In 2012, I walked into an Apple Store to buy a MacBook for college with all the money I made from my summer job. I have a budget under $1,000 and am on a mission to find the perfect laptop for an impending journalism major. A store employee pointed me toward the 11-inch MacBook Air and said, “It’s light! It’s portable! It’s perfect for writing stories on the go! “He was right. It got me through four years of classes, internships, and college paper time.
I’d be lying if I said I’m not jealous whenever I see another student carrying a MacBook. Pro. I always feel like I’m settling for the Air — sacrificing some of the features I think I need for portability. But a decade later, I couldn’t feel any different. The new MacBook Air 2022 really delivers than than the new one 13-inch MacBook Proincludes a sleek new design, larger and brighter display, MagSafe support (yes, it’s back!), and a 1080p webcam.
With these upgrades, price increases are inevitable. Base MacBook Air now start at $1,199 (you can still get MacBook Air 2020 M1 for $999). It still doesn’t MacBook ProIt has a better selection of ports and more raw power, but after all these years, the Air is still light, portable, and perfect for writing stories on the go.
A breath of fresh air
Photo: Apple
Gone are the days of the wedge design featured on the MacBook Air. The new model now has the same boxy frame as the latest model high-end MacBook Pro models, which in my eyes gives a more sophisticated look. But it is much lighter. At just 2.7 pounds, I tend to lift it with too much force as I’m not used to carrying such a light machine. (It’s thinner and lighter than the MacBook Air 2020!)
It may have a similar interface, but sadly you won’t get the same connectivity upgrade. The new MacBook Air has just two USB-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and — thankfully — a MagSafe port for charging. (There’s no HDMI or SD card slot.) As someone who primarily uses the MacBook for writing, email, video calls, and Netflix, the lack of ports doesn’t bother me, but it should be fine.
If you’re buying an older Air or a 13-inch MacBook Pro, you’ll likely appreciate the new display. Somethings like that. It’s still an LCD screen stuck at 60 Hz, but Apple has turned the brightness down to low, and I had no trouble reading the screen when I was working outside in my backyard. The screen size also increased from 13.3 to 13.6 inches thanks to thinner bezels around the screen. It sounds like a small boost, but I notice (and appreciate) the larger real estate. Annoyingly, this MacBook can still only connect to one external display (a limitation on the MacBook Air M1). Not great if you want to reap the benefits of a Multi-monitor setup.
Photo: Apple
Same as above MacBook Pro 14 inch, there’s a notch carved into the top center of the screen, which houses the 1080p webcam, but it didn’t bother me. You can use a dark background to hide it and it also disappears when you have an app in full screen mode. If the notch is what allowed Apple to finally upgrade the webcam, I’m everything. It’s 1080p in the end, so I look sharper in my video calls, although I did notice Apple adding a skin-smoothing effect.
