 16 GB, 10 core, with 512 storage ❤️💻🙏🏻 in the midnight color. Shipping August 9th!

[brachiator]

Theory. Because of supply chain issues, Apple now has lots of M1 and M2 MBA and can satisfy everyone. If M2 models sell out and there are long shipment delays, some people might opt for the M1 instead.

[MyOtherNick]

another reason for continuing the M1air is that the 3rd party applications have just about came out of staging phase. M1 owners like me have just started using the device with its full potential now that most of the frequently used software is stable enough. I don't need to buy an M2 because it is newer, but instead I am going for a stable workflow.

[parjau]

Apple may have done it almost by accident (as a testbed for a new chip) but I believe that the M1 Air is, pound-for-pound, pretty much the best laptop ever made. Classic ergonomic design, light weight and a capability to do things that it really should not be able to do.
Aside from Magsafe, there is little that the M2 has to offer. It looks modern because it has smaller bezels but only at the expense of a nasty notch (which - in my experience with the Pro - hides needed start-up icons from the menu bar) and will probably throttle quite quickly.
So, I think it is an extremely good decision on Apple's part to keep the M1 going. People can get near enough the same performance at half the price (and the 256GB M1 has a faster SSD than the 256GB M2, therefore better swap). Which means a much wider range of people can have a taste of real high-end computing on a laptop. By keeping the M1 Air going, Apple are doing humanity a favour.

[andrewdunbar]

I have no plans to upgrade from my M1 Air though if this one were upgradable I would love to put more RAM and SSD in it. I'm glad I ordered it with the most RAM available but couldn't justify the price of SSD past 500G. The two things that can make it get hot are the GPU and Intel apps. Now that I'm backpacking in the tropics it can get a bit hot just doing regular stuff though. But still not as hot as any of my previous laptops, most of which died from overheating

[synen]

I will wait til M1 Air w/16GB go even lower on price and that imo is the one worth purchasing.

[RomPereira]

You are forgetting something: The cost to make the M1 chip is the same of the M2 chip. What does really change is that you have to pay de development costs for the new one, but those chips are based on the iPhone chips, the M2 on the A15 bionic and the M1 on the A14, which are already paying pretty much all of those development costs. Since the launch of the M1 MBA and M1 MBP 13, they pretty much just shove a M1 board inside the old bodies off their current line up in 2020, which were already dated by a couple years, and they made a huge chunk of money.

[callumanthony]

I bought the M1 air last week.. best decision I’ve ever made and I love the M1 design better than the M2

[imamhatipoglu]

I'm so curious that M2 MacBook Air performance when under heavy load, what about the thermals. For example on flutter build again and again, and simulator is already running.Will M2 Air or M1 Air become unusable or not? I'll hope I'm gonna hear this answers. Cheers!

[ORo]

Alex, the M2 air base is now $849. Does that change your thoughts on value? Worth it?

[sharonb.]

Since you come from the PC world you might not know this, but Apple keeps older models around ALL THE TIME. AirPods, iPads, iPhones and yes, MacBooks generally are still sold next to the newest model. I wouldn’t read much into the “price increase” either considering EVERYONE from Tesla to toilet paper, increased prices. In some cases, while REDUCING the quality…imagine that! Cars are being sold today with missing features or older components because of shortages in every industry. We are bombarded with news about inflation and shortages daily and I cannot understand why Apple is somehow suspect. Everything about this release is less “conspiracy theory” and more “Sign O’ the Times”.

[ajfromca]

My take. M2 is confusing. 1) Apple should have never released the M2 MBP13 as we we know it. 2) The M2 MBA should have been branded as the MBP13. 3) leave the M1 MBA and do not offer a M2 MBA at all.

Last topic. Any computer that cannot natively support dual display is not pro in any way shape or form. So M2 really should have natively supported multi display.

[nyambe]

I like theory #3, it makes the most sense.