Many recent rumors have been circulating about a MacBook Air upgrade.  And it happened.  Apple’s smallest laptop has now received more from the current MacBook Pro models and better complements the company’s family of laptops.

External changes will be noticeable primarily by the appearance of a cutout in the camera display.  But there are other changes, mostly on the topcase – the “legs” on the bottom cover of the new Air now repeat the shape of those in the Pro models.

Apple introduced new MacBook Air: new design, display, M2 processor etc. MacBook Pro 13 was also updated to M2

Topcase got a bit updated shapeaàà.  It no longer changes the thickness from mounting the display to the opposite side.  The keyboard has larger top keys, like the Pro (with Touch ID and trackpad with Force Touch).  But the best update was the return of the company’s magnetic charging port – MagSafe.  It has two free Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports and a separate headphone jack.

All this was placed in a housing measuring 304.1 × 215 × 11.3 mm and weighing 1.24 kg.  The new Air still has four body colors – the usual Space Gray and Silver, as well as the new Midnight and Starlight.

The Liquid Retina display this time has a resolution of 2560 × 1664 pixels (224 ppi) at 13.6 inches.  It is still a display with IPS matrix, True Tone support and P3 color space coverage.  In addition to the cutout, the display also got rounded corners.  A nice addition to this was the increase in the maximum backlight level to 500 cd/m².  (Unfortunately, the high refresh rate was not even mentioned).

Apple introduced new MacBook Air: new design, display, M2 processor etc. MacBook Pro 13 was also updated to M2

The sound update has a system of three microphones to transmit the owner’s voice during conversations, and with them four speakers that will play sounds, also with support for Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos technologies.  The webcam, by the way, has increased the resolution to 1080p and promises better image processing.

Apple introduced new MacBook Air: new design, display, M2 processor etc. MacBook Pro 13 was also updated to M2

The biggest update inside is the new Apple M2 processor.  It is designed with not only increased power but also energy efficiency in mind.  Built on the technology of 5-nanometer process technology, M2 has 20 billion transistors, which is 25% more than its predecessor.  The new processors have 8 main cores (4 for powerful tasks, and 4  “weaker” cores), 8- or 10-core graphics and 16-core Neural engine.   It also has passive cooling that will run as quietly as possible.

Apple introduced new MacBook Air: new design, display, M2 processor etc. MacBook Pro 13 was also updated to M2

Such processors have increased the maximum amount of RAM to 24 GB and have a bandwidth of up to 100 GB/s.  Apple is talking about an increase in power compared to the M1 by 18%, and graphics – up to 35%.  The base model contains 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage.  They can be increased to 24 GB and 2 TB, respectively.  All configurations support Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

The 52.6-watt  battery should last for 18 hours of video playback via Apple TV or 15 hours of browsing.  And here’s an interesting point with power supplies: the base model with 8-core graphics comes with a 30-watt unit, and with a 10-core – 35-watt, with two ports.  That is, you can also charge, for example, iPhone or Apple Watch.  And with a 67-watt power supply, the laptop will support high-speed charging.

Unfortunately, the changes increased the cost of the laptop.  The base model will now cost $1,199, and with 10-core graphics and maximum memory, the price tag will rise to $2,499.  The new products will go on sale next month.

And with them will updated 13-inch MacBook Pro, which also got M2 processors will be available.  The price of such a model, depending on the capacity of RAM, storage and the number of graphics cores will cost from $1299 to $2499.