Apple Inc. has announced that the new MacBook Air notebook powered by the M2 chip will be released on July 15, with pre-orders beginning July 8.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar announced alongside it at WWDC 2022 is now available. While the familiar-looking model was the first to ship with the second-generation chip, this MacBook Air includes a MagSafe charger, a 1080p webcam, and a revised design with a larger, notched 13.6-inch display.
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In comparison to the M1 chip, Apple claims the MacBook Air M2 chip has an 18% faster CPU, a 35% faster GPU, and a 40% faster Neural Engine. The M2 chip allows the MacBook Air to be configured with up to 24GB of unified memory, whereas the M1 chip only supports up to 16GB of memory. The notebook has storage options of up to a 2TB SSD.
Though the new MacBook Air is less expensive than its 13-inch Pro counterpart, it is unquestionably more colorful and eye-catching. Unlike previous Air laptops, it has a more conventional slab design and is available in a new darker color.
The Air’s thinness and lightness are instantly apparent — it’s only 11mm thick and weighs 2.7 pounds. It now has a notch at the top of its larger screen, just like the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, but it appears to be a far more appealing concession than being forced to use a Touch Bar like the 13-inch Pro with M2.
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In addition to the new M2 chip, which provides 18% more CPU performance, 35% more GPU performance, and up to 50% more memory bandwidth than the M1 chip, the new Air will have an improved 1080p camera and four-speaker sound system.
While the MacBook Air with an M1 CPU is still available for $999, the new model might cost as much as $1,199 in the US, though it might cost more abroad. Customers can use Apple.com or the Apple Store app to order the MacBook Air with an M2 chip. On paper, the new MacBook Air appears to have a lot of potentials, but we’ll have to wait and see how its updated specifications and design perform until we get to use it more.