The new $1,199 MacBook Air M2 has the same chip as the new $1,299 MacBook Pro M2, so it’s natural to wonder if the Pro is faster — and if it justifies the $100 premium on Air.
Now that our MacBook Air M2 review is live, we wanted to share our benchmark results and show you how the new Air stacks up against the new 13-inch MacBook Pro in a range of tests, including overall performance, SSD speed, graphics, and more.
As you will see below and in the comparison between MacBook Air M2 and MacBook Pro M2, the MacBook Air compares well with the MacBook Pro, but the Pro is ahead when it comes to intensive tasks like video editing. And there is a huge battery life gap between these two portable devices.
Editor’s note: Apple sent us a $1,899 higher configuration of the Air with a 10-core GPU, as opposed to the entry-level model with an 8-core GPU. Pro has a 10-core GPU by default. We’ll update this comparison as soon as we have results for the base model Air.
Geekbench 5 (overall performance)
| MacBook Air M2 | MacBook Pro M2 | |
| single core | 1,932 | 1,898 |
| multicore | 8919 | 8911 |
In Geekbench 5.4, which measures overall performance, the MacBook Air M2 reached 1932 on the single-core CPU test and 8919 on the multi-core processor. That’s 11% faster on a single core and 17% faster with a dual-core MacBook Air M1 processor. The MacBook Pro M2 was on par with the Air M2, albeit a little later, coming in at 1898 and 8911 in the same single and multi-core tests.
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test (SSD Speed)
| MacBook Air M2 | MacBook Pro M2 | |
| reading speed | 2800 Mbps | 2794 Mbps |
| Writing speed | 2210 Mbps | 2953 Mbps |
We see an interesting contrast with the SSD within each of these systems. In this case the MacBook Air M2 delivered a read speed that was faster than the Pro M2 at 2800 for 2794MB/s.
But the MacBook Pro M2 had a significantly faster average write speed, coming in at 2,953MB/s compared to 2,210MB/s for the MacBook Air M2. Apple sent us a 1TB version of the Air, so we’ll be back to visit when we test the 256GB model.
Handbrake (video conversion icon)
| MacBook Air M2 | MacBook Pro M2 | |
| time (minute: second) | 7:52 | 6:51 |
In the Handbrake Video Editing Test, which includes transcoding a 4K video, the new MacBook Air M2 took 7 minutes and 52 seconds to complete the workload. The previous Air M1 needed 9:15, so this is a huge improvement. However, the MacBook Pro M2, which features active cooling for better sustainable performance, took a minute less than the new Air at 6:51.
Pugetbench for Adobe CC Photoshop
| MacBook Air M2 | MacBook Pro M2 | |
| result | 821 | 817 |
| time (minute: second) | 4:49 | 4:54 |
The Pugetbench Photoshop Test includes a wide range of general tasks, including opening an 18MP file, a RAW image, resizing to 500MB, rotating, selecting the magic wand, and more. It also includes several filter tasks, such as Camera Raw Filter, Lens Correction, Reduce Noise, and Smart Sharpen.
The Air M2 scored 821 points versus the Pro M2’s 817 and finished faster with a time of 4 minutes 49 seconds, compared to 4:54 for the Pro. However, some of the tasks mentioned above benefit from GPU acceleration, so the base model MacBook Air M2’s GPU performance will likely be worse than the results you see here.
Pugetbench Premiere Pro (video editing)
| MacBook Air M2 | MacBook Pro M2 | |
| result | 452 | 552 |
The Pugetbench Premiere Pro benchmark evaluates video editing performance using a wide range of tests. This includes applying the Lumetri Color effect on two 59.94fps clips, a 2x forward test with four clips to simulate performance when running at 2x speed, a 4x forward test with 8 clips and a MultiCam test.
Standard Sequence is also used to test export performance with the “Youtube 2160p 4K Ultra HD” (H.264, 4K, 40Mbps) preset as well as export to 4K ProRes.
That sounds like a lot of heavy lifting, and indeed the MacBook Pro M2 is the winner here with a score of 552 to 452 for the Air M2.
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Games)
| MacBook Air M2 | MacBook Pro M2 | |
| High accuracy | 27.38 fps (1920 x 1200) | 24.94 (1920 x 1200) |
| higher resolution | 15.26 fps (2940 x 1912) | 12.23 (2880 x 1800) |
In the Rise of the Tomb Raider gaming benchmark, the MacBook Air M2 scored a higher 27 fps at a resolution of 1920 x 1200, compared to 25 fps for the MacBook Pro. And there was a slightly bigger gap once we bumped it up to a higher resolution with the Air hitting 15.2fps to 12.2fps for the Pro.
Again, though, this is with a 10-core GPU, so we’re just showing you what the Air can do when you get to the top of it. We expect the entry-level 8-core GPU model to offer lower frame rates than the Pro.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (Games)
| MacBook Air M2 | MacBook Pro M2 | |
| Frame rate (highest resolution) | 40.4 fps (1470 x 956) | 51.1 fps (1440 x 900) |
The MacBook Pro M2 advanced in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, hitting 51.1 fps with the resolution set to 1440 x 900. The MacBook Air M2 turned out to be 40 fps at a slightly higher resolution. (It’s the closest thing the Pro has to offer.)
Battery life (web browsing test)
This is where the MacBook Pro really stands out. In Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which includes continuous web browsing at 150 nits of screen brightness, the MacBook Air M2 lasted an excellent 14 hours and 6 minutes. In general, anything over 10 hours in this test is very good.
However, the MacBook Pro M2 lasted longer at 18:20 thanks to its larger battery. This is the longest-lived laptop we’ve ever tested at Tom’s Guide.
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The MacBook Air M2 is one of the best laptops out there, which can clearly stand against the MacBook Pro M2 when it comes to general performance and tasks like photo editing. And at least with the more expensive 10-core GPU, the new Air can meet or even surpass the Pro M2 in graphics and gaming. However, we’ll need to re-test the Air’s entry-level configuration to see how it actually stacks up against the Pro.
Even with this feature, though, the MacBook Pro M2 delivered stronger video encoding and video editing performance in the benchmarks we used. The Pro M2 survived the off-air test of its battery life.
Overall, I think the MacBook Air M2 delivers excellent performance, and there are plenty of reasons to choose it over the Pro, including its larger screen, Full HD webcam, and MagSafe charging. But the Pro clearly has the edge in performance and endurance.
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