Apple MacBook Air (2022) gets M2 processor upgrade and refreshed design

The MacBook Air is one of Apple's most-loved laptops, and today, it gets a refresh. It is thinner, lighter, and thankfully, features a return of the Magsafe charging connector. The fanless laptop also gets an improved 1080p webcam and a beautiful 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display (with an ugly notch).

The big upgrade, however, is the processor. You see, MacBook Air (2022) gets the second generation of Apple Silicon -- the unimaginatively named "M2." And yes, according to Apple, the M2 is a huge improvement over M1.

"M2 features a next-generation 8-core CPU with advancements in both performance and efficiency cores, along with Apple’s next-generation GPU, which now has up to 10 cores — two more than M1. M2 delivers 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and supports up to 24GB of fast unified memory, so it can handle even larger and more complex workloads with ease. Designed to dramatically speed up video workflows, M2 also adds a next-generation media engine and a powerful ProRes video engine for hardware-accelerated encode and decode, so systems with M2 will be able to play back more streams of 4K and 8K video than before," says Apple.

The iPhone-maker adds, "Built from the ground up around M2, MacBook Air has an entirely new design that is remarkably thin from every angle. It measures just 11.3 mm thin and is only 2.7 pounds, and features a durable, all-aluminum unibody enclosure that feels incredibly solid and is built to last. This thin and light design integrates its components so efficiently that it results in an astonishing 20 percent reduction in volume. With the power efficiency of M2, all of the capabilities of MacBook Air are built into a silent, fanless design. In addition to silver and space gray, MacBook Air is now available in two new finishes — midnight and starlight."

The MacBook Air (2022) powered by the all-new M2 can be purchased here now starting at $1,199. The laptop is available in your choice of four colors -- silver, starlight, space gray, and midnight. The base model comes with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB solid state drive. You can upgrade up to a 2TB SSD and up to 24GB of memory, but you will have to pay more for the privilege.