The new 2022 MacBook Air with an M2 chip is finally available for preorder (see it at Amazon). Announced last month during Apple’s WWDC keynote, the machine features a new design, new color options, a better display, MagSafe charging, and a number of other improvements over the previous model. This is the biggest redesign the MacBook Air has had since… well, basically ever. It’s out July 15, but it’s available for preorder now at a handful of retailers.
Preorder the M2 MacBook Air
Ever since Steve Jobs introduced the first MacBook Air by removing it from a manilla envelope, this portable Mac has featured a unique (for the time, anyway) wedge shape. That design is gone. The M2 MacBook Air is still very thin (11.3mm), but it’s no longer thinner at the front than at the back. At 2.7 pounds, it’s also very light.
Functionally, Apple says the M2 MacBook Air is 1.4 times faster than the previous M1 model. The company also says it gets 18 hours of battery life, which is bonkers. (It’s also presumably based on more theoretical testing rather than on real-world usage, but even so it ought to last through a work day without needing to be plugged in).
You can get the new Air in four color options: silver, space gray, starlight, and midnight. Starlight is a nice looking color — it’s bright with just a hint of gold. Midnight is far and away my favorite of the bunch. It’s darker than space gray, with a blue-ish hue that looks fantastic.
Since it has Apple’s new M2 chip, the 2022 M2 MacBook Air runs so cool it doesn’t even need a fan, which also means it’s quieter than nearly any other laptop on the market.
It has a 1080p FaceTime camera that Apple says operates very well even in low-light conditions. Previous MacBooks have been dinged by critics for years for their sub-par cameras, so this is a welcome addition, especially in the age of Zoom.
I’ve been baffled ever since Apple did away with MagSafe charging years ago, but it’s finally back in this model. The MagSafe power cable attaches to the laptop with a magnet, rather than having to be plugged into a port. This means that if you trip over the power cord, it detaches cleanly, without pulling your MacBook off the desk and potentially doing a thousand dollars’ worth of damage. It’s an incredibly smart feature that Apple was foolish to remove from previous laptops.
The display is 13.6 inches, which is a little bigger than the previous model. It has a thinner bezel, though it does have a little nub for the camera and sensors at the center of the top of the screen. The display itself is what Apple calls Liquid Retina, and it features 500 nits of brightness and can support a billion colors.
The great-feeling Magic Keyboard is back, this time with a full-sized multi-function row at the top (the F-keys), including a Touch ID sensor for unlocking your computer and entering passwords.
These M2s start at $1199. And although last year’s M1 MacBook Air is still on the market to hit the $999 price point, I’d say the extra $200 is well worth it, for the improvements. Basically, this new M2 MacBook Air has everything you’d probably want in a new Apple laptop.
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.