The definitive Mac of the last decade was the 13-inch MacBook Air, introduced in 2010 and featuring a wedge-shaped design. It influenced all the Apple laptops (and let’s face it, a lot of PC laptops) that came after it. Its last major update in 2018 added a Retina display and shrunk its dimensions down a bit, but it still had all the classic traits of a MacBook Air.

The new M2 MacBook Air, introduced by Apple in June and shipping this week, is Apple’s first real attempt to reimagine that classic MacBook Air design. And since 2020’s M1 MacBook Air was a dead ringer for the Intel models that preceded it, it’s also Apple’s first chance to redesign the Air for the Apple silicon era.

The result is a laptop that feels very much like the smaller cousin of Apple’s top-of-the-line laptops and not the stuck-in-the-past 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro Apple announced alongside the new MacBook Air. This is the new standard bearer, the computer that will (due to the popularity of laptops in general and the MacBook Air in particular) most likely end up being the definitive Mac of this decade.

Fortunately for all of us, it’s a very good laptop.…