Only halfway screen brightness. Anything above is too bright for us. I've lowered the power settings (I think) to see if that would extend the battery life.
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Video Review: One Month With the New M2 MacBook Air
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Keep us posted if there are any improvements and what steps you did so that we can replicate it on our MBA2.
No doubt the fingerprints on the midnight MBA are a nuisance, but it's something I'm willing to accept. Had silver and it looked great, but a little too retro for me.
I have the Midnight color and solved the fingerprint problem early. I touched every part of the machine, multiple times, and it gets no more fingerprints now. I've owned mac laptops since the PowerBook 180. I had the Wallstreet, Titaniums, 17 inches, and the 11-inch macbook air. This is far and away the best one yet.
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If you can afford it, max out the RAM. I own a 13" M1 Macbook, and a 14" M1 Pro Macbook, both with 16GB.... I run into RAM limits more often than these reviews would make you think. It's very workable, but I often find myself killing programs (Figma, browser windows, etc) to keep the machine humming along smoothly. When M2 Pro is out, I plan on going with 32GB.
I was worried about the same thing, but it hasn't bothered me at all.
A lot of them seemed to make the common tech pundit mistake: "I'm an enthusiast, and this product doesn't seem to be for me; therefore, it is a bad product."
I've had mine for over a month now. I'm typing this on it now. It's all that I expected it to be and I'm really glad to see since Apple ditched Intel they are making some serious improvements in their Mac lineup.
So far my only complaint about this computer is the lack of a specific power key. Yes it technically has a power key but Apple decided to make every key function as a power key so... That's just a minor annoyance since I rarely turn it off.
I'd say for most users doing general computing this is the one to get if you want a laptop. The desktop is no question the Mac mini but perhaps wait till October to see if anything new comes out.
So far my only complaint about this computer is the lack of a specific power key. Yes it technically has a power key but Apple decided to make every key function as a power key so... That's just a minor annoyance since I rarely turn it off.
I'd say for most users doing general computing this is the one to get if you want a laptop. The desktop is no question the Mac mini but perhaps wait till October to see if anything new comes out.
That was a very good review Dan. Full of genuine impressions. Thank you very much
Battery life depends on what you're doing. I bet gaming I could burn through the battery in less than four hours. I think as most people use a laptop it would last multiple days. Most people are going to spend a few hours a day maybe. If you're going to stare at the screen for 10 hours straight you might just plug it in at that point.
Full brightness? I use my M2 Air in my living room and even at one notch below half brightness it's plenty bright for me. At half feels just a bit too bright but not uncomfortably so. Anything more than that is just too much. Of course it depends on ambient lighting and I'm under two 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs that are usually set at 70%.
I wonder if I would have gotten the M2 air if it had been available when I was in the market for a new laptop last year assuming both were available only at retail price. I ended up with a 14 inch MBP which I'm quite happy with. However, that midnight color is awesome and the thinner lighter design is also attractive. However, if I were buying today the $300 off sale the current MBP model is seeing from time to time would still tip me toward the MBP assuming the M2 Air would be at full retail price.
Love the midnight. but hate the fingerprints as well! lol.. maybe should have got space gray?
In my case, I bought the 16" M1 Pro because I wanted the bigger screen and active cooling for gaming with my wife, mostly WoW and Steam games. Then two weeks after I got it, my wife died. So now I'm happy to get similar performance and battery life in a smaller, lighter form factor. We all have our reasons, and they're not all stupid.Ok
PS: I said any of relevance considering. Everyone with an M1 Pro or Mac I've read "drooling" over the MBA with upgrades come from a 16" machine ... But hey. Why they did not went for the the 14" instead of the 16" back then ... don't know. Maybe regret is playing the mind a bit ... no? God forbid us buying a model launched last year.
Sez you. I love the flat design and thinness. I have a 16" MBP M1 Pro, and the difference in carrying the two is night and day. The 14" Pro is not the same, despite the base model costing only $100 more than my MBA (24/512). I have a thin, silent laptop where I never see memory pressure go into the yellow, much less red (and I haven't seen the swap get used at all yet). You don't get to decide my laptop shouldn't exist. Maybe it's just not for you.
Disagree. I honestly can't see the difference. I'm sure it's there, but not something my eyes can really discern. My wife couldn't see the difference between retina and non-retina, but to me that's night and day. Everyone is different.
This thing get really hot when running Toco Boca! So maybe not great for kids and the sort of things they download.
Mac Studio with three external displays beats everything. I need those extra displays. But when I am just studying, I use my MBA so I can sit somewhere comfortable.
How To Connect Multiple Monitors To M1, M2, M3 and M4 Macs
The base model Apple Silicon Macs with the M1, M2 or M3 chips only support one external display (except for the Mac Mini and Mac Studio) but the good newsmachow2.com
I have my MBA set to low power mode only when on battery, never notice a difference in performance, but power usage peaks at under 10W. I also tend to run my screen a notch or two below halfway unless I'm watching a movie or TV. But all that said, I don't worry about sitting anywhere near an outlet when I go out for the day, which is like the first time ever with a Mac (I used to do that with my iPads, too). It's real world usage that counts. The battery on my 16" M1 Pro is good, but this is next level due to how the M2's more and better efficiency cores pair with low power mode. The M1 Pro only has 2 efficiency cores, IIRC, and the M2 has 4.
Well, language is fluid. The synonyms of the past are no longer the synonyms of today.
I'd say that in the public discourse pundit has been devalued from "expert" to "celebrity"; someone who is called upon to give an opinion because they're entertaining more so than because they actually possess any real expertise.
Would you consider a compliment to be called a pundit vs being called an expert?
I ordered a base MBA M2 in Midnight the other day, I can live with the fingerprints by just giving it a quick polish after use. (I'm retired and have plenty of time, well, I hope). I am coming from a 2015 MBP. I cant wait for it to be delivered between the 7th and 14th of Sep.
It's definitely a huge leap forward from the 2015 MBP you're replacing. I had one, too, and just received my MBA M2 and continue to be amazed by its performance and aesthetics. Enjoy!