I Switched Back to Intel for a WEEK from the M2 Max Apple Silicon!

48 Comments

1. 👀I switched to an iPhone Xr for a week!: https://youtu.be/bT0Pc3ImlNI
   🛍Buy the M2 Air: https://geni.us/Q0Zcy
   🛍Buy the 14" MacBook Pro: https://geni.us/rFrab
   🛍Buy the 16" MacBook Pro: https://geni.us/Hsn1PtM

2. probably the reason why it was an ebay special… seems like a hardware issue to me

3. Fun fact: watching Jerry in this video saying "the fans are going nuts" while my fans are going nuts too😂
   I'm still using the 2018 Air; it has been perfect for my needs, but now it has become really annoying: even watching YouTube videos is pretty laggy!
   I'm trying to decide whether to buy a 15" Air or go crazier with the 14" Pro. 👋👋

4. silicon macs spoiled us BIG TIME. They are like iphones vs pigeon post

5. So you love getting new MacBooks do you. Let tell mate so do i but the difference between you and me is, That’s right you guessed it MONEY YouTube must be a very lucrative business is that why you want us nobodies to subscribe all the time???????

6. Welcome to Apple Planned obsolescence! Iam sure when this macbook air was launched was a lot more snappy

7. Mac book air 2018 ,not mac book pro 2018

   Pro 2018 +i7+ 16 ram
   Is good pc
   Not m1-2 lavel but good
   Air 2018 is garbage

8. Wow. Such comparison. Why didn't you pick up a 14" i7 to compare? Goofy.

9. 9:46 Not even my 2011 15 inch was that slow and laggy with google docs, when I switched to the M1 Pro 16 inch the change was just insane.

10. I am a programmer i own macbook pro 2019 i5 8th gen 500 gb variant
    i have no issues in launching applications like IntelliJ IDEA and npm management console
    Docker desktop jenkins server

    Everything runs flawless
    fans aren’t blasting loud, no lag or heating issues unless you use it on a flat desk
    I work in Non air conditioned environment so

    Macbook pro 13 inch i5 16 gb Ram with 500 gb is worth having it after 4 years

    Battery cycle count on 651 can squeeze the energy for 6 hours

11. Why do you store so much on your actual machine? Surely some of that could be offloaded to a NAS?

12. Can’t even lie, I miss the touchbar and butterfly keyboard

13. Been using a 2018 MacBook Pro from work. Constantly running Figma, protopie, adobe CC (mostly indesign, illustrator, photoshop, lightroom and after effects), Final Cut; I’m doing A LOT of creative work. That thing was constantly chugging. Just got an M2 pro and my god what a difference.

14. bro had 8gb of trash lol

15. in all due respect, this video is a very awful way to compare intel vs m2. you choose the least powerful intel macbook from the butterfly keyboard era, and compared it to a macbook pro M2… i would like to see how this would be done with say a 2019/2018 macbook pro with at least a core i7 and a bit bigger internal storage, not 128gb!!! I have a 2015 macbook pro with a quad core i7, and even that is more powerful than a 2018 macbook air with a dual core i5.

16. While I'm sure the performance jump between Intel and Apple Silicon is huge, for that laptop it shouldn't be so huge, so I suspect there might be something wrong with that specific machine.

17. Comparing a Macbook Air with a budget cpu to a Macbook Pro with a M2 Max is certainly a very very equal comparison……

18. Your issues look like they are caused more by lack of ram rather than CPU issues. An Intel MacBook with 16 or 32gb ram would do a lot better.

19. mac air dual-core Intel Core i5 processor is slow

20. "I do not have many applications open"
    Proceeds to list the whole App Store

21. I have a 2015 model MacBook Pro 15 inch. I agree with your comments on the video editing etc but for everything else i find it perfectly fine, the same for my iMac 2014 model. It’s only 4k video editing that slows it down for me.

