Apple has announced the MacBook Air M2 – a grand redesign with the firm’s latest silicon – will be available to pre-order later this week.
The 13.6-inch laptop was announced at WWDC 2022 last month with Apple promising an on-sale date in July.
We now know the complete selling arrangements with pre-orders commencing at 1pm UK time July 8, with the laptop officially becoming available a week later on Friday July 15. That’s in-line with reports from last week.
Prices start at £1249, ranging up to £1549 for the 10-core GPU with 512GB of storage. The pricing is a considerable increase over the legacy M1 model, which starts at £999. If you can’t stomach the £250 hike the MacBook Air M1 model will remain available.
This is one of the models Mac users have been waiting for, with a newly revamped chassis, the latest Apple Silicon chips, MagSafe charging and up to 18 hours of battery life. Apple says the M2 promises 18% boosts in CPU performance and 35% graphics improvements if buyers opt for the 10-core model.
There’s a 13.6-inch display, a 1080p FaceTime camera, and a nice blue-ish midnight shade to join the silver, starlight and space grey hues. While the design is more akin to what we’d expect from a MacBook Pro, rather than a MacBook Air, Apple says there’s a 20% reduction in volume compared to the previous generation.
Apple is including a pair of Thunderbolt ports alongside the MagSafe charging port, while there is a 3.5mm audio jack. Touch ID is on the keyboard too. There’s four-speaker sound, with support for Spatial Audio via Dolby Atmos.
While the MacBook Pro M2 has been criticised for slower SSD speeds and an aged design, the MacBook Air is likely to be much better received by users and critics alike.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
