Smoother Video editing on MacBook Air M1 vs M2

First off, this article compares the M1 vs the M2 MacBook Air quite well: Digital Trends Article

Video editing requires more "horsepower" than the "average" user requires. With this in mind, the article points out that the GPU in the M2 MacBook Air is 35% faster than that of the M1. Memory bandwidth is greatly improved as well. And the M2 has the MagSafe 3 connection, an improvement over the M1. Also, the article points out that the internal storage speed of the 256GB model is significantly slower than the 512GB (or larger) options.

Note that neither the M1 of M2 variant of the MacBook Air supports more than one external monitor. To support dual external monitors, you'd need to spring for the M3 MacBook Air, which supports them (in clamshell mode).

A lot depends on how patient you are, I think. If you find the spinning beachball exciting and interesting, then video editing on a base model MacBook Air is fine. But otherwise, especially with video editing, the improved horsepower would be the way to go.

One other (perhaps minor?) point of the M1 vs the M2 is simply the length of time Apple supports it with updates. With the M1, you've already chopped off 2 years, given that the M3 is hitting stores this week.

Just my $0.02 worth.