Apple introduced its new MacBook Air powered by the new M2 CPU at WWDC 2022 in June. And now, iFixit has performed and published its deconstruction of the laptop, revealing the internals and changes made by Apple with this version.
The new MacBook Air M2 notebook has an overhauled design, and Apple has made full use of every available inch of space inside the gadget. The inside X-Ray picture reveals
The laptop’s battery was rated at 52.6Wh, which is slightly greater than the 49.9Wh battery in the 2020 M1-based MacBook Air. The four cells are secured in place by a metal tray with repair-friendly screws and stretch-release glue.
The connection that connects the display screen has greater slack, making repairs easier. Every port on the laptop is modular and not glued down, including the headphone jack, MagSafe charger, and both USB-C ports. This should make replacement easier in the event that the ports fail. There’s also a 4-speaker layout that requires a lot more effort to repair due to the increased number of screws. Memory and storage are likewise not user replaceable, as expected.
Apple MacBook Air M2 contains an M2 64-bit octa-core applications processor with GPU, SK Hynix’s H58G56AK6HX052 4 GB LPDDR5 SDRAM memory, SK Hynix HN3T1BA4GAX170 256 GB NAND flash memory, Texas Instruments CD3217B13 USB Type-C controller with power delivery, and much more.
The hitch is that the new 256GB M2 MacBook Air features a single 256GB NAND memory chip rather than two 128GB chips. As a result, the 256GB NAND flash chip performs 30 to 50% slower in SSD benchmark testing than the previous generation’s two 128GB chips, despite Apple’s assertion that real-world performance is “faster.” Also, iFixit has discovered no heat spreader on the M2 MacBook Air, and the site is unclear about Apple’s passive cooling strategy.
Check out iFixit’s teardown video of the MacBook Air (M2) for a deeper look here.