Apple says its new M2 MacBook Air hits stores July 15

Faster, slicker, better. No wonder PC makers are scared.

Apple has published a swift statement to send a shiver of fear through the hearts of computing notebook makers – MacBook Air will be in the wild from July 15.

The M2 Mac drives a hard edge

Apple’s competitors have already started fretting that Apple’s affordable, high-powered Mac notebook will eat their business a little like iPad consumed the netbook industry when it made its debut.

So, what has Apple told us? Nothing much that is new, except for finally confirming its product introduction plan:

• The new M2 MacBook Air is available to order from Friday, July 8, at 5am PDT.
• The computer will begin arriving with customers worldwide on Friday, July 15.
• The computer will begin turning up in Apple retail stores on Friday, July 15.

What do you get?

Apple announced its new consumer notebook at WWDC.

Equipped with Apple’s next-gen M2 chip, the thin and redesigned system gives you a larger 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, 1,080p FaceTime HD camera, four-speaker sound system, up to 18 hours of battery life, and MagSafe charging.

The Mac has a durable, aluminum unibody enclosure that measures just 11.3 millimeters thin, is only 2.7 pounds, and delivers 20 percent reduction in volume from the previous generation. It’s also silent and fanless.

When it comes to interconnects you get MagSafe, two Thunderbolt and one 3.5 mm audio port along with a Force Touch trackpad and Magic Keyboard. MacBook Air now supports 1 billion colors, so photos and movies look incredibly vibrant.

MacBook Air also features a four-speaker sound system.

To fit inside such a thin design, the speakers and mics are completely integrated between the keyboard and display. A three-mic array captures clean audio using beamforming algorithms, while the speakers provide stereo separation and vocal clarity. It supports immersive Spatial Audio for music and movies with Dolby Atmos.

Apple CEO Tim Cook with a line of M2 Macs at the Steve Jobs Theatre at WWDC 2022.

All about the Apple Silicon

But it’s the M2 chip that gives the device the edge. This comprises a more powerful than M1 8-core CPU and up to 10-core GPU, with 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and support for up to 24GB of fast unified memory.

[Also read: Apple’s M2 Mac performance claims proven as benchmarks slip]

In the real world that means more streams of 4K and 8K video content can be played, while creative apps gain real boosts: Final Cut Pro runs 15x faster than on Intel Macs; Applying filters and effects in apps like Adobe Photoshop is up to 20 percent faster than before, and up to 5x faster for customers who haven’t yet upgraded to Apple silicon.

Prices start at $1,199 and the machines are available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.