Apple Announces MacBook Air With M2 Chip Available to Order Starting July 8, Launches July 15

[lix220]

I think consolidating the NAND flash into one chip is the problem. You can only have so much throughput on a chip; having two (or more) in parallel can increase the overall transfer speed, up to a point of course.

If this is the case in the M2 Air; having only one chip instead of two, how much of a difference will it make to the average consumer using the Air for general purpose applications?

They no longer include a charger in iPhones, birth rate in China is dropping off the cliff, inflation is going sky high, and every other young person you talk to in America will tell you they're going to start their own Youtube, business, investment ventures, so that they can get passive income, and quit their job to travel the world....

Do you still no get the memo...? It's cheaper to put just one 256GB chip... It's also cheaper to just replace the CPU with M2, and hoping to clean up the remaining stock that apple stuck with aka: Macbook Pro chasis with the stupid touch bar that no one wants... than to redesign, remanufacture new ones.

As history/ population/ education progresses, people, one by one, slowly but surely will start to realize their true value as human being, and the fact that they - the upstairs, need us, desperately..... Then comes the end of slavery as we know it, which manifest itself in the form of $15 coffee, $50 pizza, etc.... because who the hell wants to do that if "You only live once".

 

[CTHarrryH]

Does this also mean that companies such as Amazon will start shipping on the 15 (or to arrive that day)?

 

[lleial]

Not to be the hater here, but after testing thoroughly the M2 MacBook Pro, this one is going to be a complete disaster when it comes to thermals. The M2 MBP is already throttling whenever you throw anything intense at it, despite the fact of having active cooling.

Don't get me wrong, the design is beautiful, however, Slower SSD and a SoC that's going to throttle a lot... I'd rather put my money on the M1 with more ram and SSD, or simply get the M1 Pro.

My two cents.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I’m extremely happy with my M1 MBP. Won’t be looking at another Apple laptop until late 2025. The only other Mac I see myself buying between now and then is a mythical 32 inch iMac. I don’t think that’s even gonna happen. The larger iMac I suspect was a poor seller which is likely why Apple ended replacing it with the Studio and Studio display combo.

 

[kingtj1971]

Would imagine it’ll have the same 256GB NAND SSD…? My only gripe with these new Macs is Apple didn’t set the minimum to 512GB.

Guess we’ll have to wait until later this month to see some of these in action.

Yep... it's honestly getting to the point where the 256GB SSD models of Macs are just a hassle for me when advising others what to buy. I keep running across friends who ask about buying one for a kid in college and whatnot, and I have to keep warning them not to buy "the model that's priced at $X" because it's the model with the 256GB SSD. Non-technical people don't know why this matters and just think they found a great price when they see the lower-spec models for sale. But as soon as they get a 256GB storage model, they start complaining that it's out of disk space after they put their music collection and photo collections on it, or after they sync content from their DropBox or OneDrive, or ?? It's not worth the few hundred bucks they think they're saving not to have a decent storage capacity.

 

[g13000]

BTO shipping 1-2 months later most likely. Slow SSD is the only one shipping to start unless you waste your money on the 10 core GPU.

Sorry if it's obvious or has been covered at tedium - but why would purchasing the 10 core GPU be a waste of money? Thanks for the wisdom!

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Sorry if it's obvious or has been covered at tedium - but why would purchasing the 10 core GPU be a waste of money? Thanks for the wisdom!

More power just gets you to the thermal throttling point faster.

 

[jdb8167]

Sorry if it's obvious or has been covered at tedium - but why would purchasing the 10 core GPU be a waste of money? Thanks for the wisdom!

It's not an obvious question. The GPU is only used for some types of calculations or for graphics intensive applications. If you need it for calculations like in Blender, you already know you need it. If you play a lot of graphics intensive games then the 10-core will be helpful too. If you don't know why you need 10 GPU cores, then you almost certainly don't need the extra two.

Edit: This Wikipedia article has a list of games that use Apple’s Metal graphics framework. All of these games would likely benefit from the extra GPU cores.

 

[kingtj1971]

I’m extremely happy with my M1 MBP. Won’t be looking at another Apple laptop until late 2025. The only other Mac I see myself buying between now and then is a mythical 32 inch iMac. I don’t think that’s even gonna happen. The larger iMac I suspect was a poor seller which is likely why Apple ended replacing it with the Studio and Studio display combo.

Actually, I don't think that's the case? I know we're all just guessing if we don't have access to Apple's sales numbers.

