2022 MacBook Air M2: Impressively thin. Deceivingly expensive as per MKBHD
Apple first replaced the Intel chip with an m1 chip in the wedge-shaped MacBook air pick then they completely redesigned the computer around Apple silken with an m2 talk, so theoretically this is more than just a refresh. However, this is just the beginning of Apple's transition to their silicon, which would allow them to unlock levels of optimization and streamlining that was previously impossible when using an off-the-shelf chip from Intel.
Now that they have designed the silicon and everything else around it, this is our first glimpse at what Apple is capable of in a tiny and light form factor. It is also deceivingly pricey.
Apple's most popular mac, we fully expect a level of change but to their credit, they have changed and updated mostly everything about this design, and for the better the edge shape used to taper to appear and feel thinner at the edges but now the whole thing is flat it's 11 millimeters across which is thinner overall and we like it this way this is one of those shapes that you just feel like you can pick up and take everywhere truly ultra-portable they've thinned out the bezels around the new display which let them bump it up a bit to 13.6 inches diagonally there's a notch in the top middle which has become a part of apple's design language at this point but that quickly fades away to invisible when you're using a laptop and it's housing a new 1080p webcam.
The display is significantly better, and it has a lower minimum brightness for working in low-light conditions and a greater maximum brightness of 500 nits, which is a really handy feature. Apple also added a MagSafe charger, along with a color-coordinating braided cable and stickers in midnight hues, which is a nice touch. However, the MagSafe charger also merely means that Apple freed up another USB Type-C port, and you also get that fast charging at up to 67 watts, which is nice because the battery once more makes this a very long-lasting laptop. We would still say that the m2 MacBook pro which is thicker is still going to be an overall battery champ, 15 hours of claimed web browsing translated for us to an entire work day of use with 20 plus percent left it was awesome and if we had several light days in a row with it I didn't even really think about charging
So the m2 MacBook air now comes in silver and space gray like before, then there's a new starlight color which is a very faded gold and then this which is midnight is a very very dark blue and it changes how much blue it shows based on the environment you're in like if the light hits it just right it can look like a blue laptop but in some environments, it just looks like a matte black laptop also this one is an absolute fingerprint magnet the instant you start using it and it's impossible to keep clean but then on top of that there are some durability concerns the normal wear and tear on the trackpad area seems fine to but units around those ports the USB-c port and MagSafe ports if you miss plugging it in enough times you're gonna scratch the paint and it'll be most noticeable on this dark laptop because it has silver underneath
Overall, we like the new design a lot. It's remarkably thin. It's not the thinnest and lightest laptop in the world, but it's one of those that we could carry around everywhere. We also love using it every day, like video editing on a laptop and carrying around this huge 16-inch laptop, but yeah, if I didn't have to do that, I'd love to carry this around. We've already seen what the new m2 chip inside this thing is truly capable of because we looked at the m2 MacBook pro and we love it. We love the CPU improvement, the GPU improvement is even more substantial, and the new higher-end media engine coming down to m2 is awesome for video workflows, especially in Apple's optimized apps.
So what's the difference in performance between the m2 chip and a fan cooling system like the m2 MacBook pro and in the fanless system that is the MacBook air
In the short bursty stuff it keeps up with the macbook pro just fine they are very similar in performance with short repetitive quick stuff up to a couple minutes but at some point with a sustained workload this laptop is going to get so hot without a fan that it has to throttle to not overheat and this one with a fan will keep going at its normal performance where is that point and so we tried it with some benchmarks with some real world applications and it turns out that that point is somewhere around five minutes seems pretty short but when you think about it that's a lot of sustained load so that's not photo editing that's not web browsing or even like coding or or short bursty like benchmark stuff a two minute benchmark won't show that difference here we are talking about video editing or long renders when you have background rendering on for 5 10 15 minutes in a row gaming even things that light up all of the cores all at once for several minutes in a row sustained and that is where the macbook air really gets tested we noticed it actually heats up quite a bit right in the middle so if your laptop's on your bare legs on your lap you're gonna feel that
If you are someone who is thinking about purchasing the new Macbook Air, I would simply consider this a $1500 laptop any less if you don't want to spend that much and you probably should be looking at the m1 Macbook Air that is still in the lineup and is still a great laptop but if you are looking higher up for specific reasons, just know that the 14-inch Macbook Pro is just sitting there waiting for you at $2,000
Apple carefully considered how to price everything. If you spec up this MacBook air to a level where we think it'll be very comfortable for a couple of years using this creative stuff so you're going to add the 10 core GPU you're going to go up to 2 terabytes of storage you're going to max it out let's say 24 gigs of memory which is the new max for the m2 that's already over 2 terabytes of storage the 14-inch MacBook Pro is a way better
Many people who purchase it will adore it, but the 14-inch Macbook Pro outperforms it for the same price and has a much nicer screen for creative work, as well as ports and an SD card slot, which is what most creative work will require if you're doing that. I would therefore advise considering that. Although it is somewhat expensive, the sweet spot for this Macbook Air is right around $1500.
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