22. 2018 macbook air 8gb ram 128gb ssd (bed)
    2022 macbook air 16gb ram 512gb ssd (on the go)
    i3 12100f 32gb ram rtx 2060 super 1tb m.2 980 pro
    my m2 laptop is in my bag 5 feet away from me. in bed atm so i. on m. 2018 air the apps what i have open is chrome firefox micosoft remote desktop spoitfly.
    i also do have photoshop open with a 12k file open atm the min so my fan is going a little but and i seeing a little bit of. alag i think my laptop is downloading a macos update aswell just close photo shop 2 secs a ago so the lag have stop fully i can type as fast i want and it wont lag.
    i use the 2018 air mainly for You tube twitch google drive (netfliex ….)
    i do find safrai to be laggy but chrome and firefox is not laggy at all.
    broke my m2 air last year need a laptop for temp used when. i. got that fix (stud on the screen) so i gotton this one july 2022 since then i just used this laptop in bed
    would. ireccomend the 2018 air yes and no depends what you trying to used it for just watchen video then yes it handle 4k playback no problemwould i reccomend it for school work yes as a chrome book can do that but with a mac you. get a full desktop os for stuff like office even 4k photoshop works if you dont mind a little bit of lag
    I did hug up this laptop to a 4k tv to bin watch an anime ran like it would smothly video was not choppy
    would i reccomend this for stuff what i use my m2 for photo shop 12k project file lightroom classic 30-50 photos no i would not reccomend my m2 for that because all i paid for really with the m2 air was the newdisgn and a little bit faster profomese over the m1 and that would of handle my work flow profect the phone what i using now is the s23+ in raw mode unless i know i dont care about the colours that much on a hoto i posting. if you going do seriose work i would reccomend a pc or a higher end mac.
    OUTCOME DEPENDS ON YOUR NEEDS BEING NOT DEMANDING THE I WOULD RECCOMEND THIS LAPTOP

23. Hi Jerry, I’m a new subscriber but I’ve watched a number of your videos. I know this video is “2 weeks” old at this point, but I’d appreciate any advice you can give, as I have only a couple of days left to return a Mac to Apple for a full refund.

    I’m coming from a 2012 13” inch non-retina MacBook Pro hooked up to a Thunderbolt Display, and a 2010 27” iMac. I do graphic and web design work, some screencast video work for clients and a lot of very large spreadsheet work managing e-commerce datasets.

    After a long deliberation of what new Apple Silicon Mac to buy, and on the strength of two of your videos from last summer, on April 1 (perhaps foolishly 😊) I decided to buy an Apple refurbished 2020 27” Intel iMac, 16GB/2TB, i7, 5500XT with 10GbE, for about a 40% discount. Great machine, but given that it’s 2023, I’m wondering if I made a mistake, and should instead get a refurbished M2 MacBook Air 8C/10G, 24GB/1TB, for $200 less than the iMac, though hooked up to my Thunderbolt Display, with a couple of extra dongles for now, and a monitor mount for Continuity Camera. I’ll need a laptop for remote work this summer, (I painfully used my 2012 for the same work last summer) but I’d want the new one to only be a secondary machine afterwards, and still have desktop, maybe an M2 Max Studio if it comes out. I only have the budget for one machine right now though. Or should I keep the Intel iMac (for 6 or 7 years) and stretch a bit more to get a lower spec M1 MBA as well? 🤷‍♂️ A bit of FOMO either way.

    Thanks for your informative videos, and for any advice you can give.

24. Fun fact: The performance of the 2018 Air is actually a fair bit worse than the 2017 model as it has to constantly render 2x as many pixels due to the Retina display.

    My old 2017 Air wasn't great but it wasn't as bad as the one in this vid haha

25. how about the 2019 MBP 16” i7-9

26. I still use my 2013 21.5” i5 iMac,
    2020 27” Intel i9 iMac,
    & I use my 2021 16” M1 Max MBP on the go.
    My MacBook’s better for video editing.
    My 27” iMac is better for music production.
    Both seem the same.
    Performance is still very good.
    I boot off external NMVe drives with SK Hynix & Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD’s with both.
    My 21.5” iMac is still great because I put a new SSD drive & added the max amount of RAM but can’t handle heavy, heavy Logic Pro or Final Cut .
    Intel MacBook Air’s are good for using internet only.