But my feeling was, the 5K 27" iMac was a pretty big hit when it came out, largely because people felt the price was a value for what you got. (A separate 5K display cost a person about as much as the whole iMac, if they could even find one for sale with comparable specs for its screen resolution.)

If anything, I think the iMac Pro ate into the high-end 27" iMac sales. (There were a lot of big sales on the stock "base configuration" iMac Pro when it was released. Stores like Micro Center were selling it for $1,000 off - which is why I bought one.)

But the Mac Studio probably solved 2 issues at once for Apple. They've had people complaining they wanted a "headless iMac" for years and years, so they could use it with their own choice of display(s). So this finally pleases that audience. But it was also probably easier to build a Mac that could run quietly without having to address the thermal issues they'd have by cramming a large display in with everything else.

 

[rr23]

Anyone else deciding between 512 vs 1 TB SSD? - The upgrade is $200 for twice the space.

My old MacBook 12” is 256 GB and it’s almost full. So maybe 512 is enough. Not sure.

Is it still true that a 1 TB SSD would have a slight performance advantage over the 512?

 

[nfl_brah]

I think it would make way more sense to exchange the m1 pro 16 with the 14 which is more portable and won’t sacrifice on performance, but hey, you do you 😊

Thinking about this too tbh. The pro screens are just so good.

 

[pray2crom]

I noticed that you have to purchase the magsafe cable separately???!!!

 

[jdb8167]

I noticed that you have to purchase the magsafe cable separately???!!!

Only if you want an extra one.

 

[Realityck]

Anyone else deciding between 512 vs 1 TB SSD? - The upgrade is $200 for twice the space.

My old MacBook 12” is 256 GB and it’s almost full. So maybe 512 is enough. Not sure.

Is it still true that a 1 TB SSD would have a slight performance advantage over the 512?

I would think more long the lines of internal storage access being significantly faster than an external drive with this new MBA, then slight performance advantage.

Awhile back we looked at the life of a larger SSD would be longer if we're running out of RAM and using cache swap from SSD to extend memory.

512 GB is perfectly usable, you likely only need to consider future plans on storing more music, photos, videos, etc on internal storage now that your laptop will be significant faster for file access.

 

[Chateaunole-du-Pape]

Anyone else deciding between 512 vs 1 TB SSD? - The upgrade is $200 for twice the space.

My old MacBook 12” is 256 GB and it’s almost full. So maybe 512 is enough. Not sure.

Is it still true that a 1 TB SSD would have a slight performance advantage over the 512?

I've toyed with the idea of trying to make 512 GB work. If I weren't planning to share this computer with my wife, I'm sure I could. (We'll both be retiring our mid-2009 MBPs, which are hardly ever used these days, as we do most things with our iPads.)

She has an enormous photo library, however, and for redundancy purposes, I think it's better to have full-size copies of both of our photo libraries on our computer, rather than rely solely on the cloud. I think this will make backing them up with Time Machine easier as well.

I think the bulk of her library is probably screenshots. (Fashion, décor, travel, work-related - anytime she comes across something that might be remotely useful or interesting to her, she takes a screenshot, which is smart - until you have so many screenshots that they're unmanageable.) I have thought about exporting them all to a lower resolution, deleting the originals and then re-importing the smaller versions to save space, but I am a bit nervous about the possibility of that going wrong and messing up her library, or accidentally shrinking a few very important screenshots. Going through all of them to decide which ones to keep at a higher resolution (or keep, period) would be far too time consuming. The hours (and hours) that would take are worth far more than the extra $200 I'll have to spend to get 1 TB.

I do know that I don't want to run anywhere close to filling up the drive. My mid-2009 MBP (8 GB RAM, 160 GB) has been hovering around 80% full for years now and I think the lack of space has played a role in its slowing down; it was noticeably slow long before it was "obsolete" in Apple's eyes. Admittedly, an SSD would mitigate that to a degree.

So, I think my best bet is to just pony up for the 1 TB SSD. If we somehow manage to exhaust THAT space, then we'll have to figure out an alternative method of storing her photo library!

 

[yyz9]

When will we be able to place custom orders? Same time but shipping would be past July 15? Thinking of the 8c/8c/16GB/512GB

 

[Tagbert]

Was the SSD on the MBP throttled down for cooling or some other reason?

I’m hoping because the MBA was a new design from the ground up, it would have factored in new M2 and SSD thermals.

Whereas the MBP had new chips shoehorned into an older existing frame.

The concern about the SSD is that, for the low end model of MBP and presumably MBA, Apple used a single 256GB SSD chip instead of (2) 128GB chips. In the 512GB and 1TB models they still use pairs of chips. The result is that write speeds are roughly half for the 256GB models. This may matter to some people and will be unnoticeable to others.

