It ’s been a recollective time coming , but Apple last has a 15 - in variation of the classic MacBook Air . I say a long clock time because I recall covering hearsay of a 15 - inch air travel more than 10 geezerhood ago . This time around , however , the rumors were right – at its annual WWDC outcome in June , the 15 - inch Air debuted alongside theApple Vision Pro headset .
Apple MacBook Air , 15 - inch
Apple ’s newest MacBook Air adds a 15 - inch silver screen , but keep the same M2 fleck as the 13 - inch version .
Photo: Dan Ackerman
WHAT IS IT ?
A braggy brother to the classic 13 - in MacBook Air
PRICE
Photo: Dan Ackerman
$ 1,299
care
A bigger screen in a lightweight , rugged mainstream laptop computer .
Photo: Dan Ackerman
disfavour
special ports for a 15 - inch laptop .
Of those two , the 15 - inch Air is distinctly the more hardheaded and more low-cost . In fact , out of all the production Apple announce at WWDC , the $ 1,299 15 - column inch MacBook Air 15was the least expensive . And its practicality comes from being a near - exact dead ringer of the excellent13 - inch Macbook Air , just slightly embiggened .
Photo: Dan Ackerman
There are a very diminished smattering of difference between the two versions . The 15 - inch is 3.3 lb , vs. 2.7 pound for the 13 - inch , but the giving footprint still makes it palpate very light for its size . The screen firmness jumps slightly , from 2,560×1,664 to 2,880×1,864 , and the audio system has four speaker total instead of just two .
Other than that , it ’s mostly identical to the 13 - inch Air , with two USB - cytosine ports and a MagSafe connection on the left side , an audio manual laborer on the right . Both 13 - inch and 15 - column inch models have the iPhone - inspired nick on the top edge of the display to oblige the full HD webcam . Both size also come in the same Starlight , Midnight , Space Gray , and facile color options . I ’m try the Starlight version but I prefer the bolder , darker Midnight color overall .
Screen size: Bigger is better, mostly
Taking the near - perfect portability of the 13 - column inch MacBook Air and making its covert somewhat bigger may seem like a minor upgrade . Why would anyone need that ? I pick the shift to hybrid and work - from - home jobs . While the 13 - inch laptop in your home office may be fine for passing use or as a work computer when hooked up to an external monitor , it ’s a little pocket-size for using as your all - day , everyday productivity machine .
Especially if you get into glassful , or , like me , you fall apart progressive lens and still need to encounter the zoom on your Google Docs up to 125 % or even 150 % , the bigger screen on the newfangled Air is rattling . In the preceding few years , I ’ve subbedthe 15 - column inch Airfor my usual 13 – inch machine . Since doing so , I have totally ignored the larger monitor that I occasionally plug the 13 - inch into on my desk . The Retina screen is n’t an OLED or mini lead panel , but it ’s still brilliant and clear — equally capable at both spreadsheet viewing and streaming TV binges .
The keyboard , always a MacBook high spot ( at least since the end of the butterfly stroke keyboard epoch ) , is the same size and functionality as the 13 - column inch Air , just with more dead place on the odd and right edges . But the touchpad is great , similar to the I on the current bigger MacBook Pro poser .
One of the only room in which the bountiful size of it suffers from its ringer - like nature is that pairing the two USB - vitamin C / Thunderbolt interface on a single side , along with the MagSafe connexion , mean the laptop computer can only be plug in on its left side , either to mightiness or to accessories . For a enceinte laptop torso like this , that can be inconvenient and lead to some uneasy cable routing .
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Different size, same performance
In my initial hands - on testing , I ran a few benchmarks on this motorcar and last year ’s M2 13 - column inch MacBook Air . The two systems scored almost identically in apps like GeekBench , Cinebench and 3DMark .
For everyday use , mid - horizontal surface Photoshopping and even diddle game , the M2 chip in the current MacBook Air models is more than powerful enough . I ’ve also done plenty of lite picture editing on both M1 and M2 system .
The more modern chipping , the M2 Pro and the M2 Max , are only found in much more expensive mack , include the Mac Studio and Mac Pro desktop and the 14 - inch and 16 - in MacBook Pro laptops . And while the larger screens in the MacBook Pro model are nifty , starting at $ 2,000 for the 14 - inch and $ 2,500 for the 16 - in , that ’s a heavy investment if you ’re just looking for more sieve real estate .
Of of course , with a enceinte screen like the new Air ’s , you should essay some games ( although yourMac gambling optionsare … modified ) . Resident Evil Village and No Man ’s Sky are some good examples of ( comparatively ) recent , high - final stage games that run well on M2 Macs . And with a bigger blind , the 15 - column inch Machas a great screen for cloud gaming , using services like GeForce Now from Nvidia . Many of my favorite gambling laptop are 15 - inch role model these days . The screen sizing works well without the overall contour factor becoming overbearing ; that is to say , it ’s still easy portable .
If you ’re a dedicated MacBook possessor with a relatively late M1 or M2 13 - in MacBook Air , it is a tough to justify the 15 - inch as an extra purchase . But if you ’re replace or trading in an sure-enough Air or even an old MacBook Pro , like an outdated Intel framework , thenthe 15 - column inch Airwould be my option for a laptop that stays in the same place most mean solar day . For frequent or daily travel , the13 - column inch Airis still my top selection , even if that means I still have to demote up the zoom level on my docs .
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