M2 MacBook Air 2022 Preview: Apple just released the new addition to its MacBook Air series at the WWDC 2022 event. The new MacBook Air 2022 comes with a new generation of Apple M chip the “Apple M2 chip” and has a new design, improved camera, and fast charge.
I’ve seen the new M2 MacBook Air 2022 up close and I think it’s fair for me to share a preview of the device. Yes, the new chipset, new design, and improved camera are all interesting updates, but how good can this device be? What are the things you should know before this device hit the market? Well, let’s find out.
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In this article, I’m going to share with you what I think about the M2 MacBook Air 2022. Please note that this article is a preview and not a review of the device. Hence, it’ll focus on what you can expect to get from this device. A full review will be available when the device is available for purchase.
M2 MacBook Air 2022 Preview
Display, Design, and Build
One of the first things you’ll like about the MacBook Air 2022 is the display, design, and build. The display now has a notch and the bezels are now thinner. The thinner bezels make the screen to be 13.6-inches which is a pretty big display. The display is now also brighter as it has 500-nit.
Typical of every other MacBook Air, this new one is also very thin and lightweight. It weighs about 2.7 pounds and is 11.3mm thick. Practically, you can go everywhere with this device easily. And its build is very solid because it’s all metal. From the time I spent with the M2 MacBook Air 2022, it feels really solid.
Talking about the build, the keyboard has a backlight and it has support for Touch ID. As far as the design, display, and build quality go, there is very little you might complain about. But then again, we’ll still have to wait for the device to be available to see the reactions of the public. I for one have no problem with the display, design, and build quality.
Camera
Apple is equipping the new M2 MacBook Air 2022 with a 1080p camera. This camera also has support for the center stage feature and it gives you good video quality and makes video calls. If you’ve used the cameras of previous MacBook Airs, you’ll appreciate the camera of this 2022 MacBook Air. The camera is not bad but there is still much to test. So, when the device is available, a full review will confirm if this camera can live up to the initial impression.
Chipset
The MacBook Air 2022 comes with the Apple M2 chip. According to Apple, the CPU and GPU of the new Apple M2 chip are 20% and 30% better than those of the Apple M2 chip. This means an overall 35x better performance for the MacBook Air 2022 over the MacBook Air 2020.
The M2 MacBook Air has an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, an 8-core or 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, and 100GB/s memory bandwidth. The MacBook Air 2022 can decode and encode RAW ProRes files.
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I’ll be able to test and see firsthand if the new M2 MacBook Air will live up to these numbers when the device comes to the studio for review. First, I’ll test how fast it renders high files, how well it plays games, and its consistency. Fingers cross, I hope the device meets the numbers put forth by Apple (i actually expect it to but we’ll see).
Operating System
The M2 MacBook Air might boot macOS Monterey from the box but will be able to install the recently announced macOS Ventura. And if you followed up with the WWDC event, there are lots of exciting new updates coming to the macOS with macOS Ventura including the new Stage Manager feature.
Storage
M2 MacBook Air comes with 8GB of RAM that can be configured to 16GB or 24GB at max. The internal storage option is 256GB SSD and can be configured to 2TB max. Note that the higher your configuration the higher price.
See Also: List of Mac Computers that can install the macOS Ventura
Battery, charging, and ports
According to Apple, the MacBook Air 2022 will give you 18 hours of video play time and 15 hours of wireless web use. These are numbers from Apple and these numbers are impressive. Again, this is the M2 MacBook Air 2022 Preview, you should wait for the review article to confirm these claims.
The device has support for MagSafe 3 charging port with 67W fast charge. It also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s), USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s), and USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s). For a MacBook Air from Apple, the M2 MacBook Air has lots of ports.
Price
The starting price of the M2 MacBook Air 2022 is $1,199 for the base model. But the price can go as high as $3,000 depending on your configuration. However, for a user who also does video editing, the maximum money you can spend to get the right M2 MacBook Air is between $1,500 and $1,700 (including Final Cut Pro).
M2 MacBook Air 2022 Preview: Conclusion
The M2 MacBook Air 2022 can be a very good device when it debuts (it should actually). But, there are a couple of things that I feel are not so nice about the MacBook Air 2022. First, the chipset does not work at its optimum best because there is no fan inside. Second, the MacBook Air 2022 can not be used for extensive gaming, and lastly, it’s quite pricey for a MacBook Air.
I mean, the M1 MacBook Air 2020 is currently priced at $999 and is still a very decent-performing device. I think the extra 200 bucks come from the new display design and more powerful chipset. Which is actually worth it if performance is what you look for. But again, this is just a preview of the M2 MacBook Air 2022. A full review will reveal if this device is actually worth the extra money.
What are your thoughts about the M2 MacBook Air? Do you think it’ll be worth the money? Or do you still prefer the cheaper M1 MacBook Air?
Buy Apple MacBook Air M2
| Apple MacBook Air M2 | Price |
| Buy on Amazon | $1,199.00 |
| Buy on Amazon (EUR) | €1,629.00 |
| Buy on Amazon (UK) | £1,24900 |
