M2 MacBook Air - Long Term Review

Vemuda Techno - Hey, guys, what is going on? In today's post, we're going to cover the M2 MacBook Air and talk about my thoughts, my opinions towards it, some pros and cons, and overall, should you buy this or should you just stick with an M1 MacBook?

OK, to put it bluntly, the M1 MacBook is probably the best laptop that I've ever used, barring this M2 version. It had exceptional battery life, lasting basically, as long as you would ever need a laptop to last.

Source: macrumors

It had a beautiful screen. It had the performance that can do whatever I need a laptop for, which goes basically as far as doing 4K video editing on Final Cut Pro or on Adobe Premiere Pro without any hiccups.

It also was completely fanless, which was just amazing that no matter what I was doing on it, I had no worry of fans kicking on and annoying me and anyone sitting around me.

And overall, I have no negative thoughts about that laptop. After using it from the first day it released up until two years later, I would still be completely content with that laptop if this M2 MacBook Air was never released.

I don't think I was even in the market for wanting a new laptop. The only downside I have with Macs and not the M1 or M2, just Macs in general, is that their gaming performance isn't really I don't want to say up to standard, but basically doesn't exist at all.

And what I mean by that is that comparable Windows laptops could run basically any game you throw at it as long as it has the specs to support it.

But MacBooks, even if they do have the specs, just simply cannot run most games anyway. That is one of my downsides that I'm going to touch on later in terms of cons for this MacBook.

But that is to no fault of the M2 or M1 MacBook specifically, but just Mac as an ecosystem in general.

Anyway, I made an M1 MacBook Review like probably two years ago now at this point, if you haven't watched that, I don't think any my opinions towards that laptop has changed in the following two years, so still completely recommend that.

But let's talk about the M2 now. So the M2 MacBook Air has a few quality of life improvements, but in terms of specs and power, I don't think it's that much different over that M1 MacBook.

What we are going to notice though is the build quality and then the overall different feel and look of the MacBook from the exterior.

So we're talking about the chassis, we're talking about the screen, we're talking about the trackpad, which does look the same but feels different. Even the keyboard feels slightly different. It introduces Magsafe.

There's a bunch of new additions on this MacBook that I want to dove a little bit more deeply into that sort of impact my feelings towards it past just being slightly more powerful in the SOC Department.

So let's go ahead and start with the chassis, now they're following the same design language that their new iPhones are following, their iPads are following, their MacBook Pros are following basically their it seems like it's how they're pivoting in terms of their design.

They're going for a boxy look, no really sharp edges, just square everything off and probably make the MacBook as thin as possible.

I personally love the new design and I think just paired with the screen as well, it just it feels like another breath of fresh air.

And even though it's not that much different than the original M1 MacBook, my only gripe with this chassis design is that trying to pick it up with one hand is very, very difficult compared to the M1 MacBook.

If you don't recall the M1 MacBook had a wedge style.and basically every MacBook Air before that, that wedge style.let you grip it from the front really easily to pick it up.

But here, without having a second hand to support the backside, it's not really going to get picked up with one hand anymore.

But what I did notice is that if you do grab it from the back, it does have a little bit of a lip that you can sort of grip on to really minor stuff, but it is that little things.that sort of affects the quality of life overall.

Regardless, though, the squared off design in the updated chassis does make it feel like I'm using a brand new device and even though it is. 

It looks thicker because it's squared off if you put them side by side against an original M1 MacBook, I believe in the thickest part of the MacBook. This is actually thinner than that, so that's really nice to see.

They also updated the feet at the bottom so it no longer has that sort of dome or circular style feet.

It has sort of a wider, flatter circle. I don't really think there's a difference in terms of the functionality with this, but it is something that I didn't notice and kind of I mean, it's cool that they're trying new things, I guess.

Now there is one item that I think you will notice right off the bat, and that is the screen side.

Dim the display a little bit. Hopefully you could make sure you see the full essence of it, but essentially the screen that they're going with is following the new MacBook Pro 14 and 16 inch with the M1 Pro and M1 Macs chip and following that similar thinner bezels all across the edges and a notch right down the middle.

Now, I thought I would hate the notch. I thought it would just get in the way and I still don't really understand why it's there.

But I will say that once you start using this device on a day to day basis, you will sort of forget that that notch exists and it'll just blend into the whole display as a whole.

That isn't to defend Apple on putting a notch there. I thought if they were going to put a notch, they should at least introduce a face ID sensor similar to how Windows has windows. But they didn't. And I really don't know why they need that space for just the camera.

There are comparable windows laptops like the Dell XPS that fit a camera into such a small bezel.

I'm sure Apple could have done something similar, but the screen overall does look beautiful. And it's one major difference.

