M2 MacBook Air Now Available for Same-Day Pickup at Apple Stores

[compwiz1202]

I believe it’s spelled “ball$$$$$”

I wouldn't care how much the upgrades were if you could actually upgrade yourself. Even PC Laptops are ridiculous lately. Used to be easy access panels. Now you have to take the whole bottom off.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I wouldn't care how much the upgrades were if you could actually upgrade yourself. Even PC Laptops are ridiculous lately. Used to be easy access panels. Now you have to take the whole bottom off.

Same

With their design prowess, there is no technical reason why Apple couldn't be allowing for user upgradeable RAM and especially SSD still.

On the latter, I'd be fine if they insisted on the main boot/OS drive being from them, but just having an NVMe slot we could add storage into.

 

[wood1208]

Good to know it's available to buy/pickup in store. Apple has amazing supply chain.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

It'd be fairer, then, to use the sale prices of the M2s in such a comparison. For example, what were the Amazon Prime Day sale prices on each of these models?

If we use Apple's prices — and omit the odd-ball, in-betweener 13” Touch Bar MBP — we have this:

16/512 - Air M2 8CPU/8GPU - $1599
16/512 - 14 Pro M1 Pro 8CPU/14GPU - $1999

$400 is a large amount of money to many. Makes the pricing look far more sensible and the 14” not a no-brainer decision — for all sorts of reasons, not just its pricing.

One would want to include the M1 MBA in the comparison, too. Its 16/511 price is $200 less than that of the M2 MBA, and a whopping $600 less than that of the 14”! Add in sales tax, which could run 6-8% in some states, and we're talking about $640-650 less.

By the way, what are Apple's actual prices of these laptops as refurbished? Keep in mind, however, that while they are often like new, Apple does not automatically replace the case and install a new battery in its refurbished Macs. It only replaces parts on an “as needed” basis. See https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/about

There aren't sale prices on the MBA M2 nor are they in the refurbished store. Why would we include the MBA M1 when we're talking about buying the MBA M2? Stay focused.

 

[spacehippo]

It’s the SIZE.

It really is. There's a reason it's called AIR and not PRO. That's one of its key features. The fact that it's an ultralight portable. If I wanted bigger, I'd bought the bigger one already, I was waiting for a lighter one and I got it. I'm willing to pay more for. People keep going like 14" MBP is the better deal. Depends entirely on your needs and priorities. It ain't for everyone.

 

[nStyle]

I think you forgot to deduct the $150 gift card on the 14”. Which would make the 14” $1,699. Or am I missing something? (In education store)

I didn’t deduct it from either because they both get it. I was just pointing out the gift card offer because you can get the 14” for $1799 from Amazon but there’s no gift card, so most people should probably get it from Apple anyway.

 

[Fredapple]

Which of these two is better for a university use (take notes, watching videos, using excel and other stuff)?:
-MBA with 512 of SSD and 8gb of RAM
- MBA with 256 gb of SSD (with the storage issue) and 16 go of RAM
Considering that I would like to keep this MacBook for at least 5-6 years

 

[turbineseaplane]

Which of these two is better for a university use (take notes, watching videos, using excel and other stuff)?:
-MBA with 512 of SSD and 8gb of RAM
- MBA with 256 gb of SSD (with the storage issue) and 16 go of RAM
Considering that I would like to keep this MacBook for at least 5-6 years

If you're comfortable with the smaller SSD, more RAM would be better for long term usability.

But.. the base SSD is 1/2 the speed of the one from the M1 MBA, which sucks..

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Here's what's really silly...

16/512 - Air M2 8CPU/8GPU - $1599
16/512 - 13 Pro M2 8CPU/10GPU - $1699
16/512 - 14 Pro M1 Pro 8CPU/14GPU - $1799

So much better tech in the 14 Pro, not to mention up to 6 more GPU cores, better display, more ports, etc.

EDIT: It should be said the $1799 price for the MBP 14 M1 is when it is (frequently) on sale at Amazon, BestBuy, Adorama, etc., or I believe the Apple Refurbished are that price. MSRP is $1999.

Sure, but all of those extra specs in the 14 MBP are things that aren't going to make any difference for most people:

14 MBP Pros:
XDR screen - only noticeable for actual XDR content, which is almost non-existent via streaming.
Better speakers - only noticeable if you don't use earphones or external speakers
Better mics - only if you are actually going to audio record with them, and if you are, you will have an external mic
Bigger screen - only by 0.6"
More GPU's - only noticeable when using intense GPU loads, which most people will never or rarely do.
More high performance / less low performance CPU's - only noticeable for intense CPU workloads that can actually multitask effectively, which most people will never or rarely use.

13 MBA Pros:
Thinner
Lighter
Longer battery life
Looks nicer
Cheaper

For most people, the M2 chip is massive overkill, and the advantages of the MBA are actually greater.

If they put out a 15" MBA, I will be seriously looking at it to "upgrade" to from my 16" M1P MBP. Especially with the 24GB option making it a genuine contender.

I was excited about the XDR screen, but find it useless due to lack of content.

I was also excited about the built in 6-speaker "force cancelling" speakers, but actually find them god damn awful, with a hollow, muffled, muddy character for spoken voice, so maybe the cheaper 4-speaker system might actually have better sound. I have managed to mostly fix the speakers by installing Audio Hijack, and turning the bass frequencies to minimum with the 10-band EQ, but the sound still isn't as nice as my old 2015 15" Retina MBP.

