The new MacBook Air with M2 chip will go on sale tomorrow. While pre-orderers are already waiting for the device, selected media have published their thoughts on this product.
Although the brand new MacBook Air is praised overall, the new notebook struggles with the same problems as the M2 MacBook Pro: overheating during heavy tasks and a slower SSD in the base model. Engadget, for example, highlights outhow thin and light the new MacBook Air with M2 is – even compared to Apple's portable option, the M1 iPad Pro:
When I first picked up the MacBook Air, it felt more like an iPad with a built-in keyboard than a laptop. Oddly enough, it's even more portable than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which weighs about 3 pounds with the Smart Keyboard. The iPad Pro was always touted as the futuristic ideal for a truly portable computer. But now it turns out it weighs the same as the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Once again, the humble Air comes out on top.
MacBook Air with M2 chip: Apple comments on SSD
SixColors speaks via the MagSafe connector, which can finally be found again in the MacBook Air. This charging cable is ideal for avoiding accidents:
With the design language of the MacBook Pro 2021 comes a number of features from the MacBook Pro 2021. The MagSafe charging port is back on the Air for the first time since 2018. MagSafe is not only great because it prevents a lot of cable accidents, but it also allows you to connect and charge peripherals to both Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports.
Although The Verge praises this new era of the M2 MacBook Air, the publication reveals that this product suffers from the same shortcomings as the M2 MacBook Pro. Not only does this computer get warm and throttle aggressively under intense workloads, it also has a slower SSD if users buy the base model. The publication has an official statement from Apple receiveApple spokeswoman Michelle Del Rio commented on the matter as follows:
Thanks to the performance boost from M2, the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro are incredibly fast, even compared to Mac laptops with the powerful M1 chip. These new systems use a new, higher-density NAND that offers 256GB of storage in a single chip. While benchmarks of the 256GB SSD show a difference from the previous generation, the performance of these M2-based systems is even faster in real-world activities.
MacBook Air: Battery life and camera receive a lot of praise
TechCrunch believes this is the computer for most users and highlights the incredible battery life out:
The redesigned chassis coupled with a thinner logic board allows more room for the battery. The Air gets an upgrade from 49.9 to 52.6 watt-hours, but overall the claimed battery life remains the same. I was able to get just over 17 hours of video playback while streaming video on Apple TV with brightness set to 50 and sound on. That should be enough to get you through any flight (maybe you can squeeze in a 90-minute nap if you're flying from New York to Singapore). Interestingly, in addition to the new MagSafe colors, Apple is also trying something different with the Power Adapter. If you buy the standard model with the 8-core GPU, you get the standard 30W USB-C charger.
Gizmodo, on the other hand, praises the new 1080p webcam and saysthat the microphones on this computer are also good enough:
And that's a good 1080p. In a selfie I took in the Gizmodo office this afternoon, my face doesn't appear overly pale or washed out. Details like strands of hair and the blue of my eyes come through well. There's some slight blurring, but that's better than most internal cameras I've seen. The built-in microphone isn't bad either. Even plosives, shouts, and clapping were hard to miss, and it picked up whispers well. During the week I used the device in the New York summer, it picked up the air conditioning in my office but the rest of the city noise was inaudible. I wouldn't use it to record podcasts, but it's probably just as good as a dedicated headset microphone.
According to the testers, the new device is a huge upgrade in every respect - apart from the price. The new Air starts at 1,499 euros and is therefore slightly more expensive than the previous generation. (Image: Apple)
