Last month, Apple had announced the refreshed Macbook Air with a new design at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The device is powered by the company’s M2 chip and features a 13.6-inch IPS LCD display. Although the iPhone maker announced that the 2022 MacBook Air will be arriving in July, there was no word on the exact release date. Now, a latest report claims that the device will be available for purchase from July 15, 2022.




2022 MacBook Air M2: Price, Expected Availability

MacRumors reports that it was able to glean release date details from a retail source. It expects pre-orders of the M2 MacBook Air to go live on July 8, 2022. The device will reportedly hit the shelves a week later on July 15, 2022. While the Apple India website still doesn’t show delivery dates, we can expect the site to be updated soon.

The MacBook Air M2 with 8-core GPU and 256GB SSD storage will retail for ₹1,19,900 or $1,199 in US. Meanwhile, the 10-core GPU model with 512GB SSD storage is priced at ₹1,49,900 or $1,499 is US.


2022 MacBook Air M2 Specifications, Features

The 2022 MacBook Air features a 13.6-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1664 pixels and 500 nits of peak brightness. It has a 1080p FaceTime HD camera and four speakers. It comes with support for Spatial Audio.

The device is powered by Apple’s new M2 processor which includes four performance and four efficiency cores. Additionally, the M2 is equipped with a 16-core neural engine with 8-core and 10-core GPU options.

When it comes to connectivity, the laptop supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. Additionally, it features two Thunderbolt (USB 4) ports, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and MagSafe 3 for charging. Speaking of charging, the MacBook Air comes with a 52.6-watt-hour lithium polymer battery, which Apple claims will last for up to 18 hours of video playback on a single charge.

What do you think of the MacBook Air M2? Do you plan on buying it when it hits the shelves? Let us know in the comments.



Performance

This isn’t a computer for professional creative work or developers. It can be used in a pinch for those tasks, or if you’re more of a hobbyist – and it is indeed capable of far more than for which many give it credit – but bread and butter for the MacBook Air is the ability to absolutely smash through normal work.

The base model I have is the version with 8GB of unified memory and a 256 GB SSD. It feels identical to the M1 MacBook Air for the tasks I mentioned earlier – if not a little quicker when opening apps. This might be because it’s new, and it’s of course something I’ll report back on. Regardless, it’s a snappy little thing.

I conducted a fairly crap Final Cut Pro export test during my first impressions video, but I won’t be using this laptop for video editing unless I find myself in a hole. When that happens, I have no concerns about it doing the job for me.

To reiterate, this laptop is built for everyday work and it remains the best option for it, in my book – if your budget can stretch (I’ll get onto that in a bit).



The screen and battery

I feel like there isn’t a huge amount to say about the M2 MacBook Air’s screen, but that isn’t for any bad reason.

It’s definitely a better screen than the M1 MacBook Air’s, but not punch-you-in-the-face better. It’s not sharper (Apple retina screens all look identical in that regard) but it is 100 nits brighter, which is noticeable. It’s slightly bigger, too, which is nice.

The M2 MacBook Air’s screen just feels made for 2022, which is all we wanted.

Oh, and just to confirm, the notch still has zero bearing on anything you’ll ever do with this laptop and you’ll forget it exists within 30 seconds of using it.

A quick nod to the battery life, too – it remains epic and will easily get you through the day. The return of MagSafe is indeed triumphant, and standby time is still world-beating. It’s nice to see that one of the best elements of the MacBook Air has remained; the battery performance makes it such an easy laptop to live with.

MacBook Air Reasons Not to Buy




1. No Improvement in Battery Life

The new MacBook has a 52.6‑watt‑hour lithium‑polymer battery that offers up to 15 hours wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours Apple TV movie playback. The battery, this time, is fast-charging capable with up to 67W USB-C power adapter. However, you get only 30W adapter with 8-core GPU model.

Whereas, the MacBook Air 2020 has 49.9-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery but it also offers almost similar battery life including 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback. So there is basically no significant improvement in battery life.

2. No Improvements in Ports and Connectivity

The new Macbook still comes with the similar ports as the MacBook Air 2020. It has two thunderbolt and four USB ports. For connectivity, the new machine supports 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology. So you can clearly see there is no bigger update in terms of ports and connectivity from Apple.

3. Price is Higher

The new MacBook Air with M2 price in India starts at Rs. 1,19,900 for the 8-Core GPU and 256GB storage version. The top-end 512GB storage model with 10-Core GPU version costs Rs. 1,49,900. Whereas the MacBook Air with M1 is priced at Rs. 99,900 for 256GB storage model.

You can see there is a big price difference in both models for very less upgrade. So, you can still go for the MacBook with M1 in 2022 as it will offer performance at par with the new MacBook.



Final thoughts

There’s one big issue with the M2 MacBook Air and that is the price. It’s $200 or Rs20,000 more expensive than the M1 version, and that uplift is only worth it if you want the latest and greatest. As noted earlier, both laptops feel pretty much identical, performance-wise.

For $200 or Rs20,000 you’re getting a better screen, the new chassis, MagSafe, and the kudos that comes with having the new one. If that’s enough for you – go for it!



Equally, if you can only afford the base model version, don’t sweat it – this is a great laptop and one that I’m enjoying using every single day.

Unfortunately, I think that for a fairly large portion of the market, the M2 MacBook Air is going to be seen as too expensive, particularly with the cost of living as high as it is right now.

The good news? The M1 MacBook Air is still available and remains an awesome buy. I wouldn’t feel bad about opting for that one – you’re certainly not missing out.