MacBook Air 15, first reviews: display and audio at the top but M2 is already one year old

At exactly 15:00 today, June 12, it is international embargo expired on the reviews of the new MacBook Air 15. In practice, Apple has sent its new test laptop to some journalists and influencers in recent days, establishing an exact date and time for the publication of impressions of use.

MacBook Air 15, we recall, has already been available for purchase for several days both on Apple’s official website and on Amazon but deliveries are scheduled to start tomorrow, June 13thon which day it will also go on sale in Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

With a thickness of only 11.5 mmthe new MacBook Air is the thinnest 15-inch laptop on the market and is extremely light at less than 1.5 kg. MacBook Air 15 has a MagSafe port for charging, two Thunderbolt ports for connecting accessories and external monitors up to 6K, plus a 3.5mm headphone jack.Four color options: midnight, galaxy, space gray, and silver.

MacBook Air 15″ is based on the M2 processor with an 8-core CPU (four performance cores and four efficiency cores), a 10-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine. The M2 chip has a memory bandwidth of 100 GBps and supports up to 24GB of unified memory.Compared to the 13-inch model, this 15-inch version integrates a six-speaker audio system with two tweeters and two sets of force-cancelling woofers with spatial audio and Dolby Atmos support.

MacBook Air 15 has 100% recycled gold plating and 100% recycled tin solder in various circuit boards, as well as 100% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets. MacBook Air also uses 100% recycled cobalt for the MagSafe connector and 90% recycled steel for the battery bay. Finally, over 99% of the packaging is made up of fibres.

The 15-inch MacBook Air is priced from €1,649. All 15-inch models ship with a compact 35W USB-C dual-port power supply.

• 8-core CPU
• 10-core GPUs
• 8GB of unified storage (Configurable to 16GB or 24GB)
• Storage 256GB SSD (Configurable with 512GB, 1TB or 2TB drives)
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone, 2880×1864 at 224 pixels per inch
• 1080p FaceTime HD camera
• MagSafe 3 port for charging
• Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
• Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
• Force Touch trackpad
• 35W USB-C Power Adapter
• Wi‑Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3
• Six-speaker audio system with force-cancelling woofer
• Dimensions and weight: 34.04 x 23.76 x 1.15 cm for 1.51 kg

Waiting to be able to try it, we have made an overview of the reviews made by the most authoritative international newspapers, underlining the aspects that have been considered most interesting and those that have satisfied a little less. For all the battery life, the large display and the audio quality they were particularly popular. Against, lack of ports it is the least convincing aspect.

THE VERGE

According to Monica Chin of The Verge, the MacBook Air 15 fills a gap that has been present in Apple’s laptop lineup for years: a large-screen laptop offered at a more affordable price. The Pros included the large display, trackpad, keyboard, performance and exceptional battery life.

Monica Chin stayed also impressed by the speakers:

“The MacBook Air 13’s speakers are already good, the 15’s speakers are amazing. I’ve never heard bass like this on any other computer; I was so amazed when I first started playing a song with bass louder than I assumed it was coming from a Bluetooth speaker placed somewhere else”

Among the “cons”, Chin put the limited number of doors and thelack of expansion possibilities or after-sales update.

TECHCRUNCH

According to Brian Heater of TechCrunch, the 15-inch MacBook Air is the right MacBook for anyone looking primarily for a bigger screen, not portability. For that there is definitely the 13-inch model. The battery is certainly one of the main positive aspects:

In TechCrunch testing, we got around 19 hours of video playback. While the screen is larger and therefore draws more power, this is countered by a larger footprint, creating more room for the battery.

CNET

According to CNET’s Scott Stein, the aspects that most convinced him of this MacBook Air 15 are the large 15.3-inch screen, the performance offered by the M2 processor and the selling price.

“The 15.3-inch display isn’t mini-LED like the Pro models, but really, I’m fine with how good it is. Apple has kept the camera notch on the display, just like the 13-inch M2 Air. used to. Okay. Apple puts its top menu bar around the notch and makes the display feel normal. I wish the notch wasn’t as big as it is, especially since, unlike the iPhone Pros, there’s no a Face ID camera, but so be it.”

Among the cons, the few ports available despite the size and performance which are all in all the same as a 13-inch Air launched last year.

ENGADGET

Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham also rated the performance, display, great battery life, excellent sound, and “top-notch” keyboard and trackpad among the Pros.

“The 15-inch Air is essentially identical to the smaller model. Geekbench 5 scores were nearly the same as what we got when we tested both the 13-inch Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro, all with M2 processors Benchmarks aside, the 15-inch Air is every bit as capable as the smaller model we reviewed last year. My only concern is that this newest Air uses a chip that’s already about a year old.”

Ingraham among the “cons” underlined the fact that the M2 was launched last year in addition to the refresh rate of the display stopped at 60Hz

MACWORLD extension

According to MacWorld’s Jason Cross, “15-inch MacBook Air is a fantastic option for anyone who wants a bigger MacBook without spending thousands on a 16-inch MacBook Pro”. Among the Pros he put the display, the speakers and the battery. Among the cons the webcam and the “dated” processor.

MARQUES BROWNLEE

Marques Brownlee compared the 15 MacBook Air to the “entry level” version of a Tesla, always big, powerful, but cheaper and potentially the best-selling in the range. For the popular influencer, therefore, this MacBook is certainly among those that could have the greatest sales success, especially in the United States. Particularly appreciated the thickness, the display, the excellent battery life and the performance. On the other hand, the selling price was less convincing, which in any case is always high compared to competing products