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Just got my long-awaited MacBook Air (it's a custom 24GB model too) and I gotta say: I'm severely disappointed with it's build quality.

If you press down on the lid while it's closed, you can feel it flexing like crazy.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/058VY1qRS7X-rSUoVwcIvA4hQ

Also, when the lid is closed, at a certain angle in a certain spot you can see the light coming through the gap between the lid and the keyboard.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0f3VmqRIcQCXKD6bnibzM0B5g

Personally, I find it unacceptable for a $2k+ laptop to be built like this, so I wanna know if it's just me who got lucky or is it a larger scale issue?
My 16" 2019 Intel does the same and so did my Lenovo and both costed thousands. This is normal, don't press down the lid. Why would do that on purpose?
 
if you squeeze the m2 and m1 next to each other, the m2 feels cheap.... did you do side by side?
It’s a laptop, not a stress ball.
But I’ve owned the 2016 MBP, the M1 Air and the M2 Air.
The M2 feels the most solid out of all of them.
My old MBP went through three different top cases / keyboards over its lifespan, and 2/3 of those keyboards were slightly crooked with the lid.
Also, one of those top cases had a very, very present dip where the trackpad was located that didn’t exist in the other two.
My M1 Air didn’t have any issues, but right out of the box one of the hinge edges was noticeably sharper than the other.
These things happen.
If there’s an imperfection with your mba, go to the store and see if it’s an issue with the demos.
If it’s not, return yours.
But also, come on people.
You push hard enough on any of the super thin aluminum lids on… basically any MacBook ever, eventually they will flex.
 
It’s a laptop, not a stress ball.
But I’ve owned the 2016 MBP, the M1 Air and the M2 Air.
The M2 feels the most solid out of all of them.
My old MBP went through three different top cases / keyboards over its lifespan, and 2/3 of those keyboards were slightly crooked with the lid.
Also, one of those top cases had a very, very present dip where the trackpad was located that didn’t exist in the other two.
My M1 Air didn’t have any issues, but right out of the box one of the hinge edges was noticeably sharper than the other.
These things happen.
If there’s an imperfection with your mba, go to the store and see if it’s an issue with the demos.
If it’s not, return yours.
But also, come on people.
You push hard enough on any of the super thin aluminum lids on… basically any MacBook ever, eventually they will flex.
the bottom of the m1 air does not flex. im using it right now. the m2 bends a ton.
 
What kind of minor things people complain about these days.
Aluminium flexes, especially if it's that thin and shaped like that. To expect anything else just makes you look like you don't actually know what you're talking about.
The lid thing is a laughable complain as well as its not even a concern.
 
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the bottom of the m1 air does not flex. im using it right now. the m2 bends a ton.
Typing this with my M2 MBA.
Nothing bending when I'm holding it in my hands, open, while re-adjusting my grip.
No noticeable bending, no noticeable flexing, nothing of the sort.
Feels just as solid as my M1 MBA.
If yours is bending in a way where it's actually abnormal, get it replaced.
 
Typing this with my M2 MBA.
Nothing bending when I'm holding it in my hands, open, while re-adjusting my grip.
No noticeable bending, no noticeable flexing, nothing of the sort.
Feels just as solid as my M1 MBA.
If yours is bending in a way where it's actually abnormal, get it replaced.
But does it bend when put in a vice grip?! ;)
 
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While I do think the OP is being unrealistic about the top flex, I'm fairly certain my M1 MBA has no gaps between the lid and body that allow light to pass through. I'll have to double-check that tonight, though.

Update: I checked and you can just barely see a tiny sliver of light if you look at just the right angle at the side profile of a closed M1 MBA if you hold it in front of a light source. Definitely not anything like the picture the OP linked.
 
Oh ****. My wife just backed her car over my 14” M1 MacBook Pro. I think I saw the lid flex and there is some light shining through the hinge now. She better drive forward over it and see if it does it again.
 
the bottom of the m1 air does not flex. im using it right now. the m2 bends a ton.
The bottom? We were talking about the lid. But ok, the M1 had bowed surfaces that are harder to flex…but is thicker. I’ll take the thinner M2 as any flex doesn’t effect actual use.
 
