Seven key benefits of the MacBook Air with M2

That might convince you to buy it

Jakub Jirak
Mac O’Clock
4 min readAug 26, 2022

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At this year's WWDC22 conference, Apple unveiled two modern machines as part of the new iOS and iPadOS 16, macOS 13 Ventura, and watchOS 9 extensions. Both of these machines are ready with the latest M2 chip.

Image courtesy of the author

As for the 13″ MacBook Pro, Apple fans have been able to buy it for some time now, but they've had to wait for the redesigned MacBook Air. Pre-orders for that machine didn't start until later, precisely on July 8, with the new Air going on sale on July 15. In this article, let's look at seven key features of the MacBook Air with an M2 chip that might convince you to buy it.

New and great design

At the outset, you'll notice that the modern MacBook Air has been redesigned. This change is the biggest in the Air's lifetime, as Apple has completely gotten rid of the body that tapers towards the customer. This means that the thickness of the MacBook Air is the same throughout, 1.13cm.

In the expansion, clients can choose from four colors, namely the original silver and space dark, but there is also a modern star white and matte ink. So design-wise, the current MacBook with the M2 chip is quite dazzling.

Magsafe

As many of you know, the first MacBook Air M1 had two Thunderbolt connectors, just like the 13″ MacBook Pro with the M2 chip. So if you connected a charger to these computers, you were left with only a single Thunderbolt connector, which isn't ideal.

Fortunately, Apple realized this and sent a third-generation MagSafe charging connector to the new MacBook Air, which is also found on the new 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pros.

A better front-facing camera

Regarding the front-facing camera, MacBooks have long advertised a camera with a resolution as low as 720p. That's bizarre today, even if they use ISPs to improve the camera image in real-time. Anyway, with the advent of the 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro, Apple finally sent a 1080p camera on sale, which has gratefully made its way into the all-new MacBook Air. So in case you utilize video calling, you'll appreciate this change.

A newer, more powerful chip

As mentioned above, the new MacBook Air — is highlighted by the M2 chip. This offers 8 CPU and 8 GPU centers in the base, while you can pay extra for the 10-core variant.

The implication is that the MacBook Air is slightly more powerful than the M1 — expressly, Apple has stated that it's up 18% more in the case of the CPU and up to 35% more in the case of the GPU.

In addition, it's essential to specify that the M2 highlights a multimedia engine that will be especially appreciated by people working with video. The media engine can speed up video modification and rendering.

Much larger unified memory

If you buy a MacBook with the M1 chip, you only have two memory options — the base 8GB and the expanded 16GB. These single memory capacities are sufficient for many clients, but specific clients would appreciate a bit more memory.

And the great news is that Apple has also tuned in to that. So if you opt for the MacBook Air M2, they suggest 24 GB of top-of-the-line memory as an extension of the 8 GB and 16 GB of standalone memory.

Virtually no noise

If you've ever worked with a MacBook Air with an Intel processor, you'll agree that a central heater was unimaginably noisy due to the fan often running at full speed. Thanks to Apple's new chips, they are both more efficient and more effective.

Apple was able to create a radical change and remove the fan from the guts of the MacBook Air M1 altogether. Essentially, there's no need for it. And Apple is doing the same thing with the MacBook Air M2. In addition to zero noise, these devices also have zero cleanliness concerns, which is another positive.

Great new display

The last thing worth mentioning about the MacBook Air M2 is its unique display. Moreover, it has also been redesigned. In the beginning, you'll notice a set pattern where the aforementioned 1080p front-facing camera is located, plus the display has been adjusted quite a lot in the corners.

Its tilt has been increased from the first 13.3″ to a full 13.6″, and as for the resolution, it has been raised from the original 2560 x 1600 pixels to 2560 x 1664 pixels. The MacBook Air M2's display is called Liquid Retina, and in addition to a maximum brightness of 500 nits, it also handles a P3 color field display and supports True Tone technology.

Final thoughts

If you are worried about the issue of a slower SSD in the base model, believe that it may not be a dealbreaker for ordinary users. If you are a more demanding user and like the M2 MacBook Air. If you only have the budget for one upgrade, choose the RAM expansion. It will get you more than the disk expansion for most uses. However, if you are still hesitant, I recommend you watch the video from Patrick Rambles, where he addresses this very question.

Thank you for reading this article! If you enjoyed it, please leave me 👏🏻 and follow me for more content like this! 😊👍

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Jakub Jirak
Mac O’Clock

Content creator | Cat dad | Writing about Technology, Apple, and Innovations. | Proud editor of Mac O'Clock. | Support me at https://ko-fi.com/jakubjirak