    Ultimately you should know by now that old Intel MacBook’s suck.

27. Interesting video! I was kinda surprised by how performance-lacking you found that 2018 MBA to be, although I suspect that Apple intentionally nerfed the performance of the last generation of Intel MacBooks to make their M-series Macs seem a lot faster by comparison. I'm fairly convinced that there is something wrong with that Mac, however, since it shouldn't perform so poorly. I'm still rolling a late-2013 15" MBP i7-4850QH 16GB of RAM with 2GB Nvidia discreet graphics here as my daily driver. Even though this old Mac is no longer supported by Apple, I'm still holding out on moving up to something newer since it still runs the apps I need and has some life left in it thanks to the OCLP project. It sure can't work with 4K video or HDR content but works for my photo editing and online work and isn't a complete slouch — it even seems much faster than the 18'Air in the video. Of course, I will have to upgrade when Apple finally ditches all Intel support at the end of the transition period. Where it does fall flat on its face is with the very limited battery life, although being able to slap a 2TB NVMe drive in it is still a strong point.

28. personally, I have the 16" MacBook Pro with Intel Core I7, and I do love this machine despite the changed motherboard twice not within the warranty period 🥲 800$, but for this money you can't buy something better from Apple in 16-inch size 🙂

29. Hi Jerry, It's great to see how things have evolved over time! I did want to share some feedback, though. I personally prefer a more minimalistic style and found the transitions between shots to be a bit distracting and annoying. Of course, this is just my opinion, and I understand that everyone has different preferences.

30. I have an M1 Mac Mini, and also a 2018 Intel i5 with 16GB of RAM and I bounce between both of them depending on my location. Final Cut, Pixelmator, Capture One, all work fine on both setups. The 2018 MacBook is a little slower, but nothing prohibitive. Note that I definitely single-task… but that’s my preferred way of working regardless of computer (single-task focus). I think the issues you’re having are due to 8GB of RAM and running many apps at the same time.

31. I have a 2018 MBA same specs just a 256gb and while I don't edit videos, mine is not that slow opening things. I play steam games and while that makes the fan spin all the way up it doesn't lag. idk I think something may have been wrong with yours. mine isn't that slow

32. For what I do professionally, this can work for me. I'm not a video editor or creator, so this can work just fine

33. Spoiler alert: No

34. Nice and interesting video. I have been using a 2018 MacBook Air with the 16 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 processor, 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 memory and 500 GB SSD memory. (Basically the upgraded version of what you purchased) However, I augmented my system with the Blackmagic eGPU RX580 using the Radeon Pro 580 8 GB graphic card. (on eBay almost new for $480 way back in the day). I also have a Caldigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub so coupled with the BlackMagic eGPU, I have all the legacy ports I could want or use) Finally, I added the Apple Studio Display monitor last year. I am still using this system as my primary system & coupled with my 2018 12.9" iPad Pro, I have all the screen display "Real estate" area that I need as well. OK, so how does this system compare.

    Maybe it is the extra RAM or mainly the eGPU but I have experienced NO typing lag or browser lag. Using the Safari Browser performance test, "Speedometer 2.0", my score was 104 and with an internet connection that gives a rating of 240 Mbps download performance, trust me, browsing speed has not been a problem. (Although I have seen faster Internet browsing speed on my iPhone 14 Pro max using a true 5G signal. Impressive.)

    Although I do not use FCPx all that much anymore (Not as good as you are. My compliments to a Professional Video Blogger), WAY BACK in the day, I did post a YouTube video "Air Display 2 experiment" that received 63K views. Still, I do use FCPx occasionally to give a video to friends and when I do, my system with the eGPU gives an acceptable effort but no where near the level the latest M series MacBook's provide. (It almost makes me envious.)

