Malcolm Owen
The first Geekbench 5 results for the M2 chip in the MacBook Air have surfaced, indicating that users should see the same performance as in the new 13-inch MacBook Pro for typical usage.
The initial wave of M2-equipped Apple Silicon devices, the updated MacBook Air and the upgraded 13-inch MacBook Pro have the potential to differ in performance due to variations in cooling. However, an initial benchmark of the M2 MacBook Air seems to indicate that the difference may not be felt that much by users.
According to the Geekbench 5 result spotted by Twitter user "Mr. Macintosh," the first M2 MacBook Air result has appeared in the benchmark tool's online browser. Performed on Friday, the result for the "Mac14,2" indicates a single-core score of 1,899 and a multi-core score of 8,965.
The results are in the same ballpark as found by AppleInsider in its review of the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Under the same tests, the MacBook Pro managed 1,928 in the single-core test and 8,990 in the multi-core.
While there is a minimal difference in results between the two chips, the benchmarks show that there should be very little difference in performance between the models, at least in terms of everyday use.
Tools like Geekbench are explicitly designed to introduce pauses in workflow, which give a closer simulation to day-to-day workflows than an extended processing run.
The active cooling in the MacBook Pro will mean it will win out over longer sustained processing sessions due to having better thermal management than the passively-cooled MacBook Air. At the same stroke, users who seek high performance with minimal throttling will tend to opt for more powerful systems to begin with.
For regular use on low-processing tasks, the MacBook Air still remains the better option of the two models.
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19 Comments
The most “real world” test for this will be sustained performance. Hopefully the new design dissipates heat better than any previous fanless design to date.
As pointed out in the headline AI article "MacBook Air vs 13-inch MacBook Pro: Which M2 MacBook to buy" there is very little use case for the 13" MacBook Pro.
Price-wise and performance-wise the Air and 13" Pro are a wash when similarly equipped. The Air has some significant advantages for weight, and camera. The Pro really only is for those who absolutely must have the Touch Bar. As this technology is being phased out by Apple and few developers support it, this is a vanishingly small number. The other issue is active cooling. Once again very few people really will use their system under heavy load for long periods. Most of us will do things that push our system for a few seconds to a minute, and then be done. Most of the time the chip will be working just above idle. What's more if you are going to be really hammering on your system, you'll almost certainly want to upgrade storage and RAM raising the price significantly. At that point the larger MacBook Pro is a reasonable alternative that gives you a bigger and brighter screen, more ports, a better camera, in a more powerful system.
For a few the 13" Pro is the best solution. For most though it will come down to the Air or the 14" Pro.
Just checked the Apple Store and they're only selling the binned M1 version (8/7) but as an entry level device, the base M1 configuration would still be a better, faster device than the base M2 and at a much lower cost. The M1 uses two NAND storage chips (possibly in a hardware RAID configuration) while the M2 with 256GB storage uses a single NAND storage chip, causing much slower R/W speeds. Upgrading to the 512GB version brings back two NAND storage chips and fast R/W speeds. Many consumers only purchase the base configuration so the older model is actually fine for less money than the new M2 MBA.
If you want to use a laptop for production work then get a 14" or 16" MBP. Yes, the MBA can do production work and can do it much better than the old Intel versions but it's really not made for this market so I wish people would understand that (@DAalseth mentions this above and is absolutely correct). The MBA would serve as a very good business travel laptop, especially when used with an iPhone with a cellular plan that gives you plenty of hotspot data. The entry level, M1 or M2, would also be fine for most educational users although some would definitely benefit from the power of the larger MBPs. As for heat, I've never liked having an Intel Mac laptop on my lap except in the winter. They were always hot. My MBA has never even been warm with anything I've done on it.