 

[Shirasaki]

This picture makes the notch look ridiculous!

The notch IS ridiculous. We just don’t know how temporary it might be.

The Apple event horizon is slowly trekking westwards across the face of the earth following the rays of the sun. Banishing the dark intel matter once and for all...

I know you hate Intel but they killed themselves before being outpaced by Apple. -_-

 

[KPOM]

Here's what's really silly...

16/512 - Air M2 8CPU/8GPU - $1599
16/512 - 13 Pro M2 8CPU/10GPU - $1699
16/512 - 14 Pro M1 Pro 8CPU/14GPU - $1799

So much better tech in the 14 Pro, not to mention up to 6 more GPU cores, better display, more ports, etc.

EDIT: It should be said the $1799 price for the MBP 14 M1 is when it is (frequently) on sale at Amazon, BestBuy, Adorama, etc., or I believe the Apple Refurbished are that price. MSRP is $1999.

The base 14” Pro is only 11% faster at multi-core tasks, and actually 9% slower at single core tasks. Neither is that noticeable to the average user. Sure the 14” Pro can sustain the performance longer, but that doesn’t matter for most people. The Air is noticeably thinner and lighter.

 

[Shirasaki]

Better speakers - only noticeable if you don't use earphones or external speakers

Well ok… they will notice when they first open their new mac and hear the starting sound.

Better mics - only if you are actually going to audio record with them, and if you are, you will have an external mic

I once used 13” MacBook Pro mic to do an online test. And the other side never noticed anything abnormal. It was phenomenal. This could also reduce the need for a headset that comes with a mic. Plenty for most people. External mic is instead overkill for most people who don’t stream and/or do serious audio recording.

More high performance / less low performance CPU's - only noticeable for intense CPU workloads that can actually multitask effectively, which most people will never or rarely use

CPU matters a lot than GPU because daily use always put some strain on it and Better CPU actually boosts MacBook performance by quite a bit. (Less hiccups. More headroom for burst processing and software inefficiencies)

GPU tho? Since Mac can’t really game (few to no game), that’s something only Apple would “tap into”

For most people, the M2 chip is massive overkill, and the advantages of the MBA are actually greater.

Apple will make sure M2 is a necessity in a year or two without user doing anything demanding.

 

[Leon Ze Professional]

The notch IS ridiculous. We just don’t know how temporary it might be.

I know you hate Intel but they killed themselves before being outpaced by Apple. -_-

Hate is a strong word.

Do I 'Hate Intel' the answer is NO.
Do I 'Dislike Intel' the answer is YES.

There is a difference between the two.

 

[Shirasaki]

Hate is a strong word.

Do I 'Hate Intel' the answer is NO.
Do I 'Dislike Intel' the answer is YES.

There is a difference between the two.

I’ve seen enough people using hate to express their “dislike” so it sort of become interchangeable to me now. “Don’t like” is still different tho.

But that’s beyond the point.

 

[svish]

Good to see atleast some models available for same day pickup.

 

[luy]

Sure, but all of those extra specs in the 14 MBP are things that aren't going to make any difference for most people:

14 MBP Pros:
XDR screen - only noticeable for actual XDR content, which is almost non-existent via streaming.

Not only every Dolby vision/HDR Content (non-existent? Netflix, Youtube and ATV+ Content for example) looks better by far, also every other Content. The Mini Led shows pure black, where the lcd panel show just grey. And don't forget the 120hz, so much nicer when e.g. browsing the web with safari. Its ok, if you don't care about this, but saying it makes no difference for most people is just not true.

 

[Abazigal]

Got to play around with it for a while at my apple store. Looks and feels like a thinner MBP. The blue is gorgeous, and the form factor feels great in the hand. Looks like Apple has another winner here.

 

[Zest28]

Wow. Seriously, Apple. Maybe they think their customers aren’t into specs and just want the latest and greatest and will overlook this. If you aren’t getting the base MBA (for price), then the 14 Pro is definitely a better bargain.

If people have good eyes, the difference is huge. I just played with the M2 MBA and I thought it was thermal throttling doing basic things.

But what I was seeing is the plain old 60hz. The 120hz and miniLED display is much smoother and fluid. You don’t need to look at specs to notice this.

The M2 MBA feels slow because of this old 60hz display.

 

[Makanmata]

Ordered my 512mb bog standard version at 5:05a.m. PDT (by the time I hit the Order button) and got a delivery date of July 18. Now my order says July 18-25 and still shows "processing." I really need the machine as the battery on my 13" MBP is down to about 1 hour and is on the last leg of its last legs. I checked local pickup and showing August 16. Frustrating.

 

[CoffeeMacBook]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but the camera on the MBA-M2 is really great, better than the Apple Studio Display by miles! I really do not get what happened to the ASD camera.

 

[Makanmata]

Ordered my 512mb bog standard version at 5:05a.m. PDT (by the time I hit the Order button) and got a delivery date of July 18. Now my order says July 18-25 and still shows "processing." I really need the machine as the battery on my 13" MBP is down to about 1 hour and is on the last leg of its last legs. I checked local pickup and showing August 16. Frustrating.

After getting a confirmation of July 18, and then July 18-July 25, its now slipped another week to July 25-Aug. 2.