The 15-inch MacBook Air features the same M2 chip as the 13-inch model and the same overall laptop design. According to Apple, the battery life of both models is the same. The only hardware difference with the 15-inch model is the larger display/chassis and four 13-inch models versus six speakers. Here you will read the Apple MacBook Air 15-Inch Review with M2 ultra chip.
The price of the 15-inch MacBook Air started at $1,299, and the price of the 13-inch model started at $1,099. However, all 15-inch designs have 10-core GPUs, while entry-level 13-inch prototypes have 8-core GPUs. All 15-inch models also come with 35W dual USB-C port compact power adapters at no additional cost. But seriously, if you know something about the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air, you know what to expect here. While the M2 is no longer brand new, it is still a great processor for computing on a thin, light laptop every day.
Design of M2 Ultra Chip
With the advent of the 15″ MacBook Air, we were able to get everything we liked in MacBook Air in a larger package. At first glance, this seems obvious, but it’s very important. Display is one of the important factors in Apple MacBook Air 15-Inch Review.
At the most basic level, the dimensions are larger. The laptop is only 11.5mm (0.45″) thick and remains slim, but the footprint is larger. With a footprint of 13.4×9.35 inches and a weight of 3.3 pounds, the MacBook Air is in the realm of a desktop replacement, with a size and weight class equivalent to Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (15 inches) or LG Gram Pro 17 (2023). This means it has more screens, a larger palm rest, and a larger trackpad proportionally.
Performance and battery life
The performance of the M2 MacBook Air is hardly mentioned because it features the same fanless M2 chip as the 13-inch one. All configurations combine four large performance cores, four small efficiency cores, and ten GPU cores.
This means that for almost everything, the laptop doesn’t feel warm when you’re doing something that’s great, like browsing on Slack or Discord, chatting, or listening to music. However, the 15″ Air has a large screen, so you may want to do more serious photo and video editing work. It makes more sense because M2 has to handle all the video passthrough that happens with Vision Pro headsets, but this kind of work can be a bit warmer and a bit throttled if you do heavy work for a long time.
The 15-inch Air’s performance, power usage, and heat are all similar to the 13-inch version. Apple does not increase performance or change Air’s passive heat sink just because it is installed in a larger computer.
Shape Thin and Large
This 15″ Air has a large footprint and a normal MacBook Air thickness, making it stand out and thinner as you use it. However, this makes the display seem more surprising. It is large when placed on the knee and unfamiliar with this width of Air.
If you have a 16-inch MacBook Pro, you’ll just need to shrug your shoulders, but if you use it on your lap, it’ll feel like you’re using a big laptop. Of course, except that it is quiet because of the fanless design, it does not have heat, basically. It’s as quiet as the 13-inch version I’m using, and I like it because I don’t have to panic about ventilating the air flow or making my knees hot.
Like the 13-inch M2 Air, Apple leaves the camera notch on display. That’s OK. Apple puts the top menu bar around the notch, making the display more normal. Unlike the iPhone Pros, there is no Face ID camera, so I hope the notch is not so large, but as it is.
Air’s New 6-Speaker Sound
The larger case has more speakers than the 13-inch MacBook Air, fully using the extra space. The six-speaker arrays, which Apple calls “four-timing sound,” have incredible sound, including a mysterious woofer configuration with a pair of upward and downward-facing woofers.
For a speaker to emit sound, it must physically push out Air, but the third law of Newton’s motion applies as it is. When you apply force in one direction, the force is applied in the opposite direction. And pushed back in the same way. Apple’s up-and-down woofer configuration creates more sound and less energy by the pair of speakers canceling each other out. The result is a bigger, more daring sound from the super-large MacBook Air.
It’s a nice option, but we’re waiting for the next generation
It’s great that Apple has a 15-inch option for MacBook Air. You shouldn’t have to pay as much as $2,499 for a 16-inch MacBook Pro and get a big Mac laptop.
We can’t blame Apple for sticking to work with this model even though it was released a year after the 13-inch model. The same laptop has a larger display. That’s not bad with that. The 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro is a wonderful general-purpose laptop for most people.
But now, a year later, we can’t help but want to know more. Of course, I’m curious about what M3 offers, but there are other things I’d like to change. The display should be more than 60Hz or at least support variable refresh rates at this price. Or you should provide HDR. Webcams should be better. You can’t help but feel that the FaceID’s full setup is right behind the giant notch.
video cerdit: Marques Brownlee
Final Thoughts: Apple MacBook Air 15-Inch Review
Keep in mind that while these three shortcomings were the most pointed out, the M2-pack MacBook Air 15 was widely acclaimed. In the beginning, I didn’t mention that many reviewers were impressed by the new laptop speakers.
When I first played a low-pitched song, I was so stunned that I thought it was coming from some Bluetooth speaker. After all, the MacBook Air 15 features six new speaker setups that have been upgraded from the quad-speaker array of the M2 MacBook Air 13. PCMag’s Brian Westover also raved about MacBook Air 15’s audio, adding that it’s “amazingly loud.”
The MacBook Air 15 is available for purchase from $1,299 via the Apple official website. And comes with an M2 chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. If more storage is required, an additional $200 for configurations with 512GB storage is required. Here you have enjoyed the Apple MacBook Air 15-Inch Review but if you like to read about the Apple vision pro, you can click here.
