This thing is going to sell like hotcakes. The combination of single core CPU and graphics performance, device thinness, battery life in this laptop is unmatched.
It’s funny how Apple came back from the worst the Mac has ever been to the best in a span of few years. Johnny I’ve doesn’t dictate things around Apple anymore but the silicone chips team now does.
My M1 Air is a nearly perfect machine, but I continuously find myself looking at the yellow “memory pressure” graph and swap disk writes.
I wish Apple never offered 8gb version, as I was surprised to find that MacOS wants to use more RAM than a Windows machine with the same amount of RAM.
> It’s funny how Apple came back from the worst the Mac has ever been to the best in a span of few years.
The terrible state of the Mac over the last nine years hardly compares to the dismal state that Apple was in during the 90s. The product line was a mess and they had multiple machines that had common failures (PowerBook 5300c[0] comes to mind as my first laptop). It was so bad that PowerComputing was making better Macs (clones) than Apple.
They've made two incredible comebacks.
[0] > Two early production PowerBook 5300s caught fire, one at an Apple employee's house and another at the factory; it turned out that the Sony-manufactured lithium ion batteries had overheated while recharging. Apple recalled the 5300s sold (around a hundred machines) and replaced the batteries on these and all subsequent 5300s with nickel metal hydride batteries that provided only about 70% the endurance. At the time, the media viewed the problems with the PowerBook 5300 series as yet another example of Apple's decline.
Wonder how long these M chips were in R&D and meanwhile they were just watching everyone on the internet complain how crappy mac laptops were but they knew this was coming
My M1 MacBook Air is insanely fast and the battery life is easily the best I've ever experienced. If the M2 is anything like the M1 or better, I agree, these things are going to make Apple a nice chunk of change.
Honestly the keyboard prevented me from purchasing a MacBook from 2014 until 2020. I still despise the 2020 keyboard but I’ll reluctantly use it to type a password and then plug in a USB keyboard.
> Johnny Ive doesn’t dictate things around Apple anymore but the silicone chips team now does
That's not how Apple works. If they still work remotely like they did back under Jobs the hardware teams are not the guys calling the shots for future product cycles.
I wager that 90% of PC buyers don't really look at specs at all and just always buy the latest Mac regardless.
And that 90% of that 90% won't really benefit much from the advanced specs. I had an 11" Chromebook with a Celeron processor for 6 years. Cost less than $200 and weighed almost nothing. If I wasn't coding or gaming, it was the best PC I ever owned.
I spent an embarrassing amount on a lackluster early 2019 MBP. It's fine as a general purpose laptop but is just a little too slow for serious dev work, a little too heavy as the main travel laptop, battery life a little too short for my liking.
I got an M1 for my work laptop maybe 4 months ago and it might honestly be the best laptop I've ever used.
I'm sorry if this doesn't add anything to the discussion, but one of MKBHD's latest reviews discusses the differences between the MacBook Pro 13 and this new MacBook Air. The video does a great job of shining a light on all of the tradeoffs between the two devices.
I want a 15" version of this hardware so badly. It would be my perfect personal webdev machine, assuming no significant M2 thermal issues.
My workflows are all lightly threaded and CPU bound, so I don't benefit much from the Pro/Max/Ultra SKUs. So considering the base M1/M2 meets my performance needs, nothing else really comes close when it comes to portability/battery life.
All I really crave is a bit more screen real estate.
I do really hope the competition catches up and we start to see more open alternatives that approach the same perf-per-watt. As it stands, there just isn't anything else I've seen that offers a comparable experience to one of these Apple Silicon machines.
My personal endgame would be an ARM/RISC-V Linux machine from a company like Framework, but I feel like that's a ways off.
There's been rumours for a while now of a 15" Air in the next few years. It would make a lot of sense—not many people looking at the MacBook Air would be willing to pay double the price to jump to a 16" MBP just for a bigger screen.
