Photo: Giktime
In 2020, something happened in the world of computing, when Apple announced that it was abandoning Intel’s architecture and processors in favor of M1, a home-made processor for the Mac (which later also came to the iPad Pro). The result managed to silence even the last of the naysayers – even though it was only the first generation of processors and computers with the Macbook Pro M1 in mind.
Two years later it is trying to do it again with M2, the next generation of its processors, which should be faster and more economical than its predecessor. So we took one of the most interesting laptops it offers, the new MacBook Air, to see if lightning can strike twice, and discovered an impressive Mac in an identity crisis.
New design with an improved screen
Unlike the MacBook Pro that comes with the M2 but with the same casing and hardware as its predecessor, Apple took the MacBook Air and changed its ultrabook almost from edge to edge. It starts with Apple’s new spirit that places less emphasis on thinness, and more on articulation, and the design of the new MacBook Air is perhaps a little thicker compared to the thinnest point in the previous design, but it is now completely straight. No games with the numbers, no weird belly – just a flat computer that looks quite compatible with the new MacBook Pro. And yes, it is very, very light: 1.2 kilos of lightness. But leave numbers. To understand how light it is, consider that it weighs less than my iPad Pro M1 and Magic Keyboard—and can do so much more.
For example, when I covered the launch of a new electric vehicle, and had to work while sitting on a narrow car seat, I really enjoyed the dimensions and light weight of the MacBook Air sitting on my lap. Even when I was working one day in a cafe, I felt as if the computer was taking up as little as possible from the table, allowing me to work while having a light snack. It’s a computer that can really be easily taken in any basic bag, without hardly remembering it’s there. The speaker array has also been significantly improved, and although I wouldn’t call it impressive or full of bass like the speaker array of the new MacBook Pro – it is successful and will do the job well.
Photo: Giktime
Apart from the weight and flat design, Apple also gave the MacBook Air the treatment we were waiting for, and also reduced the edges of the computer, so that the screen is slightly larger than the previous generation, but the screen also received an upgrade to a maximum brightness of 500 nits, which is very welcome when working outside or in overly bright offices . Compared to the new MacBook Pro that comes with an excellent Mini-LED screen and support for a 120 Hz refresh rate, the MacBook Air is left with a classic “Retina” display, which in my opinion is also a little oversaturated. It’s not the best screen I’ve seen on a laptop, but it’s one of the best screens The most I’ve seen in an ultrabook.
However, keep in mind that in the middle of the upper part of the screen you will again find the damn notch (Notch) that may have kind of disappeared from the iPhone 14 Pro, but for some reason takes up valuable real estate here. And it’s not like there’s a Face ID array here. I know that the MacBook Air was launched before the iPhone 14, but when you buy a laptop, you buy it for years to come and knowing that this design is already on its way out and doesn’t give anything in return here – is a bit embarrassing.
The return of the king
Photo: Giktime
One of the features I liked most in the MacBook Pro 14 and 16 is the return of the MagSafe, Apple’s iconic and excellent charging connection. Instead of connecting to USB-C as in all MacBooks of recent years (and last year’s MacBook Air as well), MagSafe is a proprietary Apple connection, but of the good kind: on one side of the cable, it’s USB-C that connects to the modest and relatively light charging unit that goes into the bag without any problem. On the other side, a magnetic connection awaits you that ensures that the cable goes easily where it needs to go. As a bonus, if someone in the office or at home walks by and pulls the cable connected to your MacBook Air, the cable disconnects from the computer, and it doesn’t fly to the floor. Over the years this connection has saved my MacBooks quite a few times, and I’m very glad it’s back. In addition to the magnetic function, it comes with a small light that shows you that charging has started or finished, and the cable itself is coated with fabric, so there is a reasonable chance that it will tear less than your previous charging cables. Apple also made the darkest move here, and painted the magnetic end of the cable the same color as the MacBook. The cable also received a bluish shade accordingly – which is a pretty nice design move that may not affect your daily life, but it does give a sense of a premium package here – and matches the design line of the iMac for example.
