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Glad you save $100 on your purchase but seriously, the notch is not the deal people are making it out to be.
I whacked a dark topped wallpaper on it and you cant see the notch AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, you effectively move the menus up freeing up the whole screen for content. That's a huge win.

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why
Glad you save $100 on your purchase but seriously, the notch is not the deal people are making it out to be.
I whacked a dark topped wallpaper on it and you cant see the notch AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, you effectively move the menus up freeing up the whole screen for content. That's a huge win.

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i was going to ask why Shirasaki reacted angry... but checking their other comments, seems like angry or negative are the usual words as well.
 
I think you mentioned exactly what this MacBook Air is ideal for. YouTube.

People have been whinging about who this entry level MacBook is for, saying that it’s a niche market. It’s exactly the opposite.

It's perfect for consuming media. Great screen, Speaker, Lightness, Battery.
It's perfect for making short length media (up to 10-15 minute) with its new media engine. Most reviews that focus on the lack of heat sink, also talk about sustained benchmarking required to notice it (which would never happen for anyone other than a pro content producer).
Its perfect for students and most home users.

This entry level super portable laptop is ideal for probably 90% of users.

It’s not that it’s taboo. It takes space that would bulk it out and it’s simply not necessary. Anyone can max out a laptop using simulated benchmarks. Try doing that in the real life. If people did, then those 2-3% of people shouldnt buy the entry level Laptop.
I think you perfectly described why 90% of people considering the M2 Air should save $350 (street price) and buy the M1 Air instead. Heck, everything you described can be done on an entry level iPad or Chromebook.

As for the heat sink (or lack therof), it represents everything wrong with M2 and how Apple has resorted to nickel and diming its customers, down to charging an extra $20 for fast charging… as if charging $200 more for essentially the same machine wasn’t enough. It’s a slap in the face, especially since the already cooler running M1 Air has a quality heat sink built in.
 
I don’t really understand the obsession with MagSafe. Do people dump laptops on the ground frequently from catching the charge cable?

My USB C 2019 MBPro charger has been extremely handy charging a wide range of devices across manufacturers.
It depends on one's usage and lifestyle; and, the latest boxes change things. In the old days with short battery lives we had to plug in whenever possible, and those of us with active pets would frequently end up with the laptop being yanked by its power cord, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

Today IMO folks love MagSafe mostly remembering the past. Reality is that with new Mac laptops giving in excess of 10 hours battery usage, new laptops can always be charged in low-risk locations. And USB-C is a fairly loose connection anyway, unlike the old (tight) plug-in charging cables that predated MagSafe.
 
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as if charging $200 more for essentially the same machine wasn’t enough.
What a thin argument to try to prove your point with. A new chipset and complete redesign means pretty much the opposite of ‘essentially the same machine’ - I mean aside the name it’s clearly a completely different machine by most normal peoples metrics.
 
I think you perfectly described why 90% of people considering the M2 Air should save $350 (street price) and buy the M1 Air instead. Heck, everything you described can be done on an entry level iPad or Chromebook.

Or a phone, yet what is your point? That you can do basic computing tasks on any computer? Yes - obviously. It’s not really saying anything other than the very obvious. it’s certainly not proving some wider conspiracy.
 
Cannot believe Apple is charging an arm and leg for the new mba yet they skimped on installing a proper heat sink. unacceptable.
Cannot believe so many people are so stupid as to assume Apple did not have this area covered. It turns out iFixit and the other youtube grifters were all wrong.

The MacBook Air M2 actually uses an advanced graphite-based heat spreader, using technology made by Panasonic, a special graphite sheet with nearly the thermal conductance of diamond, 5 times that of copper, and far more advanced than what is in the M1 based MacBook Air.

Apple patented this in 2015.


Apple has truly cast pearls before swine here.
 
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I don’t really understand the obsession with MagSafe. Do people dump laptops on the ground frequently from catching the charge cable?

