Hands-On With the M2 MacBook Air: All Your Questions Answered

[asdfjkl;]

Probably because most people in the market for an air would never notice or care. It's amusing to me that people constantly complain that a consumer level device can't power 2 6k displays and render a Pixar movie in a few minutes because of it's wildly slow SSD drive an....zzz, most people don't care.

I agree. The target demographic for the Air are people that generally don't perform heavy duty tasks but need something that is easy to travel with. The single channel SSD issue is silly in that context.

This forum is renowned for comments from posters expecting the highest of high end specs for a bare minimum price. "Please, please, please, Apple, for crying out loud why can't you build a laptop with 5K 16.5" 240Hz display that can drive 4 8K external displays and comes with base 32GB RAM and 4 TB hard drive for less than $1000. I mean, really, anything less is just a rip-off."

 

[turbineseaplane]

a laptop with 5K 16.5" 240Hz display that can drive 4 8K external displays and comes with base 32GB RAM and 4 TB hard drive for less than $1000.

I'll take two!
Sounds amazing!

SSD though please, not a spinning hard drive

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Thinner, lighter, better battery life, less expensive, and (supposedly) better keyboard.

At least, that's why I'm getting a MBA rather than a MBP.

and less expensive too

 

[TVreporter]

I may see if I can scope out a deal on a M1… they should drop in price soon.

 

[calvin2006]

Not everyone has a need for the MBP regardless of price. There is nothing wrong with the MBA. It just isn't your MBP and that doesn't make it inferior makes it different for a different user base.

Actually, that’s the definition of inferior. It’s obviously an inferior machine to the Pros, but that’s fine if you don’t need that level of power.

 

[calvin2006]

Calling BS on that better keyboard nonsense. Same feeling keyboard as MBP.

I can confirm.

 

[calvin2006]

Saw the Starlight one in the apple store today. It looks better in person than I thought it would. I’m still not a big fan of the overall design change to the MBA after seeing it in person.

 

[darngooddesign]

Actually, that’s the definition of inferior. It’s obviously an inferior machine to the Pros, but that’s fine if you don’t need that level of power.

The Air is inferior is some aspects and superior in others. Which is which depends on the person buying.

 

[a.phoenicis]

Actually, that’s the definition of inferior. It’s obviously an inferior machine to the Pros, but that’s fine if you don’t need that level of power.

No, it makes it inferior in terms of processor power. Notably, it is superior in terms of portability.

I could easily afford either machine, but for my current needs, the superior portability of the MBA is more important than the MBP’s superior performance.

 

[calstanford]

Best MacBook Pro ever!

Dude you need to find friends or a hobby. I've seen dozens of your posts now on Macbook Air showing how cool you are by NOT buying/having one. What do you get out of this?

 

[rp2011]

It seems anyone's decision to get the base 14" MacBook Pro has proven to be the best decision they could have made.The best long term value proposition. Makes it easy to skip this and wait for the next iteration.

 

[Deanster]

I would only consider an MBA if the work was mostly web based / office suite kind of tasks or video encoding in any of the harwdware built in decoders

I was going to get an MBA back in feb, but I bit the bullet and got an MBP. I'm glad I did. The current work im doing, processing a large database (1 tb) locally spawning multiple threads and using all ram available, saturates the system completely for hours and the M1 pro runs at 90C, throttling with fans running at 3.5K rpm. This same work in an fanless MBA would bring it to its knees.

There’s a fair amount of space between web/office tasks exclusively and ‘saturates the system for hours’.

Your workflow sounds like the definition of ‘pro’ usage, to the point where I wonder if/assume a workstation-level desktop would be a more appropriate solution than any laptop. You don’t mention if you have a 13” MBP vs. 14/16”, which are also better-suited to that kind of intensive task.

It’s just insane to even propose that someone would attempt to use an MBA for that use case. The reality that the M2 MBA is a legitimate candidate for light video editing is a huge upgrade relative to what MBA’s could reasonably be expected to do, but broadly speaking I’d say that anyone who spends more than 10-15 minutes a day with the CPU at full utilization should really be looking at the Pro models.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

No, it makes it inferior in terms of processor power. Notably, it is superior in terms of portability.

I could easily afford either machine, but for my current needs, the superior portability of the MBA is more important than the MBP’s superior performance.

How is the 14" MBP less portable? The MBA M2 a tiny amount thinner, and a tiny amount (0.8lb) lighter, but both are just as portable.
If you struggle to carry around a 14" MBP, you have issues. Is an iPad 10.9" superior in portability to an 11" iPad Pro?

I can't imagine a scenario where someone would say they couldn't be as portable with a 14" MBP but can be with a MBA M2.

What's your definition of portability?

 

[Deanster]

It seems anyone's decision to get the base 14" MacBook Pro has proven to be the best decision they could have made.The best long term value proposition. Makes it easy to skip this and wait for the next iteration.

Different people have different needs. My take on my new base model MBA M2 is that it’s a solid match for the 13” M1 MBP that I’m transferring to my daughter as she moves into graduate school.

Having the M2 MBA be a solid replacement for the M1 MBP is a huge win for me, I wasn’t pushing the M1 processor hard, but I really wanted the brighter/better screen and better battery life of the M1 MBP over the M1 MBA.

