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Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

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Re: Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

#161

Post by jltsiren »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #130
UmbertoNoEco wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

400 USD for a 16GB upgrade is daylight street robbery. The power of brands.

Actually, when you consider how many banks of memory it would take to obtain 100GB/s, it's a bargain. Desktop DDR5-4800 tops out at 38.4 GB/s, so you would need three , desktop DDR5 memory sticks to get that - but it would not even matter because a 12th Gen desktop Intel Core i9 can't handle more than 75GB/s at once. Now, DDR5 is falling in price, but low-power laptop grade DDR5 is still quite a specialized part, let…

Apple charges $400 for 32 GB when you upgrade the memory in computers with M1 Max. That used to be a decent price, at least before DDR5 prices started falling. The M2 memory upgrade is twice as expensive.

Edit: 16 -> 32 GB with M1 Pro is $400. 32 -> 64 GB with M1 Max is also $400. 64 -> 128 GB with M1 Ultra is $800. Memory upgrades for the high-end Macs are surprisingly cost-effective.

Re: Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

#162

Post by alibert »

m_ke wrote: post #118
jmyeet wrote: post #31

The 24GB unified memory is a really nice upgrade (the M1 MBA has 8GB upgradeable to 16GB). The CPU/GPU upgrades are predictable and wlecome but the memory is huge. A lot of development isn't CPU bound but is memory bound or at least can really benefit from more memory. This upgrade makes the MBA an entirely viable dev machine for many workloads. I have a MBP (Intel) but it's expensive. Getting a viable machine for $1…

I have the M1 air with 8GB and it's unusable with pycharm on an external 4K display.

Should be better when this land (next version) https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/JBR-745

(switch rendering API in JRE used by Intellj/Pycharm to Metal for rendering)

Re: Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

#163

Post by bombcar »

ZetaZero wrote: post #126
zekrioca wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really do not understand this. The 14" Macbook Pro (M1 Max) does support up to three external displays. What was the problem with these new Macbooks to not support at least two displays..

The M1 Pro/Max have multiple GPUs, one in each CPU cluster.

Whatever wizard at Apple came up with "the number of monitors" as a distinguishing difference between price levels should get a pretty big raise.

It's perfect segmentation, most people don't care, and those that do will pay.

Re: Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

#164

Post by criddell »

zekrioca wrote: post #104
agloeregrets wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> makes the MBA an entirely viable dev machine for many workloads. So this, like the M1 supports only ONE external display.. so as long as you live the lopsided big-small life, sure.

I really do not understand this. The 14" Macbook Pro (M1 Max) does support up to three external displays. What was the problem with these new Macbooks to not support at least two displays..

Maybe multi-monitor is considered a pro feature?

Re: Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

#166

Post by bayindirh »

l5870uoo9y wrote: post #149
jmyeet wrote: post #31

The 24GB unified memory is a really nice upgrade (the M1 MBA has 8GB upgradeable to 16GB). The CPU/GPU upgrades are predictable and wlecome but the memory is huge. A lot of development isn't CPU bound but is memory bound or at least can really benefit from more memory. This upgrade makes the MBA an entirely viable dev machine for many workloads. I have a MBP (Intel) but it's expensive. Getting a viable machine for $1…

Running Macbook Air M1 with 16 GB of RAM and never had performance issues running multiple Electron instances, simulators, compilers, browsers and what not. Changed to Macbook Air after my 3 times as expensive Macbook Pro 16" (8 core Intel) was stolen and never missed it for a second. Doesn't seem like there is a compelling reason to upgrade to Macbook Air M2.

On the contrary, I was planning to get an almost maxed out M1 Pro, and now I'll buy an almost maxed out M2 Pro (when 16" comes out), because the things I do need extensive processing power and every bit of performance counts.

If I can not have a big desktop system and just use my daily laptop for developing these hard, CPU bound simulation tasks; I'll be a happy camper.

So, horses for courses.

Re: Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

#167

Post by out_of_protocol »

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #14

This looks like what the Macbook (2015) wanted to be. Keyboard and single port aside, it was a fantastic form factor, albeit crushingly slow. Mine no longer holds a charge, and am eagerly awaiting replacing it with one of these. Over time I've also noticed I no longer care about having the fastest possible laptop, since my job provides me with an MBP and that's where serious work gets done. I have a feeling this is g…

New one is heavy, much more so than 12" one

Re: Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

#168

Post by reducesuffering »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #133

Love it, but the lack of ports still seems like a bit of an issue. It looks like the MBA and 13in MBP only have 2 USBC ports, with one used for charging (they don’t have magsafe from what i can see). The 14/16in MBPs have 3 USBC, HDMI, SD card + a separate magsafe charging port.

You can combine charging with external display on 1 port. That’s my “desktop” setup with no other ports used. Mouse and keyboard work connected to monitor.

Re: Apple unveils all-new MacBook Air, supercharged by the new M2 chip

#169

Post by spfzero »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #38
agloeregrets wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M2 does not hold a candle to the M1 Pro or Max, don't worry. Every improved spec is much better in the M1 Pro/Max.

Yeah but my guess is soon the M2 Max will be revealed. Its probably already developed, they just need to wait six more months to reveal. Clearly apple is able to jump straight to the M2, but they are releasing M1 to maximize profit.

Its not really so clear though, that the next fab rev would come through on time. They often don’t and these product plans are developed years in advance.
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