The battery times of the MacBook Air M2 are excellent, and to be honest, I managed to complete two days of work in the office, using Spotify (listening via Bluetooth) and dozens of Chrome tabs open, with Slack, WhatsApp and Telegram open at all times – and all this without charging the computer even once So yes, it’s absolutely a full-time computer. However, precisely when I connected to an external screen, the battery drained at a much faster rate and sometimes even barely survived a working day. Nevertheless, these are very impressive battery times, all the more so when you remember how light and portable this device is.
Besides the magnetic and aesthetic advantages of the Magsafe, there is another excellent advantage compared to the previous generation, and it lies in the fact that the Magsafe port actually saves you one USB-C port, which means that you have 2 USB-C ports available at any given moment even if the computer is charging. The problem with that, is that it’s still USB-C. I’ve said it before and I think it’s true in 2022 as well, with all due respect to Apple’s “courage” that really promoted the adoption of the standard – we’re not necessarily in a world that’s all wireless and USB-C yet. And so, I found myself having more difficulty working with the Air specifically in the office: I could not connect to an external screen, because there is no HDMI port; I could not connect to the wired keyboard because it is USB-A; I couldn’t download materials to an external drive, because I don’t have a drive with a USB-C connection, etc. I know, there are enough dongles in the world that will solve these problems with one connection, but this is exactly a solution to the point we are at, but a burden on a considerable part of the users who constantly have to disconnect dongles, remember to take them in a bag, connect them, bring a set of cables.
Photo: Giktime
I would have liked to see at least one USB-A port here, and maybe some medical HDMI – especially given the fact that even with a very advanced HyperDrive dongle I was unable to connect two external displays to the MacBook Air. If you are people who need several screens for your work – this is not the computer for you just like the M1 computers are not for you – and you should upgrade to a MacBook Pro 14 or 16 inches. However, I also know that for most people, who work from one or two locations, these connections will suffice, especially when they have a wireless keyboard and mouse.
M2 vs. M1 Pro: The results are surprising
Just before continuing, a slight clarification: the computer we received from “Amirim Hatza” is the version with 8 processing cores, 8 graphics processing cores, 16 gigabytes of RAM and a storage capacity of 512 gigabytes. And why did we do it? Because in the base version of the new MacBook Air, Apple made a strange decision to include a less successful SSD with a single NAND, which leads to a reduction of about 30-50% in read and write speeds. The 512GB model we tested already comes with a normal drive and is almost twice as fast. If you buy this laptop, I definitely think you should consider upgrading to the 512GB version, for future-proofing purposes. And yes, I know this is quite a price increase, but considering the fact that bottles stay with you for years, the added storage and improved speed will pay for themselves over time.
Besides the very welcome improvements to the new MacBook Air that can be seen, felt and heard right away, what many are wondering is about the joker inside: the M2 processor. Look, for 95% of your day-to-day uses, you probably can’t tell the difference between using even the first MacBook Pro M1 launched in 2020 and the new MacBook Air launched a few months ago. The significant difference comes of course in those 5% of more power-hungry tasks like gaming (it’s just, it’s a Mac, there’s no real gaming…), but graphic design, video editing, image processing and development. In these tasks the M2 in the MacBook Air faces a double challenge, because in the Air you don’t have a fan, which means that in long tasks, it will have to slow itself down (throttle) so as not to overheat, unlike the MacBook Pro which can use its ventilation system to maintain performance Over time.
For sport and to take the test to the extreme (relatively), I took the MacBook Air and compared it to my regular computer, a MacBook Pro 14 with an M1 Pro processor with 10 processing cores and 32 gigabytes of RAM. On top of both I fired up Premiere Pro and exported my Hands On video on the iPhone 14. It’s a relatively long video of almost 7 minutes in 4K, with several channels and with effects. Before you skip to the next paragraph with the results, try to calculate who will win. Is it the MacBook Air with the new M2, or the MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro and a much more powerful specification than the Air, plus a ventilation system.
