Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) assessment: Sleeker, quicker – and dearer

The unique 13.3-inch MacBook Air was a landmark product, not only for Apple, however for all the PC business. Its slimline, light-weight design, and distinctive ‘tear drop’ profile successfully created the ultrabook class years earlier than Intel’s advertising division got here up with that title. 

It was such a profitable design that Apple caught with it for greater than a decade, even after the 2020 mannequin was up to date with Apple’s new M1 processor. However with the next-generation M2 processors on the horizon, there have been rumours that the 2022 MacBook Air would obtain a significant revamp. 

The brand new design did not disappoint, lowering the laptop computer’s dimension and weight even additional, whereas additionally offering a barely bigger 13.6-inch show as nicely. There have been different welcome enhancements too, together with the return of the favored MagSafe energy connector, and a brand new webcam and speaker system.  

Nevertheless, the brand new slimline design additionally got here with a chunky value enhance of $200/£250, so the M2 MacBook Air wants to supply greater than only a beauty makeover to steer present house owners to improve. 

Worth & choices 

The design of the brand new MacBook Air is definitely putting — however so is that value enhance. To protect the MacBook Air’s place as ‘Apple’s most reasonably priced laptop computer’, the M1 mannequin from 2020 stays on sale at its unique value level, beginning at $999/£999 with 8GB of unified reminiscence and 256GB of solid-state storage.  

The brand new 2022 mannequin begins at $1199/£1249, with an 8-core M2 processor operating at 3.5GHz, an 8-core built-in GPU, 8GB of reminiscence and a 256GB SSD. There’s additionally a second mannequin, reviewed right here, which steps as much as a 10-core GPU and doubles the SSD storage to 512GB for $1499/£1549. That mannequin nonetheless has a average 8GB of reminiscence, although, and Apple’s improve choices stay as costly as ever, costing an additional $200/£200 for 16GB or $400/£400 for the utmost 24GB. 

Storage upgrades are equally costly, costing an extra $200/£200 for 1TB, or $600/£600 for 2TB. There’s one different possibility obtainable too, as the usual 30W energy adapter will be upgraded to a fast-charging 67W unit, or to a 35W adapter with two USB-C ports, with each choices costing $20/£30. 

Design & options 

The M2 MacBook Air now measures simply 11.3mm thick and weighs 1.24kg, in comparison with 16.1mm thick and 1.29kg for its predecessor. Apple states that the general quantity of the laptop computer has been decreased by 20%, but it has additionally elevated the dimensions of the display screen barely, from 13.3 inches (2560×1664 decision) to 13.6 inches (2560×1600), which makes that discount in dimension and weight appear much more spectacular. Maybe I am a bit conservative, however I one way or the other desire the elegant, tapered tear-drop profile of earlier fashions to the extra rigidly rectangular design of this M2 replace. However you do no less than get a selection of colors to spice issues up a bit, with Midnight (darkish gray), House Grey (gentle gray), Starlight (a lightweight pastel pink) and the standard Silver. 

Constructed out of aluminium, the brand new design nonetheless feels very sturdy and stable, and the bigger show signifies that there’s now room for a full-size row of Operate keys, and a bigger Enter key as nicely. The keys nonetheless really feel a little bit lifeless, because the slimline design merely does not present a lot room for the keys to journey when typing at pace. 

Apple did embrace some crowd-pleasing options with this new design, although. The magnetic MagSafe connector has returned, which not solely helps to keep away from accidents, but additionally frees up one of many MacBook’s two USB-C ports. The FaceTime webcam has — lastly — been upgraded to 1080p decision, and there is a very respectable quad-driver stereo speaker system that can work nicely for video calls, shows or streaming video. 

Efficiency & battery life 

Together with the up to date design, the brand new MacBook Air additionally launched Apple’s second-generation M2 processor, which proves to be a transparent enchancment over the earlier M1, even when it nonetheless lags behind the M1 Professional, Max and Extremely variants used within the high-end MacBook Professional. 

Just like the M1, the M2 has an analogous 8-core CPU, and this solely offers modest enhancements in CPU efficiency, with Geekbench 5 exhibiting a rise in single-core efficiency from 1,730 to 1,920. Multi core efficiency is a little bit higher, stepping up from 7,590 to eight,950. Nevertheless, the 10-core GPU of our assessment unit proved a lot quicker than the 7-core GPU of the M1 MacBook Air, breezing forward from 18,620 to 30,200 — an enchancment of simply over 60%. That is confirmed by the 3DMark Wildlife Excessive graphics benchmark, the place the M1 nearly scraped 29 frames per second, whereas the M2 pulls comfortably forward to 40.5fps. 

You might be paying for that additional efficiency, after all, so the M1 model of the MacBook Air stays the extra reasonably priced possibility for net searching and different routine productiveness duties. One different factor to notice is that the bigger, brighter show of the M2 MacBook Air does have an effect on battery life. The 2020 M1 mannequin lasted for a full 17 hours and 20 minutes of streaming video, however the brand new M2 mannequin dips to fifteen hours and 50 minutes. Even so, that is successfully two days of labor on a single cost, which remains to be far forward of a lot of the MacBook Air’s ultraportable competitors. 

Conclusions 

The brand new smooth design and improved efficiency of the M2 MacBook Air would make it essential improve if it had the identical value because the 2020 version with M1 chip. Nevertheless, the upper value signifies that many customers might desire to stay with the M1 model for now — particularly if battery life is a prime precedence. Nevertheless, when you’ve bought the finances, the M2 MacBook Air is without doubt one of the lightest and most elegant ultraportable laptops we have seen, and as soon as extra throws down the gauntlet to its Home windows-based rivals. 

Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) specs

ProcessorApple M2- CPU8 cores (4 efficiency, 4 effectivity)- GPU8 or 10 cores- Neural Engine16 cores- Media Enginehardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW • video decode/encode engines • ProRes encode/decode engineOSMacOS MontereyUnified Memory8GB, 16GB, 24GBStorage (SSD)256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TBDisplay13.6-inch LED-backlit Liquid Retina (IPS)- Resolution2560 x 1664 (224ppi)- Colours1.07 billion (10-bit color)- Brightness500 nits- Color gamutDCI-P3- Picture adjustmentTrue TonePorts2x Thunderbolt/USB 4 • 3.5mm headphone jack • MagSafe 3 (charging)Wi-FiWi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)Bluetooth5Camera1080p FaceTime HD cameraAudio4x audio system • 3x micsBattery capacity52.6WhBattery charging67W USB-C energy adapter • 30W USB-C energy adapter (8-core GPU mannequin) • 35W dual-USB-C compact energy adapter • USB-C to MagSafe 3 cableDimensions304mm x 215mm x 11.3mm (11.97in. x 8.46in. x 0.44in.) Weight1.24kg (2.7lbs) Within the boxMacBook Air, 30W USB-C Energy Adapter (M2 with 8-core GPU) or 35W Twin USB-C Port Compact Energy Adapter (M2 with 10-core GPU and 512GB storage) USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable (2m)Worth$1199 (8-core GPU/256GB SSD) / $1499 (10-core GPU/512GB SSD)

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