Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New MacBook Air with M2

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 796 posts

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#361

Post by kllrnohj »

carlycue wrote: post #39

This thing is going to sell like hotcakes. The combination of single core CPU and graphics performance, device thinness, battery life in this laptop is unmatched. It’s funny how Apple came back from the worst the Mac has ever been to the best in a span of few years. Johnny I’ve doesn’t dictate things around Apple anymore but the silicone chips team now does.

> This thing is going to sell like hotcakes. The combination of single core CPU and graphics performance, device thinness, battery life in this laptop is unmatched.

Well, except for the small problem that the M1 air exists and is still on sale. Same single core CPU performance and near enough multicore and GPU performance. And it's cheaper by a not insignificant amount.

Which is pretty much why Linus Tech Tips wasn't a fan. If you want an Air, get the M1 version and save a buck. If you want performance, kinda hard to argue with the huge upgrades you get from the not that much more expensive 14" Pro.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#362

Post by eropple »

jmyeet wrote: post #355
marricks wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which typical Air buyer needs 16gb ram, the college student with 50 tabs open and Spotify in the background? People complaining about low ram sound like the bros asking how many cylinders a car has. Doesn't matter for most people. Just complain about price, yeah, it is expensive! --- This is coming from someone who does light gaming on an 8gb m1 MacBook Air and has plenty of tabs open. I don't see lag. Then again, I…

Remember it's not 8gb of dedicated RAM. It's 8gb shared with the video subsystem. Let's see how far that goes when you plug it into a 4K monitor and/or do anything that requires GPU acceleration (which can include simply decoding video). I think 8gb is borderline criminally low in the circumstances. At least this thing has the option for 24gb though. I just wish that was a stocked model so you could just walk into a…

For what it's worth--when I had an 8GB Air, decoding video in a browser didn't seem to really impact performance. Plugging in an external monitor, though, was not a fun time.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#363

Post by ksala_ »

CharlesW wrote: post #351
nico_h wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MY only gripe with the M1 and M2 Air the lack of support for more than a single external screen. I feel like it's just a pure marketing play to only support more than one external screen on the 14" pro. They have Magsafe and two thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports, they could totally support 2 Apple studio displays, at least on the 24GB model.

> MY only gripe with the M1 and M2 Air the lack of support for more than a single external screen. Officially Apple specs out a single external screen, but using DisplayPort you can do more. The video below shows how to connect an unreasonable number of external monitors to an Apple Silicon laptop, but a two-external-monitor configuration doesn't seem too crazy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jLAwSvs7vE

DisplayLink*

I don't have any personal preference (I'm fine with a big single monitor/ultrawide) but from reading around and listening to other experience you're likely to hit performance/compatibility issues with that since it's a software solution.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#364

Post by beebeepka »

weberer wrote: post #327
apexalpha wrote: post #272

€1520 in Europe for 256gb ssd and 8gb ram... The 512/16 version is almost €2000. Man this is just insane pricing. It sucks because besides ssd/ram everything is fantastic for a laptop. I would buy it almost instantly for $1000

Inflation is crazy right now, so expect it to only go up.

Not sure what you mean as RAM and SSD prices have been steadily dropping.

Comparable pc laptops have not increased in price nearly as much. Ryzen 6000 laptops, while scare, do not appear more expensive than last gen.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#365

Post by divbzero »

carlycue wrote: post #39

This thing is going to sell like hotcakes. The combination of single core CPU and graphics performance, device thinness, battery life in this laptop is unmatched. It’s funny how Apple came back from the worst the Mac has ever been to the best in a span of few years. Johnny I’ve doesn’t dictate things around Apple anymore but the silicone chips team now does.

In addition to all of that, MagSafe is back as well.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#366

Post by staticfloat »

CharlesW wrote: post #351
nico_h wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MY only gripe with the M1 and M2 Air the lack of support for more than a single external screen. I feel like it's just a pure marketing play to only support more than one external screen on the 14" pro. They have Magsafe and two thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports, they could totally support 2 Apple studio displays, at least on the 24GB model.

