Today, Apple has announced the new MacBook Air with a host of impressive new features and improvements and the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro, both of which feature the company's latest silicon, the M2.
Long one of the company's most popular products, the MacBook Air offers remarkable portability, and with today's redesign and new features and upgrades, it offers serious performance as well.
The star of the show, is, of course, the M2 chip, which offers steps forward in both its performance and efficiency cores, a 10-core GPU (2 more than the M1), 100 GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, and support for up to 24 GB of unified memory. So efficient is the M2 that the MacBook Air does not require a fan, resulting in a totally silent design. Beyond that, the new MacBook Air comes in an all-aluminum unibody that is just 11.3 mm thick and 2.7 pounds. Gone is the laptop's tapered profile, with Apple opting for a sleek, flat design.
The new MacBook Air comes in four finishes: silver, starlight, space gray, and an eye-catching midnight. MagSafe also makes a return, which is sure to please a lot of users. It has certainly saved me a few times when my dog or I have tripped over the power cord. In addition, the MacBook Air features two Thunderbolt ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack that supports high-impedance headphones. The keyboard features a full-height function row with Touch ID, which is complemented by the large Force Touch trackpad.
Along with the new M2 chip, perhaps the biggest upgrade is the new larger 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, the biggest ever in an Air model. The display is now 25% brighter at 500 nits and supports 1 billion colors. Complementing that is a 1080p FaceTime HD camera and four-speaker system. Remarkably, the three microphones and speakers are all integrated into the display and keyboard, helping to maintain the device's tiny footprint.
On top of all that, the new MacBook Air offers up to 18 hours of battery life. In addition, it now supports 67 W fast-charging, allowing for a 50% boost to the battery in 30 minutes. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 offers up to 20 hours of battery life.
The new MacBook Air looks particularly exciting; I plan on replacing my older Intel MacBook Pro with one when it's available. Expect both the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13" models to be available in July.
