In case you haven't found an answer here: the accelerometers used to be for parking the heads on a hard drive in the event of a drop, providing some protection against a catastrophic head crash. (Many HDDs incorporated an accelerometer—I'm not sure how many Macs had a separate sensor or just read that.) The switch to SSDs did away with this freefall detection need, and thus the accelerometer... until now.Wait, haven't Macs had accelerometers in them since the first MacBooks? I remember a Stevenote with Steve swinging some sort of 'Book around.
And there is a pre-existing api:
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How is this different?
Getting raw accelerometer events | Apple Developer Documentation
Retrieve data from the onboard accelerometers.developer.apple.com
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iFixit Tears Down M2 MacBook Air, Finds Accelerometer and Adhesive Pull Tabs for Battery
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We are not "hostile". Just pointing out the obvious fact that these new machines are $200 more and yet corners were cut in the base model SSD. Still no upgradable RAM and SSD. This means no buy for me.
Sounds like you need to switch to a different computer manufacturer as Apple going forward will not have user-upgradable RAM and SSD.
Which company will you be going with for your computer needs?
I love watching iFixit's teardowns. The accelerometer is an interesting find.
Don't hold your breath. We're now in an era where even Apple's workstation class desktops are more appliance like with zero upgradable components.
If you're not hung up on using macOS:
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Even better, you're probably listening to the recording through your own computer's speakers!
As I mention above, it really is hard to discern things because you're listening to a recording, likely through your own computer's speakers. So if your computer speakers have a prominent midrange, then a laptop with a recessed midrange might sound better than one with a balanced midrange—compensatory errors. Plus your own computer's speakers add their own distortions, making the actual differences harder to perceive accurately.
Maybe the accelerometer can be used as additional input, like the sudden motion sensor of the hard-drive MacBook from the days of yore. Like playing a game of Pong. Or switching desktops.
I definitely would call the M2 MacBook Pro a cash grab. And so is the Apple Watch Series 3 at this point.
But what’s the issue with the M2 Air? Beautiful new design, faster chip, MagSafe. This is most people’s dream for the perfect laptop. So I’m missing your point here.
For me the obvious issue with the last two macbook airs is that they are heavy. They basically weight as much as two 2020 12.9' ipad pros.
If your idea of a perfect laptop is a prettier macbook pro, with nearly all the capabilities for most things then you'll be happy. This is surely a lot of people. However, if your idea of a laptop is something that you use only for travelling because all your heavy work is done on a desktop, it might not be as elevated an ultrabook as you want.
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Upon M2 launch, I noticed something on the product comparison pages that would indicate that these M2 MacBooks and the most of the M1 14-16” MBPs feature different hardware related to Spatial Audio than most of Apple’s previous Macs.
The M1 14-16“ MBPs match the M2 Air and Pros audio specs.
But the M1 air, 13 pro, mini and studio all lack them partially or entirely.
To me, this means that you get (gyro assisted) Spatial Audio directly through the built in speakers, no AirPods needed.
Whether this means airpods and gyro in Macs work together is unclear.
But then again, it also kinda reads as if SA on AirPods with dynamic head tracking doesn’t work for M1 air and m1 13” pro? But is that true? I’m pretty sure it’s not.
*I have no clue how SA works and haven’t cared to look into it as I’ve been so unimpressed by it.
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The whining about non-issues is almost unbearable. So many entitled ****s who clearly are world-class laptop designers!
Considering components, benchmarks and pricing, I'm struggling to be impressed by any of these M2 Macs at all.
By comparison, the "old" M1 Air and 13" Pro are just so much higher value per $.
This heightened value/$ becomes even more true as M1 Air and 13" are seeing very deep discounts almost two years after launch. Plus the 8/256GB M1 entry-level configurations are a perfectly fine option while equivalent M2 configs are not.
I can't help but think that Apple was too concerned with high profit margins and could have easily made something much lighter/thinner, or same size as what we got but faster, if they were just willing to lower profit margins a bit.
A missed opportunity in most areas. Way too close to M1 to warrant new products and new chip names.
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They ran hotter than PC “equivalents” that had loud fans. They were heavier than PC equivalents that were constructed of cheap plastic instead of precision-machined aluminum alloy. They had far better battery life than PC equivalents with discrete GPUs.
Those were not flaws, but design choices. Design choices that made MacBooks so popular that Microsoft executives were often caught on camera using them as their own personal devices.
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Apple always cripples base model products to create a low base price for enterprise buyers while incentivizing most users to pay more for the adequately configured versions. This is nothing new.
I think the answer is likely to be that the MBA motherboard is going to be doing double duty as the M2 iPad Pro motherboard. There's no huge heat sink and it has an accelerometer, something not present on any other Mac laptop. So why's it there? It's probably the same reason 64GB exists on the Apple Studio Display: they are leveraging existing supply lines that are on the iPhone 11 and the SE. They're probably going to use this on the iPad Pro, only with a much smaller battery. The iPad Pro needs an accelerometer; the MBA doesn't.