This machine is powerful; it has been fantastic for XCode development. However, in 2020, Apple released a new M1 Mac Mini for only $700. My first thought was, “Can it compete with my Hackintosh.”. And yes, not only can it compete, The M1 Mac Mini has a multi-core GeekBench 5 score of 7386. It blows my Hackintosh out of the water, and the The MacBook Air M1 is still a brilliant There have also been reports the 256GB SSD is slow, however, I haven’t been able to test this myself. Battery life is strong enough for a busy Idk Reviews said that it destroys the 256 gb Version is completely garbage but I honestly don’t need more Storage bc I storage my data on Cloud anyway. I have a 16GB/256GB MacBook Air M2 and it boots very fast so it’s not something to worry about. If you can, upgrade to 16GB of RAM first before thinking about extra storage. The base model MacBook Pro is not a good buy. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge. The base model 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM is available to buy right now Prices for the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M1, 2020) start at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$1,999 for the 256GB SSD/8GB RAM model, with the 2TB SSD/16GB RAM model selling for $2,299 / £2,299 / AU$3,499. Both If you multitask heavily, 8GB won't be enough. I've bought the M1 Air with 8GB since I would probably upgrade every two years from now on if Apple keeps up the good work with their Apple Silicon. The £200 extra in this context was hard to justify for extra 8GB RAM, especially since my Air is a secondary device. Testing conducted by Apple in May 2022 using preproduction MacBook Air systems with Apple M2, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD. The Apple TV app movie playback test measures battery life by playing back 1080p HD content with display brightness set to eight clicks from bottom. Battery life varies by use and configuration. The 256GB SSD is about half the speed of the 512GB model, and Butch recommended upgrading the SSD even if you go with the base M2 chip. The MacBook Air M1 is among the best laptops that sell 13" MacBook Air (8GB RAM & 256GB SSD) for $1,000 ($850 refurbished) Pros: Fast build times with future-proof M1 Apple Silicon processor; Fast SSD for opening Xcode projects quickly (many small files) Mobile (Laptop with 13" built-in screen, keyboard & trackpad) Cons: More expensive than the Mac mini (even with peripherals included) While the entry-level with 256 GB storage offers the same space as the M1 MacBook Air’s 256 GB model, Apple has consolidated the storage into a single NAND chipset on the M2 Air, compared to Y3FdIkM.