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satysin | 2 years ago

I personally use a 16" 2023 M2 Max MBP maxed out and it is honestly god like.

However a good friend of mine uses the latest M2 powered Air with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD (the 24GB upgrade so a stretch too far for him) and I have to say it is a damn good machine and I could use it without much trouble. It doesn't throttle nearly as much as you would think for a fanless unit. Obviously it isn't as fast and he does hit swap when under a heavy workload whereas I am yet to hit swap but I also have 64GB vs his 16GB.

So to answer your question. Yes I think the Air is an excellent development machine for 'up-to and maybe a little over' a "heavy-medium" development workload. If you're doing a lot on the machine then you will hit its limits for sure but if you're just running Xcode and a simulator or two, etc. or PyCharm and docker, etc. you will be just fine.

If you're doing anything GPU heavy it isn't a great option but other than that I highly recommend it.

However I suggest you look at the total price once you add in 24GB RAM and more SSD storage (at least 1TB imho) vs the 14" MacBook Pro. There isn't a huge difference between them yet the 14" Pro is basically as good as my 16" for most things. Especially if you can find a good returned unit on sale cheap via the Apple Refurb store. The machines are as good as new, same warranty, etc. Well worth checking out.

discuss

lifeinthevoid|2 years ago

I'm hoping the next generation Macbook Airs will have 16GB RAM by default, I just can't get myself to spend EUR230 to get the 16GB upgrade.

satysin|2 years ago

16GB base would be nice but given Apple wanting to keep the entry price as low as possible I can't see it happening for a few more years. On the plus side I do find the 8GB unified memory design makes an 8GB Apple Silicon system "feel" like a 16GB Intel/AMD system in terms of memory use. It isn't identical and you can notice the difference at times but an 8GB Windows/Intel laptop such as a Dell XPS side by side with an 8GB MacBook Air and the Air feels a far better machine over all when using it normally.