Performance: Any MacBook with an Apple processor like the M1 is going to be more than speedy enough for day-to-day browsing and communicating as well as heavy multitasking or compiling code.

But for everyday work tasks, browsing the web, watching movies, and even playing App Store games, the M2 MacBook Air offers a bunch of great upgrades over the previous generation. Our tests found the laptop would get hot to the touch even after a minute of exporting video or batch editing photos, to levels that would make the laptop uncomfortable to use. However, this laptop isn’t ideal for people who edit photos, videos, or otherwise process large media files. Apple also added a MagSafe port, which allows a magnetic charging cable to securely stick to the MacBook Air and harmlessly detach if a passerby’s foot catches it in a coffee shop.

The 2022 M2 MacBook Air has a brighter display that lets you see the screen more clearly outside on a sunny day, and a higher-resolution webcam that makes you look a little bit more clear on video calls. If you have $200 more to spend on a laptop, the M2 MacBook Air has a few great updates over the slightly older M1 model that we think make the device feel better to use. The Air also omits the MacBook Pro’s (situationally useful but largely unnecessary) Touch Bar in favor of a row of physical function keys and a standalone Touch ID fingerprint sensor. The Air includes only two USB-C ports (which support Thunderbolt 3) plus a headphone jack-but Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs and adapters are common enough and inexpensive enough that this isn’t as big of a problem as it used to be.

Like its predecessor, the M1 version of the Air includes a much-improved keyboard with a deeper, more satisfying feel and improved reliability compared with MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models released between 20. And unlike previous MacBook Air models, the M1 version doesn’t require a cooling fan, which keeps it dead silent even when you’re maxing out the processor by exporting a video or playing a game. Apple’s new M1 processor is much faster than the low-power Intel processors in previous MacBook Airs, and its battery life is so good that you should almost never need to charge it during the day if you don’t want to. We recommend the basic $1,000 version of the MacBook Air, which has enough speed, memory, and storage for most day-to-day computer tasks.

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