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M2 MacBook Air teardown reveals troubling news for performance

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The newly released MacBook Air featuring Apple’s latest proprietary M2 chip has the gotten teardown treatment from the Max Tech YouTube channel, revealing a basic look at the internals of the notebook and some bad news about the system’s performance.

The featured model included 256GB SSD in a single NAND storage chip. MacRumors noted this specs setup has the potential to result in a notebook that performs 30% to 50% slower in SSD benchmark tests than MacBook Air models with higher specs or older MacBook Air models with the same specs. This was also a problem with the recently launched M2 MacBook Pro.

MacBook Air motherboard, as shown by Max Tech teardown. Image used with permission by copyright holder

The video also discussed some interesting details during the teardown, such as the more elongated design, which allows for a larger and more powerful battery cell in the M2 MacBook Air. This model features a 52.6-watt hour battery, a slight upgrade from the 49.9 watt-hour battery in the M1 MacBook Air. While subtle, Eremenko noted that the new notebook has more internal volume, which allows it to hold a larger battery, which is expected to power the device for up to 18 hours at a time.

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The notebook features speakers located at the front of the paneling. They are also front-firing, which is intended to make for better audio.

Finally, the teardown mentions that the M2 MacBook Air includes an ultra-wideband chip within its motherboard. The component appears to currently not be functional; however, it has the potential to be unlocked in the future for uses, including Air Tags and lossless wireless audio.

M2 MacBook Air Teardown: Apple's SECRET Revealed (& SSD)

The M2 MacBook Air has been available for pre-order since July 8 and is now on sale in stores. Prior reports detailed that the notebook was quickly back -ordered and experienced shipment delays as late as mid-August, as soon as pre-orders opened.

Many Apple products have experienced shipping delays throughout the year; however, it is not clear whether the M2 MacBook Air shipping delays have been caused by consumer demand or by supply chain issues.

The M2 MacBook Air model, which is featured in the video, starts at $1,199.

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Fionna Agomuoh
Computing Writer
Fionna Agomuoh is a technology journalist with over a decade of experience writing about various consumer electronics topics…
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