Hands-On: Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air Merges Power, Portability, and a Big Screen

Not only did Apple unveil a futuristic headset or a slew of new software, but it also dropped its largest MacBook Air yet. A new 15-inch size replaces the redesigned 13-inch MacBook Air experience with a more spacious display, bolder sound, and longer battery life.

It is up to order with Price starting at $1,299 It will start shipping on June 13, less than a week away. Indeed, Amazon (AMZN) – Get a free reportIt is already discounting the entry level configuration in Midnight or Starlight by $50 to $1,249. It also comes in silver or space gray, with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

I also had the opportunity to spend some time with The latest MacBook Air from Apple And I share my thoughts on why this large-screen laptop is the best for travel.

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It’s a bigger MacBook Air

apples 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 Weighs 3.3 pounds.

Jacob Kroll/The Street

First things first, let’s talk about size. The 15-inch MacBook Air comes in at 11.5mm thick, which Apple says is the thinnest 15-inch laptop ever, and weighs 3.3 pounds. That’s pretty thin, and like the redesigned 13-inch device, it gives up a lot Wedge design that MacBook Air Known for its flat, slim design all around.

It looked really nice in person, and I love that Starlight provides a little sparkle because it mixes silver and gold. The weight is most noticeable on the 13-inch MacBook Air, as it’s about 0.75 pounds heavier and will likely take some time to adjust to for those upgrading. This is much lighter than 14 in or 16-inch MacBook Proalthoug.

It was comfortable to hold in two hands, and it’s well-balanced for use as a laptop. I wouldn’t worry about portability, considering many backpacks can handle a laptop this size. It’s lighter than competing Windows laptops from Dell or Lenovo.

Related: 13-inch MacBook Air with M2 Revision

Jacob Kroll/The Street

The increased area is still made of aluminum, and once you open it up, you’ll see the star of the MacBook Air. that it 15.3 inch Liquid Retina displaywhich has a brightness of up to 500 nits and a resolution of 2880 x 1864.

In some brief tests of the indie game Stray, which will be released on the Mac, it handled motion well and allowed colors to pop on more starkly contrasted visuals. Likewise, exploring images in Photos or editing this Photomator was very nice.

The larger 15.3-inch screen provides much more space on a 13-inch screen to navigate multiple apps and even split the screen between two apps. The 500 nits brightness made the visuals much visible in the brightly lit demo space, too. This should make the laptop suitable for work in a range of conditions.

Like the 13-inch MacBook Air with M215″ with a slit at the top. Love it or hate it, you’ll need to live with it if you want a modern laptop. It doesn’t extend below the top bar and holds a 1080pHD FaceTime camera. Fortunately, the rest of the bezels around the screen come in at just 5mm.

In terms of typing, in a very brief typing test I found the keys to offer plenty of travel and easily accessible keycaps. Moreover, it is the same size as the keyboard in the 13-inch screen; The real upgrade is a larger trackpad underneath that allows you to navigate better on the larger screen.

surrounds The 15-inch MacBook Air keyboard is larger speaker grilles, which houses a six-speaker system that supports spatial audio. Because of the sheer volume of noise, I wasn’t able to test it in practical space, but Apple says it should be a meaningful improvement with louder bass from its power-cancelling speakers than it does from 13-inch speakers.

Related: Review of the 14-inch MacBook Pro

Since it’s a MacBook Air, Apple (AAPL) – Get a free reportContinuing the trend of not including a fan or any active cooling, and that’s fine, Apple’s M2 chip works great. In our testing of the Air and the redesigned 13-inch MacBook Pro, it powered through just about any task, be it productivity or a more intense creative task.

the The 15-inch MacBook Air It features the slightly upgraded M2 with 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, which is equivalent to 2 GPU cores more than 13 inches. This 15-inch should better handle games, photo editing, and movie editing. With more games being released for the Mac, the 15-inch should be just about right to handle it.

Jacob Kroll/The Street

In terms of battery life, the 15-inch has a physically larger battery than the 13-inch due to its size, and Apple says that should equate to 18 hours of use. Given the efficiency of the M2 chip, this new MacBook Air should easily last more than a day of use and several days on standby. Like the 13 inchesThe 15-inch features a MagSafe port, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a headphone jack.

Is the 15-inch MacBook Air Right for You?

All that power and immersion comes, thanks to the large screen, in an ultra-portable laptop that can easily fit on a tray table in an airplane or office or on your lap while on the train or car commute. And that’s really what it is The 15-inch MacBook Air Needs to be beaten – Power and portable to offer a bigger screen in a design that can go anywhere.

The 15-inch MacBook Air should be just as fast with macOS and any task you throw at it as the 13-inch Air; It just depends on what screen size you want. It’s also worth noting that Apple has dropped the official MSRP for MacBook Air 13-inch with M2 by $100 to just $1099so now there are more MacBook Airs to consider:

It ultimately comes down to screen size, but those craving a MacBook with a larger screen and lighter weight now have a perfect choice. Moreover, anyone who wants a larger Apple laptop that costs less than $1,999 now has a decent alternative with MacBook Air for $1,299.

The latest version from Apple Your 15-inch MacBook is ready to order It will begin shipping on June 13, 2023. I will be back with a full review of the latest Apple laptop as soon as I can.

Prices are accurate and items in stock at time of publication.

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