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M2 Mac mini vs. M1 MacBook Air: Full specs comparison

We thoroughly analyzed technical specifications for M2 Mac mini and M1 MacBook Air models, including CPU, memory, storage, battery life, display quality, and other features.

Compare With Please enter device name or part of it M2 Mac mini See at Amazon See at Apple	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it M1 MacBook Air See at Amazon

M2 Mac mini Pros

Reasons that M2 Mac mini is better than M1 MacBook Air.

2023 vs. 2020

Apple M2 Pro (12C, 19G) inside M2 Mac mini has a 100% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Apple M1 (8C, 8G) inside M1 MacBook Air.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score

M2 Mac mini - Apple M2 Pro (10C, 16G)

14,899

M2 Mac mini - Apple M2 Pro (12C, 19G)

14,899

M2 Mac mini - Apple M2 (8C, 10G)

8,819

M1 MacBook Air - Apple M1 (8C, 7G)

7,414

M1 MacBook Air - Apple M1 (8C, 8G)

7,414

M2 Mac mini supports a larger memory capacity than the M1 MacBook Air. It supports up to 32GB versus 16GB of system memory on the M1 MacBook Air.

Max system memory size

M2 Mac mini

32 GB

M1 MacBook Air

16 GB

M2 Mac mini weighed 2.6 pounds, 8% lighter than the 2.8 pounds M1 MacBook Air.

Weight	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Pound	2.6 lbs.	2.8 lbs.
Kilogram	1.18 kg	1.27 kg

M2 Mac mini has more ports and slots count than the M1 MacBook Air. It has ten versus three amount of ports and slots on the M1 MacBook Air.

Ports	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
HDMI	Yes	No
headphone jack	Yes	Yes
power port	Yes	No
RJ-45	Yes	No
Thunderbolt 3	No	Yes x2
Thunderbolt 4	Yes x4	No
USB-A	Yes x2	No
Total	10	3

M2 Mac mini has better versatile I/O connectivity than the M1 MacBook Air. It has six versus two commonly used ports and slots on the M1 MacBook Air.

Ports	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
headphone jack	Yes	Yes
HDMI	Yes	No
power port	Yes	No
RJ-45	Yes	No
Thunderbolt 3	No	Yes
Thunderbolt 4	Yes	No
USB-A	Yes	No

M1 MacBook Air Pros

We couldn't find any advantages of M1 MacBook Air over M2 Mac mini.

Prices

Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.

M2 Mac mini Price
	Apple 2023 Mac Mini Desktop Computer M2 chip with 8‑core CPU and 10‑core GPU, 8GB Unified Memory, 256GB SSD Storage, Gigabit Ethernet. Works with iPhone/iPad By Apple $499.00 $599.00 17% OFF	See at Amazon
	Apple Mac Mini Desktop Computer, M2 Chip with 8-Core CPU and 10-Core GPU, 16GB Memory, 512GB SSD, Early 2023 By Apple $995.99	See at Amazon
	2023 Apple Mac with Apple M2 Chip with 8-core CPU (8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) (QWERTY English) Silver (Renewed) By Apple $474.48	See at Amazon
M1 MacBook Air Price
	Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed) By Apple $619.00	See at Amazon
	Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed) By Apple $599.97 $638.00 6% OFF	See at Amazon
	Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed) By Apple $934.98	See at Amazon