For me, getting most of the M1 MBP advantages in the much more streamlined M2 MBA is a significant positive. It wouldn’t be the right choice if I was doing heavier video editing, but it turns out that the formats I use are precisely what the M2 handles particularly well in hardware, and I’m usually doing videos just a few minutes long after editing, so thermal throttling shouldn’t be a significant problem in my workflow.

I generally agree that the 14” MBP is probably overall the best balanced laptop in Apple’s lineup right now, but I’m looking to maximize portability while maintaining enough power to do a bit of video editing every week or two, and I’m thrilled to bits to finally be able to get this level of screen and capability in an MBA.

 

[minik]

It seems anyone's decision to get the base 14" MacBook Pro has proven to be the best decision they could have made.The best long term value proposition. Makes it easy to skip this and wait for the next iteration.

I have the 14" MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 32GB memory, and 2TB flash storage) since Nov '21, my buying decision was the ability to drive two external displays and beyond the 16GB memory ceiling. Overkill? Yes. In the other hand, the starlight MacBook Air M2 should arrive on next Monday. I bought one for my mum, she's still using the 2018 MacBook Air. I think the current MacBook Air M2 can do a lot of things in a smaller footprint and lower price.

 

[kirk.vino]

I saw the new Air in person at the Apple store today: as expected, the midnight looks completely black in person. It makes it look like it’s plastic and not aluminum. I assume there will be many returns of that one. Fingerprints look pretty dramatic on it too. The starlight is actually a nice option. I have a 14” MBP and the keyboard on the new Air felt identical to that. The difference is only cosmetic: it’s not all black between the keys. The screen on the new Air looked pretty solid. Considering it’s not mini-LED and it doesn’t have ProMotion, it didn’t strike me as a much inferior option. However, I still think that the base Air configuration is laughable at that price. I see here there are so many saying that 8 gigs of RAM is enough for basic tasks and I can argue with that. I watch the Activity Monitor on my 14” MBP pretty often and even with a couple of Excel sheets, Word, and Chrome open, the memory usage goes above 8 gigs a lot. I believe a laptop with only 8 gigs of RAM has almost no future proofing nowadays.

 

[turbineseaplane]

However, I still think that the base Air configuration is laughable at that price. I see here there are so many saying that 8 gigs of RAM is enough for basic tasks and I can argue with that.

..and that's even worse now on the M2 MBA base model with the 50% speed reduction on the SSD, as the 8GB model will be using swap a LOT...and the halving of SSD speed will be noticed in those swap scenarios, even by "normal" users.

The completely base M2 MBA should truly be avoided

 

[Tagbert]

Several posts have wondered about M2 MBA thermals

My favorite quote from that video “If you do short bursty tasks, like most people do, you are not going to have any issue. Don’t be worried.”

 

[Tagbert]

Only matters to me if I'm putting my laptop in a beauty contest though

Other reports point out that a quick swipe with a microfiber towel will clear the prints. Might just be the price of beauty. 😊

 

[Tagbert]

How is the 14" MBP less portable? The MBA M2 a tiny amount thinner, and a tiny amount (0.8lb) lighter, but both are just as portable.
If you struggle to carry around a 14" MBP, you have issues. Is an iPad 10.9" superior in portability to an 11" iPad Pro?

I can't imagine a scenario where someone would say they couldn't be as portable with a 14" MBP but can be with a MBA M2.

What's your definition of portability?

By your logic, why didn’t you get the 16” MBP? It’s only a little larger and heavier than the 14” and only a little more expensive. The little differences add up. Maximum performance is not the primary factor for many of us. A noticablly lighter and more compact device that is less expensive (unless one is discounted) has more value than one without those features but more power.

 

[Toratek]

Several posts have wondered about M2 MBA thermals

This is the device he disassembled, mangling the thermal system in the process. This speaks volumes about his credibility and motives.

 

[Dark_Omen]

After watching the new MacBook Air m2 in store, I still glad I bought the 14 MacBook Pro with $200 discount in 4th of July! 16gb & 512gb M2 Air=$1699! 16gb $512 gb M1. Pro =$1799($200off)! $100 for supper good display (same as $3500 Pro XDR display), better speakers, super fast M1 Pro, faster ssd, better keyboard and so on! You tell me if the $100 difference is worth the hype?

Are those really the best pictures you can take? Terrible.

 

[turbineseaplane]

My favorite quote from that video “If you do short bursty tasks, like most people do, you are not going to have any issue. Don’t be worried.”

I’m going to start using that..

I love short bursty tasks

 

[Realityck]

This is the device he disassembled, mangling the thermal system in the process. This speaks volumes about his credibility and motives.

I thought about that, but then it doesn't take much technical skill to reapply thermal paste on SoC and reattach the thermal cover. Note the absence of any marks when exposing the top of the SoC.

In these forums there are lots of us that have worked on and repaired computers ourselves so tend to look at that as trivial. I will say you have better tool kits available for disassembly than ever these days.

 

[Toratek]

I thought about that, but then it doesn't take much technical skill to reapply thermal paste on SoC and reattach the thermal cover. Note the absence of any marks when exposing the top of the SoC.

In these forums there are lots of us that have worked on and repaired computers ourselves so tend to look at that as trivial. I will say you have better tool kits available for disassembly than ever these days.

And no ESD mat, no ESD wrist strap. Absolute amateur.