I’ve been using Windows PCs all my life, but switched to a MacBook Air M2. Was it worth it

For several years now I have had the desire to buy myself a Mac. Still, I use various Apple gadgets, and the entire ecosystem tempts me to purchase the entire fleet of gadgets. After all, it’s convenient, everything works synchronously.

At the same time, I have used a Windows computer all my life. In general, stationary. There were also Windows laptops, but I quickly moved away from them. They lost their relevance a year or two after purchase.

I don’t see any point in getting myself another iPad, because it’s slightly expanded version of iOSas if Apple didn’t find a backup and bring it closer to macOS.

I remembered that many years ago I bought myself an 11-inch MacBook Air to “finish my career.” I realized that I had made a mistake, but still “tasted” the benefits of macOS (then OS X).

So now I’ve decided that it’s time to buy a current MacBook Air. I don’t need the M3 chip; I don’t have any tasks for which it could be useful. And even now it would be too unreasonable to buy it because of the prices at the start of sales.

Didn’t wait took a basic MB Air with an M2 processor. And I was right. But not without its drawbacks. Impressions from the laptop are rather positive, but there were also some disadvantages.

First impressions are fire. I like the special case

I got myself a laptop in the dark color Midnight. I immediately realized that it is very easily soiled and leaves a ton of fingerprints. So it was ready for this moment from the very beginning – but the color is cool. Even though you wipe it with billions of consequences every day.

In general, this is what happened: on the surface of the MacBook from all sides permanent imprints and consequences of use. Even if you barely touched it with the edge of your palm, the light speck will die. Well, okay, I’m not picky about the appearance of the device, so I personally don’t consider it a colossal drawback.

But what a compact, light and convenient body the 13-inch Air has. I always and everywhere go with a backpack, and it fits in there perfectly without adding any serious weight. Whether it’s in the backpack or not, I don’t feel any difference at all.

It can be easily picked up and carried anywhere, and this magic is open-handed with one hand. This can already be found in Windows laptops, but even in 2024 it is more rare than commonplace. But Apple has always been like this: 10 years ago, now. It’s a small thing, but nice.

I understand that poppy growers are now touched and express delight in such familiar things, but dammit, I have been denying these laptops for more than a decade.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t see any objective reasons for myself to buy this device. And I’ll say now that I still haven’t found them. But emotions partly justified the cost device instantly.

The keyboard is just space, but the trackpad is not the only love 💔

After any Windows laptop, the difference in approach to the keyboard instantly changes. I don’t know what happened there at the time of the “butterfly”; I didn’t encounter it myself. But now it’s just a top-end keyboard with a clear response and smooth key travel.

AND the printing process is almost inaudible. I don’t even notice how I press some buttons – it’s just a gun. On a desktop PC I use mechanics, but there I already need different sensations. In a compact laptop format, the best option is to use a quiet keyboard.

The keyboard is the inside of the Mac that makes at least some sound. Since the Air does not have a cooler, there is no noise from it. Impressions: I use an iPhone, but in a laptop case. Simply fantastic.

But there are still questions about the trackpad. Yes, it works as fast as possible. And thanks to software acceleration, you can reach any point, anywhere.

Alas, I have not yet penetrated the “magic” of the trackpad, like hundreds of thousands of MacBook owners. Perhaps this feeling will go away over time, but at the moment I still feel comfortable and comfortable using the mouse. It is difficult to describe these feelings in words. You need to feel them for yourself.

I’ll say this. If with a trackpad it’s convenient for me to quickly point the cursor somewhere, then it’s not as convenient to slow down as with a mouse, where you seem to hit a wall and instantly stop. Something like that. And games, of course, without a mouse there’s simply no savings. But this is another question.

The Touch ID scanner built into the keyboard is also nice. This is a great application for it in 2024, which many manufacturers are borrowing.

The screen is excellent, even despite the notch

For a long time I thought that the cutout on the screen would be interrupted. On the iPhone, it periodically catches the eye in an inactive state, but in the current situation it should have been different. After all, here the screen itself is larger.

And so it happened. I him I don’t see it at all, the “island” fits neatly into the status bar area of ​​the MacBook and does not get in the way. At the same time, in some films and games, due to the non-standard 3:2 approach, black bars may well appear on top. And behind them this lace will tighten instantly.

But the brightness of 500 nits in this version turned out to be more than enough for comfortable work even under the rays of the sun. The colors are bright and colorful and avoid any glare from the sun. And at home I don’t increase the brightness above 70-80%, because it becomes simply uncomfortable.

I am shocked by the autonomy, but for many this is not enough

The biggest delight for me was the time I spent working on the laptop. I’ve been using my MacBook for 2 days now and haven’t charged it once during this time.

Initially, the charge was about 80%, and by the middle of the next day, after constantly turning on the software and the minimum charge, the charge remained about 50%. At the same time, I also played streaming and sometimes music on YouTube in the browser.

In total, it easily enough for 10 hours. Maybe a little less, maybe more. I have never seen such a result on any Windows laptop.

Everything changes, of course, in games. In this case, autonomy drops to 4-5 hours, but this is also enough. True, the situation with games is very ambiguous.

Many new products require Windows to run, and for M-MacBooks, Windows is available only in a stripped-down ARM version. This means there are a number of restrictions, and some secrets of varying freshness. may not start or work incorrectly.

Even the same banal Dayz Standalone does not want to “start up” on a MacBook running Windows, because the anti-cheat does not work in it. And to run Cyberpunk 2077 via CrossOver, Steam is required, and I bought the game on GOG.

In general, crutches are crutches. So far I have not been able to achieve success in the normal operation of the native game. If there are experts, please guide someone new to the world of macOS working methods.

If you doubt it, get a Mac. You will fall in love with him

But you are unlikely to leave Windows.

There are elements that you like about macOS, but also strange things, like the same window management.

For example, I want to be able to regularly attach windows to each other, to the edges of the screen, etc. But macOS does not have these functions. To implement it, you need to download the additional Magnit application or its free analogue. Why should I pay for something that works out of the box on Windows? And there have been a lot of such trivial questions, but they solve everything.

In general, adaptation is still in full swing. But I am absolutely confident that this new MacBook Air experience on the M2 chip is the next step in diving even deeper into the ecosystem. Yes, Microsoft is trying in every possible way to bridge the gap between devices, but Apple is still very far from it. It is in the ninth work of the overall ecosystem.

macOS itself is sleek and convenient, but widgets in Sonoma work strangely. These are just iPhone widgets that cannot be activated without using a smartphone. And why then are they here?

In general, the experience of use still remained purely manifest. The system works lightning fast, everything opens and starts immediately. Even installing the included apps takes a little time.

This is a completely new experience, and so far it’s going well.