Availability	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Released	2023	2020
Release Date	Announced on January 17, 2023. Available on January 24, 2023.	Announced on November 10th, 2020
Pricing	$599 M2, 8C CPU, 10C GPU, 8GB, 256GB $799 M2, 8C CPU, 10C GPU, 8GB, 512GB $1,299 M2 Pro, 10C CPU, 16C GPU, 16GB, 512GB $1,599 M2 Pro, 12C CPU, 19C GPU, 16GB, 512GB $1,999 M2 Pro, 12C CPU, 19C GPU, 32GB, 512GB $2,199 M2 Pro, 12C CPU, 19C GPU, 32GB, 1TB $2,599 M2 Pro, 12C CPU, 19C GPU, 32GB, 2TB $3,199 M2 Pro, 12C CPU, 19C GPU, 32GB, 2TB $4,399 M2 Pro, 12C CPU, 19C GPU, 32GB, 8TB $4,499 M2 Pro, 12C CPU, 19C GPU, 32GB, 8TB, 10GbE	$999 Apple M1 Chip (7 cores GPU) \| 8GB RAM \| 256GB SSD $1,249 Apple M1 Chip (8 cores GPU) \| 8GB RAM \| 512GB SSD
Generations	2023 M2 Mac mini 2020 M1 Mac mini	2022 M2 MacBook Air 2020 M1 MacBook Air 2020 Intel MacBook Air MacBook Air 13” 2019 MacBook Air 13” 2018 MacBook Air 13” 2017 MacBook Air 13” 2015 MacBook Air 13” 2014 MacBook Air 13” 2013

Exterior	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Size Comparison	M2 Mac miniM1 MacBook Air
Dimensions	7.75” x 7.75” x 1.41” (197 mm x 197 mm x 35.8 mm)	Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm) Depth: 8.36 inches (21.24 cm) Height: 0.16–0.63 inch (0.41–1.61 cm)
Weight	2.6 lbs. (1.18 kg) M2 2.8 lbs. (1.28 kg) M2 Pro	Starting at 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg)
Colors	Silver	Gold Space Gray Silver
Keyboard and Trackpad	-	Backlit Magic Keyboard with: 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement Ambient light sensor Force Touch trackpad for precise cursor control and pressure-sensing capabilities; enables Force clicks, accelerators, pressure-sensitive drawing, and Multi-Touch gestures

Display	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Size	-	13.3 Inches
Info	-	Retina display 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors Supported scaled resolutions: 1680 by 1050 1440 by 900 1024 by 640 16:10 aspect ratio 400 nits brightness Supports wide color (P3) True Tone technology

Ports	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Image Source: Apple Back (10) 1 x power port 1 x RJ-45 1 Gbps, Configurable to 10 Gbps 2 x Thunderbolt 4 40 Gpbs, USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), DisplayPort 1.4, Power Delivery 2 x Thunderbolt 4 40 Gpbs, USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), DisplayPort 1.4, Power Delivery, M2 Pro only, Optional 1 x HDMI v2.0 on M2, v2.1 on M2 Pro 2 x USB-A USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) 1 x headphone jack Headphone/Microphone	Image Source: Apple Left (2) 2 x Thunderbolt 3 40 Gpbs, USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), Charging, DisplayPort Right (1) 1 x headphone jack Headphone/Microphone

Internal Specs	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Processor	Apple M2 (8C, 10G) 8 cores, 8 threads, 2.42 → 3.48 GHz, Apple M2 Pro (10C, 16G) 10 cores, 10 threads, 2.42 → 3.50 GHz, Apple M2 Pro (12C, 19G) 12 cores, 12 threads, 2.42 → 3.50 GHz,	Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores) 8 cores, 8 threads, 3.20 GHz, 10W Apple M1 8 cores, 8 threads, 3.20 GHz, 10W
Integrated Graphics	Apple M2 (8C, 10G) Apple M2 iGPU 10 GPU Cores, 16 Neural Engine Cores, Apple M2 Pro (10C, 16G) Apple M2 Pro iGPU 16 GPU Cores, 16 Neural Engine Cores, Apple M2 Pro (12C, 19G) Apple M2 Pro iGPU 19 GPU Cores, 16 Neural Engine Cores,	Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores) Apple M1 iGPU 7 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz Apple M1 Apple M1 iGPU 8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
Memory	8GB 16GB unified memory. Configurable to 32GB	8GB unified memory Configurable to 16GB
Storage	256GB 512GB SSD Configurable to 8TB	256GB 512GB SSD Configurable to 1TB or 2TB