I have seen one source of a report of significant throttling of the M2 MBP. Would like to get confirmation from other testers before assuming that that is typical. A lot of assumptions based on that tweet.

The M2 MBP is essentially still the old design case from 2016 so not sure if there has been any change to heat dissipation. Since the M2 MBA was designed for the M2 chip, you would think that Apple would design it to handle the heat load of that chip. We do know that the M1 MBA would throttle a small amount during long duration, high performance runs, but not so much that you would really notice without measuring. I would expect something like that for the new MBA.

 

[roncron]

I hope the review embargo is lifted before pre-orders open

Wait for those to land and you will probably find you have another month to wait for delivery!

The embargo won’t be lifted until after preordering starts.

But you can cancel your preorder if the reviews make you change your mind. No harm no foul.

 

[3rdpath]

I'm the outsider here but I'm underwhelmed with the value of the new M2 MBA. Comparing it to the 14" and if comparably equipped, there's a tiny $270 difference. 14" is just marginally larger ( especially with new MBA case design ) and is faster in both processing and memory bandwidth, bigger/brighter/XDR screen, more speakers, better microphone array, and more/faster ports. And it can run multiple monitors. ( oh, and there's fans that rarely spin but are there to limit heat throttling )

I get it, the Air is a smidge smaller and lighter but it's just marginal. MBA should be at least $500 lower to differentiate the value. Apple's in a quandary with shipping and manufacturing woes and their product line is in the most disarray I've ever seen. Heck, the new 13" M2 Pro is the Pontiac Aztec of computers. Interesting times.

 

[Realityck]

I'm the outsider here but I'm underwhelmed with the value of the new M2 MBA. Comparing it to the 14" and if comparably equipped, there's a tiny $270 difference. 14" is just marginally larger ( especially with new MBA case design ) and is faster in both processing and memory bandwidth, bigger/brighter/XDR screen, more speakers, better microphone array, and more/faster ports. And it can run multiple monitors. ( oh, and there's fans that rarely spin but are there to limit heat throttling )

I get it, the Air is a smidge smaller and lighter but it's just marginal. MBA should be at least $500 lower to differentiate the value. Apple's in a quandary with shipping and manufacturing woes and their product line is in the most disarray I've ever seen. Heck, the new 13" M2 Pro is the Pontiac Aztec of computers. Interesting times.

Yes with that comparison you really need to consider a comparably equipped M2 MBA purchase from the close pricing perspective of the 14" MBP.

M2 MBA is 2.7 pounds (1.24 kg), and 14" MBP is 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg). The relative size/form factor is close.

 

[Coreymac84]

I'm the outsider here but I'm underwhelmed with the value of the new M2 MBA. Comparing it to the 14" and if comparably equipped, there's a tiny $270 difference. 14" is just marginally larger ( especially with new MBA case design ) and is faster in both processing and memory bandwidth, bigger/brighter/XDR screen, more speakers, better microphone array, and more/faster ports. And it can run multiple monitors. ( oh, and there's fans that rarely spin but are there to limit heat throttling )

I get it, the Air is a smidge smaller and lighter but it's just marginal. MBA should be at least $500 lower to differentiate the value. Apple's in a quandary with shipping and manufacturing woes and their product line is in the most disarray I've ever seen. Heck, the new 13" M2 Pro is the Pontiac Aztec of computers. Interesting times.

Multiple monitor support isn't the intended buyer of the MacBook Air. Bandwidth advantages etc. are also negligible for someone who primarily uses their laptop for browsing and Microsoft office. I have a 16" M1 Pro which I love, but I have recently sold my 12.9" iPad Pro because quite frankly this device will be more portable AND more useful. There are many reasons to want a MacBook Air, whether you have a Pro or do not. I will say nearly a pound difference between the MBA and the 14" Pro is pretty significant also.

 

[_Spinn_]

Can't wait to see the reviews on this!

 

[mi7chy]

$1200 for 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD in 2022 is a no. Best Buy had a laptop with OLED display, 8GB and 256GB for $500.

 

[Coreymac84]

$1200 for 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD in 2022 is a no. Best Buy had a laptop with OLED display, 8GB and 256GB for $500.

Have you tried a $500 laptop? I have one from work...This isn't a comparison.

 

[Nibo]

Thinking about this too tbh. The pro screens are just so good.

I want the midnight MacBook air but with 16gb and 512 is almost as expensive as the 14 pro. So I might just going for that myself (although I don’t need the power) for the better screen and speakers.