Earlier, several reviewers have reported that the entry-level SSD of the Apple M2 MacBook Pro is significantly slower than that of the M1 MacBook Pro due to the configuration of the storage models on the computer. Apple confirmed to The Verge that the MacBook Air-based M2 has the same storage settings as the Pro, so naturally we wondered if it would suffer the same problem. Well, we’ve finally put a basic model in our hands (including 256GB of storage and 8GB of memory) and the answer is, yes, it does.
Considering the results we’re seeing in Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test app, the base model of the MacBook Air M2 has write speeds that are generally 15 to 30 percent slower than the MacBook Air M2’s 512 GB that Apple sent The Verge to review and read. which can be between 40 and 50 percent slower.
This is not an unexpected result, as the base Air only includes a single NAND chip, while the M1 models and the 512 GB (and more) M2 models have two, which can allow speeds almost double.
512 GB M2 MacBook Air 1 GB test. 256 GB M2 MacBook Air 1 GB trial. 512 GB M2 MacBook Air 5 GB test. Test of 256 GB M2 MacBook Air 5 GB.
While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the speeds we’re seeing from this base MacBook Air are bad, they are (especially when it comes to reading data) the kind of speeds you can easily get on laptops that are a bit . more, well, eh. For example, the base model is only slightly faster than my 2019 Intel MacBook Pro when it comes to write speeds, and its read speeds are significantly worse. To choose a Windows machine from a hat, Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2 (which starts at $ 600) also loses with the Air base in writing, but overthrows it on reading. (Read speeds are generally more important for general use, as they measure how quickly your device can access files on your system.)
We didn’t have an M1 Air with 256GB to test, but the 512GB model we have on hand is also faster than the base M2 model in both reading and writing, as you can see in the results below.
512 GB M1 MacBook Air 5 GB test. 256 GB Intel MacBook Pro 5 GB trial.
As Virgin editor Dan Seifert explains in his review of the M2 Air, slower storage speeds can affect a number of tasks, including file transfers, and can also slow overall performance. Macs use SSD space as temporary memory (swap memory) when on board. RAM is low.
That said, will these particular differences affect you? People who sell Air will probably not see a life-changing contrast between the 256GB and 512GB models in terms of daily performance. I ran two 4K YouTube videos over 25 open Chrome tabs for 30 minutes on both machines without having to immerse myself in swap memory. The boot time was also pretty identical: I rotated the two devices side by side several times. And I didn’t see much difference in opening any of the apps I normally use, such as Chrome, Safari, Messages, Photos, Activity Monitor, Slack, Music, and so on.
However, for the target audience of the MacBook Pro, a limitation like this could be a deal breaker. If you’re someone with a heavier workload (who may very well notice a difference), we generally recommend that you buy a MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro or Max chip instead of an Air.
Monitor activity on your MacBook Air base after 30 minutes of playing 4K videos in another 20 tabs.
That said, these results will certainly be important to some people. If you’re in this camp, you’ll have to pay $ 200 to upgrade from 256GB to 512GB, making the price of the eight-core MacBook Air M2 from $ 1,199 to $ 1,399. If that sounds like a lot, you can also get 512GB of storage and 8GB of RAM on the still excellent M1 MacBook Air for $ 1,199 (the same price as the base M2 Air). My real-world comparisons have found that M2 machines are visibly better for use cases with heavy graphics (such as running games), but that their performance differences don’t have a big impact on other tasks (photo editing) and audio, Internet jobs, etc.) that a casual user could do.
We have contacted Apple to comment on these specific results and have not yet received a response. When we asked the company about the different storage configurations for our device review, spokeswoman Michelle Del Rio made the following statement:
Thanks to M2 performance enhancements, the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro are incredibly fast, even compared to Mac laptops with the powerful M1 chip. These new systems use a new higher density NAND that offers 256GB of storage using a single chip. While the benchmarks of the 256GB SSD may show a difference compared to the previous generation, the performance of these M2-based systems for real-world activities is even faster.