Connectivity	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Wi-Fi	802.11ax Wi‑Fi 6E wireless networking IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible	802.11ax Wi‑Fi 6 wireless networking IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.3 wireless technology	Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
Ethernet	10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector) Configuration up to 10 Gbs	-

Battery	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Size	-	49.9 Wh lithium‑polymer battery
Battery Life	-	Up to 15 hours wireless web Up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback
Power Supply	150W built-in power supply M2 185W built-in power supply M2 Pro	30W USB‑C Power Adapter

Software	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
OS	Shipped with macOS Ventura	Shipped with macOS Big Sur
Built-in Apps	Photos iMovie GarageBand Pages Numbers Keynote Siri Safari Mail FaceTime Messages Maps News Stocks Home Voice Memos Notes Calendar Contacts Reminders Photo Booth Preview Music Podcasts TV Books App Store Time Machine Find My QuickTime Player	Photos iMovie GarageBand Pages Numbers Keynote Siri Safari Mail FaceTime Messages Maps News Stocks Home Voice Memos Notes Calendar Contacts Reminders Photo Booth Preview Music Podcasts TV Books App Store Time Machine Find My QuickTime Player

Camera & Audio	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Camera	-	720p FaceTime HD camera
Audio	Built-in speaker 3.5mm headphone jack HDMI port supports multichannel audio output	Stereo speakers Wide stereo sound Support for Dolby Atmos playback Three-mic array with directional beamforming 3.5 mm headphone jack

Misc	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
Sensors	-	Touch ID sensor Ambient light sensor
Security	-	Touch ID sensor Apple T2 Security Chip
In the box	Mac mini Power cord	MacBook Air 30W USB‑C Power Adapter USB-C Charge Cable (2 m)
Warranty	Your Mac mini comes with 90 days of complimentary technical support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase AppleCare+ for Mac to extend your coverage to three years from your AppleCare+ purchase date and add up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for external enclosure damage, or $299 for other repairable damage, plus applicable tax.	Your MacBook Air comes with 90 days of complimentary technical support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase AppleCare+ to extend your coverage to three years from your AppleCare+ purchase date and add up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other repairable damage, plus applicable tax.
More	M2 Mac mini: video supports Simultaneously supports up to two displays: One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI Thunderbolt 3 digital video output supports Support for native DisplayPort output over USB‑C HDMI 2.0 display video output Support for one display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz M2 Pro Mac mini: video supports Simultaneously supports up to three displays: Up to three displays: Two displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI Up to two displays: One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI One display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz over HDMI Thunderbolt 4 digital video output Support for native DisplayPort output over USB‑C HDMI display video output Support for one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz	Video Support Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and: One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz Thunderbolt 3 digital video output Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)

Key Features	M2 Mac mini	M1 MacBook Air
At Glance	Released in Early 2023 Weight 2.6 lb 1.18 kg Up to Apple M2 Pro (12C, 19G) 12C/12T, 2.42 → 3.50 GHz Geekbench 5 1,943 Single Core Geekbench 5 14,899 Multi-Core With integrated Apple M2 Pro iGPU 19 GPU Cores, 16 Neural Engine Cores Configurable up to 32GB LPDDR5 Memory	Released in Late 2020 16:10 QHD 13.3” 1600p 60Hz Weight 2.8 lb 1.27 kg Up to Apple M1 (8C, 8G) 8C/8T, 3.20 GHz Geekbench 5 1,705 Single Core Geekbench 5 7,414 Multi-Core With integrated Apple M1 iGPU 8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz Configurable up to 16GB Unified Memory Starting at $999 M1 (7 GPU Cores), 8GB, 256GB SSD Up to 18 Hours Battery Life Built-in Touch ID With T2 Chip Dual USB-C USB4 & Thunderbolt 3 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0