Apple's MacBook Air M2 suddenly looks more appealing

The Apple MacBook Air is extremely popular. It's no surprise, really, as it's one of the best laptops money can buy – I'm a massive advocate of the macOS machine, having used one for three generations of its release. But now, in 2022, it suddenly looks a whole lot more appealing. 

Today, 8th July 2022 if you're reading this in the near future (hello fellow time-traveller), is the date when the Apple MacBook Air M2 is up for pre-orders (on-sale date is the 15th July). Not only that, the M2-powered machine is the first MacBook Air to sport the newly redesigned chassis. So it's a win-win: better internals, better design, just better everything for this particular MacBook. 

But should I buy a MacBook Air M2? It's like I'm talking to myself, but I'm deadly serious in saying that, having used the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro for two weeks, I'm really, really taken by Apple's latest tech – to the point that I'm very tempted to part with four-figures of my own cash and forego my work-offered Windows machine. 

The MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is a revelation for the series in my eyes: it's not oversized like the most desirable 14- or 16-inch MacBook Pros from 2021. It's got a newer design than the M2 MacBook Pro 13 from 2022. It is, for most people, the ideal match – and there's no fan so you're guaranteed beautiful silence in operation too.

However, the M2 MacBook Air is pricier than its predecessors. Its starting price is £1,249 in the UK, $1,199 in the US, €1,499 in the EU, or AUD$1,899 in Australia. So you're looking at in and around a 25 per cent increase over the outgoing 2021 model. That's a lot of extra money... but it appears to be a lot of extra laptop in terms of internal power potential and updated design. 

In context, however, it's actually cheaper to buy the MacBook Air M2 than it is the MacBook  Pro M2, the latter gaining additional graphics cores and a cooling fan as part of its design (it's got a Touch Bar too – and therefore older design!). And if you want to beef up the Air more then you can, with up to 24GB unified memory (over the standard 8GB), but then you'll be looking at big bucks. 

So should you pre-order a MacBook Air M2? The only downside I can really see to the 2022 model, aside from the fact you obviously can't get one for free, is the inclusion of a notched screen as part of the design. But I suspect both I and you will get over that within a few minutes and be happy to revel in all the other goodness it brings.