This thin and light thing renders 4K video in minutes. Photo: Giktime
If you guessed that my MacBook Pro won, you’re not wrong: it finished exporting a file of about 4 gigabytes in 4K resolution in 4 minutes and 7 seconds, while reaching a peak of about 39 degrees of heat in its upper middle. But, the MacBook Air gave an impressive fight here and completed the task in 4 minutes and 33 seconds. This is all the difference between one of the lightest computers you can find on the market, and one of the best professional computers you can find on the market. In this test, the Air reached external temperatures of almost 44 degrees, so there is no doubt that it heats up more than its mature and well-ventilated brother, and the longer the task you give it, the lower the performance and the most significant differences between the two.
Let’s put some things into perspective for a moment: we’re talking about the MacBook Air here. This is the most basic MacBook that Apple offers, and a device that is so light that you can easily forget it in your bag. Until two years ago, I would never have thought about editing video in 4K on such a computer. I can’t think of any laptop PC that is so light and comfortable that I would happily edit video content on it in a cafe while having an excessively priced breakfast or on a food tray on a Lowcost flight and export the file before I can get back from the bathroom line. Still, this MacBook Air manages to function even as a decent computer even for tough tasks, provided they are not long enough to make the computer overheat. This is quite an achievement for me, and one that indicates that Apple lives up to its standards, and the M2 is indeed a fitting successor to the M1.
Just don’t expect too many thrills
Photo: Giktime
As expected, Apple does not create revolutions with the M2. After the revolution of the M1 we are now expected for a few years of more minor changes and that is natural. This means fewer thrills, fewer dramatic leaps in performance, fewer innovations and a little less interest from year to year. It’s not the first time we see this phenomenon of a lack of drama between models, just like Intel processors don’t make you fall out of your chair every year, Qualcomm processors don’t make you run and upgrade your Android, and even Apple stopped talking about leaps and bounds between a year’s A processor Switched to the one on the iPhone 14. Processor upgrades are upgrades that usually won’t make you tempted to buy. We reserve this ability for other and more external things such as screens, speakers, cameras, etc. In this case, the new MacBook Air has a lot to offer: whether it’s excellent performance for 95% of the uses of 95% of users, an excellent keyboard, a charger that’s really comfortable to use, a good screen, and all this at an excellent weight make the new MacBook Air a laptop that almost everyone One will really like.
However, almost as usual, the price of the new MacBook Air is what hurts its ability to become a hit: the MacBook Air M2 in its most basic version comes with 8 processing units, 8 graphics processing units, 8 gigabytes of RAM memory and 256 gigabytes of storage capacity – And in exchange for that you will pay NIS 5,324. But this is not the computer that I would recommend you to purchase as mentioned, in light of the fact that Apple has put an SSD drive in this version that is almost half as slow as the 512GB version. For the basic 512GB version with only 8 gigabytes of memory, you will have to spend 6,656 shekels, and if we add 16 gigabytes of RAM because I would not recommend you to purchase a computer with less than that, you will have to pay 7,100 shekels. Here you are already starting to approach the prices of the MacBook Pro 14, which is currently sold in the region of NIS 9,500 for the base models, and in which you get a much better screen, better connections, a slightly better processor and a much better overall experience.
The pricing and specification issues may cause quite a bit of confusion, and also easy FOMO the next time you come to choose a computer from the successful next-generation line that Apple offers in 2022. The new MacBook Air M2 is kind of a weird identity crisis that isn’t sure if it wants to be an entry key to the new era of Apple processors, or if it’s just the kind of very successful intermediate version that will become a little less attractive once the M2 Pro version comes out and the MacBook Pro takes a gap more significant on him. However, none of these elements detract from Apple’s achievement: using the M2 and a lot of necessary improvements, it managed to turn the MacBook Air into a very successful ultrabook that once again proves the power that Apple has when it dominates the entire engineering chain.
The new MacBook Pro was given to us for review courtesy of “Amirim Petza”