Reviewing the new Apple MacBook Air M2: A Powerful and Portable Computer

The M2 MacBook Air is a sleek and powerful laptop from Apple featuring the M2 chip, which provides improved performance and efficiency. It has a Retina display with True Tone technology and a thin and lightweight design. Users have praised the speed and performance of the M2 chip, the improved battery life, and the keyboard and trackpad. Some reviewers have noted that the base model of the MacBook Air with M2 chip is a bit expensive, but overall it is an excellent device for those looking for a high-performance, portable MacBook.

One of the key advantages of the M2 MacBook Air is its speed and performance. With the M2 chip, the MacBook Air can easily handle demanding tasks such as video editing, 3D rendering, and gaming. This makes it an excellent choice for professionals, students, and anyone who needs a powerful laptop for work or play.

A couple of years ago, Apple unleashed a complete catalog of MacBooks running off their own Apple silicon. No longer were they going to link their machines to Intel or Intel's struggles to upgrade their CPUs. I remember watching Apple's slick presentation wondering if they had finally cracked it. Then came the reviews, which were unanimous: Apple had finally hit it out of the park.

I wanted to take a leap in buying one of the M1 MacBooks released in 2020, but I knew more than anyone that it's never good to splurge on a first-generation machine. Especially when I don't have that much to spend, to begin with. No, I need to wait until generation two or three.

Skip to December 2022, and I couldn't wait to order the new Apple MacBook Air M2.

Aluminum MacBook

My first Apple MacBook was when they switched from a polycarbonate shell to an aluminum one. I was fresh out of college and had no money to spend. Regardless, I decided to splurge on the fancy-looking Apple MacBook aluminum. (Say that with a British accent, please). Since then, I have been riding the Apple laptop rollercoaster ride. And every time I end my Apple computer journey concluding the machine is good but not good enough, I end up selling it.

Does that make financial sense? No. One day I might learn my lesson. At least the resell value of MacBooks has been ten times better than other laptop machines.

I have even gone through iterations where I decided I should use the iPad Pro as my machine. And my iPad as a primary computer always starts as an exciting journey until they crash and burn with my furious and frustrated. I've documented that failure more than a few times.

But at the end of December 2022, I purchased the Apple MacBook Air M2. And let me tell you, this is my favorite laptop I have ever known. Oh, let me count the ways:

1. The battery is impressive. More than impressive; the battery is fantastic!
2. The CPU never gets warm enough to feel like it's baking away my unborn children whenever the laptop sits on my lap.
3. It never sweats at whatever I throw at it.
4. I grab it more than any of my other Apple devices (And I have all of them.)
5. The keyboard keys are perfect.

Battery Life

Since I've never used an Apple MacBook Air M2 from Apple or any company, I wasn't worried about plugging my laptop in.

Not with the Apple MacBook Air M2. For the first time, I find myself sitting for hours using my MacBook, and then I'll glance and realize the battery percentage is going strong. I'm the kind of person who is always trying to keep their electronics charged.

That is not recommended practice, but it's part of my charming obsessive personality. I obsess about keeping my shit up to date and fully charged. Yet I will wear out the same pair of shoes until there are holes in my shoe soles.

The battery life is better than any iPad or iPad Pro I use. And now that I can download some iPad apps (those that are updated to be compatible with Apple Silicon MacOS, of course), I can't see why anyone would want to use the iPad as a central computer. Unless you either hate yourself or genuinely love the challenge of using the iPad as a primary computer. And hey! More power to you if that is the case. But that is not me not anymore, at least.

CPU

Look, I'm not wasting your time throwing benchmarks at your face. But if benchmarks are your thing, The Verge breaks the metrics down here.

Most of those measurements are arbitrary and designed to measure only specific scenarios.

I will not be testing how good the MacBook M2 Air does with video editing to see how powerful the laptop is. I'm not a YouTuber or video editor. My main job right now is Project Management in web development.

My use case is:

1. Multiple Chrome Windows Open, each with ten to twenty tabs.
2. Zoom chat at the ready and often in use since I work from home.
3. Slack is open and never closed.
4. Fantastical never closed.

I've had every app and Chrome tab open, Apple music playing my jams, and video zoom meeting going while screen sharing when needed. With everything running simultaneously, my computer is humming like a hummingbird.

My work computer is a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro. The above use-case will cause the CPU fans to spin, spin, spin. I yell obscenities, and things freeze. I'm closing apps or having to restart my computer because the spinning beach ball won't go away. This was always my experience with Apple machines until now.

Note: My experience with Intel laptops has been much worse. I will not divulge the horrors here as I have decided to lock those memories away and throw away the key.

Keyboard

I've lived with butterfly keys, and I lived without them. Since I work from home full-time, I'll use a mechanical keyboard when possible. But I can't get annoyed at the keyboard switches on the Apple MacBook Air M2 for my life.

They work. They click. They don't sigh like those fucking butterfly nightmares that would stick and laugh at you while you attempted to write a crucial email to an essential client before trying to call it a day. Fuck you, butterfly keyboards, and the shitty ass ship you road on.

Joy

With all the perks of using an Apple MacBook Air M2 and none of the previous issues, it's now a joy to use this machine. I can be amazingly productive. Not only that, but I feel more confident and organized. I love it.

I'll grab my iPad to read some articles in my bed or my iPhone as I'm checking my Slack messages on my iPhone while walking my dog. But I'll grab my Apple MacBook Air M2 nine times out of ten now.

So Pretty

My favorite color is blue, and I've been on a blue journey lately with my Apple stuff. I decided to get the Midnight blue color. And I like it. Yes, the color can represent itself as a fingerprint magnet. But who cares?

And if you are bothered by smudges and need to clean your MacBook because you hate their site, please seek professional help and stop nitpicking. Or get another color.

Great Price

The price for the MacBook Air M2 is competitive.

Not overly priced and not underpriced (hey, this is Apple). I opted for the 24 GB Ram to future-proof this machine with 1 TB of storage. More Ram than I need, but I also don't have to worry about my ram. I'm happy with this decision. But most should be OK with 16 GB Ram.

If you want to be like me and get 24 GB Ram, do you. And I'll do me.

Conclusion

I'll stop waxing poetic about the Apple MacBook Air M2. I'm not a fanboy, but I AM fully invested in the Apple ecosystem. However, this is my favorite laptop computer. And most people, including people like me who like powerful machines, don't need anything else.