Exclusive: Apple Plans to Launch MacBook Air With M2 Chip on July 15

[MajorFubar]

Really??? Find it easy as pie, the 14" Pro is dumb idea to buy and almost as dumb as the 13" Pro

Not dumb. Depends on your requirements. 14" has better screen, better performance, better port selection, better speakers, way way way better thermals like by a country mile, not sure about the battery longevity. In terms of technical ability it's several leagues up from the M2 Air and that you can be certain of before we've even seen any comparisons.

 

[surfzen21]

I dont like the magsafe. They are literally selling you 10 year old tech as new.

I dont like CPUs or GPUs. That tech is sooooooo old.

Magsafe would be an old gimmick if laptops never needed charging.

You have two options. A plug that doesnt pop out and can damage your MB or one that does pop out. The choice seems to be simple.

 

[falkon-engine]

Probably worse than with a fan, have you seen the awful way the 13" Pro with fan throttles?

Yes, even with a fan, it ramps to 100+ degrees C, which is even worse than my old Intel MacBooks. So what was the point of ARM again, from a heat management (under an all-core load) perspective? The good thing though is that under light load, Apple Silicon performs remarkably well, consuming mere small amount of watts of power.

I think another thing we haven't considered is how M2 will perform in an iPad... the MacBook Air has a larger cooling surface but placing M2 in an iPad when it's already prone to overheating could be a recipe for throttling and screen dimming and so on.

 

[smythey]

$1400 if you want 16gb of ram lol…no sorry

You can get a MBP 14 on discount or mint (used on swappa) with double the storage, pro motion, sd card slot etc…for a few dollars more

This. If you need 16/512, then it's £1649 here in the UK. A MBP 14 comes with those as standard and is currently £1739 on Amazon.

 

[shplock]

Can someone please help me with his. So I am planning on getting the new air. But what I don’t know is if I should get the 16/256 or 16/512. I honestly don’t need the extra space. But from reading here you guys are saying the 256 is slow or something. Can someone please explain to me what’s better and why. I don’t know much about macs because I have always been a windows guy and I want a nice fast air.

It depends on what you will do with the Air? If you plan on doing fairly intensive work such as some video editing etc then you may notice the slower SSD speed(if it is an issue with the Air as is the case with the 13" Pro).
Some people may say that if you wish to do intensive work then get the 13" Pro as that comes with a fan and will not throttle but reviews show it does throttle as the fans hardly kick in and when they do they are not as fast as should be.
If you aren't doing anything that would require faster SSD or you are the type who won't notice then go for the 256gb.
My own personal recommendation would be to go for the 256gb Air and if you can afford it to go for as much memory as you can.
The issue with the 13" Pro being slow is down to Apple usually having 2 SSD modules that run in parallel, however they gave this machine just 1 module that is 256gb so thus is half speed in practice as it cannot run in parallel.
We do not know if the Air will also only come with 1 256gb module or with the usual 2x128gb modules.
It really does come down to if you would notice the speed difference or if you plan on doing anything that requires fast SSD speeds.

 

[shplock]

I dont like the magsafe. They are literally selling you 10 year old tech as new.

1) It is the 3rd version so not exactly old
2) When something works and is good why change it just to please people online?
3) Your logic states that cars are idiotic and dumb because they come with the wheel which is about 10,000 years old?

There is nothing wrong with MagSafe.

 

[shplock]

Currently the value proposition for the MBP 14" is a lot higher than the M2 MacBook Air. This is due in my opinion to:

Apple does not raise prices on their devices mid cycle. This means that the M2 MacBook Air has current market & inflationary pressures factored into the price. The October/November 2021 pricing of the MacBook Pro does not have these increased factored in, as they were not apparent back in October/November 2021.

Assuming that Apple refreshes the MacBook Pro around the October/November period (with or without a M2 upgrade), and market/inflationary pressures are still prevalent (which they will be), I'd fully expect the MBP price to increase in a similar fashion to what we've seen in with the M2 MacBook Air over the M1 MacBook Air.

The current situation prices similar pricing for M2 MacBook Airs and M1 MacBook Pro's, when in fact there should (and will be eventually) be a distinct difference.

What that means in day-to-day terms, is the M2 MacBook Airs looks to be priced as direct competitor to the MBP. When comparing specs-to-specs, the MBP is a clear winner, meaning people paying the current premium for the M2 MacBook Air are paying mainly for the thin & light form factor.

I don't know about US pricing but here in the UK it is other way round, the M2 Air is far better value like for like.

 

[WinterWolf90]

Midnight 16/512.

Same!

 

[Earl Urley]

So will these M2 Airs get the 3 nm technology that everyone is hoping for, or is that gonna be more for the M2 Pro / Max family?

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Really??? Find it easy as pie, the 14" Pro is dumb idea to buy and almost as dumb as the 13" Pro

Nobody cares about your poor choices.

