February 7, 2025
15-inch MacBook Air hands-on: Simply what some people have been asking for

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Individuals have been asking for a 15-inch MacBook Air for about so long as the Air has existed.

The Air was initially conceived as a laptop computer that was all about excessive portability. However over time it turned the default MacBook for most individuals—and loads of customers don’t want the efficiency of a MacBook Professional however would possibly like a little bit extra desktop area or a much bigger display on which to look at streaming TV.

Apple has focused these individuals right here. I spent a couple of minutes dealing with and utilizing the 15-inch MacBook Air and—shock! It’s similar to the latest 13-inch Air however wider and taller.

The brand new laptop computer has a display decision (2,880 x 1,864 pixels) decrease than the 14-inch MacBook Professional, although it’s kind of increased than the 13-inch Air, so it’s not Apple’s sharpest show—but it surely’s sharp sufficient for most individuals.

After I picked the machine up, it felt fairly mild. You don’t count on a 15-inch laptop computer to weigh this little.

Should you’ve used the 13-inch Air, you recognize what to anticipate. There’s the enormous trackpad, the Magic Keyboard, Contact ID on stated keyboard, two Thunderbolt ports, a headphone jack, and MagSafe charging. It’s all stuff we talked about in our 13-inch MacBook Air overview final yr.

I cherished the look of the midnight end (that’s the colour within the photos), but it surely was a hilariously aggressive fingerprint magnet. Apple’s units have a repute for that to start with, however this factor attracted extra extremely seen fingerprints than some other Apple product I’ve used. For that motive, I’d personally choose one of many different finishes. It’s too dangerous, although, as a result of untarnished, it appears beautiful.

The 15-inch Air was simply as skinny as its 13-inch cousin (which Apple nonetheless sells, in fact). Actually, it appears nearly pointless for a product to be this skinny, but it surely’s onerous to complain about one thing so mild you’d barely discover it in your bag on the airport.

I wasn’t capable of run any efficiency assessments, however the brand new Air has the identical M2 chip we noticed within the smaller Air, and I used to be instructed that nothing notable has modified when it comes to thermals, so efficiency must be the identical.

We’ve written that the 13-inch Air is the perfect Mac laptop computer for many customers, since most don’t want what the Professional has to supply. I believe that assertion nonetheless stands, however for individuals who wish to sacrifice just a bit little bit of practicality for way more luxurious display actual property, that is prone to be a welcome addition to Apple’s lineup.

Search for our full overview within the coming days.

Itemizing picture by Samuel Axon