It's very tempting, but my MacBook Air M1 has been great and performance wise any improvement is probably barely noticeable in the day to day that I'd end up feeling like I just bought a new chassis. Which could still be nice.. although most of the time it's in clamshell attached to my monitor. I'll have to sleep on this!
For many in the HN audience, this may not be a good buy. You'd need to buy the 16GB + 512GB version since the bundled 256GB SSD is considerably slower than the previous gen as reported by many people. That bumps the price to $1599, which isn't significantly cheaper than the 14" MacBook Pro - which sells for $1799 on Best Buy.
I'd be wary of this, until we get to the bottom of the reported thermal throttling issues with the Macbook Pro M2. That at least is actively cooled. This isn't.
Wasn't that about an extreme benchmarking test which is continuously fully utilising CPU and GPU for an extended period, like 30min?
If I recall correctly, that would not influence my decision at all. I also do not select which car to get based on how far it gets with one charge if I load it with one ton of luggage, even if it were theoretically possible. I get the one which suits my needs best most of the time for a good price.
MacBook Air M2 will most probably replace my current 2018 MacBook Pro. My only gripe with MacBook Air M1 was crappy RAM which they addressed (24GB). It's still less than what I have (32GB) I expect M2 will make up for that.
MY only gripe with the M1 and M2 Air the lack of support for more than a single external screen.
I feel like it's just a pure marketing play to only support more than one external screen on the 14" pro. They have Magsafe and two thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports, they could totally support 2 Apple studio displays, at least on the 24GB model.
> A three-mic array captures clean audio using advanced beamforming algorithms
Oddly, out of the entire press release, this is the part I have trouble believing. Every MBP launch announces the best microphones ever. When the first MPB 16" came out, it's gazillion-mic array was supposed to be amazing, some reviewers asking "can it replace a professional condenser microphone", yet in reality it's made completely useless by the fan noise and people can barely hear you in a call.
Very excited about the new Air. The size (& weight!) to performance and battery life is unmatched as far as I can tell. It's literally the laptop I dreamed they would make after I stopped daily-driving my 2012 retina pro in favour of a desktop a few years ago. It's going to be great for traveling.
So strange there's no notch in the main picture on the announcement. The top bezel does not look the same as on the product page either, even aside from the notch, it's too thick.
edit: the very last picture in the article also shows the wrong bezel. So strange...
I’ve owned a lot of computers and my pre-retina MacBook Air was one of my faves. So much seat time, so many LoC written. I loved the wedge shape of the chassis for actual lap work. Disappointed they moved to the square chassis like other models but it’s so thin it might not be a dealbreaker.
Yeah, I had a 2012 era MBA, and it was basically the ideal laptop, until it didn't have the power to run XCode (so I bought a 2015 15"). The M1 Air is there again, fast enough, light enough, good enough keyboard, and incredible battery life.
I'm due for a work laptop upgrade soon, and I'm on the fence between a maxed MBA m2 and a 14" M1 Pro with 32G ram. It'll be mainly tethered to one big monitor, but light weight would be nice when commuting, as often as I do that.
I thought it'd be an issue when my work shipped me the new 14" MacBook Pro, but I found it pretty easy to pick up the laptop thanks to the bigger feet, and the bottom edges of the case that have a rounded shape.
I think with the Air's weight being slightly less than the outgoing model, the shape isn't going to be so much of a concern.
I don't need more than two Thunderbolt ports, but I would have liked to see one of them on the right side of the case.
Having a smaller volume and more power consuming chip than M1[0], I wonder if it will match M1 air performance and battery life on heavy tasks. The media engine will definitely provide smoother experience when working with sound and videos but I kind of suspect that on other tasks it will be about the same as M1, thus prolonging the Apple's software support for the original one.
Does anyone have reviews of any comparable ARM-based (good battery backup and speed) Windows laptops? Seems like there should be a transition of the entire laptop market to ARM, given that Apple has demonstrated that ARM processors are viable on the laptop.