    All in all, with the Studio Display and the eGPU, I have been able to put off upgrading my home system – perhaps next year, I may buy an M3 MacBook Air or Pro. Still, I have learned over the years that any laptop that I purchase will be based upon "how much can I afford to lose if my laptop breaks down "out in the wild" away from my desk so it will probably be an "Air".

    In summary, my system does not exhibit any of your recent 2018 MBA negative experiences. (Geekbench 5.1 results: 823 single core, 1617 multi-core ) tuning the latest GeekBench for Windows testing a Parallels Desktop 18 VM of the latest Win 11 build, the scores were 736 and 1189 for single and multi-core, respectively. (Quite acceptable Windows performance for the very infrequent times I use Window's apps.)  

    BTW, one of the main reasons that I still use an Intel based Mac is to run a Windows VM and since both Apple and Windows main apps have been optimized to fully exploit the performance of an eGPU, my system's current performance has allowed me to delay upgrading to a "M Class" Mac computer.

    Finally, I usually get only about 5 hrs battery life but I rarely – RARELY – encounter audible fan noise. (usually if that happens, it is when I am using my Windows VM.)

35. maybe if you had low power mode on it would last roughly 30 more minutes!

    Good video

36. Oh.. i never had Intel Mac, but that looks like any other windows ever i usted. Thanks crack

37. RIP battery life

38. I sold my 2018 Air and bought the M2 Air mid tier and would never go back 🙂

39. Jerry, maybe it lags because you run screen recording? This overload CPU and GPU massively. On everyday use anyone run screen recording.

40. On Mojave my Air 2018 works much much better. For example Google Docs opened up two/three times faster and no lag when typing. Glad, that i am not updated to the newer MacOS! And i dont hearing fan almost 100% of time, only when run Cinebench, when installing programs.

41. Thanks for the video! I replaced my old MacBook with a Mac Studio last year and I wondered if for these few days a year a laptop would be handy if I could get by with an older model. I guess the answer is no – or at least I should not get this model. 🙂

42. I had a 2018 MBP 15' the butterfly keyboard was the worst thing ever. It broke down on me and I was able to get a replacement where I have my 2019 16'

43. Personally, I loved the butterfly keyboard, I did not love the issues with it, thought. My typing speed was much higher, over time I have gotten used to the click-clack of the M1 16". You did, most likely, run into slowness due to SSD speed and maybe lack of memory. We have upgraded, in the household, to M1, and I am getting ready for an upgrade to M2 for my work laptop (upgrade from M1 MBPro 13.3" to 16" is going to a game changer for me). These MBAs are great for web browsing and for light work, like for at home, which they were always meant for.

44. I can’t stand this ridiculous looking notch Apple has on their MacBook and iPhone screens.

45. Pointless video. I don't feel this comparison is fair or appropriate in any way: a 14" MacBook Pro can't be compared with an Intel MacBook Air 2019, which was an entry-level device designed for one-core daily tasks (and it's still fine for that, I got one of this besides my MBA M1 2020). A much more interesting comparison would be between a MBP 14" and MBP 15" from 2018 (both of them were conceived for video editors like you). And that argument leads me to my second gripe with this video (with almost 80 % of tech youtubbers, actually): bro, the vast majority of us watcher don't do video-editing and don't care about that. And that doesn't translate into a 'light' use case, whatever that means: I don't do video-editing with my M1 MBA and sometimes this (otherwise amazing) device struggles to keep up with my work.

46. Totally understand some of the creativity issues with an "older" laptop – but besides my current M1 Mac mini, I use a 2015 MacBook Pro – for almost all tasks (including sending emails, etc for work) the two computers respond exactly the same with none of the lag you mention. Granted – I could not perform any of the creative tasks you showed were hampered (useless on the intel) on my 2015 MacBook Pro – so I agree with you there. However, for most mundane tasks, a older MacBook is perfectly fine.

47. Some of those tasks may be doable on apple silicon MBA's, but there's no way you're going to edit 4k on a 2018 MBA lol. And maybe 2 or 3 apps are okay, but having 5-7 apps running is of course going to slow down a 5 year old computer significantly.

48. I hate this type of video on YouTube