Why the MacBook Air M2 May Be the Last Laptop You Ever Buy
This week Apple updated most of its Mac lineup with the M4 chip. iMac now runs M4 ; Mac mini now runs M4 or M4 Pro ; and the MacBook Pro runs the M4, M4 Pro, or M4 Max. However, one of the Mac staples that surprisingly didn’t get the M4 update this time is the MacBook Air. Apple’s entry-level MacBook still only comes in M2 or M3 variants, so if you want an M4 laptop, you’ll need to go for the Pro.
This may sound like a cause for disappointment, but it is not. In fact, the “new” MacBook Air that Apple unveiled this week is officially my new pick for the best MacBook for most people. Pick one up and I’m sure it will be the last laptop you buy for a long time.
At first glance, it seems that there is nothing new in the MacBook Air. But in reality, there really isn’t one. But what has changed is that Apple no longer sells the 8GB RAM model. Now, when you shop directly from Apple, the company only offers 16GB of RAM on the base model , but has kept the old $999 price for the 8GB base model, and Amazon and Best Buy have already matched the new price and configurations.
In short, a laptop that used to cost at least $1,199 is now $200 cheaper. This, my friends, is what I call value.
Successor to MacBook Air M1.
Apple released the MacBook Air M1 back in November 2020. It’s an efficient and high-performing computer that’s priced at $999, making it the best laptop out there. In subsequent years, Apple released new MacBook Airs with updated designs and faster chips, but the price of the 2020 M1 Air continued to fall and remained reliable enough to satisfy the needs of average users, and then some.
Until the beginning of this year, the M1 retained the title of best in terms of price-quality ratio. As recently as April 2024, three and a half years after it first launched, I was still calling it the best MacBook for most people , especially since it could be found in stores for as little as $699. The MacBook Air M2 (originally released in 2022) only really stole the crown from the M1 when its price started dropping too. For example, if you were looking for a MacBook Air during October’s Prime Day, the $749 M2 Air was a great choice .
But now, with double the RAM, the M2 Air deserves your attention more than ever.
What makes the “new” MacBook Air M2 so great?
The M1 Air, while still an excellent machine in late 2024, looks a bit dated these days, mirroring the design of the 2018 MacBook Air. This includes large screen bezels which, while not a deal breaker, do give it an outdated look. The webcam is also of lower quality than you’d like, and since the device only has two USB ports, you’ll only be left with one when charging.
On the other hand, the M2 Air is the “new” Mac. It follows Apple’s current design language, which means it’s boxier than the M1’s (admittedly iconic) tapered design. It also has a larger display for its form factor: the M1 has a 13.3-inch display and the M2 has a 13.6-inch display, expanding the screen area from edge to edge and a more modern look, including a notch that cuts into the display on which the webcam is located.
Speaking of the webcam, the M2 webcam has a 1080p resolution, which is higher than the M1’s 720p camera. And while it also features two USB ports, it also supports MagSafe charging, which means you can charge your MacBook magnetically while leaving two ports free for other devices. (It still supports USB-C charging if that’s what you prefer.)
Of course, the M2 chip is objectively better than the M1, but not by a whole lot. Comparing the base model chips, the M1 has an 8-core CPU and 7-core GPU, while the M2 has an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU. In benchmarking, this update represents a slight performance boost between the M1 and M2, but nothing crazy. Most of the tasks that the M2 can handle, the M1 can handle just fine.
On paper, the M2 MacBook Air is a better laptop in every way than its M1 predecessor. This is nothing new: the M2 Air has been out for over two years now, so this discussion is quite old. Moreover, the price difference was the reason for the fierce competition between the two machines. Sure, the M2 model’s new features were tempting, but you could save $300 or more by choosing the M1, making it easy to recommend to most people.
However, fast forward to October 2024 and the story has changed.
Thanks for the memory
The last four years have been a great time to be a Mac user. Apple Silicon (M series chips) was such a success that many of us forgot about the previous four years, during which MacBooks suffered from major problems, not the least of which was their infamous butterfly keyboard . ( I still miss the Touch Bar though.)
However, as great as every Mac has been since the first M1 machine arrived in 2020, there has been one fundamental bad habit the company hasn’t been able to break: the inclusion of only 8GB of RAM in the standard model . To give a short and simplified explanation, RAM (or memory) allows you to do more things at once on your computer. If you tend to do a single task, you may not notice the limitations of 8GB of RAM. But if you’re sending emails, texting photos with friends, while keeping a million browser tabs open in the background (including a YouTube playlist or Netflix show), even your M1 Mac might struggle to keep up.
Previously, the base model of every M series chip (except Pro and Max) had 8GB of RAM. If you were worried about needing more RAM in the future, you were forced to consider upgrading to at least 16GB of RAM, which would cost an additional $200. Suddenly this $999 laptop felt more like a $1,199 laptop, which wasn’t the price Apple was advertising.
That’s why the “new” M2 MacBook Air unveiled this week is such a big deal. For the first time since the MacBook Air M1 in 2020, buying a laptop directly from Apple for $999 is an amazing deal. Only 8 GB of RAM in 2024 is questionable, but 16 GB is not a problem. Most people won’t need that much RAM for everyday tasks, no, but it will ensure that the machine will serve them for years to come. There will come a day when 8GB of memory simply won’t be enough to run macOS properly or use underperforming apps like Chrome, but users who buy a MacBook with 16GB of RAM won’t suffer as a result.
It’s not just good news for MacBook Air fans: Apple changed the rules for all of its Mac computers this week. The base M4 iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro now come with 16GB of RAM, up from 8GB. This is just particularly exciting news for Apple’s best budget Mac.
Mac M2 can last you a long time
We’re four years into Apple’s silicon era, which is long enough to see how well these chips perform, but not long enough to know how long Apple plans to support its new hardware. Yet, almost half a century later, M1 is still going strong. My 2021 iMac handles daily multitasking workflow without issue, even if I notice a difference in speed between it and my MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip. For most tasks the M1 is quite adequate, and I expect it to remain so for the foreseeable future.
This is also true for M2, only to a greater extent. It’s one generation newer than the M1, meaning that in all likelihood Apple will support it for at least a year longer than the M1. In the distant future, when Apple eventually stops releasing new versions of macOS for the M2, they will likely be releasing security updates for some time after that so that users can continue to use their Macs safely even without receiving any new features. Even then, there will be third-party options, such as OpenCore Legacy Patcher , that will offer ways to install new versions of macOS on unsupported machines.
All this means that buying a $999 M2 MacBook Air today is probably one of, if not the best laptop buying decision most of us can make right now. Of course, you can spend more to get the extra benefits of an M3 MacBook Air or even an M4 MacBook Pro, those machines will serve you well too. But if you have the opportunity to spend a ton of money on a computer today, my choice is the MacBook Air M2, which lasts all day, every day. I’d be shocked if you needed a new car before November 2034. As much as I stress that 8GB of RAM is a limitation, even M1 machines with such limited memory perform fine in 2024. The M series Macs are simply amazing. machine, and it may be the best affordable MacBook the company has ever made.
One final pro tip: If you’re tempted to save $100 by buying the 8GB MacBook Air M2 from Amazon, don’t. Instead, buy an M2 MacBook Air from the Apple Education Store . Apple will withdraw the $100 anyway. The deal is open to everyone, so you’ll get the extra storage for next to nothing.