When the Cupertino-based tech giant announced the M2-powered MacBook Air during WWDC, Apple didn’t provide an exact availability date. Wednesday, the company finally announced when folks could start ordering the redesigned MacBook Air. Beginning Friday, July 8 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, the Apple Store will start taking orders for the laptop.
An All-New, Yet Familiar, Design for the M2-Powered MacBook Air
The new M2 MacBook Air has an all-new design, but one we’re already familiar with. It’s extremely thin and made from an all-aluminum unibody enclosure. However, the overall design aesthetic is very similar to the MacBook Pro lineup.
Apple’s latest lightweight laptop, the M2-powered MacBook Air offers a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display expanded closer to the sides and around the camera. Yes, this gives it a notch, but Apple says there’s more room for the menu bar and increased screen real estate for your app windows.
The display is 25% brighter than prior generations, at 500 nits, and supports 1 million colors for sharp, vibrant photos and movies. The MacBook Air now includes a 1080p FaceTime HD camera with low-light performance and resolution double the previous model.
Of course, it’s all powered by Apple’s newest M2 SoC with an 8-core CPU and up to 10-core GPU. Unified memory bandwidth of 100GB/s can support up to 24GB of RAM for complex workloads. Apple has also targeted the MacBook Air more towards creative professionals, boosting its ability to work in apps like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Photoshop and other such apps.
Orders and Availability, and the Ever-Present Supply Chain Worries
Orders for the new MacBook Air begin July 8 at 5 a.m. Pacific time. Shipments should begin arriving to customers worldwide on July 15, and we can probably expect availability in Apple Store locations that same day. This corresponds exactly with predictions garnered from a retail source.
The chart below outlines what time orders should open up worldwide.
Of course, what effect ongoing supply chain issues have on MacBook Air availability remains to be seen. Currently, stock of the latest M2-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro appears good, at least for base configurations. Delays of about one to three weeks can happen, but only if you choose more than the standard amount of unified memory.