Review: Apple’s MacBook Air 15-inch is the Mac you’ve been waiting for
Apple (AAPL) has finally released a 15-inch version of its MacBook Air. That means you can now pick up a MacBook with enough screen real estate to comfortably get you through your workday or stream some movies while lying back on the couch.
The MacBook Air 15-inch packs oodles of performance (care of Apple’s M2 chip), a wonderful keyboard, and plenty of battery life into a portable package that won’t leave you with a backache after carrying it around all day.
With a starting price of $1,299, it’s not exactly a budget notebook. But considering the base MacBook Air 13-inch with Apple’s M2 starts at $1,099, and the base MacBook Air 13-inch with an older M1 chip starts at $999, the 15-inch Air isn’t too far off the mark.
Should you buy it? If you’re in need of a solid laptop that will easily last throughout the day and not let you down in the power department, then this is an easy sell.
What it’s like to use the MacBook Air 15-inch
Apple offers the MacBook Air 15-inch in four colors: Midnight, Starlight, Space Grey, and Silver. I got to use the Midnight version of the Air, and while I’m a fan of the hue, it’s worth pointing out that it does pick up fingerprints rather easily. Despite its large screen, Apple says the 15-inch Air is the world’s thinnest 15-inch laptop. And at 3.3 pounds, it’s also rather lightweight.
If you’re a video or photo editor and want to plug a media card into the Air, though, you’ll need a separate adapter. That’s because Apple has only given the 15-inch laptop two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack. There’s also a MagSafe power port, so you don’t have to worry about your charger taking up one of the Thunderbolt ports, but with a laptop of this size, I’d have liked to see an extra port or two.
The Air’s backlit Magic Keyboard is absolutely fantastic for tapping out articles, like this one, which I’m writing on the laptop, while its Force Touch trackpad is smooth and accurate. There’s also a Touch ID sensor built into the power button for secure login and Apple Pay.
As for the screen, Apple equipped the MacBook Air 15-inch with its Liquid Retina display, which offers exceptional color and clarity. A notch at the top of the panel houses the laptop’s 1080p FaceTime camera.
Inside, the MacBook Air 15-inch gets Apple’s M2 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. RAM can be upgraded to 16GB or 24GB, while storage can be topped out at 2TB. Of course those upgrades are going to raise the price, to $2,499.
As far as overall performance, Apple says the 15-inch Air is twice as fast as the leading 15-inch PC running one of Intel’s (INTC) Core i7 chips. In my experience, I found the Air incredibly responsive. At no point did I notice slowdown during my time with the Air.
The Air isn’t built for video editing like the MacBook Pro, and while you can play some games, it’s not going to blow away a Windows-powered gaming PC. But if you’re using the Air for common everyday tasks, you’ll have plenty of processing performance.
Battery life? It’s excellent. I used the Air on its battery all day at the office with a secondary monitor plugged in and had plenty of juice left to get through the next morning. In other words, Apple’s claims that this is a long-lasting laptop aren’t exaggerated.
Should you get it?
The MacBook Air 15-inch is lightweight and slim but packs a large enough screen for getting your work done. The price, well, that’s a little high for my liking. You can get other premium laptops for a few hundred dollars less.
But MacBook Air 15-inch’s quality and performance are undeniable. My wife and I are buying one soon.
Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.
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