Just like the M1 Pro ‘Books before it, the M2 MacBook Air is totally redesigned, from head to toe. The design language is identical to the newer MacBook Pros – increasing the screen to body ratio, while also adding a notch to the top of the display to house the FaceTime camera/components. Gone is the “MacBook Air” moniker from the display bezel, now embossed right onto the bottom panel of the machine itself.

Gone is the familiar wedge shape introduced with the original MacBook Air, a design which carried all the way through to the M1 MacBook Air. This new A2681 M2 MacBook Air packs in quite a few minor upgrades over the previous generation, making it a slightly better long-term value proposition – especially as the M1 chip ages. You get faster RAM, a slightly brighter screen with slightly more horizontal pixels – and the screen is just about a 16:10 rather than last year’s 16:9 screen aspect ratio.

What You Need to Know

• If you’re someone who’s transitioning over from an Intel Mac, or will be using Intel Mac apps, Apple has an app called Rosetta 2 for Apple Silicon Macs. Once installed, this isn’t something you directly interact with. Rather, you may simply open an Intel app, and it’ll open. Rosetta 2 does an Intel to Arm “ahead of time” translation, using an instruction set in the M2 chip. The first time the Intel app launches it’ll be noticeably slow, as Rosetta caches and stores code. Once this process is done, the App should work just as normal.
• These ‘Books shipped with 8 GB of RAM up until 10/29/2024. This is fine for basic tasks, but is increasingly impractical these days. For a serious speed boost, opt for used one with 16 GB of RAM, and more storage. Multiple NANDs allow for parallel processing/RAID, increasing Read/Write speeds.
  • As of 10/30/2024, the M2 MacBook Air sells for $999 on Apple’s website, and comes standard with 16GB.

Closed Lid Mode: All ‘Books support “lid closed” (or clamshell) mode, which leaves the built-in display off and dedicates all video RAM to an external display. To use closed lid mode, your ‘Book must be plugged into the AC adapter and connected to an external display and a USB or Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (you might also want to consider external speakers). Power up your ‘Book until the desktop appears on the external display and then close the lid. Your ‘Book will go to sleep, but you can wake it by moving the mouse or using the keyboard. The built-in display will remain off, and the external monitor will become your only display.

To resume use of the internal display, you need to disconnect the external display, put the computer to sleep, and then open the lid. This will wake up your ‘Book and restore use of the built-in display.

Battery life is claimed to be 15 hours of wireless productivity, 18 hours Apple TV App movie playback.

Details

• Announced 2022.06.06
  • Continues to be told through 2024
• Model Identifier: Mac14,2
• Model: A2681 (EMC 4074)
• Order Number: MLY33LL/A (Midnight Blue, 2022, Base)
  • MLY13LL/A (Starlight, 2022, Base)
  • MLXY3LL/A (Silver, 2022, Base)
  • MLXW3LL/A (Space Gray, 2022, Base)

• On October 30th, 2024, Apple bumped the standard “base” configuration1, with new order numbers:
  • MC7X4LL/A (Midnight Blue, 16GB, 2024)
  • MC7W4LL/A (Starlight, 16GB, 2024)
  • MC7V4LL/A (Silver, 16GB, 2024)
  • MC7U4LL/A (Space Gray, 16GB, 2024)

Mac OS

• Requires macOS Monterey 12.4 (Build 21F2081) or later (2022 model)
• Requires macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later (October 2024 model)

Core System

• CPU: 8 Cores, 4x 3.49 GHz “Avalanche” High Performance Cores: 768K L1i, 512K L1d, 64MB L2, 8MB System Level Cache
  • 4x 2.42 GHz “Blizzard” energy efficient cores: 512K L1i, 256K L1d, 16MB L2, 8 MB SLC
• 16-Core Neural Engine
• 8/16/24 GB 3200 MHz LPDDR5-6400 SDRAM (102.4 GB/s)

Video

• Integrated Apple M2 with 8/10-Core Metal 3 Hardware Accelerated GPU
• 16:10 13.6″ TFT IPS LED-Backlit LCD, 2560 x 1664 @224ppi, 500 nits
  • P3 Color
  • True Tone
  • Support for 1 Billion colors
• Simultaneous support for: internal display @native resolution and:
  • a single 6K60 display

Drives

• Drive Bus: 256GB PCIe SSD ~3.3 GB/s, 2x 128GB NANDs in Parallel
• Configurable to: 512GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB

Expansion

• 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 (up to 1.2 Gb/s)
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Two USB-C style Thunderbolt 3 Ports
  • Support for: USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Up to 15 hrs battery life
• 52.6 W/h Li-Ion battery
• Touch ID Sensor
• Magsafe 3 for charging
• 1080p Facetime HD Camera with/ Advanced image signal processor
• 3x Mic array w/directional beam foaming
• 4-speaker sound, support for Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos

Physical

• size: 0.44 x 11.97 x 8.46″ ( 1.13 x 21.5 x 1.24 cm)
• Weight: 2.7 pounds (1.24 kg)
• Power supply: 30W USB-C charging Brick
  • Configure to order:
  • 35W 2x-USB-C port Power brick (Default for 10-core GPU MBA)
  • 70W USB-C charging brick
    • MacBook Air M2 is fast charge “capable” with the 70W brick.