In my MacBook Air M2 review, we said it “delivers top-notch performance, over 14 hours of battery life and a bright and colorful display all in a delightfully portable design.” Yes, there’s a notch in the display and you get support for only a single external monitor, but otherwise this is one of the best laptops you can buy. I love the portability of this machine and yet it has the power to multitask, edit photos and lots more without breaking a sweat. The screen is great, too. It averaged 489 nits of brightness in our lab tests and peaked at 495 nits with HDR content. That’s slightly better than what the MacBook Pro M2 turned in (474/490 nits) in the same tests and is brighter than the Dell XPS 13 OLED’s 357-nit average. On our Handbrake video editing test, which involves transcoding a 4K video clip, the new MacBook Air M2 took 7 minutes and 52 seconds to complete the task. The previous Air M1 needed 9:15, so that’s quite an improvement. The addition of MagSafe charging is another plus, as you can now use the two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports for peripherals. If you’re on the hunt for other Apple deals, the AirPods Pro 2 are currently $50 off (opens in new tab). And be sure to check out our Black Friday deals live blog for all the big discounts coming in on laptops, TVs, headphones and more.
