It’s official: Apple’s 2022 MacBook Air will start shipping on July 15, with pre-orders starting at 8 a.m. ET. Apple website  .
This is almost a month after the release of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro. Like that laptop, the MacBook Air packs the new Apple M2 chip, but that’s where most of the similarities end, with the MacBook Air shaping up to be arguably the best laptop for most people.
The entry-level $1,199 MacBook Air 2022 model features a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina (2560 X 1664) display, 8GB of unified memory, and 256GB of storage. It costs more than its predecessor, the MacBook Air M1, but offers a host of features beyond a new chipset.
It has been completely redesigned with a slimmer, lighter body and comes in four new colors. The laptop also has an improved audio system, a 1080p webcam with better low-light performance, and MagSafe charging.
As our benchmark tests have revealed, the Apple M2 chip is a marked improvement over the M1 chip. The M2 helped the new 13-inch MacBook Pro score 8911 on the Geekbench 5.4 multi-core CPU performance test. This is better than its predecessor’s score of 7,521 and even beats out some of the best Windows laptops with the latest 12th Gen Intel Core CPUs, including the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7, which scored 7,150.
Based on our hands-on experience with the MacBook Air 2022, it looks like the laptop could be one of the best laptops of the year. Although the new MacBook Pro has almost the same silicon core, its dated design, 720p camera and lack of a MagSafe charger make it less attractive than the sleek and modern next-gen MacBook Air.
That said, the 2022 MacBook Pro has the longest battery life of any laptop we’ve tested. Apple claims that the active cooling of the MacBook Pro allows it to have sustained performance over the fanless MacBook Air. We’ll put that claim to the test after we’ve put the Air through our litany of battery tests.
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