My USB C 2019 MBPro charger has been extremely handy charging a wide range of devices across manufacturers.
Well, MagSafe also shows me, if my laptop is fully charged or not without the need to open the lid. I really like that.
 
The MacBook Air M2 actually uses an advanced graphite-based heat spreader, using technology made by Panasonic, a special graphite sheet with nearly the thermal conductance of diamond, 5 times that of copper, and far more advanced than what is in the M1 based MacBook Air.
Can you give us a source for that info? Thanks.
 
€500 price difference for the base model in most EU countries is just insane. That's literally a 50% price hike!
The American price quotations are pre-tax (unlike the indications required in Europe).
Screenshot 2022-07-23 um 10.54.18.png

It must be sad and lacking in perspective to belong to an age group that constantly whines about prices.
And most of them are too clumsy to find and take advantage of the opportunities to buy cheap PC junk with large monitors from China. So I understand such people less and less every year. They are probably kinda sad perspetiveless world-haters.
 
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Cannot believe Apple is charging an arm and leg for the new mba yet they skimped on installing a proper heat sink. unacceptable.
There's not even improvements to cooling on the more expensive models, so the 10-core GPU is actually seeing worse performance than the low-end 8-core GPU configurations for a lot of M2 Air owners.

-Because of the 2 extra GPU cores on the 10-core models, they get hotter faster than the 8-core and thus starts throttling sooner.

Considering the $1199-$1499 minimum, I find the whole "M2 is obviously not aimed at power-users" notion to be ridiculous.

That's simply not the kind of money you spend on a laptop unless you are a power-user.

And for as few improvements and many downgrades as some of the configurations offer, next to nobody, power-user or not, gains anything from getting the M2 MacBooks over the M1 MacBooks. Especially considering how low prices get for M1 Air during sales.

I'm particularly disappointed in the M2 Air because of how good it looks. I really love the design. But I guess Apple can't match the looks with its performance.
 
Magsafe alone is worth it.
I don't know.. Apple charging ports are already messy as it is. If you're all in with Apple ecosystem, you gotta have
  • Lightning Cable for iPhones and/or AirPods
  • Friggin puck for the Watch
  • USB-C for iPad
  • Magsafe 3 for the current Macbook Air/Pro
  • Another Magsafe puck for newer iPhones (it has the same name, yet totally different form factor)
  • Bonus: USB-C dongles if you need some nice extra ports for your Mac or iPad.
Yes, you can still mix and match some of those cables, but really there are at least 5 potential charging ports you can buy for a supposedly solid, seamless Apple ecosystem. MagSafe 3 adds another layer of complication, so it's nightmare for travelling.
 
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I think you perfectly described why 90% of people considering the M2 Air should save $350 (street price) and buy the M1 Air instead. Heck, everything you described can be done on an entry level iPad or Chromebook.

As for the heat sink (or lack therof), it represents everything wrong with M2 and how Apple has resorted to nickel and diming its customers, down to charging an extra $20 for fast charging… as if charging $200 more for essentially the same machine wasn’t enough. It’s a slap in the face, especially since the already cooler running M1 Air has a quality heat sink built in.
Agree 100%t -The "non-power-user" demographic is looking to get as much performance for as few dollars as possible. $200-400 more or less is a big deal for them.

No matter how you overstate or downplay the upgrades, no M2 Air offers better performance than "1.4x faster than M1" at best. And those gains are only for the 512GB over better configurations and only under ideal circumstances, like before the heat builds and throttling kicks in.

A $1199 second generation Apple Silicon laptop should not come with as many "*" as it does when prices start at $1199.

M2 Air is a terrible value proposition unless you value aesthetics over everything else.
 
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But M1 Air offers wildly better performance per $ over M2 Air.

Apple should have pulled all M1 Airs from stores and their website. That way the M2 Air would look like amazing value.
Or simply keep the base model M2 Air for $999, and M1 Air for $899. When you look at how Apple compromises with the base SSD speed, annoying throttling, lack of proper heatsink, it's hard to justify the price increase which Apple asked for.
 