 

[foldpages]

So will these M2 Airs get the 3 nm technology that everyone is hoping for, or is that gonna be more for the M2 Pro / Max family?

M2 is 5 nm

 

[ghanwani]

Such a disappointment at 2.7 lb. Almost every Windows laptop maker has a well-spec'd 13" laptop that comes in under 2.5 lb, usually closer to 2 lb. This is the best that Apple could do?

Hope they have at least fixed the eye strain problem. It's hard to find a Windows laptop that suffers this type of problem.

 

[drrocky]

The Apple Online Store customarily opens for pre-orders like this at 5AM Pacific, correct?

 

[HenrikWivel]

I have an amazing 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro and yet... I want this!

I want it too, but I need support for multiple external monitors. Please, Apple. Not only 'Pro' users have that need.

 

[Phil1975]

2013 13" MBP here. It is rough.

2011 MacBook Pro here, on its last legs, 1hour battery life if I’m lucky 🤣

 

[JPack]

Why not 16/512?

At that price, MBP 14 base makes more sense unless weight is critical.

 

[MatthewUT44]

With college starting back up in August this will not last long at all. I expect major delays

 

[AndyStarr]

Yes ! Take my 2017 13’ MBP too. Hope the trade in value is OK 🤞

 

[AndyStarr]

"Shut up and take my... 2017 13" Intel MBP?"

My 2017 Intel MBP has been patiently waiting for the M2 Air to come out

 

[thatappleguytoday]

I've been watching Swappa for 16/512 MBP 14, which can had for ~$1800 every day. Time to time they're lower, but those are in less-than-good shape or get snatched up very quick, certainly not an everyday price.

Whereas, a 16/512 MBA M2 with an edu discount and the current BTS gc promo will be $1660 with AC+. And my state happens to have a sales tax holiday coming up in August too...

Overall, I'd say in the 16/512 configs, an brand new MBA M2 with AC+ is about the same price as a used MBP 14. So the question is - do you prioritize weight or "pro" features?

Sorry, I am not spending 1400/1600 on a M2 MBA (depending on specs) when I can get a MBP for a few hundred more. Better display, ProMotion, more ports, etc..

1200 for a stock unit is nuts too. I see no value in a M2 MBA, especially when an M1 MBA would suit the every day user just fine for a lot less.

My opinions of course

 

[wood1208]

Even if worldwide PC sales slow down; M2 Macbook Air will be run away success in laptop category.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Sorry, I am not spending 1400/1600 on a M2 MBA (depending on specs) when I can get a MBP for a few hundred more. Better display, ProMotion, more ports, etc..

1200 for a stock unit is nuts too. I see no value in a M2 MBA, especially when an M1 MBA would suit the every day user just fine for a lot less.

My opinions of course

It is a close choice for me.

I don't really care about extra USB-C port, HDMI port, or SD card slot. They're nice to have, but I wouldn't pay more to have them.

The better display is a clear benefit on the one hand, but a downside on the other hand in that it has downstream effects of needing a larger battery to support it, which means larger size and higher weight. So, this is a mixed bag in my opinion.

I do really want Magsafe though. If the M1 MBA had Magsafe, I would have bought it last year. My pets, kids, familly have wrecked a few USB-C cables from accidental snagging, pulling. Thankfully the computers suffered no damage yet, but it's only a matter of time. I am willing to pay more for Magsafe. We also Facetime / Zoom a lot, and the M1 MBA camera leaves a lot to be desired.

That said, I have been eyeing the MBP 14 on Swappa. That might be the direction I go in.

 

[JPack]

I've been watching Swappa for 16/512 MBP 14, which can had for ~$1800 every day. Time to time they're lower, but those are in less-than-good shape or get snatched up very quick, certainly not an everyday price.

Whereas, a 16/512 MBA M2 with an edu discount and the current BTS gc promo will be $1660 with AC+. And my state happens to have a sales tax holiday coming up in August too...

Overall, I'd say in the 16/512 configs, an brand new MBA M2 with AC+ is about the same price as a used MBP 14. So the question is - do you prioritize weight or "pro" features?

Best Buy regularly discounts the base MBP 14 to $1,800. It really doesn’t make sense to go M2 16/512 MBA if that price is available to you.

 

[Chateaunole-du-Pape]

Best Buy regularly discounts the base MBP 14 to $1,800. It really doesn’t make sense to go M2 16/512 MBA if that price is available to you.

It does if you care about weight.

 

[azentropy]

Best Buy regularly discounts the base MBP 14 to $1,800. It really doesn’t make sense to go M2 16/512 MBA if that price is available to you.

Right, and one of the biggest complaints I have about the MBA M2 is that they didn't make the step up stock configuration 16/512 and instead kept it at 8/512. That makes the 16/512 BTO only which means typical resellers (like BestBuy, Amazon Costco in the US) won't carry it and therefore won't discount it. It also means there will most likely be long wait times.