> MY only gripe with the M1 and M2 Air the lack of support for more than a single external screen. Officially Apple specs out a single external screen, but using DisplayPort you can do more. The video below shows how to connect an unreasonable number of external monitors to an Apple Silicon laptop, but a two-external-monitor configuration doesn't seem too crazy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jLAwSvs7vE

Small correction; it’s DisplayLink, not DisplayPort. You have to use DisplayLink because they do some part in software as a part of their driver (which you must download and install) whereas the native Apple stuff has some internal hardware limitation.

I run three 1080p monitors off of my M1Pro, and I don’t notice any heavy CPU load from whatever software load the driver may be adding.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#367

Post by qzw »

DoughnutHole wrote: post #258
dr_zoidberg wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wouldn't ascribe to malice what can be more easily be ascribed to incompetence While I usually agree with the sentiment, it's hard to believe that one of the most successful companies in the world can be subject to such levels of incompetence on one of their flagship products.

The rust belt is littered with the remains of what were at one time or another some of the most successful companies in the US or the world. Corporations are ran by fallible people and are perfectly capable of running themselves into the ground. I'd argue it's nearly their natural trajectory to become bloated and inefficient over time. General Motors was largest and most successful auto manufacturer in the world righ…

I agree with your overall point, but GM was already widely seen as a has-been for years, maybe even decades, before 2008. They still had a lot of sales volume but apart from their trucks and a few SUVs, most of their products had been well behind those of their competitors in terms of both design and quality. So I don’t think they were really comparable to Apple at that point.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#368

Post by bogomipz »

nico_h wrote: post #236
vishnugupta wrote: post #201

MacBook Air M2 will most probably replace my current 2018 MacBook Pro. My only gripe with MacBook Air M1 was crappy RAM which they addressed (24GB). It's still less than what I have (32GB) I expect M2 will make up for that.

MY only gripe with the M1 and M2 Air the lack of support for more than a single external screen. I feel like it's just a pure marketing play to only support more than one external screen on the 14" pro. They have Magsafe and two thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports, they could totally support 2 Apple studio displays, at least on the 24GB model.

Might you or someone else be able to say why the state of the art Macbook is not capable of driving two monitors? Does this apply to all model or is this only an issue on the 14" MBPs and Airs?

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#369

Post by waynesonfire »

whynaut wrote: post #360
waynesonfire wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sheesh, did you skip the MBP 2015? That's the best one they ever made, even to this day. I've been using MBP 2015 since then and just recently "upgraded" to M1. The MBP 2015 is still a better machine, better screen and keyboard. I can type waayy faster on the 2015 with less errors and the screen is better on the eye strain. The whites on the M1 are BRIGHT. I don't need a flash light shining at my face. Turning down t…

You'll definitely want to enable warmer colors

I use that. Been toying with night mode, color filters, and even flux. It's still too extreme, though it helps with the whites the other colors look atrocious.

I have just about identical settings on both models and comparing the two laptops side-by-side, the 2015 looks much better. I still have "vivid" colors but the whites are more grey.

Must be a screen thing, some new IPS technology. I don't know. It's terrible.

Re: New MacBook Air with M2

#370

Post by nightski »

marricks wrote: post #312
Thaxll wrote: post #280

The pricing outside the US is outrageous though. Those are very expensive laptops. €1520 for the base version with only 8GB lol

Which typical Air buyer needs 16gb ram, the college student with 50 tabs open and Spotify in the background? People complaining about low ram sound like the bros asking how many cylinders a car has. Doesn't matter for most people. Just complain about price, yeah, it is expensive! --- This is coming from someone who does light gaming on an 8gb m1 MacBook Air and has plenty of tabs open. I don't see lag. Then again, I…

Sounds like Apple. For a premium price they give you only bare minimum and if you want anything more you can pay thousands of dollars in pure premium and profit for Apple.

Of course sheep will keep buying these things.

Post reply on HN