The Wall Street Journal’s Nicole Nguyen on Thursday reviews Apple’s all-new M2 MacBook Air and deems it “a worthy upgrade” with a better display, faster processor, and improved webcam.
Nicole Nguyen for The Wall Street Journal:
The MagSafe charger returned with last year’s M1 Pro MacBook Pro and has finally come to the Air. The magnetic charger releases if anyone (people or pets) yanks on the cable, making it less likely your computer will topple to the ground.
The display measures 13.6 inches diagonally, up from 13.3 inches in the M1. The extra screen real estate isn’t immediately evident. More noticeable is its improved brightness, so it’s easier to look at outdoors.
Although the Air was redesigned with a beefier, flat-sided look than its predecessor, it’s slightly lighter than the previous version.
A 1080p camera replaces the M1’s 720p camera. The picture is sharper and more natural…
I fired up Messages, Slack, Signal and Photos, then opened Chrome, a notorious memory hog. I didn’t close any tabs until I experienced a slowdown. That happened at around 75 tabs. In my colleague Joanna’s review, the M1 Air showed signs of sluggishness at 65 tabs. The older Intel-powered Air began revving its fans at 35.
For most Mac users, if your current computer is feeling slow… the M2 MacBook Air is a worthy upgrade.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s new M2 MacBook Air is pretty much the perfect road machine – and a tremendous value starting at just $1,199!
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I am concerned that the SSD is performance is drastically worse in the M2 MacBook Air as compared to the M1. The last thing that I want to do is to spend more money on an M2 than the cost of an M1, but have a slower machine. All of the computing power in the world cannot overcome a system that is I/O bound.
So buy the 512gb version, it’s more expensive but it’s a fix that works.