With an eight-core GPU M2 SoC, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, our Apple MacBook Air 2022 is the entry-level model. A model with a 10-core GPU M2 SoC, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage is also available. No matter whatever model you select, you may upgrade the memory to 16GB or 24GB and the storage capacity to 2TB. The most recent Apple MacBook Air upgrades what is perhaps the most famous laptop in history. also you can learn our article on Apple MacBook Air M2 review. This makes the change for 2022 all the more remarkable. It debuts with a completely new look in addition to being one of the first Macs to employ Apple’s M2 chip, the forerunner of the second generation of Apple Silicon. A smaller logic board inside creates room for a larger, bolder screen and a redesigned chassis that provides practical functions without increasing size or weight. This is the best ultraportable Mac you can buy and Apple’s most recent MacBook Air.
Design
We can’t deny that we were a little let down when Apple unveiled the new MacBook Air M2 (2022). Prior to the unveiling, leaks revealed a revamp along the lines of the 2021 iMac 24-inch, with a large selection of eye-catching colours available. Instead of emulating the iMac, the new MacBook Air M2 (2022) imitates its more expensive MacBook Pro 14 and 16 siblings. As a result, the trademark wedge design has been abandoned, giving you a boxier appearance than before. The new style is elegant and classy, and it is far more portable than the 14- and 16-inch variants, which are thicker overall. This laptop may not be the thinnest one available, but it is far more portable than the previous model. Since we have been carrying a MacBook Pro in our backpack for several months, sliding this one in instead helps us remember why the Air line is so unique. It is just 1.13cm tall and 1.24kg in weight. This makes Apple’s most portable mobile workstation thinner than an iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard attached. We’re sorry to disappoint you if you were looking for a MacBook Air in every colour of the rainbow. With the addition of Starlight and Midnight, Space Grey and Silver are still available. The Starlight option, which we have been trying for the past week, is best described as a very delicate gold. In comparison to the matte Midnight option, which is a very dark blue, it conceals fingerprints better.
Keyboard and touchpad
Apple is eager to point out that the 2022 MacBook Air features a full-size row of function keys running down the top in addition to receiving the same Magic Keyboard as its Pro sibling models. This serves as a method to set it apart from both the previous MacBook Air, which used function keys that were half the size of the regular keys, and the MacBook Pro 13-inch, which still has the Touch Bar. Probably, but our testing doesn’t show a significant difference. Do full-size function keys outperform a Touch Bar in performance? That is also debatable. Let’s just point out that the Touch Bar isn’t there on Apple’s more expensive (14-inch and 16-inch) MacBook Pro models either, and I highly doubt that this was a mistake on the side of the design team at Apple. In addition, the keyboard has a power button with an integrated Touch ID sensor that enables safe transactions for anything you purchase with Apple Pay without the need to enter a password or PIN. In addition, the Force Touch trackpad on the Air is bigger. Although it is somewhat broader and taller than Apple’s most costly devices, the haptic feedback and glass surface are just as outstanding.
Apple MacBook Air M2 review: Display
Still, the new “Liquid Retina” display is a useful update if you can get used to the notch. Its standard “Retina” display on the old M1 MacBook Air is larger by 0.3 inches, brighter by a claimed 100 cd/m2, and has a slightly more practical aspect ratio of 3:2 as opposed to the 16:10 of its predecessor. Additionally, it keeps the characteristics that make using a recent MacBook superior to many of its Windows competitors: Wide P3 colour coverage and TrueTone, which adjusts the display’s white point to the illumination in the workspace, are other features, however more and more Windows computers are starting to catch up recently. The refresh rate, which is fixed at a meagre 60Hz, is the only area where the M2 MacBook Air falls short. By now, we’d have liked to see Apple switch to at least 90Hz, if not 120Hz. It’s still a very good display, though. In our tests, brightness reached a maximum of 549cd/m2, which is a good 49cd/m2 more than the reported 500cd/m2. The contrast ratio was 1,416:1, and 96.1% of the P3 colour space was reproduced in terms of colour. With an average Delta E colour variance score of 1.13 vs DisplayP3, colour accuracy is very good. In the end, it all comes down to being a very excellent screen. Although it may not meet the OLED screen of the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro requirements for pure colour vibrancy, contrast ratio, and black level, it is undoubtedly sharper and equally useful for everyday tasks.
