Ars Technica reviews Apple’s M2 MacBook Air: ‘The best Mac for most people’

Apple’s completely redesigned MacBook Air is supercharged by the M2 chip with even more performance and a new strikingly thin design, a larger 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, a four-speaker sound system, up to 18 hours of battery life, and MagSafe charging.
Apple’s 13.6-inch M2-powered MacBook Air
Now available in four gorgeous finishes — midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray — MacBook Air with M2 starts at just $1,199 and $1,099 for education.
Samuel Axon for Ars Technica:

It’s the first major redesign in years to Apple’s most popular laptop, what we’ve previously called the best Mac laptop for most types of users.
As was the case with the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the M2 is as fast as it gets for single-threaded tasks, and it smokes its predecessor when it comes to graphics performance. It’s zippy as can be for all its intended uses.
The M2 makes this one of the most performant and efficient laptops on the market for general information work like browsing the web, working with documents, jumping on Zoom calls, and so on. There’s nothing at all to complain about there because it literally doesn’t get any better for those purposes.
The M2’s gains over the M1 are modest compared to the jump from the previous, Intel-based MacBook Air to the M1, of course. What we’re seeing here is a boost in performance akin to the annual iPhone updates: 10 to 30 percent faster, depending on the nature of the task…
For a few hundred extra dollars over the M1 version, you get a better screen, a bit more performance, and a much nicer camera and audio system for video calls. If those few hundred bucks aren’t an issue for you, I recommend the M2 MacBook Air over the M1 model. But if you can’t swing the extra spending, don’t fret: the M1 MacBook Air is still a great computer.
Price aside, the M2 redesign is nonetheless the best Mac for most people’s needs. It’s an ideal personal laptop for folks who prefer macOS to other operating systems and just need a fast, reliable, well-supported machine. And it will see plenty of use in business, as it’s a great fit for marketers, product managers, project managers, and other roles with similar technology needs.
But as was the case with its predecessor, it’s not the machine for creatives, engineers, or computing enthusiasts with heavy workloads.

MacDailyNews Take: As it ever was:
Just as Apple’s Mac Pro is not designed to serve the entire desktop market, Apple’s MacBook Air is not designed to serve the entire portable market. — MacDailyNews, January 24, 2008
Apple’s M2 MacBook Air [is] pretty much the perfect Mac for road warriors! — MacDailyNews, July 14, 2022
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