The new M2 MacBook Air goes on sale tomorrow. While people wait for this machine, journalists and influencers just published their thoughts on this product. While praised overall, the new M2 MacBook Air struggles with the same concern as the M2 MacBook Pro, overheating with heavy tasks and slower SSD for the base model.
Engadget, for example, highlights how thin and light the new M2 MacBook Air is – even compared to Apple’s portable option, the M1 iPad Pro:
When I picked up the MacBook Air for the first time, it felt more like an iPad with a built-in keyboard than a laptop. What’s funny is that it’s actually more portable than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which weighs about 3 pounds when combined with its Smart Keyboard. The iPad Pro has always been positioned as a futuristic ideal for truly portable computing, but it turns out it weighs the same as the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Once again, the humble Air wins out.
SixColors talks about the MagSafe connector, which is finally back to the MacBook Air. This charging cable is great for avoiding accidents:
With the 2021 MacBook Pro design language come a bunch of MacBook Pro 2021 features, as well. The MagSafe charging port is back on the Air for the first time since 2018, and not only is MagSafe great in that it prevents a lot of cable-related accidents, but of course it allows you to charge while also plugging peripherals into both Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports.
Although The Verge praises this new era of the M2 MacBook Air, the publication shows this product suffers from the same flaws the M2 MacBook Pro has. Not only does this computer get warm and throttle aggressively under intense workloads, but it also has a slower SSD when users buy the base-model version. The publication got an official quote from Apple:
Apple spokesperson Michelle Del Rio provided the following statement on the matter:
“Thanks to the performance increases of M2, the new MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro are incredibly fast, even compared to Mac laptops with the powerful M1 chip. These new systems use a new higher density NAND that delivers 256GB storage using a single chip. While benchmarks of the 256GB SSD may show a difference compared to the previous generation, the performance of these M2 based systems for real world activities are even faster.”
TechCrunch thinks this is the computer for most users. Highlights incredible battery life:
The redesigned body, coupled with a thinner logic board, allows for more room for battery. The Air gets an upgrade from 49.9-watt-hours to 52.6. Overall, however, the stated battery life remains the same. I was able to get a bit over 17 hours of video playback, streaming video on Apple TV, with the brightness at 50 and the sound on. That should be enough to get you through just about any flight (maybe budget in a 90-minute nap if you’re flying from New York to Singapore). Interestingly, in addition to the new MagSafe colors, Apple’s trying something different with the power brick. Get the standard model with the 8-core GPU and you get the standard 30w USB-C charger.
Gizmodo praises the new 1080p webcam and says the mics on this computer are also good enough:
And this is good 1080p. In a selfie I took at the Gizmodo office in mid-afternoon, my face appears neither overly pale or washed out, and details like individual strands of hair and the blue in my eyes shows up well. There’s some mild fuzziness, but this is better than most internal cameras I’ve seen.
The built-in mic also isn’t too bad. It was near impossible to peak, even with plosive sounds, shouting, and clapping, plus it handled whispers well. It did pick up my home office’s air conditioner during my week with the device in the New York summer, but most of the rest of the city’s bustling was absent. I wouldn’t record a podcast on this, but it’s arguably as good as a dedicated headset microphone.
Video reviews of the new M2 MacBook Air
Apart from the articles, there are some YouTubers that got the chance to review the M2 MacBook Air. Here are some:
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