15-inch MacBook Air A very distinctive laptop

Distinctive 15-inch MacBook Air

After the MacBook Pro product line already had two versions, 14 inches and 16 inches, more and more consumers who pursue portability are also hoping that Apple can improve the MacBook Air product line and meet different needs through different body sizes. At this year’s WWDC23, Apple finally brought the 15-inch MacBook Air to consumers.

15-inch MacBook Air

After switching to Apple’s self-developed chips, the MacBook Air product line has also undergone changes. After nearly two years of “discontinuation” since 2020, which even made people think that the Air series was in a period of confusion, and to the launch of the M2 chip in 2022 and the addition of the 15-inch version in 2023, Apple’s various actions on the MacBook Air product line have made users realize that the current Air is more vital than ever before.

The MacBook Air series is known for its thin and light portability, and the positioning of the 15-inch MacBook Air is to expand the large-screen view as much as possible while satisfying the characteristics of portability, long battery life, and light office work.

15-inch MacBook Air

When you look down at your phone and computer or open the TV in your living room at home, you will find that in recent years, we have a higher demand for “large screens.” From the perspective of screen viewing experience, the first impression that the 15-inch MacBook Air brings is a bit like the change from “McDonald’s hamburger” to “Burger King Whopper.” It still has the taste of the familiar MacBook Air, but the size has increased significantly.

The screen resolution of the 15-inch MacBook Air is 2880×1864.

“Big screen” is a major advantage of the 15-inch MacBook Air, which also provides users with more space to work with. From watching movies in full screen to creating Keynote presentations, from multitasking to making images and videos, this big screen can better present all of this content in front of us. And don’t forget, as a leading lightweight laptop in the industry, the screen quality of the MacBook Air is also top-notch. This 15-inch screen has a resolution of 2880×1864 (224 ppi) and a brightness of 500 nits, and supports P3 wide color gamut and original material display technology. Apple’s accumulation in the display field is also reflected in this MacBook Air.

With the increase in screen size, the 15-inch MacBook Air has also undergone minor design adjustments. Firstly, the touchpad area under the keyboard is also larger and more comfortable to use. While retaining the original keyboard, the MacBook Air also has corresponding blank spaces on the left and right sides. Of course, Apple has fully utilized the internal area and added two speakers to form a new six-speaker system, enhancing the bass. In addition, this 15-inch MacBook Air still retains the original design, with its speakers located in the screen hinge area. When playing music, the sound will be reflected to the user through the screen, resulting in a fuller sound experience.

The touchpad area of ​​the 15-inch MacBook Air is larger.

Perhaps to maintain consistency with the 13-inch MacBook Air, this 15-inch version also comes in four different colors and uses the “notch” design. In fact, I really like the “Midnight” and “Starlight” colors that Apple launched in the MacBook Air product line. These two colors look younger and more energetic than the silver/deep space gray of the MacBook Pro, and are also very suitable for the positioning of “Air”. However, it should be noted that the Midnight color is a color that is quite prone to fingerprints, so if you buy this color version, you will definitely need to clean it frequently.

The 13-inch version continues with the interface. The 15-inch MacBook Air has a MagSafe charging port and two USB-C ports on the left side of the body, and a 3.5mm headphone jack that supports high-impedance headphones on the right side. This also maintains the Air series’ principle of “sufficient is good enough.”

MagSafe port and USB-C port on the left side of the body

3.5mm headphone jack on the right side of the body

The control of thickness and weight is the expertise of the MacBook Air. This time, the 15-inch version of the MacBook Air has a body thickness of only 1.15cm. By comparing it with the 16-inch MacBook Pro, one can easily see the advantage of Air in thickness. Even when the MacBook Pro is opened, the thickness of Air is basically the same as that of Pro.

The weight of the entire 15-inch MacBook Air is only 1.51kg

However, the combination of “large screen” and “lightweight” can easily weaken the body’s strength. Accidentally sitting on the computer or being squeezed by other devices in a backpack can easily cause the body to bend. Apple has also noticed this and has redesigned the internal structure and used 100% recycled aluminum alloy material for the body, which not only is environmentally friendly but also improves the durability of the product. In addition, the weight of the entire 15-inch MacBook Air is only 1.51kg, which is also considered “lightweight” among 15-inch notebooks.

At the WWDC developer conference in 2020, Apple announced that it would gradually migrate Mac from Intel processors to Apple Silicon. Now that Apple has begun to focus on the MacBook Air, it is naturally closely related to the increasingly mature self-developed chips. Even from a certain perspective, the emergence of Apple Silicon is gradually dissolving the performance experience differences between different products in the MacBook product line.

15-inch MacBook Air comes with the standard version of the M2 chip with a full-blooded 10-core GPU.

The 15-inch MacBook Air still uses Apple’s latest M2 chip, and the standard version comes with a full-blooded 10-core GPU M2, while still using a fanless design. Judging by the usage scenarios of daily document writing and drama watching, or creating short videos and graphics, the performance of the M2 chip is definitely not lagging behind. The only thing we need to consider is whether the standard 256GB storage can meet our daily needs.

When the performance is almost on the same starting line, the flexibility and portability of the MacBook Air relative to the Pro has naturally become an advantage that can cater to consumers’ pursuit of minimalist office needs. In terms of price, for the same configuration, the price difference between the 15-inch and 13-inch is only 500 yuan. In terms of screen size, it has the second largest screen size in the MacBook family, which can be said to be a product that maximizes the combination of portability and large screen.

Inside the lightweight body, the 15-inch MacBook Air inherits the 66.5Wh lithium battery, which the official website claims supports up to 15 hours of wireless internet usage. This also means that if you start using the MacBook Air without plugging it in to the power source in the morning, its battery life is sufficient to support you until you get off work and go home. When the battery is low, we can not only use the MagSafe interface to charge, but also use its USB-C interface to charge. This means that even if you forget to bring the original MagSafe charging cable, you can still have good battery life by borrowing someone else’s USB-C data cable. One detail worth noting is that the MacBook Air is also a fast-charging laptop. When using a 70W USB-C charger, it can activate more efficient fast charging.

What can be seen is that the 15-inch MacBook Air is a laptop with a very distinctive personality, aimed at users who pursue a large screen and a free experience. In fact, after the entire series was equipped with Apple Silicon, choosing a MacBook is mainly based on three dimensions: screen size, weight, and performance. Among them, the 15-inch MacBook Air is a product that focuses more on “screen” and “weight reduction” skills.

MacBook Air

The more lightweight body also makes the MacBook Air my main office computer. When I used the 13-inch MacBook Air last year, I once said, “Every day using the MacBook Air will be a free and beautiful day.” After using the 15-inch MacBook Air, I want to say that if you want to make this day more immersive, the 15-inch MacBook Air is a good choice.

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