What is the main difference between M1 and M2?

Today, many of the users are attracted to the Apple ecosystem, usually beginning with an iPhone at discounted prices on online platforms. Once they get a feel of how smoothly integrated and user-friendly an iPhone is, they want more of the Apple products in the form of MacBooks, AirPods, and iPads. This desire to build a complete Apple ecosystem is very common these days. Because it offers them a very cohesive, efficient, and streamlined environment for working and personal use.

MacBook Air with M1 and M2 processor

The MacBook Air M1 was first introduced in November 2020, marking the beginning of the new Apple transition from Intel to their Apple Silicon chip. Among the features that are now coming with it is the M1 chip which had changed everything regarding performance and efficiency for the MacBooks. The M1 MacBook Air comes in three colors: Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. It does not use a fan and, therefore, runs silently, using the passive cooling system, this is what is unique in this laptop.

The MacBook Air M2 was unveiled in June 2022 as the sequel model of the original M1. It comes with all the improvements that a user wants to see, along with improvements in performance and a new design characteristic with a flat and updated approach from the traditional wedge shape. M2 MacBook Air comes with Four colors: Silver, Space Gray, Starlight (warm, pale gold), and Midnight (very dark, almost black blue). The M2 model also brought MagSafe charging for the laptop. Additionally, this model came with a brighter and larger display than the model M1.

Both of these are lighter and easier to carry, so they are perfect for students, professionals, or casual users to take with them to college, work, or where they are needed.

Main difference between MacBook Air M1 and M2

The M1 and M2 MacBook Air are both powerful Apple laptops, but they vary in what they offer concerning performance, design, and features. Let’s compare both and outline the main differences between each of these models:

1. Performance:

• Apple M1 MacBook Air One can enjoy the Apple M1 chip, with 8 cores for CPU and up to 8 cores for GPU. It is fast and energy-efficient, handling pretty well most tasks of daily, and even light video editing and playing games.
• MacBook Air M2 chip has 8 CPU cores (4 performance, 4 efficiency), as well as up to 10 GPU cores. The M2 is theoretically around 18% faster on the CPU and up to 35% faster on the GPU than the M1. It also has better memory bandwidth, which makes it really well-suited for heavier tasks such as video editing in 4K or graphic design.

2. Design:

• M1 MacBook Air is traditional wedge-shaped, very thin and lightweight design.
• M2 MacBook Air is new flat design, same thickness across; thinner as well as lighter than the M1 model at 1.24 kg versus the M1 at 1.29 kg It is available in four colors: Midnight, Starlight, Silver, and Space Gray.

3. Display

• M1 MacBook Air comprises of a 13.3-inch Retina display with 400 nits of brightness.
• M2 MacBook Air boasts a slightly larger 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with 500 nits of brightness. The bezels are thinner, and it is built to portray more than 1 billion colors, making for a brighter and more vibrant display.

4. Battery Life:

• M1 MacBook Air gives up to 18 hours of battery life
• M2 MacBook Air is slightly more efficient, but still offers up to 18 hours but with enhanced power management under load

5. Storage and RAM:

• M1 MacBook Air has 8GB RAM and storage 256GB upgradable to 16GB of RAM and 2TB storage.
• M2 MacBook Air has 8GB unified memory, 256GB of storage, and upgradable up to 24GB of RAM and 2TB storage which makes it more flexible to use for a power user.

6. Ports and Connectivity:

• M1 MacBook Air comes with 2 Thunderbolt 3/USB 4, 1×3.5mm headphone jack, and Wi-Fi 6.
• M2 MacBook Air is similar to M1 MacBook Air, comes with 2 Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack that now supports high-impedance headphones, and Wi-Fi 6; in addition, it has MagSafe charging that frees up one of the USB-C ports when charging.

7. Camera and Audio:

• M1 MacBook Air has 720p FaceTime HD camera, along with a 3-mic array and stereo speakers.
• M2 MacBook Air has 1080p FaceTime HD camera, four-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio, and better microphone quality.

8. Price:

• M1 MacBook Air is slightly more reasonably priced because it starts at around $999 USD.
• M2 MacBook Air is priced high at $1,199, as this reflects upgraded performance and design also all the features mentioned above. This is why the MacBook Air M2 is so expensive. And the Price of MacBook Air M2 in India is 77990 INR in Flipkart which comes with 8gb ram and 256gb SSD in Oct 2024 Festive sale. This is the least price till date sold in India. M2 Air ranges up to 124900 INR for 8gb Ram and 1TB SSD.