Apple’s new MacBook Air is here, and the company has revamped its interior design and chip to introduce a completely new MacBook Air to the world.
At first glance, the new Air looks like a thinner 14-inch MacBook Pro, but with more colors, such as Starlight, Space Gray, Silver, and a new dark blue tone called Midnight. The new Air also has a screen notch and MagSafe connectors for charging. But this story is not about what is the same as other Apple computers. This is the news.
M2 is a solid step forward
While the new look of the Air is exciting, users will get much more value out of its increased performance due to the M2 chipset. The chip’s CPU is about 18 percent faster than the M1. The Neural Engine is 40 percent faster, but most importantly, there are two more GPU cores that improve graphics performance by 35 percent.
Overall, this should make this new Air a much more capable content creation machine than its predecessor and even allow for decently intensive gaming. That said, the lack of a fan can limit the amount of work / play time you get at maximum performance, as the chip can accelerate when it reaches its maximum temperatures. If you do not do a lot of hard work or games, the lack of a fan will be a huge advantage for you, as the computer will be quiet and compact.
RAM also runs faster on the new chip, as it supports 50% more memory bandwidth (100 GB / s) than the first M1 chip. The new chip can also be removed with a maximum of 24 GB of RAM, which is slightly more than the maximum of 16 GB that you can add to the Macbook Air M1.
I couldn’t really test the new chip in Apple’s practice area, but the computers felt incredibly fast when I bounced around it at the event. Since the M1 chip series has performed so admirably, I would expect this to be an excellent computer, but wait until our full review to see how it compares to the M1 chip family.
Find me under the midnight Macbook
The new design of the MacBook Air looks great and feels incredibly thin and light in the hand. I haven’t carried a MacBook Air M1 since I compared one to the iPad Air, but the soft rounded edges of the new machine felt infinitely more comfortable when grabbing the computer.
It may also no longer be a wedge, but the new design has a constant thickness of 0.44 inches, which is much thinner than the old Air, which is 0.63 inches at the thickest point. However, the small feet of the M2 Air will make it feel slightly thicker on a table, but they should also allow for better passive cooling of the machine, which is an advantage. The new Air weighs 2.7 pounds, making it only 0.1 pounds lighter than the previous model.
The MagSafe and two USB-C Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports are on the left side of the laptop, and the high-impedance headphone jack is on the right. I was really looking forward to the return of the slot for the SD card or another USB-C port on the left, but at least you can charge this Air and still use two accessories without a dongle.
It is also worth mentioning that the new MagSafe cable matches the color of the computer, so the new midnight blue color comes with a dark blue cable. The new MacBook Air can even load quickly through this port, but you’ll need to make sure you get the right charging brick.
The basic 8-core Air GPU ($ 1,499 CAD) includes a 30-watt charger. For an additional $ 30, you can add a 67-watt fast charger or the new 35-watt brick with two USB-C ports to charge two devices at once. The more expensive MacBook Air ($ 1,899) with the 10-core GPU can be equipped with a high-end charger when shopping online.
Like the 14-inch Macbook Pro, the new Air also has a full-featured feature row on the scissor switch keyboard and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
With some lighting, the new midnight Macbook Air may look blacker than blue.
Under the keyboard is a four-speaker sound system that exceeded its weight class, but was difficult to measure in the noisy practice room. Apple says it supports Dolby Atmos when you’re playing compatible content. There are also three microphones and a 1080p webcam to help with video calling.
You’re still limited to a single external display on this new MacBook Air. It may be compatible with a 6K monitor, but anyone with two screens will have to jump to the 14-inch MacBook Pro or find some kind of dongle or workaround.
Finally, Apple re-equipped the Retina display of the new MacBook Air, and now has a maximum brightness of 500 nights, P3 wide color and is larger by 13.6 inches.
Will this be the new computer for you?
Overall, the new MacBook Air is probably a dream computer for many people. It looks great, is lightweight and has plenty of performance under the hood.
However, Apple still plans to sell the 13-inch MacBook Pro (now with an M2 chip) and the older MacBook Air M1, which is still a great computer. I’m attracted to the new Air ($ 1,499) as it’s new and looks like the best of the three, but if you want to save $ 200, the base-level Air ($ 1,299) is still a great laptop. If you do a lot of high-performance work, maybe the 13-inch ($ 1,699) MacBook Pro M2 is the best choice, but it doesn’t look like a machine that should cost more than the new Air to include fans and a bit of battery life. bigger.
This messy mid-range laptop sales strategy may allow Apple to reach higher prices and ideally attract new customers, but with the minimal differences between the two Airs and the 13-inch MacBook Pro, I think it’s likely that consumers get confused. and it would be nice to see Apple try to build a machine that is the best of the three.
That said, at the end of the day, the new Air is a stellar computer, and anyone looking for the sexiest / lightest MacBook won’t have to look any further.