APPLE MacBook Air M2 my review

 In January this year, 2023, it was suggested to me by my wife that I might like and iPad, which is not something I had considered before and didn't really think I would benefit from having.  However with that suggestion in mind I began to look at the possibility of getting one. 

Research

I began looking at the various iPads, which I thought was the generic name for them, only to discover that that this isn't the case and the generic name for them is Tablets  and there are a vast amount of them made by various companies. There is equally a vast price range as well, from what I could find out by looking at various websites,  the very cheapest for under £100 to the most expensive nearly £900! 

There are really only two main competitors in this market that come top of every list that I could find and they are Samsung, whom I am familiar with due to having a mobile telephone and Apple which I had never used and new little about apart the name. Samsung works using the Android operating system which was developed by Google amongst others and is based on the Linux Kernel. Apple has a different operating system called ISO which is  UNIX like (source of information from wikipedia) and is exclusive them and used across their hardware. 

With this information I further researched as to which was in the opinion and I stress here opinion of most of the trustworthy and perhaps most independent review sites and from my reading of them all it seemed that Apple and the iPad was the best of all of the Tablets, which seemed to make sense as with the little knowledge that I had they seemed to have been doing them the longest. 

Please note that FULL SPECIFICATIONS ARE ON THE OFFICIAL WEBSITES AND IT IS IMPORTANT TO READ THEM. THESE SITES ALSO SHOW YOU THE LATEST ITEMS AND WHAT YOU COULD EXPECT TO PAY.  

Final Choice and why I made it

Having been around various places,  I eventually went to iQ the official Apple reseller on the Isle of Man, where I was guided, not pushed into seeing the difference between the MacBook Air with the M1 chip and the M2 chip and other differences, which can been seen on the official Apple website, however it is best to see them in real life from my experience to fully understand them.  There is a price difference of £250.00 between the M1 & M2, which seems a lot and yes some might bulk at that, but for me personally I thought the additional specifications were worth it for what I would use it for, so I went for the higher priced and better (in my opinion) specifications. 

My thoughts on it

What you get in the box is just the MacBook Air and the mains contection with the lead, which is really only what you need.  

There are various colours that you can get, I think I got Space Grey, whatever that is, probably just a fancy name for a shade of grey!

I have found it really light in weight compared to my previous lap tops and also I estimate about half the depth. 

The build quality is super, it feels solid and while I would not suggest doing so, if you dropped it accidentally, I think it would probably survive without too much damage.

The keyboard while familiar in someways, it is different to the Windows keyboard. The function buttons are in the same place, but  there are control, option and command as well as a fn key as well.  The two other things that take some time to get used to is for the # it is not in the same place, it is beside the number 3 and you have to press option and 3 to use it.  Also the @ is above the number 2 so you have to press the shift key to use.  It doesn't take long to get used to do this.  While making comments about the keyboard, it is really a delight to us, the best I have ever used. 

I am not really someone who likes the touch pads,  this has changed my mind to a certain extent as it is so easy to use and very responsive.  Having said that I did use a wired USBC mouse at first until I purchased a bluetooth one which works a lot better without any lag that I can notice.

The display is super and I have no problems with the clarity of it and I have not suffered from any eye strain.  The slightly smaller (than I am used to using) screen size is more than made up by these things.

There is no noise at all as it doesn't have a fan, nor does it get overheated even after a few hours usage. It is wonderfully responsive and you can do a lot and it just copes.  I think it is the quickest that I have used. 

Final Verdict - Is it worth it

Is it worth it,  for me the answer has to be yes.  Apple have taken great care to design and have built the Mac Book Air and it really shows.  Since my purchase I have looked at other Lap Tops in this price range and while the seem to have everything but the kitchen sink in them,  I really think I would have regretted getting one.  This scores in that it does everything well, without having all the extras, which most of us will never use.  It scores very highly on the portability as well with it being so light. 

Okay slight niggles, but then realistically technical development has moved on in that it doesn't have card reader port for me to use from my camera, but then perhaps I can transfer my pictures from it wirelessly or through bluetooth, I have not tried that yet.  There is always a workaround.

Honestly this is the best laptop I have ever used and I really love it.

I have not included the Operating System in this review, because since I got it, it was updated and I want to do a review on that verses Windows 11.

My review of How Psychology Works, Consultant Editor Jo, Hemmings

I am always honest with my reviews, which I have learnt is sometimes upsetting to the author. I have a responsibility not to the author who may have written a book, but to the potential readers of that book who may come across it. Okay, being differently abled to others, I am told I come across quite harsh and should perhaps be kinder to the author, but honestly some of the authors would be better using their time to repair the pot holes in the roads rather trying to write. 

 First I must declare an interest, that being that I have followed Jo Hemmings on twitter for some time now and therefore she is my twitter friend.  That is how I came to learn about this book, How Psychology Works,  for which she is the Consultant Editor.  Having said that I follow Jo, in all honesty I didn't really know what she did, I knew the label, but not much more and I really doubt that most people will actually know beyond the label. 

So, let's start with the cover of the book, yes I know you are not meant to judge a book by the cover, or so we are told, but most of us do so anyway! This cover is simple, just a head, but inside the head are, forgive the pun, headlines of what the book is about, a teaser of the treats it holds.  Now most books I have seen on the subject of Psychology, well their cover turns you off them right away and you know that they are going to be boring and so if you're at all like me, you'll leave it on the shelf and get another book.  I will make a bold statement here and say you won't with this one and if I had seen it in the book shop I wouldn't have done and while I ordered it at the same time as 3 others it was so inviting that it was the first one I turned to to read. 

I really could go into great depth about the wonders of this book and here wonders is the correct word, because I found that there was something new to learn on every page and the number of times I went Oh that makes sense, or I didn't know that, or that is why, you get the idea.  The illustrations and the writing are perfectly matched no matter where you go to and you don't have to start at the beginning and work through to the end, you probably won't want to do so any way as you might find a section that you're more interested in and go to that first.  This is the great thing about this book, you don't have to follow the order that it has been written in. 

I have already learnt so much from reading it, for example I have used terms that while in general use I didn't really know the full meaning of and another example was quite surprising to me was how retailers of all kinds use psychology to get us to buy things.  I had always thought that psychology was just about the mind and mental illness, not about emotions, reading the opening pages I quickly learnt how wrong I was about that.  

I am trying to think of any reason why I don't like this book and the truth is I can't find a negative thing to say it is that good.  I have been further trying to narrow it down as to who the readership of the book would be, who it is primarily aimed at,  I have had to conclude, that I can't do that as I think everyone would enjoy reading it.  If you are a student, teacher, parent, guardian,  I don't think there is an age range or profession that would get not find something of interest and benefit from having it in their library, not that it will remain there as many other books often do, because you'll find as I have done reaching out for it to discover something new!  

To conclude my review of this book: It is the most accessible, readable book on psychology that I have ever read and I have read a few in my years of trying to understand myself and events in my life and get clarity of them.  If I were starting that journey right now and for those who are, or those who just want to know, this is the book I would want to read and I would recommend reading first.  As much as I hate to use the term must have, this really is a must have book!  To the publisher, the contributors and the Consultant Editor Jo, thank you for a great book and I've nowt more  to say now apart from to the people who might read this, BUY IT.