Just spotted the comment and confirmed on Apple's website that the M2 13” MBP comes with a Touch Bar! 🙈🔥❌
[Insert headshake]. 😭👎🏼
That changes my original comment that the M2 MBA would be orphaned as people would jump over it to the new M2 MBP for only $100 more.
However, in light of Piratel's pithy summary of the M2 MBA advantages over the M1, and the dislike of many of the TB — and the MBP's slightly extra weight (3 vs. 2.8) — the M2 MBA is back in the running.
My personal reaction was quite positive with the Liquid Retina/added brightness screen, slightly bigger screen size, 1080p cam, redesigned chassis, and (potentially, if it works much faster) fast charging.
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OTOH, this will make a difference to some or many:
Power and Battery
M2 MBA vs. M2 MBP
15 vs. 17 hours wireless web
18 hours vs. 20 hours Apple TV app movie playback
52.6–watt-hour vs. 58.2 lithium-polymer batter
30W vs. 67W USB-C Power Adapter
However, that M2 MBA also comes with this in certain configurations!
35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter (included with M2 with 10-core GPU and 512GB storage, configurable with M2 with 8-core GPU)
Fast-charge capable with *available* 67W USB-C Power Adapter
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My single biggest complaint with the pricing and feature sets is that there are striking plusses and minuses at each level, meaning that there are no clear choices in a maze of them, and, thus, buyer's remorse looms and angst of choosing for some or many is palpable. It makes buying a new device a fraught, unsatisfying experience, when it should be a joyous, comparatively simple matter.
In the old days, pre-Cook, the price differentials and feature sets seemed far more distinct (IIRC! 😎), and if you spent more, you typically got more, without nagging, irritating trade offs and downsides!
The wedge remains a big plus for the M1 MBA ❇️.
But, then, if a 2018-2020 Intel MBA is in good shape and does what someone needs, why bother upgrading at all?