I think you perfectly described why 90% of people considering the M2 Air should save $350 (street price) and buy the M1 Air instead. Heck, everything you described can be done on an entry level iPad or Chromebook.

As for the heat sink (or lack therof), it represents everything wrong with M2 and how Apple has resorted to nickel and diming its customers, down to charging an extra $20 for fast charging… as if charging $200 more for essentially the same machine wasn’t enough. It’s a slap in the face, especially since the already cooler running M1 Air has a quality heat sink built in.
That makes no sense.
The Media engine improves short video content creators in a way the M1 doesn’t.

The M2 has better battery, smaller form factor, bigger and brighter screen and is also marginally (about 20%) faster, better camera.

I think it’s worth the $350 upgrade.
 
...The M2 has better battery, smaller form factor, bigger and brighter screen and is also marginally (about 20%) faster, better camera.
MaxTech demonstrated that CPU + GPU tasks like an Xcode compile were 18% faster even though it got hotter and probably thermally throttled which matches Apple's claim. MaxTech even demonstrated that if you are adventurous and do the thermal pad mod then the M2 Air is faster than the M2 MBP despite not having the latter's fan.
 
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The function over form stance did not last that long did it. No proper heatsink, what the f are they thinking with the M2 Air. I mean did they not see the immense response how happy people were they could finally watch YouTube without burning their legs and skyrocketing fans turning on?
 
MaxTech demonstrated that CPU + GPU tasks like an Xcode compile were 18% faster even though it got hotter and probably thermally throttled which matches Apple's claim. MaxTech even demonstrated that if you are adventurous and do the thermal pad mod then the M2 Air is faster than the M2 MBP despite not having the latter's fan.
I can’t see compilers using this. If they are pro use, they should get the pro macbook. It’s made for cooling.

This is their entry level M2. People need to get a bit of perspective here.
 
"Dated design"? I have a 2007 MBP that has this same boxy design. The wedgy MBA is so much nicer to me. This reviewer seems to equate new with better. I _HATE_ the notch (and the rounded display corners) which doesn't play nice with actual full screen contents. The M2 _processor_ is only slightly faster in the apps I care about, and a disappointing small improvement over M1.

I'll pass on this generation and hope Apple gives me a reason to upgrade in future.
Amen. New doesn’t mean better. The wedge was everything to me.
 
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I don't know.. Apple charging ports are already messy as it is. If you're all in with Apple ecosystem, you gotta have
  • Lightning Cable for iPhones and/or AirPods
  • Friggin puck for the Watch
  • USB-C for iPad
  • Magsafe 3 for the current Macbook Air/Pro
  • Another Magsafe puck for newer iPhones (it has the same name, yet totally different form factor)
  • Bonus: USB-C dongles if you need some nice extra ports for your Mac or iPad.
Yes, you can still mix and match some of those cables, but really there are at least 5 potential charging ports you can buy for a supposedly solid, seamless Apple ecosystem. MagSafe 3 adds another layer of complication, so it's nightmare for travelling.

Whoa, what a devastating assessment!

Planet Earth just instantaneously tilted an extra 20 degrees as a result. Please...everyone run for the hills and be safe as worldwide tsunamis are expected within the next half hour.
 
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I don't know.. Apple charging ports are already messy as it is. If you're all in with Apple ecosystem, you gotta have
  • Lightning Cable for iPhones and/or AirPods
  • Friggin puck for the Watch
  • USB-C for iPad
  • Magsafe 3 for the current Macbook Air/Pro
  • Another Magsafe puck for newer iPhones (it has the same name, yet totally different form factor)
  • Bonus: USB-C dongles if you need some nice extra ports for your Mac or iPad.
Yes, you can still mix and match some of those cables, but really there are at least 5 potential charging ports you can buy for a supposedly solid, seamless Apple ecosystem. MagSafe 3 adds another layer of complication, so it's nightmare for travelling.
u can charge MBA with USB C if you wnat to give up a port and carry one less cable.
i'd rather the two USB C free though.
 
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