Just got mine and only thing I’ve noticed compared to my current gen MBP is that the bottom plate isn’t aligned properly so on one side you can run your finger a long the seam (base plate meets the side chassis) and feel it compared to the other side where it feels like one smooth piece. On the MBP there’s no such seam you can feel.

A super big deal? Nah but still noticeable especially when that’s how I pick it up most of the time.
 
I couldn't replicate picture number 2. I'm not sure how much pressure you're putting in picture 1 but the lid seems as rigid as ever, meaning it's not suitable as a seat cushion.

[not directed at OP] I call BS on comments like "compared to M1 MBA side-by-side". We have M1s in the family so I've done that comparison and no.. there is no apparent quality build quality decrease. I'm glad you like your M1 Air, but I think there are better more anchored reasons for staying off the buy-button of the M2. Mainly that your device is just 2 years old max and still among the better laptops in existence.
 
I couldn't replicate picture number 2. I'm not sure how much pressure you're putting in picture 1 but the lid seems as rigid as ever, meaning it's not suitable as a seat cushion.

[not directed at OP] I call BS on comments like "compared to M1 MBA side-by-side". We have M1s in the family so I've done that comparison and no.. there is no apparent quality build quality decrease. I'm glad you like your M1 Air, but I think there are better more anchored reasons for staying off the buy-button of the M2. Mainly that your device is just 2 years old max and still among the better laptops in existence.
agreed that it is a 'sickness' the propels many people on here including me with the never ending desire to upgrade and have the best. That said, the m2 air just feels wrong. when you add up all of it's short comings, the m2 is a non-starter for me, and I really tried to want it. I feel like you have two tracks - m1 air or m1 pro 14". My sickness to want the latest and greatest usually results in me getting that and the m2 does not make the cut.

just pretty bummed that we have to live with the new air design :(
 
agreed that it is a 'sickness' the propels many people on here including me with the never ending desire to upgrade and have the best. That said, the m2 air just feels wrong. when you add up all of it's short comings, the m2 is a non-starter for me, and I really tried to want it. I feel like you have two tracks - m1 air or m1 pro 14". My sickness to want the latest and greatest usually results in me getting that and the m2 does not make the cut.

just pretty bummed that we have to live with the new air design :(
"All the shortcomings" again makes it sound like it's kind of broken or something. I can only count two valid things.

* The new base SSD is slower, ok that's bad but I wasn't in the market for base storage anyway.
* It's not price competitive", true the M1 air makes way more sense for most. But that simply makes the M2 situated as the premium high performance thin n' light.

Not liking the new air design is of course subjective (and wrong ;))

I'm more into the the theory here though that M1 owners were out for not liking the successor in the first place because in a sense of the tech-enthusiast it "feels bad" not to have the latest and greatest. Any thread proposing some sort of shortcoming gets visited by some M1-people so that they can feed their world image.

In the end it's great that one stays off buying things they don't need, but they don't need to be insincere about it.
 
agreed that it is a 'sickness' the propels many people on here including me with the never ending desire to upgrade and have the best. That said, the m2 air just feels wrong. when you add up all of it's short comings, the m2 is a non-starter for me, and I really tried to want it. I feel like you have two tracks - m1 air or m1 pro 14". My sickness to want the latest and greatest usually results in me getting that and the m2 does not make the cut.

just pretty bummed that we have to live with the new air design :(
The shortcomings of the M1 are the reasons I never bought one:

  • Lack of MagSafe - I enjoyed MagSafe on my old machine for 13 years. I almost caved and bought an M1 Air, simply because my ancient MBP was effectively no longer usable, but when the 14" and 16" Pro arrived with MagSafe, I figured the next Air would have it as well, and decided to wait it out. (I very nearly bought a 14" Pro earlier this spring, with MagSafe and immediate availability being the driving factors, but I am very glad I did not. I don't want to lug around the extra weight, and don't want to pay the kind of price I would have to in order to get the 1 TB of storage that I need.)
  • Form factor: the original MBA was essentially a very expensive toy. It then improved for several years, and subsequently regressed with the butterfly keyboard. Unfortunately, I'll always associate the wedge with that original toy computer, and with an awful work (Windows) laptop I had that mimicked the wedge design.
The M2 is the first Air I have ever bought, and I could not be happier with it.
 
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