Apple M2 Recensie | 78 Gegevens vergelijking

The 2022 MacBook Air (M2) features a modern, uniform design with a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, MagSafe charging, and an improved 1080p webcam, though the new Midnight color shows fingerprints easily. While performance sees notable gains, the fanless design can experience thermal throttling under heavy loads, and the display notch may interfere with menu bar apps. Starting at $1,199, it offers excellent performance and battery life, but it faces stiff competition from the lower-priced M1 model.

The Computerworld review describes the M2 MacBook Air as a highly productive "road warrior’s dream" featuring a redesigned chassis, a silent fanless design, and impressive performance per watt. Key pros include a brighter 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, the return of MagSafe 3 charging, and a superior 1080p camera, with performance that handles intense multitasking while providing all-day battery life. Cons include a higher starting price, potential fingerprinting on darker finishes, support for only one external display, and slower storage speeds on the 256GB base model, which the review advises upgrading. Computerworld

The CNN Underscored review highlights the Apple MacBook Air M2 as a near-perfect, redesigned ultraportable featuring a thinner 11.3mm chassis and a brighter, 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display. Performance is driven by the M2 chip, offering significant boosts in graphics and multi-core tasks over the M1 model while remaining fanless and silent, bolstered by the return of the MagSafe 3 charging port and an upgraded 1080p webcam. However, the machine features a higher $1,199 starting price, a Midnight color option prone to fingerprints, and slower base-model storage speeds compared to the M1, alongside potential thermal throttling under heavy, sustained workloads.

The AppleInsider review praises the 2022 M2 MacBook Air for its comprehensive design overhaul, featuring a 2.7-pound flat chassis, a vibrant 13.6-inch display, and the return of MagSafe 3 charging. Powered by the M2 chip, the laptop offers significant CPU and GPU gains over the M1 model, positioning it as an ideal, high-performance, and portable device for typical users. However, the review notes drawbacks including the lack of active cooling resulting in thermal throttling, limited support for only one external monitor, and slower SSD speeds on the base 256GB model. Despite a higher price point, the M2 MacBook Air is deemed the "sweet spot" for most consumers in 2022.

The TechSpot review of the Apple M2 identifies it as a refined, efficiency-focused successor to the M1, offering roughly 11-18% performance gains via a 5nm, 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU. Key strengths include exceptional media engines, specifically for ProRes video, and industry-leading performance-per-watt that keeps it competitive with x86 rivals while running on battery. However, the M2 faces criticism for high RAM/storage upgrade costs, a significantly slower 256GB base SSD, and limited external display support.

"Reverse Engineering the Branch Target Buffer Organizations on Apple Silicon" maps the internal BTB structures of Apple M2 chips, revealing a hierarchical organization with distinct differences between high-performance and energy-efficient cores. Utilizing the m1n1 bare-metal environment, the study identifies specific indexing mechanisms and branch misprediction behaviors to aid software optimization on proprietary hardware. While the research provides highly precise, novel insights, it is technically complex and limited specifically to the M2, requiring further investigation for other architectures. For the full study, read more at MDPI. MDPI Copy

a little longerThinking a little longer Ivakin and Sergeev (2025) evaluate VMware Fusion and Oracle VirtualBox on an Apple M2 MacBook Air, analyzing CPU, memory, and disk I/O performance to guide users transitioning to ARM architecture. VMware Fusion is highlighted for superior optimization, providing a near-native experience with consistent frame rates and lower latency. Conversely, Oracle VirtualBox shows limitations, including higher resource overhead, slower disk speeds, and occasional graphical issues, making it less suitable for performance-critical applications. «Theoretical & Applied Science» Copy

The M2 MacBook Air review from TechnalSquared outlines a significant design overhaul adopting a flat, 11.3mm chassis with a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, MagSafe 3 charging, and a 1080p webcam. Performance sees a 18-20% boost from the M2 chip, offering silent, fanless operation with a 15-18 hour battery life. Key drawbacks noted are the higher starting price, the display notch, slower base 256GB SSD speeds, and fingerprint-prone Midnight finish.

Monica Chin’s "drain diary" for The Verge puts the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro through a rigorous, real-world battery test, featuring extensive, continuous usage with heavy multitasking, browser tabs, and Adobe software. The primary finding is the machine's exceptional endurance, with the laptop lasting over 16.5 hours, heavily validating Apple's efficiency claims and enabling full-day use without charging. While performance and battery life are major pros, the review highlights the outdated chassis, thick bezels, and the inclusion of the Touch Bar as significant cons, noting the superior, modern design of the newer MacBook Air. Copy

Testing by The Verge shows the base 256GB M2 MacBook Air has significantly slower SSD read/write speeds than the 512GB model and the previous M1 version, caused by using a single NAND flash chip instead of two. While daily use for average users may not be impacted, the slower speeds can create bottlenecks when the 8GB RAM fills up and the system relies on swap memory. Despite these speed limitations, the machine is praised for its modern design, improved 1080p webcam, and better display, though the entry-level model carries a higher $1,199 starting price. To avoid performance issues with large file transfers or professional creative work, upgrading to at least 512GB of storage is recommended.