In one look
Expert rating
Benefits
- Large, bright screen
- Decent speakers
- Impressive battery life
The inconvenients
- The webcam is not as good as it should be
- It still has an M2 processor
Our opinion
Until the M3 arrives, the 15-inch MacBook Air is a fantastic option for anyone who wants a larger MacBook without spending thousands on a 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Best Prices Today: Apple MacBook Air 15 Zoll (M2, 512GB SSD, 2023)
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Last summer, when I was reviewing the 13-inch MacBook Air M2, I wrote, “For most of us, the new MacBook Air M2 is all the laptop we’ll ever need. Well, it’s a year later, and Apple has given those who prefer larger laptops what they want: the same thing, only bigger.
This could be a shameless short review. It would be entirely accurate to say that this laptop is just like the 13-inch MacBook Air introduced last year, only with a bigger screen (and therefore chassis) and better speakers. That’s it! Review finished!
But seriously, if you have any idea of the 13-inch MacBook Air M2, you know what to expect here. The M2 isn’t brand new anymore, but it’s still an absolutely excellent processor for everyday computing in a thin and light laptop. The screen is bright, crisp and colorful, but lacks ProMotion or HDR. The ports are the same. Battery life is excellent. Even the price is reasonable (for Apple), starting at $1,299/£1,399. (Our review configuration has 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, which puts the price at $1,699 / £1,799.)
What is different
It’s probably better and easier to describe what’s different about the year-old 13-inch model I love so much. It’s a short list.
The screen is now 15.3 inches, down from 13.6 inches. That means a higher pixel count (2880 x 1864), but the pixel count is about the same.
It weighs 0.6 pounds more. Of course. However, it is the same thickness as the 13-inch model and does not feel much heavier because the weight is distributed over a wider body. Also, the trackpad is larger, which fits the larger screen well.
Foundry
The battery is larger at 66.5 watt hours. Our video test, in which we played a downloaded movie on a loop with the display set to 150 nits, lasted around 8% longer, for a total of almost exactly 19 hours. In practice, with the slightly brighter screen and occasional mixed use, the extra battery more or less compensates for the consumption of the larger screen. That means battery life is the same as the 13-inch model, which is a good thing.
There’s a new six-speaker audio system (the 13-inch model has a four-speaker system). That’s two pairs of force-cancelling woofers and a pair of tweeters. It certainly sounds better and impressive for such a thin laptop, but there’s still a noticeable lack of bass. This is not your new dorm sound system.
The price is higher, of course. It starts at $1,299, which seems like a $200 premium over the 13-inch MacBook Air M2 (from $1,099 after a price drop), but that’s not quite the case. The entry-level 13-inch model has a version of the M2 with an 8-core GPU, and to get the full 10-core GPU is another $100. The 15-inch MacBook Air still has the 10-core GPU, so that’s really a $100 price difference. And under the old pricing, it costs the same
What is the same
Everything else is identical to the 13-inch MacBook Air. The M2 delivers… well… M2-like performance. It’s no longer a brand-new chip, and it works pretty much the same as in the 13-inch model and the Mac mini. Small variations in performance can be attributed to slight changes in operating system versions or testing software, but you won’t notice a few percent here or there.
It’s worth noting that the 256GB SSD option on the 13-inch MacBook Air M2 offers half the storage performance like all other capacities due to its use of a single NAND chip. We weren’t able to test the 256GB option on the new 15-inch Air, but of course that’s true with the 15-inch model as well.
The display is the same. It’s just as bright (up to 500 nits), same P3 wide color, and we’re still disappointed there’s no HDR or ProMotion, at least one of which belongs to a laptop costing this much in 2023. .
The webcam, hidden behind a large notch that we can’t help but feel like a big waste of space, is the same upgraded 1080p webcam introduced last year. It’s no longer an annoyance, but not excellent. He should
Foundry
Ports are still two Thunderbolt/USB-4 on the left, along with a separate MagSafe charging port. A long headphone jack is on the right.
The keyboard is identical, with a row of full functions, no Touch Bar and a nice big Touch ID sensor. The extra space isn’t enough for a full 10-key numeric keypad, alas. The wireless features are the same: Wi-Fi 6 (not 6e) and Bluetooth 5.3.
Foundry
A nice option, but we are ready for the next generation
It’s great that Apple has a 15-inch option for the MacBook Air. Some people love big laptops, and you shouldn’t have to spend $2,499 on a 16-inch MacBook Pro to get a big Mac laptop.
We can’t blame Apple for sticking to what works with this model, despite releasing a year after the 13-inch model. It’s the same laptop, with a bigger screen. Not bad. The 13-inch MacBook Pro M2 is a great general purpose laptop for most people.
But it’s a year later, and we can’t help but be excited for more. Naturally, we’re curious to see what an M3 has to offer, but we’d make other changes. At this price, the display should exceed 60Hz or at the very least support variable refresh rates. Or, it should offer HDR. The webcam should be better. I can’t help but think the huge notch deserves a full FaceID setup behind it.
If you want a big Mac laptop, you finally have an option that won’t cost you near the price of a 16-inch MacBook Pro. This is good news. And the year-old M2 still holds its own in this thin-and-light general-purpose category. Now, what’s the next step?
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