- Reaction score
- 1,667
The M2 MacBook Air is here and, like the M1, Apple has two options to choose from, one with an 8-core GPU and one with a 10-core GPU. We’ve been testing both models here at Macworld, the step-up model that starts at $1,499 (the model we tested and reviewed here has 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM for $1,899), and the entry-level model with 256GB of storage, which costs $1,199.
That’s a pretty big difference in price, which led us to wonder what exactly you’re getting for the extra money. It turns out, you’re getting quite a lot.
With two fewer GPU cores, less RAM, and an SSD configuration that appears sub-optimal for read and write speeds, the cheapest MacBook Air faces several obstacles in trying to compete with its costlier sibling. In some cases we were shocked by how much worse it performed, but there were some pleasant surprises too.
Read on to find out how both the top-end and entry-level versions of the M2 Air got on in our speed and performance benchmarks. Where possible we’ve included equivalent scores for the 256GB version of the M1 MacBook Air released in 2020, and for the quad-core Intel i5 model that came out in the same year.
www.macworld.com
That’s a pretty big difference in price, which led us to wonder what exactly you’re getting for the extra money. It turns out, you’re getting quite a lot.
With two fewer GPU cores, less RAM, and an SSD configuration that appears sub-optimal for read and write speeds, the cheapest MacBook Air faces several obstacles in trying to compete with its costlier sibling. In some cases we were shocked by how much worse it performed, but there were some pleasant surprises too.
Read on to find out how both the top-end and entry-level versions of the M2 Air got on in our speed and performance benchmarks. Where possible we’ve included equivalent scores for the 256GB version of the M1 MacBook Air released in 2020, and for the quad-core Intel i5 model that came out in the same year.
Which 13.6-inch MacBook Air? 8-core vs 10-core
Overall testing suggests the cheapest version of Apple's new Air is a long way behind its more expensive sibling, although we were surprised by impressive scores in a few areas.
www.macworld.com
