Why the M2 MacBook Air HAD to GO… I’ve been away for a week so lets talk about why the M2 Air had to go, the leaked redesign for Apple’s most Popular (ie cheapest) iPad, and Mark Gurman’s thoughts on the HomePod and Mini in 2023. And of course, your iCaveAnswers… Answered. The MacBook Air M2 is light, like lighter than the last MacBook Air by a decent, and at least for me, noticeable margin. It’s really slim, and actually, is almost too light to open one handed - a slight gripe I have is that trying to lift the lid one handed sometimes lifts the whole thing off the desk because of the magnetic clasp and the stiffness of the hinge - just something to be aware of but this also may loosen up a little with time. The M2 MacBook Air also has enough power for probably 95% of people’s use cases. Editing all but the most demanding of video - absolutely fine. It’s noticeably smoother in Final Cut timelines than the mains powered and substantially fan cooled M1 Mac mini that I’ve been using for over 18 months daily. It’s not a leap like Intel to M1, but anyone that understands this stuff wouldn’t have expected it to be - we’re now into similar improvements to the iPhone chips year on year in terms of speed and efficiency, and that’s okay given the huge step forward that M1 was. Apple is far clear of any competitor in this weight class, and here’s the kicker. I didn’t have to charge it all week. - Get a cable organiser bag. It’s a massive help rather than rummaging in your backpack for that one cable. We were travelling with 2 iPads, the MacBook, 2 iPhones (both 12 generation) AirPods and a couple of sets of Edifier headphones and a couple of mini USB powered medical devices for my son’s diabetes. That’s a bunch of cables. - Take wall worts that have multiple ports - Hotel rooms are notoriously short of sockets in many cases, so you may only have one that’s accessible if you still want the TV plugged in. If you don’t have one, bring a multi way power strip. - If you’re travelling by air with mutiple iPads and laptops in your group, put them all in one of your carry on bags, as they’ll all need to come out for Xray. Also empty any smaller tech, phones, wallets and belts that you have into that bag while in the check queue, better than setting off the scanners and having the more exciting pad down. Next up the iPad 10th gen - Evan Rogers Asked #icaveanswers can you discuss the iPad X leaks/rumors? What do you think the cost will be for the base 64GB and 256 WiFi models? This is a really weird rumour, though by all accounts it seems legitimate - so here’s what we’re hearing - the 10th Generation iPad is likely to keep the same front panel, or at least almost the same, keeping the touchID home button and top and bottom bezels, but with the slimmer side bezels. When you move away from that face though, it’s going to basically look like it’s cosplaying as an iPad Air or Pro - getting the flat sides and back that we’ve been seeing in recent releases. And next- HomePod - Mark Gurman is predicting not only an update, albeit not a huge one for the HomePod mini in 2023, but the return of the HomePod Nothing, with a new S8 processor and multitouch top display. I’de be delighted if these updates either added mesh networking as I’ve discussed in the past - using those HomePods as access points boosting your wifi network around the home as well as being ready to play music and acting as a HomeKit hub. It just makes sense that these devices, being spread around different rooms in the home would make a great system for covering the whole home. Mark also talks again of future products that include a combination HomePod with a camera and display for FaceTime calls - which honestly sounds to me more like an iPad with nice speakers, and an iPad on a robot arm with HomePod speakers. That sounds terrifying. Armin Dressler • 10 days ago #iCaveAnswers Rumors say, that A16 is only a minor upgrade from A15. If M3 is based on A16, a node shrink from 5 to 3 nm would make it possible to put more cores onto each die and/or run at higher clock speeds. But it would be the 3rd CPU with basically the same performance cores. Do you think M3 will have some additional tricks on its sleeve? E.g. again faster efficiency, GPU, neural engine or media cores, an additional display driver & Thunderbolt 4 support on the base M3 etc.? Andrew Giddings • 5 days ago Enjoy your vacation! We're about to head out for one ourselves. :) I may have missed you talking about this, but there has been a lot of shade thrown at the M2 MBA for being aimed at consumers and not performing sustained pro-level tasks as well as the MacBook Pro models. Do you think the M2 MBA is a worthy upgrade for the M1 MBA? #iCaveAnswers? Join the conversation http://iCaveDave.com/twitter​ http://iCaveDave.com/facebook​ http://iCaveDave.com/instagram​ http://iCaveDave.com/youtube​ http://iCaveDave.com/merch​ http://iCaveDave.com/discord​ ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owa2w3YiUFs