15-inch MacBook Air review: Apple’s best laptop, but bigger

Best Prices Today: Apple 15-inch MacBook Air (M2, 512GB SSD, 2023)

Last summer when I reviewed the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air, I wrote, “For most of us, the new M2 MacBook Air 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 shamelessly short review. It would be entirely accurate to say this laptop is exactly like the 13-inch MacBook Air introduced last year, only with a bigger display (and thus chassis) and better speakers. That’s it! Review over!

But seriously, if you have some idea of the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air, you know what to expect here. The M2 is no longer brand new, but is still an absolutely excellent processor for everyday computing in a thin-and-light laptop. The display is bright sharp 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.)

This review originally appeared on Macworld.com.

What’s different

It’s probably best, and easiest, to describe what’s different from the year-old 13-inch model I like so much. It’s a short list.

The display is now 15.3 inches, up from 13.6 inches. That means a higher pixel count (2880 x 1864), but the pixels per inch is about the same.

It weights 0.6 pounds more. Of course. However, it has the same thickness as the 13-inch model and doesn’t feel much heavier because the weight is distributed over a larger body. Also, the trackpad is larger, which fits well with the larger display.

The battery is bigger at 66.5 watt-hours. Our video rundown test, in which we played a downloaded movie on a loop with the display set to 150 nits, lasted about 8 percent longer–a total of almost exactly 19 hours. In practice, with the display a little brighter and mixed casual use, the extra battery more or less offsets the drain from the bigger display. 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-canceling woofers and one pair of tweets. It definitely sound better, and impressive for such a thin laptop, but there’s still a distinct lack of bass. This isn’t your new dorm room party sound system.

The price is higher, of course. It starts at $1,299, which seems like a $200 price premium over the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air (now starting at $1,099 after a price cut), but that’s not quite the case. The 13-inch entry level 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 always has the 10-core GPU, so it’s really a $100 price difference. And under the old pricing, it costs the same as the comparable 13.6-inch model.

What’s the same

Everything else is just as it is on the 13-inch MacBook Air. The M2 delivers…well…M2-like performance. It’s not a brand-new chip anymore, and it performs about the same here as it does in the 13-inch model and the Mac mini. Small variations in performance can be attributed to slight changes in OS versions or testing software, but you’re not going to notice a couple of percent here or there.

It should be noted that the 256GB SSD option on the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air delivers half the storage performance as all other capacities due to its use of a single NAND chip. We were unable to test the 256GB option on the new 15-inch Air, but it stands to reason that it’s true with the 15-inch model as well.

The display looks the same. It’s just as bright (up to 500 nits), same P3 wide color, and we’re still disappointed that there’s no HDR or ProMotion, at least one of which belongs in a laptop costing this much in the year 2023.

The webcam, hiding behind a wide notch that we can’t help but feel is a big waste of space, is the same improved 1080p webcam introduced last year. It’s no longer an embarrassment, but not excellent. It should be excellent.

Ports are still two Thunderbolt/USB-4 on the left, together with a separate MagSafe charging port. A long headphone jack sits on the right.

The keyboard is identical, with a full function row, no Touch Bar, and a nice big Touch ID sensor. The extra space isn’t enough for a full 10-key number pad, alas. Wireless features are the same: Wi-Fi 6 (not 6e) and Bluetooth 5.3.

A nice option, but we’re ready for the next generation

It’s great that Apple is offering a 15-inch option for the MacBook Air. Some people just 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 fault Apple for sticking to what works with this model, despite coming out a year after the 13-inch model. It’s the same laptop, with a bigger display. That’s not bad. The 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro is a great general-purpose laptop for most people.

But it’s a year later, and we can’t help but be anxious for more. Naturally we’re curious to see what an M3 has to offer, but there are other changes we’d make. At this price, the display should go above 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 feel that 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 anywhere close to the price of a 16-inch MacBook Pro. That’s great news. And the year-old M2 still holds its own in this thin-and-light, general-use category. Now, what’s next?

Best Prices Today: Apple 15-inch MacBook Air (M2, 512GB SSD, 2023)