Apple this month introduced the 15-inch MacBook Air, the world’s best 15-inch laptop. With an expansive 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display, the incredible performance of M2, up to 18 hours of battery life, and a silent, fanless design, the new MacBook Air brings power and portability — all in the world’s thinnest 15-inch laptop.
With an all-new six-speaker sound system, the 15-inch MacBook Air delivers immersive Spatial Audio, along with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, MagSafe charging, and the power and ease of macOS Ventura for an unrivaled experience. the 15-inch MacBook Air is now available for order.
The MacBook Air has come in 11-inch and 13-inch versions in the past, but this is the first time it’s had a 15-inch screen, which is the most popular laptop size. It could seriously boost Mac sales…
[T]he 15-inch MacBook Air hits the sweet spot for most people in terms of price, capability, and portability.
It’s probably the best laptop for most people if you like the MacOS operating system and plan to use it for everyday tasks like writing documents and spreadsheets, going to school, or using the internet…
Meanwhile, the 13-inch MacBook Air got a price cut to $1,099, which makes it a good deal for people who don’t care about the larger screen, or people who plan to primarily use it while plugged into a monitor. However, I don’t think the smaller laptop is significantly more portable — they’re both light enough to stick in your bag and forget about.
All in all, the 15-inch MacBook Air is one of the first laptops from Apple since the M-series transition to be priced aggressively, and represents a great option for people who want a daily use laptop.
MacDailyNews Take: While our favorite road Mac, perhaps ever, is the 11-inch MacBook Air, the 15-inch MacBook Air, weighing just 3.3 pounds (1.51 kg), is calling our names as we debate moving back to Mac desktops for our desktops and MacBooks for the road. (Right now, we’re still using 16-inch MacBook Pro units everywhere which are just a bit big and heavy for the road, especially compared to the 2.38-pound (1.08 kg) 11-inch MBA units we used to carry.)
TGIF! Intern’s light that candle! Prost, everyone! 🍻🍻🍻
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Apple is missing a trick by not allowing users to easily upgrade RAM, Storage and replace Battery. Buy it and live with it is not an option for most of the users unless there are specific tasks that can be done only with a Mac book and cannot be accomplished on and Windows or a Linux machine, and there are none. 8GB storage and 256 GB storage on an entry level system in 2023 is surprising. and every step upgrade is prohibitory for most of us.
I respectfully disagree with Nishanth.
First, is the uncontroversial fact that only a very tiny percentage of laptop purchasers ever upgrade the innards of their computer. And this is especially true for the type of user that purchases a MacBook Air. Generally, these computers are purchased for low processing demand use cases such as word processing and email applications, etc. In any case I would not consider it wise to choose a computer’s specs based on what you require for the next two weeks. Better to configure a computer based on at least three years of expected use.
Secondly, were Apple to design the Air with sockets for standard RAM sticks, and replaceable SSDs, the resulting computer would destroy much of the very reason people buy the Air. The resulting computer would necessarily be thicker, heavier, hotter, and slower.
Then there is the subject of motive. I find it hard to believe that Apple is designing their current generation computers with the objective of preventing users from being able to buy their own memory and storage. The reality is less mendacious. ICs have evolved to the point where memory and other components that used to require a long trip out to the ends of the PCB (printed circuit board) and then all the way back, now are placed just microns or millimeters from the CPU. This results in dramatically improved performance and dramatically less heat. The price of this highly integrated design is that the configuration must be set prior to manufacture, as the components are tightly integrated, and microscopic.
I suggest that if a purchaser is obsessed with the need to fiddle with computer guts, they would be better to opt for a tower style computer where they can fiddle, elbow deep, to their heart’s content.