The best Windows experience is to virtualize Windows 11 on M1(or M2) Mac.....although you are still running Windows 11 unfortunately. :/
Still its the snappiest Windows I have used in a long time. Microsoft probably hasn't figured out how to use up all the resources of this chip (for dumb features).
Apple has demonstrated that ARM processors can be viable on the laptop. The ARM processors on their iPhones and iPads were way faster than other ARM processors before they transitioned their macs. Furthermore, only Apple seems to have the hardware and software tech to allow x86 code to run nearly as fast as native code on an ARM CPU.
When it comes to Windows on ARM, so many reasons to pick a Windows laptop over a Mac are thrown out the door by self-sabotaging compatibility in that way. It's just not a good experience in my mind, unless you plan to use your system like a Chromebook and just stick to browsing the web or using other basic apps.
I would also say that 12th generation Intel is more competitive with Apple's current silicon than it gets credit for. It beats Apple on single and multi-threaded performance. No, you won't get 20 hour battery life, but you can find a respectable balance, and to that point I don't think it's worth making the ARM tradeoff on the Windows side of the house.
For Apple, ARM is great because they're betting the farm on it. For Microsoft, ARM still looks like a bit like a side project to me.
M2 is significantly faster than Xeon and Epyc in single core speeds which is what matters the most in web browsing speed. There's also no latency that Mighty has.
[+] [-] carlycue|3 years ago|reply
It’s funny how Apple came back from the worst the Mac has ever been to the best in a span of few years. Johnny I’ve doesn’t dictate things around Apple anymore but the silicone chips team now does.
[+] [-] donny2018|3 years ago|reply
I wish Apple never offered 8gb version, as I was surprised to find that MacOS wants to use more RAM than a Windows machine with the same amount of RAM.
[+] [-] amelius|3 years ago|reply
You mean silicon. Silicone means something else.
https://www.livescience.com/37598-silicon-or-silicone-chips-...
[+] [-] alsetmusic|3 years ago|reply
The terrible state of the Mac over the last nine years hardly compares to the dismal state that Apple was in during the 90s. The product line was a mess and they had multiple machines that had common failures (PowerBook 5300c[0] comes to mind as my first laptop). It was so bad that PowerComputing was making better Macs (clones) than Apple.
They've made two incredible comebacks.
[0] > Two early production PowerBook 5300s caught fire, one at an Apple employee's house and another at the factory; it turned out that the Sony-manufactured lithium ion batteries had overheated while recharging. Apple recalled the 5300s sold (around a hundred machines) and replaced the batteries on these and all subsequent 5300s with nickel metal hydride batteries that provided only about 70% the endurance. At the time, the media viewed the problems with the PowerBook 5300 series as yet another example of Apple's decline.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_5300#Batteries
[+] [-] conductr|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bastardoperator|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cplusplusfellow|3 years ago|reply
The 2022 is a dream come true for me.
[+] [-] simonebrunozzi|3 years ago|reply
I agree that Ive's influence will not be missed.
[+] [-] divbzero|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pastrami_panda|3 years ago|reply
That's not how Apple works. If they still work remotely like they did back under Jobs the hardware teams are not the guys calling the shots for future product cycles.
[+] [-] cwp|3 years ago|reply
No. No no no. The worst was the Amelio era.
[+] [-] tootie|3 years ago|reply
And that 90% of that 90% won't really benefit much from the advanced specs. I had an 11" Chromebook with a Celeron processor for 6 years. Cost less than $200 and weighed almost nothing. If I wasn't coding or gaming, it was the best PC I ever owned.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] MisterTea|3 years ago|reply
Ah-ha! I knew they were implants!
[+] [-] bluedino|3 years ago|reply
Which one was that?
[+] [-] hn_saver|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jjtheblunt|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pc86|3 years ago|reply
I got an M1 for my work laptop maybe 4 months ago and it might honestly be the best laptop I've ever used.
[+] [-] chrisjc|3 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSdKnNj7ozk
This little device is a beast!