When I was comparing the M1 and the M2 MacBooks really made me want to lean towards this M2.

It's not that much more screen real estate per say, but there are a couple of just quality of life improvements.

That's really just the overall theme of this of this laptop. Like, for example, going into full screen mode, you no longer have to put your mouse at the top to wait for the toolbar to appear.

It just appears automatically because it's green up there. It's not hidden, but it's just little things like that that just make the overall feeling of it just newer, more modern, and just overall nicer to use.

Okay, so screen is great, chassis is great, keyboard and trackpad don't look literally any different besides the full size function key on the new MacBook. But they feel different.

I think what happened here is that they made some adjustments to the MacBook Pro keyboards on the 14 and 16 inch model and they just sort of lifted that over and put it onto these MacBooks as well.

I could be completely wrong on that, but it does definitely feel different not only in feeling but also the sound it makes to just it's hard to explain, but if you do see them in person, you'll notice what I'm talking about with that difference, their trackpad as well.

The overall movement across the trackpad is completely the same. But the one thing that is different is when you click, it has a different, almost like hollow feeling compared to how the M1 MacBook felt.

Again, the theme of this laptop is just minor changes, but it's a lot of minor changes that come together to make it feel a little bit more refreshed.

So the keyboard, the trackpad, they are the same if you don't look that deeply into them. But for someone like myself who really notices all the little things about new devices, it is something that affected me and affected my decision to go ahead and keep this MacBook as well.

So there are a couple cons though that fall into this bucket and this laptop isn't all amazing.

It still follows a little bit of the crutches that the M1 MacBook Interface, even after two years, there are still a lot of programs that I use that run through Rosetta, which isn't a big deal, but it is something that is sort of alarming and isn't a knock on the M2 MacBook Air specifically.

But again, the new silicon chips and the new way Apple is moving with their MacBooks. But then we look at the gaming side of things which is another big con of this, and there are basically no games that I play at least that run on this MacBook.

The only big titles I know that run on this is League of Legends and Minecraft, but I don't play either of those. I play a lot of competitive shooters like Valorant, for example.

I know overall just coming out soon, people are going to play a ton of overwatch and it doesn't seem like this can play those games natively, at least not yet.

I'm hoping that game developers continue to make strides in terms of developing games for the silicon chips natively, and I know that Apple is sort of pushing that.

It seems like every event that they talk about, they're pushing gaming more and more into Apple in general.

I'm hoping that that doesn't mean that the Games are going to be locked away on the App Store for higher prices and no steam sales.

I'm hoping that those games make their way onto steam eventually. But again, this is all up in the air. It's just more things natively need to be supported with Apple silicon. And I'm hoping that we continue to see strides in that department over the years.

Another con is that there is really no major processing improvement over the M1 MacBook Air, at least not one that you or I would notice.

If you're going from the M1 MacBook Air to the M1, MacBook Pro, for example, with the M1 Pro or M1 Macs Chip, you will definitely notice a difference in performance there.

But going from the base M1 to the base M2, MacBook Airs, it feels like it's exactly the same device performance wise, coming from an older laptop before the M1 chips were introduced.

It was a league of difference, but this is sort of an incremental improvement, almost like how they have an iPhone six two, iPhone six S, for example.

It's just a minor improvement that yeah, it's better if you run benchmarks, but you probably won't actually notice that improvement in normal day to day use case.

My use case involves 4K video editing and even I don't really notice any difference between the M1 and the M2 MacBook Air and didn't incorporate any of that processing improvement towards my decision to keep this M2 MacBook.

What it really boils down to is that the M2 MacBook felt newer. It felt like just a fun device to use, and that's really what drew me towards keeping this and selling off my old M1 MacBook.

Now I want to summarize this by saying that if you are a tech aficionado, if you love technology, you want to have the latest and greatest, you will not be upset with this.

It is still equal or better than the M1 MacBook in my opinion. So if you thought that you like the M1 MacBook and you just want a more refreshed, nicer looking laptop, this is definitely the one for you.

But if you're a regular person that isn't crazy and buys the latest tech, you can definitely stick with the M1 MacBook if you have one already or if you don't have one.

There are some great prices on M1 MacBooks at this point, especially in the use market. If you do not mind buying used. So summarize if you love tech, go with the M2 MacBook Air. I love this thing.

So far I've been using it extensively, but if you are not into tech and you just don't really care about having the latest and greatest, this device is really no different than the M1 MacBook barring those physical changes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the post. Thanks for reading. I'll catch you guys in the next one piece. Thanks for reading at Vemuda Techno. 

We have also posted 14 Inch MacBook Pro Review After One Year. 

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