Apple’s new M2 MacBook Air is now available for pre-order, and as we previously stated, there will probably be a rush to purchase the new laptop.
Even though pre-orders have only been available for a short while, some of the new MacBook Air models already had their ship dates pushed back to 2-3 weeks, or even farther in some cases.
Apple promised that the M2 MacBook Air would start shipping on July 15, however as of right now, you’ll have to wait 1-2 weeks in the US to get the higher-end and entry-level notebooks (with 10-core GPU) (maybe until July 29).
The base-model MacBook Air is the same whether it is silver or starlight. You will have to wait two to three weeks if you want the more expensive silver Air, though. The other models, which we haven’t mentioned, will ship on July 14, which is a day earlier than anticipated.
A RAM or storage upgrade makes things more challenging and, generally speaking, takes longer. Any of the midnight, starlight, or space grey colours that were supposed to arrive on July 14 will now ship between two and four weeks later if you add any system RAM or SSD upgrades. Additionally, updating will change this for models whose default turnaround time is 1-2 weeks back to 2-3 weeks.
The silver MacBook Air is an exception; you can upgrade the base model and the shipment date will not change, regardless of the RAM or storage you select. Intriguingly, upgrading any of those parts on the more expensive silver Air reduces the shipping wait from 2-3 weeks to 1-2 weeks. Although this is accurate as of the time of writing, it might change when more pre-orders are received. Only in this situation does upgrading shorten your wait time.
While the silver models will arrive between July 19 and July 26, the entry-level and higher-end midnight variants will now ship in the UK between August 2 and August 9. However, July 15 is still the anticipated delivery date for the remaining colours.
Upgrading the RAM or storage pushes everything back from July 25 to August 1 with the exception of the base model space grey MacBook Air, which you can do without postponing the scheduled July 15 delivery date.
The upgraded midnight models are the only other exception; from August 1 to August 8, they actually ship a day earlier. (However, if you select the higher-end 16GB/1TB midnight Air, it will ship later than the others, not until August 9 to August 16 – ouch, there’s another difference.)
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There are alternatives to Apple stores.
Before we even know if the entry-level M2 MacBook Air model with the bare minimum of storage has the same SSD design problem as the M2-equipped MacBook Pro, we made the previously mentioned educated assumption that there would be a rush for some variants.
It may come as a surprise that some models have been released so quickly, but this is not surprising given recent discussions about MacBook production issues or the delay in the upgraded MacBook Air’s availability for pre-order after it was revealed at WWDC a month ago.
All in all, if you want a MacBook Air with an M2 processor and want the laptop to arrive on schedule, placing your order for a notebook now is likely sensible. Of course, you’re not required to purchase from Apple directly, so we’ve collected a list of the top online retailers where you can place a pre-order in case you wish to get a model with a more complicated delivery schedule at a later release date.
