Apple recently revealed a bunch of products in their World Wide developer conference a few weeks ago. From the revamped IOS 16 to the new MacOS Ventura, it was quite interesting. But the product that caught most people’s attention, is the release of the M2 MacBook Air and the M2 MacBook Pro 13. Although the MacBook Pro still retains the old design with the touch bar, the real changes are in the smaller and slightly cheaper MacBook Air.
It now features the notch design with the upgraded 1080P camera, the new M2 chip and most importantly the MagSafe 3 port. With MagSafe you now get an additional charging port alongside two Thunderbolt ports. Moreover, the new MacBook air now comes in four different colors; Midnight black, Starlight, Space gray and Silver. Honestly, the M2 MacBook Air offers the best value for your money especially if you are looking for an Apple laptop. In this article, we are going to discuss its design language, the M2 chip, the new ports, the 1080P webcam and I will finally give you my final verdict.
Specs.
- Material – Aluminum Chassis
- Display – 13.6” Liquid Retina
- Brightness – 500 nits (max)
- Webcam – 1080P
- RAM – 8GB, 16GB or 24GB
- Storage – 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB
- Keyboard – Backlit Magic Keyboard
- Touch ID – Yes
- OS – MacOS
- Chip – Apple M2 Chip
- Microphone – Triple mic array with beamforming audio
- Chip options – 8 core CPU/8 core GPU or 8 core CPU/ 10 core GPU
- Battery life – Up to 18hrs video playback
- Charger – either 30W, 35W or 67W adapter
- Ports – MagSafe 3, 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack
- Colors – Midnight black, Starlight, Silver and Space gray
- Starting Price – $1199
Design Language.
The M2 MacBook Air received major revamps design wise. The most notable change is the addition of the notch. This design has become synonymous with Apple and it is likely that it will stay a few more years considering they have implemented it across their entire laptop lineup except from the MacBook Pro 13. With the notch comes a new and improved 1080P which is very much welcomed.
The 720P which Apple has stuck with for years was now becoming a bit monotonous. Furthermore, the new webcam features advanced image signal processing with computational video. This simply translates to crispy image quality more so during video conferencing.
If you were expecting Center Stage, I hate to break it to you but no MacBook as of yet supports this feature. Center Stage is a feature that ensures the subject stays in frame. It uses the Ultra-wide lens to track you even during slight movements in order to keep you at the center hence the name center stage. In addition to this, if there are many people in a single shot, it zooms out to keep everyone in frame. One of the main reasons that we don’t have center stage in any MacBook as of yet, is the lack of an Ultra-wide lens. Perhaps the lid is too thin to accommodate an advanced camera but either way I hope Apple addresses this issue.
Ports.
Ports wise, it has a 3.5 mm Headphone jack with support for high impedance headphones, a MagSafe 3 port and 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports. The fact that the M2 MacBook Air got the MagSafe port and the more expensive MacBook Pro 13 didn’t is still shocking. Anyway, with the MagSafe 3 port, you can use it to charge the laptop as you connect other peripherals to the Thunderbolt ports. It is also worth mentioning that the Thunderbolt ports also support charging which begs the question, which port should you use to charge the laptop? MagSafe or Thunderbolt.
Well, both methods are fast but MagSafe is a bit faster. Although you can find 240W USB C cables, very few devices in the market if any can support this type of power delivery since it is fairly new. The M2 MacBook Air has three different charging options depending on the model that you choose. A 30W adapter for the base spec, a 35W Dual USB C adapter and an optional 67W adapter which you can buy separately.
All these adapters are USB C to MagSafe cables and if you opt for the 67W adapter you can charge from 0-50% in 30 minutes which is quite impressive for a laptop. In addition to this, MagSafe 3 supports a maximum of 140W as compared to 100W with USB C. So, the answer to this question would most definitely be MagSafe. As an added bonus, Apple color matches the MagSafe cable with your laptop color. Nice touch Apple!
Display.
The screen is still an IPS Liquid Retina display with a max brightness of 500 nits which is a bit brighter as compared to the 400 nits in its predecessor. The display is by far the most disappointing part of this laptop. Don’t get me wrong, its great but we expected more.
Pro motion (120Hz refresh rate) would be a good addition especially at that price point. Also, Mini LED would just be the icing on top but I guess we will just have to wait one more year. Aside from that, the display is now bigger at 13.6-inches while maintaining the small chassis. To achieve this, they minimized the bezels and added the notch which now houses the new and improved 1080P webcam.
Performance.
This is where Apple separates itself from all laptops in the market right now. The M2 chip is the successor to the M1 but it is worth mentioning that the M1 Ultra and the M1 Max sit a notch higher in terms of performance. Apple claims big figures such as 35% better GPU performance and 20% better CPU performance as compared to the M1 chip. No other ARM chip in any PC can produce such figures which is very impressive of Apple.
In addition to this, Apple now offers this laptop with a maximum of 24GB RAM. In contrast, the M1 maxed out at 16GB. The Air is now more powerful than ever. Despite all these gains, this laptop still lacks a fan.
It is very silent and the chances of thermal throttling are quite high more so if you are doing very demanding tasks. If you need a small 13-inch laptop which can sustain power through demanding tasks, then the M2 MacBook Pro 13 might be the right pick for you. Either way, the M2 MacBook Air is still a very capable machine and this should not be a defining factor.
Final thoughts.
Like I said earlier, the M2 MacBook Air is the best value MacBook for your money. It has the new design with thinner bezels, a notch which houses the new 1080P webcam, the new MagSafe port, new M2 chip and finally you can choose from a variety of four different colors.
This is the best and most powerful Air yet. But with this laptop around, where does the M2 MacBook Pro 13 position itself considering it has the old design. Well, if you don’t like the notch and the touch bar did not bother you either, then go for it. In addition to this, Apple will still sell the M1 MacBook Air starting from $999. This new M2 MacBook Air starts at $1199 and the M2 MacBook Pro 13 starts at $1299. Would you get the Air over the Pro 13? Drop a comment below.