Audio
The four speakers on the MacBook Air M2 provide a decent sound quality; when we played the One Republic song “I Ain’t Worried” on Spotify, it was audible and clear. The tempo was powerful enough, and the lyrics had plenty of room to breathe, but the sound wasn’t as well-balanced as the six-speaker system on the MacBook Pro 14. The Pro’s bass was richer and less tinny when we compared the two laptops side by side, but it costs $800 more. With a new four-speaker system that allows Spatial Audio even without headphones, the Air has received improvements for the hearing in addition to the eyes. also you can check our article on Apple MacBook Air M2 review.
Apple MacBook Air M2 review: Graphics and gaming
Although the $1,199 variant of the MacBook Air M2 has an 8-core CPU instead of a 10-core GPU, we can discuss how this GPU performed and will follow up once we test the entry-level model. For instance, the MacBook Air M2 was able to play Rise of the Tomb Raider at a clean 27 frames per second (30 frames per second or more is excellent). The frame rate dropped to 15.3 at 2940 x 1920. The results for the MacBook Pro M2 were marginally lower at 24.9 and 12.2 frames per second. When we started playing Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, the two Apple laptops were a little farther apart. The Pro M2 got 51 fps at 1440 x 900, while the new Air got 40.3 fps at 1470 x 956. The results of 3DMark Wild Life Extreme on the two computers were quite similar.
Performance
As Apple Silicon enters its third year of operation, the majority of the problems caused by a lack of native compatibility have all but disappeared, allowing us to evaluate performance essentially without restrictions. The second generation of Apple technology looks excellent on paper. Similar to the M1 chip, the new M2 chip represents a substantial advancement and is an octa-core component with four cores designated for high performance tasks and four that take over when the demands are less demanding. Additionally, it is produced utilizing a 5nm manufacturing technique, just like the M1. It has a higher clock speed of 3.49GHz than the M1’s 3.2GHz, but more memory bandwidth (100GB/sec as opposed to 68.5GB/sec), and it supports up to 24GB of RAM as opposed to the M1’s 16GB maximum. Not only that, but the media engine on the M2 chip has been updated to speed up not only H.264 and HEVC video encoding and decoding but also ProRes and ProRes RAW video. The M2’s neural engine is reportedly 40% quicker than the M1. It is evident from our normal set of benchmarks that the M2 is a big improvement over the M1. Even before you include the improvement accessible to anyone editing high-resolution ProRes video, the rise across generic CPU and GPU jobs is significant enough to justify upgrading, even though we’re not talking about a massive increase. In fact, the increased hardware acceleration alone is worth the entry fee if your workflow involves working with ProRes video in any way. In comparison to the M1 in a Mac mini, the M2 plays back a 4K 4:4:4:4 ProRes video clip with ease; it barely breaks a sweat, whereas the M1 has its work cut out for it just to play the clip without losing frames. When you push this by layering together ProRes video in DaVinci Resolve, the M1 rapidly begins to struggle while the M2 completes the task with ease.
Apple MacBook Air M2 review: Battery life
With many hours of photo editing in Affinity Photo, 20 or more tabs open in Chrome the majority of the time, Apple Mail, Typora, Evernote, and a number of chat apps and smaller tools, the battery life is still best in class. It routinely lasts longer than 16 hours between charges. You won’t have to bring the charger to work or lectures. The provided 35W charger and MagSafe cable took two hours and fifteen minutes to fully charge the Air, although it can be quickly charged to 50% using a 67W or higher-power adaptor if you have one.
Configuration options
The MacBook Air M2 has an 8-core GPU, 8-core CPU, 8 GB of Unified Memory, and 256 GB of SSD storage, and it costs $1,199 / £1249(opens in new tab). Although the MacBook Pro 14-inch, which starts at $1,999, is somewhat more expensive, we still advise against buying the base model because the 256 GB of storage is unlikely to be adequate in the medium to long term. you can read our article on Apple MacBook Air M2 review. If at all possible, we recommend building to order with double the RAM and double the storage for $1,899 / £1949 (though at that point, you’re moving into the MacBook Pro price range). Although Apple does offer an additional two GPU cores and 512 GB storage for $1,499 / £1,549, we’d recommend if at all possible.
Conclusion
The Apple MacBook Air is a great device for studying. It may easily last through a regular day of mild use and is quite portable. The monitor is clear and bright, the keyboard is cosy, and the touchpad is sizable and snappy. Text processing, web surfing, and video playback are all common productivity tasks that its M2 SoC is capable of handling with ease. Although the SoC’s GPU performs admirably, it degrades when it gets hot, making it unsuitable for students majoring in 3D design. Its M2 SoC only supports one external display, and it only has two USB-C connections.
