Let's just note that you don’t see the Touch Bar on Apple’s more premium (14-inch and 16-inch) MacBook Pros, either, and I doubt that’s an oversight on the part of Apple’s design team. Are the full-size function keys are better than a Touch Bar? That's also up for debate. Is bigger better? Probably, but it doesn't make a huge difference in our testing.
This is both a way to differentiate it from the MacBook Pro 13-inch, which still incorporates the Touch Bar, but also from the previous MacBook Air, which uses smaller function keys that are half the size of the standard keys. The 2022 MacBook Air also gets the same Magic Keyboard as its Pro siblings, but Apple is quick to note that it has a full-size row of function keys running along the top. The MacBook Air Input: A Familiar Keyboard, and a Better Trackpad The Air has gotten upgrades for the ears as well as the eyes, with a new four-speaker setup that supports Spatial Audio, even without headphones.
The handling of color and overall lighting is better, too, thanks to improved image processing powered by Apple’s Neural Engine. You’ll look better in Zoom meetings on this Air than on the M1 model, and it’s not just the resolution.
The concept, borrowed from the design of the 14-inch MacBook Pro, scoops out a bit of the top of the screen to make space for the built-in 1080p webcam.Īs for camera quality, it's a big upgrade from the 720p cameras that were being used just a couple of years ago. Thin bezels in turn result in less room for a camera, so Apple has finally brought "The Notch" to the MacBook Air. That 13.6-inch screen is a slightly but noticeably larger panel than the 13.3-inch display on the older M1 MacBook Air (2020), but the bigger screen fits into the same overall chassis size thanks to thinner bezels. Comparable ultraportables like the Dell XPS 13 OLED (9310) and the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon offer truly premium OLED displays, and they offer touch-display capability on top of that, something the MacBook Air and Pro have always lacked. It does face extreme competition, though. It's an impressive display for the MacBook Air, a system that has long felt like it was a modern laptop with a display that lagged several years behind. In addition to being larger, it boasts a 500-nit maximum brightness (it actually hit 514 nits in our testing) and support for 99% of the P3 color gamut. The Liquid Retina display is brighter and bolder than anything we’ve seen on the Air before. MacBook Air Display, Webcam, and Audio: All BetterĪnother big change to the Air's design is the move to a 13.6-inch display. Even better, your MagSafe plug will match the color of your MacBook Air, and charging the Air won't occupy one of the USB-C ports.
The main update from the previous MacBook Air is the move to MagSafe charging. It's a huge win for convenience, saving you from disaster when you accidentally trip over a stray power cable, since the magnetic plug detaches more easily when yanked. Measuring a mere 0.44 inch thick, the Air is still an astonishingly slim laptop, and the 2.7-pound weight makes many other ultraportables feel a bit chunky. The long-familiar wedge design is gone, replaced with an even thinner body that’s the same thickness front and back. The exterior of the MacBook Air is at once what you expect from the Air-ultrathin, incredibly lightweight-but it’s nothing like the MacBook Air models of the past. Let’s start with the physical design, since that’s where Apple has made some pretty drastic changes.
This is Apple's freshest MacBook Air in a long time, and the best ultraportable Mac you can buy. Inside, a thinner logic board makes way for a bigger, bolder screen, and allows for a new chassis that adds useful features without adding bulk or weight.
Not only is it one of the first Macs to use Apple’s M2 chip-the vanguard of the second generation of Apple Silicon-but it also splashes out with a completely new look. That's why 2022's revision is especially noteworthy. Since the original was introduced in 2008 by Steve Jobs-who pulled it out of a manila envelope, a stunt that’s still pretty amazing, 14 years on-the Air has undergone only a few really big changes. The latest iteration of the Apple MacBook Air (starts at $1,199 $1,899 as tested) updates what may be the most iconic laptop in history.
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