The M2 air with the smaller SSD configuration (tested here) is also at a big performance disadvantage from all the other models with bigger disks[1]. AFAIK it is due to the low end config coming with a single physical chip for the disk, where other configs have two and can do dual channel. It also has no active cooling - apparently more performance can be squeezed out of it by disassembling and applying nerdcore thermal paste.

- 1. https://9to5mac.com/2022/06/26/m2-macbook-pro-slower-ssd/