So far all I’ve done is update to the latest software and browsed safari, watched YouTube, play Raid Shadow Legends and listened to music. Does it all smoothly and I’m impressed how quick everything opens.

However at the back of my mind I’m wondering if I should send it back and spend a bit more for the 512gb model as someone posted on here it’s 50% faster despite no intentions of moving large files. Alternatively for the same price as the 512gb option I can get an M2 MacBook Pro 13” with the Touch Bar - however from what I can see it’s the exact same CPU with worse screen, display area and webcam but does have cooling.

Or should I just be happy with what I have?

I’m paying monthly as it’s like a mobile contract interest free and have about 4 weeks to return it if I change my mind. The other 2 options are an extra £5-6 a month over 4 years (though I get to upgrade for free after 3)

Will the 512gb model make a significant difference to daily basic use for things like web browsing, photography, very light gaming (App Store not your AAA games - those days are long gone), video streaming etc

Oh and lastly sorry - today the brightness is going crazy where it’s dimming all the way to 0. I up it back to 50% and after a minute or so it goes back to 0. It’s just on the bed as you see in the picture so not bright or dark here.

Thank you :)

  • PotatoPCuser1@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Check the auto brightness setting for that brightness issue; if you’re not using the mac for content creation or managing large file libraries, you’re not going to notice an SSD transfer speed difference. It’s faster than my old MBP’s SSD, and this thing is more than acceptable. If you have any questions or problems, Apple and the Apple Store have very good customer support.

  • Nearby_Purchase_2971@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I recommend getting an external SSD for storage if you have a 256gb because I have a 256 M1 air and I’m full on storage especially photos and videos they can take up a lot of space I can’t even update my Mac anymore because of all the photos so I really recommend it

  • clownyboots@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I bought my M2 13” air and it arrived 3 days before the announcements of the M3s - I got 256gb and 24gb of RAM - I work on a machine all day as a super geek so the last thing I want to do is turn on my own laptop, I gave my dad my 2017 MacBook Pro and I upgraded to the M2 - I will say the RAM upgrade makes a world of difference because oof how Apple uses RAM, but my as for the Storage, on the 256 NAND chip, I am still getting 1700MBps to even 2100MBps on smaller files which is nothing to complain about - yes the 512gb is faster because because it’s splits the storage into 2 NAND chips vs 1 so your performance is better because the workload is split - but 1700MBps is plenty fast for me - the RAM you cannot upgrade later so I maxed that out and I bought a 2tb NVME drive and a thunderbolt 4 enclosure (not cheap but worth it) and I get 3400MBps of write speeds to it and I can game or video edit off of that drive without an issue - I debated returning it for the M3s or even the M1 Pro model but I hardly use it for some network troubleshooting or some basic web browsing, so it made no sense to me - form my I7 to the M2, I hands down love this thing and I would say keep the M2 (providing you have enough RAM) that’s the only thing I will always suggest is more RAM because it can’t be upgraded later

    Hope that helps a bit

  • TwitterBan@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    awesome! that’s a great machine to start out your Mac career with! enjoy the f*** out of it!

  • jungkookadobie@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    americans are so lucky ya’ll can even get monthly payments on a MAC. in uk only sky and their credit check is the tightest of all

  • Elbarto_007@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Nice!

    I got my 13 inch 24GB 2TB MacBook Air in silver on Wednesday. It’s awesome. So portable for travelling.

  • LazyButAmbitiousLOL@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    For your use case, the slower ssd speeds won’t be noticeable. Don’t waste time FOMOing. Instead, shower your new, beautiful, and sleek macbook air with lots of love!

  • compaqdeskpro@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    The brightness may behave like that if your using it in the dark, it should figure out what you want and stop fighting you eventually. Did you put tape on the webcam? That could cause it. This may not be the laptop for you if you’re broke. You should be able to get 16GB of RAM and 500GB of storage in a Windows laptop for around $550. If you do buy an external hard drive, make sure its an SSD, no spinning hard drives, they will eat your pictures.