M2 MacBook Air | Hacker News Reader

M2 MacBook Air

apple.com

60 pointsckluis66 comments

For all the people going 'it says M1', the website clearly hasn't been updated yet and the poster has jumped the gun. The M2 MBA has just been announced at WWDC and they're still in the middle of the presentation.

edit

Anyway here are the just announced specs

- 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU. Nearly 40 percent faster than the previous generation

- 13.6" screen, has notch

- battery life, up to 18 hours of video playback.

- magsafe

- 2 usb C ports so you can charge 2 devices

- still has audio jack

- 1080p FaceTime HD camera, twice the resolution and twice the low-light performance

- 11.3mm thin

- no more wedge design

- silver, space gray, midnight (blue), starlight (gold)

What's the max memory?

M2 slide said that it supports up to 24GB memory. No Air configs were announced yet, but I'd guess it will be sold with up to full supported amount.

> no more wedge design

That is unfortunate.

The wedge air design is the most comfortable macbook to type on IMO since it doesn't have the thick 90 degree metal edge digging into your wrist like the others.

One of the main reasons I got it

Agree. Also wished they're released the 11" again. Or the 12" Retina MB. That's still my main laptop and I love that sleek design.

i feel they should’ve kept the macbook air design as is and instead redesign the 13 inch Pro

I'm looking at a picture of the previous model and having trouble understanding what you mean, when on a table the surface where your wrists rest is still parallel to the table, and the top edge isn't rounded in any way. Only the bottom is rounded, but that isn't touching your wrists anyway.

Agree.

My wife has an ancient Air, I use a Pro, and it's SO much more comfortable to type on: the lower-rise palm rest, the slight angle, and the less-knifelike edges all contribute to this.

Also: something about the aluminum used on the older Airs/Pros feels "softer" to the hand than the aluminum process/finish they began using starting in 2016.

The edges are sharper since 2016.

It shows M2 for me. Then I sent the link to a friend and it somehow reverted back to M1.

Apple forgot to invalidate the cache?

Much like the M1 Ultra before it, the M2 uses Apple’s custom Arm silicon, and it’s now

  * Built on a 5nm process.
  * 1080p FaceTime HD webcam
  * New power adapter; two USB-C ports, allowing charge to 80-percent in 20 mins.
  * 20 bln transistors — 25 percent more than the original M1.
  * 18% faster CPU.
  * 35% faster GPU.
  * Next gen secure enclave and neural engine.
  * Updated media engine that supports 8K H.264 and HEVC video.

This MacBook Air with M2 will be available in July starting at $1,199.

There will also be a model with a touch bar starting at $1,299 (?).

The $1,299 version is not the M2 Air - it's the updated MacBook Pro with M2.

No mention for AV1 somehow

MacRumors has a screen shot of the stat screen https://photos.reportinglive.com/p/2022-06-06/f1654538818.jp...

So the Air joins the Macbook Pro 14/16 design language which is nice. I find it strange that the Macbook Pro 13 gets an M2 but keeps the same design? Does the Macbook Pro 13 even need to exist anymore?

Depending on pricing (including base storage), I might get one instead of the Air. It gives you an SD slot, which allows you to seamlessly expand storage in the future. But I still want to see more details on the new base MBP...they rushed through that faster than any hardware announcement I've ever seen.

i really wished 13 inch pro refresh

14 inch is too pro for me

looks like i have to buy the air now!

It was refreshed. But the intro was so fast, if you blinked you might have missed it!

but the design is still 2016-era?

Yeah I guess that's why it took 5 seconds. Didn't need to waste any breathe on HDMI, SD, or even MagSafe!

The store hasn't been updated yet, but it appears that the 13" MBP is the only way to get the Touch Bar any more. Which is actually a thing that might get me to buy it. I'm one of the six or so people who like the Touch Bar.

some people still probably want the touchbar (and has enough support internally within apple)

> Does the Macbook Pro 13 even need to exist anymore?

This was my thought too. It seems really odd to me to keep this in the line up (especially with the latest chip).

Somehow I only see M1 mentioned... EDIT: you have to look at US site to see the announcement.

Anybody hear any news on whether this can or cannot now support dual external monitors? That’s the only new feature I really want.

Welp, Apple just updated the specs page which seems to confirm only one external display up to 6k in resolution. Too bad.

Anyone have any real-world comparisons between the M1* MacBook Air and Pro models? I think the question for many of us going forward is going to be, do we buy the M1 MacBook Pro or the considerably cheaper M2 MacBook Air. Of course, the Pro has extra ports, but many of already have the requisite dongles or may not even use the extra ports.

I don't have a link but I read if you work air hard enough it'll eventually throttle your speed. It doesn't have a fan to cool down so it'll slow down to compensate. Anecdotally it doesn't sound like most people hit that threshold regularly though.

Ugh, I'm still waiting on my M1 to ship. Maybe I can cancel it and order an M2 instead?

50% battery charge in 30min is killer.

At the time of writing this comment, it clearly says M1.

Maybe timezones? I also see M1 everywhere on that page.

The Midnight color looks cool, but I'm a bit disappointed they didn't include the turquoise color from the iMac.

So, they are getting rid of the wedge design? I'm a bit sad to see it go, but it has been the same shape of the Macbook Air since they first came out in 2008. So long as it keeps a "thin and light" design, I'm sure it will still be quite popular. The latest MBPs are powerful, but a bit on the heavy side.

This time, A MacBook Air with M2 looks ready, despite the notch, especially at $1199.

Yes please and a very good deal.

That's likely with the minimum ram and storage

I like the space grey. Looks awesome.

Sign me up for midnight, which is reminiscent of the black Macbook from years ago.

I was hoping for a usb-c port on the other side. Also why did they move the speakers from the sides of the keyboard to the top? It looks like that space is just empty on the top of the case now.

The new charger is cool with two usb-c ports. I wonder if it's GaN.

Wonder what the availability will be. There have been rumors of delays, and MBP orders were pushed out to mid-July. I wondered if that was just because they were going to be announcing new machines and figured people would want those instead.

Midnight looks gorgeous! Definitively gonna buy this one. Especially glad that they didn't used white bezels + white keyboard.

This is just karma bait. The link is not live yet

Would like to know more about the keyboard. That thinness worries me on the feel and travel quite a lot...

I had similar thoughts. They seemed to have learned their lesson a few years ago, but the thinness does look concerning...good thing there's a 14-day return period!

Why is that every gaming demo on mac looks sluggish, the fps does not looks like either high or stable.

The most important question for me is does the screen have PWM or not?

Any release date ? I can't see anything M2 on the US website.

I think they said "Next month" for availability.

Did I miss it or they didn’t mention when you could order it?

The live stream mentioned it will be available next month.

M2, magsafe, and 500 nits peak brightness? Insta-buy for me.

does magsafe mean it's not usb-c?

with the Pros, they support both. That would be my guess here as well.

Has both just like the new Pros. They didn't specifically confirm you can charge on USB-C, but my guess would be you can.

It is, you get USB-C - > Magsafe cable in the box and can use it with every USB-C charger and of course still can charge over normal USB-C if you left Magsafe cable at home.

2x thunderbolt, 1x magsafe and 1x headphone jack for the m2 air

Seriously? Just a single external screen again?

Does anyone know the RAM options for this?

8/16/24 GB of shared memory (i.e. RAM/VRAM)

Thank you!

I’m accessing from the US. It says M1.

The website gets updated after the event finishes and it's still ongoing.

According to the webcast the M2 Air will be released next month.

I'm looking at the US site under a US IP address and I'm not seeing it.

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