Picture: Apple.
After the announcement of the new Apple Silicon M2 chip, Apple presented its new MacBook Air and Pro yesterday.
What’s New in the MacBook Air M2
The best-selling and best-selling MacBook Air in Apple’s laptop lineup sees its biggest improvement since the introduction of the M1 chip.
The M2 chip
Picture: Apple.
The new MacBook Air will be one of the first platforms for the M2 chip. Apple promises an 18% performance boost – over its predecessor – thanks to the new processor’s 5nm footprint and 20 billion transistors.
Apple’s promise? Performance improved by 18% compared to its predecessor equipped with the M1, thanks to its 8-core SoC and its 10-core GPU. The latter supports a unified memory bandwidth of 100 GB/s, allowing it to handle up to 24 GB of unified memory for “more complex workloads”.
The combo updates also support next-gen media and ProRes video engines for “hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding.” Apple promises this will “dramatically speed up video workflows” for editors working on the MacBook Air.
The new chip has also been designed to be as energy efficient as possible. Thus, the new MacBook Air has the same autonomy as its predecessor, despite improved performance. Apple estimates the autonomy of the device, in video playback, at 18 hours.
Design
Picture: Apple.
The MacBook Air loses its wedge-shaped design for the first time. Instead, Apple opts for a square design, with 11.3 mm thickness, much closer to the aesthetics of the MacBook Pro.
However, unlike the MacBook Pro, the new MacBook Air lineup comes in four colors: Silver, Space Gray, Starlight, and Midnight.
This new all-aluminum design takes up 20% less volume, according to its designer. The device weighs 1.24 kg.
Despite its small footprint, Apple’s fanless case will run completely silent 100% of the time thanks to heat management improvements built into the M2 chip and redesigned chassis.
The connection
The included 35W charger (left) with 2 USB-C ports and the new 67W fast charger (right) with a single USB-C port. Picture: Apple.
The latest iteration of Apple’s detachable magnet charger returns to the MacBook Air. The device comes with a new 35W “compact” charger that includes an additional USB-C port for charging a second device from the same outlet. It now also supports fast charging technology, which charges the MacBook Air to 50% in just 30 minutes via an optional 67-watt fast charger.
Apple also plans to introduce a new compact wall charger that has two USB-C ports to charge two devices simultaneously.
Thanks to the additional MagSafe port, the two included Thunderbolt ports can remain free to be used for peripherals – or otherwise. The new MacBook Air also has a redesigned 3.5mm audio jack that supports high-impedance headphones.
screen
Picture: Apple.
This new 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display offers 500 nits of brightness, thinner bezels and a billion colors in a package that Apple says is 25% brighter than its predecessor.
The webcam
The MacBook Air’s new webcam has a resolution of 1080p. Apple specifies that this resolution is twice that of its predecessor (720 p).
It also performs twice as well in a low-light environment, thanks to a new “advanced image signal processor” built into the M2 chip, according to the brand.
audio
The four speakers and three new microphones have been placed “between the keyboard and the screen” in order to fit into “such a thin design”, explains Apple. Despite their compactness, the Apple firm claims that the speakers offer better stereo separation for all media and better voice clarity for video calls.
The new MacBook Air is also expected to offer immersive spatial sound for music and movies with Dolby Atmos.
The keyboard
Not only has Apple managed to fit all this sound hardware into the new MacBook Air, but the manufacturer has also expanded its keyboard. The latter now has a full-height feature row, with Touch ID support via a much taller key than its predecessor.
Availability and prices
Picture: Apple.
The new MacBooks should be available from next month, in July 2022.
The new MacBook Air M2 will be available from 1,499 euros. The existing MacBook Air M1 will also remain on sale for $1,199.
The new MacBook Pro equipped with the M2 chip will be offered from 1,599 euros.
Source: ZDNet.com