[+] [-] H12|3 years ago|reply
My workflows are all lightly threaded and CPU bound, so I don't benefit much from the Pro/Max/Ultra SKUs. So considering the base M1/M2 meets my performance needs, nothing else really comes close when it comes to portability/battery life.
All I really crave is a bit more screen real estate.
I do really hope the competition catches up and we start to see more open alternatives that approach the same perf-per-watt. As it stands, there just isn't anything else I've seen that offers a comparable experience to one of these Apple Silicon machines.
My personal endgame would be an ARM/RISC-V Linux machine from a company like Framework, but I feel like that's a ways off.
[+] [-] deergomoo|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kirso|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lycos|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sylens|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jeswin|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kbd|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] theflyinghorse|3 years ago|reply
I personally ended up going for the pro over waiting for m2 air because of active cooling and multiple display support
[+] [-] InTheArena|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thunfischbrot|3 years ago|reply
If I recall correctly, that would not influence my decision at all. I also do not select which car to get based on how far it gets with one charge if I load it with one ton of luggage, even if it were theoretically possible. I get the one which suits my needs best most of the time for a good price.
[+] [-] vishnugupta|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nico_h|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zuhsetaqi|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ricardobeat|3 years ago|reply
Oddly, out of the entire press release, this is the part I have trouble believing. Every MBP launch announces the best microphones ever. When the first MPB 16" came out, it's gazillion-mic array was supposed to be amazing, some reviewers asking "can it replace a professional condenser microphone", yet in reality it's made completely useless by the fan noise and people can barely hear you in a call.
[+] [-] db39|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] burmer|3 years ago|reply
edit: the very last picture in the article also shows the wrong bezel. So strange...
[+] [-] whalesalad|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wiredfool|3 years ago|reply
I'm due for a work laptop upgrade soon, and I'm on the fence between a maxed MBA m2 and a 14" M1 Pro with 32G ram. It'll be mainly tethered to one big monitor, but light weight would be nice when commuting, as often as I do that.
[+] [-] dangus|3 years ago|reply
I think with the Air's weight being slightly less than the outgoing model, the shape isn't going to be so much of a concern.
I don't need more than two Thunderbolt ports, but I would have liked to see one of them on the right side of the case.
[+] [-] epolanski|3 years ago|reply
Then I realized the starting price in Italy for the 8GB version is 1829 euros, and more than 2100 to get 8 GBs of memory more.
[+] [-] mrtksn|3 years ago|reply
[0] Early reviews of M2 Macbook Pro indicate that the M2 chip heats up more than the M1 and consumes a more power. An example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVIknUcCjiQ
[+] [-] simula67|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nebula8804|3 years ago|reply
Still its the snappiest Windows I have used in a long time. Microsoft probably hasn't figured out how to use up all the resources of this chip (for dumb features).
[+] [-] seunosewa|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RL_Quine|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wmf|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dangus|3 years ago|reply
I would also say that 12th generation Intel is more competitive with Apple's current silicon than it gets credit for. It beats Apple on single and multi-threaded performance. No, you won't get 20 hour battery life, but you can find a respectable balance, and to that point I don't think it's worth making the ARM tradeoff on the Windows side of the house.
For Apple, ARM is great because they're betting the farm on it. For Microsoft, ARM still looks like a bit like a side project to me.
[+] [-] apexalpha|3 years ago|reply
Man this is just insane pricing. It sucks because besides ssd/ram everything is fantastic for a laptop. I would buy it almost instantly for $1000
[+] [-] cehrlich|3 years ago|reply
MacBook Air M2, 8/8 cores, 16GB, 1TB: 2189 Euro
MacBook Pro 14, 8/14 cores, 16GB, 1TB: 2479 Euro
That's too small of a difference for how much nicer the Pro is.
[+] [-] drunner|3 years ago|reply
I'm debating just getting one and running a linux VM full time in it.
[+] [-] senttoschool|3 years ago|reply
M2 is significantly faster than Xeon and Epyc in single core speeds which is what matters the most in web browsing speed. There's also no latency that Mighty has.
Just get yourself a 24GB M2 Macbook.