MacBook Air M2 Review: Icon Evolution

How do you manage to improve what is already considered an icon of computing? Macbook Air it’s one of the most revolutionary products in computing that no one talks about. Introduced in 2008, just a year after the iPhone, it proved that you can have a very light, thin, feature-packed laptop that you can work with for hours without much compromise on power, memory, or features. Its wedge-shaped design has been legendary from day one, and after 14 years on the market, dozens of brands still imitate it. But in classic Apple style, they left it behind and took advantage of the move to the M2 processor to completely redesign it.

And that’s where we should start. Because of Apple’s statement of intent on its new product design trends and how they move towards that golden point where form should follow function, not the other way around.

Perhaps Apple was convinced that form did indeed follow function, in keeping with previous designs. Especially 13-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro or 12-inch MacBook. But in some respects they were inferior. Problems with the keyboard with a butterfly mechanism (2015-2019), the dubious usefulness of the TouchBar or the unfortunate lack of ports, especially in professional technology. Almost everything to try and make them lighter and thinner.

But with the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and Max processors, Apple decided to go back to a thicker design to keep the laptop as fast as it needs to be. needed battery life and the ports we all need. The result is a product with a slightly more industrial feel? More boxy, with a more rugged feel, without sacrificing everything that makes an Apple product an Apple product.

I say all this because I feel the same way about the new MacBook Air design. Goodbye wedge design, very straight lines, screen with smaller bezels, excavation and even more functional keyboard. Of course, as thin and light as ever.

There is an interesting detail there. The four round bases on which the MacBook Air sits are slightly taller. Like a 14″ or 16″ MacBook Pro. I suppose that since it does not have a thermal control system, it will come in handy for better heat dissipation.

The MacBook Air M2 is available in four colors. The test block I got is the version midnight, my favorite, and frankly spectacular. It is significantly darker than space gray, the only drawback of which is noticeable handprints on the case.

If we look at the new MacBook Air M2 in terms of design alone, it’s one of the most beautiful laptops Apple has ever made. And, therefore, this is one of the most beautiful laptops I’ve ever seen.

MacBook Air M1 vs MacBook Air M2

Here are the main differences between MacBook Air with M1 chip and MacBook Air with M2 chip:

Apple M2 chip in an uncooled computer

New in the new MacBook Air, in addition to the larger screen and design, is Apple’s M2 chip. It has higher performance than M1 with even more power efficiency. That is: more power, but retains 18 hours of battery life.

The M2 chip makes the new MacBook Air up to 1.4 times faster than the previous M1 and up to 15 times faster than the dual-core Intel Core i5 model. model, which is also from afarwas unable to maintain the 18 hours of battery life that the product now has.

The wonders that Apple has achieved with its own processors are detailed in hypertext along these years. We are always surprised and try very hard not to exaggerate when we see the results.

When we tested the first 13″ MacBook Pro with an Apple chip, the M1 left us speechless due to its power and autonomy, and then we couldn’t believe what we saw with the 14″ MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro/Max chip. we agreed, stunned – for the better – when we tested the M1 Ultra in Mac Studio.

We already had our first experience with the M2 in a 13-inch MacBook Pro that we recently tested that has a cooling system, and now we’re going to test it in this new MacBook Air that doesn’t have a fan.

This means that even when there is power, sometimes the temperature gets so high that the system has to turn off the power because there is nothing to actively cool it. However, being such an extremely efficient chip, the timing when it happens is punctual and involves very complex tasks.

In real life, this means that you will be able to do almost everything, day in and day out, even faster than before. Safari goes like a shot, photoshop It performs better than any Intel laptop in the past (with or without a fan), and I’ve had no problem editing a project from one of my 4K YouTube videos in Premiere Pro.

I did the usual synthetic tests and here are the results. On Geekbench, I got a multi-core result of 8993, which is actually quite a bit. above to what I got with a 13″ MacBook Pro with M2 chip which was 8685. But it’s okay to get a little more or a little less numbers.

Geekbench is a quick test, it doesn’t heat up the CPU or GPU cores too much, so it’s normal to see the same results with or without fans to maintain optimal operating temperatures.

Another story from PugetBenchwhich attempts to reflect actual performance in real use in video editing applications such as Premiere Pro. In this case, I got 509 points. 616. This can give you a slightly clearer idea of ​​performance on more complex tasks with professional applications.

According to the Puget researcher, the results of computers with a chip M1Pro they fluctuate between scores of 609 and 815. That is, it is confirmed that if a task requires maximum power for a long period of time, then the lack of cooling causes the equipment to “suffer”, and cannot give out its maximum all the time.

Having said this, I insist Macbook Air M2 in the vast majority of tasks this will be more than enough. The team is flying around and it's more than possible to work on big projects like video editing.

For me, the question will be what to choose: 8, 16 or 24 GB of RAM. In my opinion, for most people, 16 GB of RAM is what you need.

For reference, the test rig Apple gave me has 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. It's not top of the range (because it doesn't go up to 24GB RAM or 2 TV storage), but I have hardware with a 10-core GPU.

New Retina display in MacBook Air M2

MacBook Air M2 comes with a new screen. Apple calls it Liquid Retina Display. It's slightly larger than the MacBook Air M1 at 13.6 inches vs. 13.3 inches, with almost the same resolution - 2560 x 1664 vs. 2560 x 1600, but with higher brightness: 500 nits when it used to be 400 nits.

Apple has managed to increase the screen size by reducing the borders. This means that there is a small space to accommodate the camera and the brightness sensor. excavation. It appears to be larger than the 14/16” MacBook Pro with M1 Pro/Max, but it's exactly the same size, it's just that the screen is a bit smaller compared to those machines.

There is no ProMotion on the screen, that is, those 120 Hz that we now see in the MacBook Pro 14/16 ”or iPhone 13; however, it does have True Tone technology. For practical purposes, and if you're coming from an old MacBook Air, this screen will appear huge and very bright. With good contrast, balanced and well calibrated.

Keyboard

The keyboard of the MacBook Air M2 deserves special mention. I, who own a 14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max, have been in love with Apple's new keyboard design for several months, and this one is exactly the same. Full size keys, full line of function keys, with key ESC great as we always deserved. Say goodbye to the TouchBar, but it keeps Touch ID in the top right corner, which is also used to boot up or shut down the computer.

For those who have moved from butterfly keyboards, it's like entering another world, another galaxy, a parallel dimension where everything works fine and where you can experience key travel again. Apple has managed to improve on the "traditional" scissor mechanism, but in a smaller space. If you're using a MacBook Air M1 or later Intel-based MacBook Airs that already had a decent keyboard, this option works even better.

And it seems to me that the keyboard is worth mentioning separately, because this is what we interact with all day when we are in front of a laptop. It's as important a peripheral as the trackpad, but it's been abused by Apple for years. I can confirm that this is not the case.

Ports and return of MagSafe

The MagSafe connector is also making a comeback in the MacBook Air, which is good news. Again, it is very convenient to connect and disconnect the charging cable. Plus, there's added security, meaning if someone pulls on the cable, it will detach without moving the laptop. The magnet-based mechanism popularized by Apple has saved thousands of people from seeing their equipment fall to the ground when they trip over a cord.

What puzzles me is the lack of an SD card reader. The company also made the decision not to include an HDMI port, which is still used in such laptops. Both things returned to the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro. However, on this model, they decided to leave only two USB-C ports. inexplicably.