Apple had announced new iteration of its already popular Macbook series, the MacBook Air (M2) in 2022 at the WWDC 2022 event. Arriving with the latest M2 chip, the new Macbook has come with new designs and features.
The MacBook Air M2 starts at Rs. 199,000. The starting configuration gives you an 8-core CPU, 10-Core GPU, 8GB of unified memory and 512GB of storage. This is a premium machine, but have a good specs at that price point.
Apple MacBook Air (M2) Overview :
Design
The MacBook Air M2 is so thin it could easily be mistaken for an iPad when closed (especially if the Apple logo is facing out). That’s how slim this notebook is. Measuring just 0.44 inches thick with the lid open, an everyday Bic pen looks chunky next to this machine.
Overall, the Air M2 is 20% smaller than the previous Air in terms of volume, and yet you get a bigger 13.6-inch display. I’m honestly not a fan of the notch at the top of the screen, which breaks the aesthetics by swooping down to the bottom of the Menu bar, but it didn’t prove too distracting during my day-to-day work.
The 2.7-pound all-aluminum chassis delivers a great balance of durability and light weight, and I appreciate the sleek rounded corners and pronounced lip that makes this laptop easy to hold and open with one hand.
Display
The MacBook Air M2 has caught up to the MacBook Pro M2 in terms of display quality, and that’s a big deal. You get a bright and colorful 13.6-inch panel (2560 x 1664 pixels) for watching videos, editing photos and everything else you want to do with no trade-offs.
The MacBook Air M2’s panel impressed in our lab tests as well. It averaged 489 nits of brightness and peaked at 495 nits with HDR content. That’s slightly better than what the MacBook Pro M2 turned in (474/490 nits) in the same tests and brighter than the Dell XPS 13 OLED’s 357-nit average. Things looked just as good in terms of color reproduction and accuracy. The Air M2’s display registered 107% of the sRGB color gamut and 75.9% of the more demanding DCI-P3 color space. The XPS 13 OLED notched a higher 117% and 83%, respectively. However, the Air’s Delta-E accuracy score of 0.2 was the same as the XPS 13.
Performance
On Geekbench 5.4, which measures overall performance, the MacBook Air M2 hit 1,932 on the single-core CPU test and 8,919 on multi-core. On a slightly older 5.3 test, the MacBook Air M1 hit 1,736 on single core and 7,575 on multi-core. That’s 11% faster on single core and 17% faster on mutli-core. The MacBook Pro M2 was on par with the Air M2, reaching 1,898 and 8,911.
The Air M2 easily beats the best windows laptops, defeating notebooks like the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED (7,606) and Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 (7,140). However, the new Dell XPS 13 Plus with a 12th gen Intel Core i7 reached a higher 10,621.
Interestingly, the MacBook Air M2 and MacBook Pro M2 were evenly matched in the PugetBench for Adobe CC Photoshop test. The new Air scored 821 to the Pro’s 817. But the Pro widened its lead on the Premiere Pro video editing test, notching 552 compared to 452 for the new Air.
M2 Chip
The new MacBook Air (2022) is the first laptop with the second-gen Apple Silicon M2 chip. Like the M1 chip, the new chip is based on unified memory architecture and focuses on power efficiency. Built on a second-gen 5nm node, Apple M2 has 20 billion transistors. Apple M2 chip now features eight CPU cores, including new and improved efficiency and performance cores. It is paired with the next-gen GPU, which now has up to 10 cores.
In terms of memory, the chip is configurable with up to 24GB of unified memory, with a total bandwidth of 100GB/s. Likewise, SSD storage is configurable with up to 2TB.
Compared to the M1, the M2 chip is 18% faster CPU-wise and 35% faster in GPU. Apple says that the chip can handle 4K and 8K videos better than the original M1 chip because of the new media and ProRes video engines.
Users can also configure the MacBook Air to have 8GB, 16GB, or 24GB of unified memory and 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of SSD. And finally, Apple has upgraded the webcam to include a 1080p FaceTime HD camera.
Graphics and Gaming
Our MacBook Air M2 came with a 10-core GPU and standard 8-core CPU , but we can share how this GPU performed and will follow up once we test the entry-level unit.
On Rise of the Tomb Raider, for example, the MacBook Air M2 achieved a fairly smooth 27 fps (30 fps or better is ideal) with the resolution set to 1920 x 1200. At 2940 x 1920 that dipped to 15.3 fps. The MacBook Pro M2 scored a slightly lower 24.9 and 12.2 fps, respectively.
The two Apple laptops were a bit further apart when we fired up Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. The new Air achieved 40.3 fps at 1470 x 956 and the Pro M2 got 51 fps at 1440 x 900. The two laptops turned in nearly identical scores on 3DMark Wild Life Extreme.
Battery Life and Charging
The MacBook Air M2 is one of the longest-lasting laptops for the money. On battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness, the new Air averaged 14 hours and 6 minutes. That’s a bit behind the previous Air M1 (14:41), but this is still superb endurance.
Our MacBook Air M2 came with a 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter, which is included with configurations that have a 10-core GPU and 512GB storage. The advantage of this adapter is that you can plug in another device at the same time, like an iPhone. The standard Air M2 comes with a 67W USB-C Power Adapter, but you can upgrade to the dual charger.
Specifications :
- Dimension: 0.16-0.63H x 11.97W x 8.36D-inches
- Weight: 1.29 kg
- Display: 13.6-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology, a 2500-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch, 1 Billion colors, 16:10 aspect ratio, 500 nits peak brightness, True Tone technology, P3 Wide Color gamut
- Resolution: 2500 x 1600 pixels
- Chipset: Apple M2 Chip (5nm)
- CPU: 8-core
- GPU: 8/10-core GPU
- RAM: 8/16/24GB
- Storage: 256/512GB, 1/2TB
- Software: macOS Monterey
- Keyboard: Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch Bar
- Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD camera
- Battery: 58.2-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery, 67W USB-C power adapter
- Colors: Space Grey and Silver
- Video Playback: HEVC, H.264, and ProRes HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG
- Audio Playback: AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, FLAC, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Atmos
- Ports: 2x USB 4 (Thunderbolt 3), 1x Headphone Jack, MagSafe 3.0 Port
- Connectivity: 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible, Bluetooth 5.0
MacBook Air M2 Pros and Cons :
Pros
- Wonderfully portable design
- Bright and colorful 13.6-inch display
- Strong M2 performance
- Impressively long battery life
- 1080p webcam
Cons
- Pricier than previous model
- Notch a bit distracting
- Supports only single external monitor
MacBook Air M2 Price in Nepal and Availability
Apple MacBook Air M2 price in Nepal is Rs.1,99,000 for the 8/256GB, 8-Core GPU variant and Rs. 2,48,000 for the 8/256GB 10 Core GPU variant.
| Apple MacBook Air (M2) | Price in Nepal |
| 8/256GB, 8-core GPU | Rs. 199,000 |
| 8/512GB, 10-core GPU | Rs. 248,000 |
