PERFORMANCE
Compared to the M1 MacBook Air, the new M2-powered MacBook Air, according to Apple, has 18% faster CPU performance, 35% better GPU performance, and a 40% faster Neural Engine. It also has built-in engines for video decoding and encoding, which will speed up video-editing. Double-digit improvements in performance are nothing to scoff at, and although we haven’t tested the new MacBook Air yet, I think it’s safe to say at this point that it will be faster than the old model, the only question is by how much.
However, the new MacBook Air has a fanless design and this does mean it isn’t as adept at sustaining high workloads as the 13-inch MacBook Pro which has the benefit of an active cooling system. The MacBook Air will no doubt suffice for daily scenarios like emails, spreadsheets, documents, presentations, browsing the web, and watching videos, but for any sustained high workload, like video editing or editing large batches of images, you might encounter performance throttling issues. And if that’s the kind of work you do, you should consider the 13-inch MacBook Pro.