Review of MacBook Air 15 inch: Among the thinnest and lightest 15-inch laptops, powered by the robust Apple M2 chip.

At the WWDC 2023 event held in the early hours of June 06 (Vietnam time), Apple officially unveiled the MacBook Air 15 inch with a larger screen and powerful performance provided by the Apple M2 chip. So what's new with the MacBook Air 15 inch? How does the MacBook Air 15 inch perform? How long does the MacBook Air 15 inch battery last? How much does the MacBook Air 15 inch cost? Let's dive into the review of the MacBook Air 15 inch to learn more about this laptop!

Note: This article references content and images from the technology review sites PCMag and CNET.

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Apple is developing a super-powerful MacBook Air 15 inch with the M3 chip.

MacBook Air 15 inch - one of the thinnest and lightest 15-inch laptops in the world

Overall, the appearance of the MacBook Air 15 inch is not significantly different from the MacBook Air M2 2022 model with its sleek design and solid metal body. Moreover, the MacBook Air 15 inch is one of the thinnest and lightest 15-inch laptops currently available, with a thickness of only 11.5 mm and a weight of 1.49 kg. Therefore, users can conveniently carry the machine in a backpack or large bag and work anywhere they want.

Additionally, the finishing quality of the MacBook Air 15 inch is well-rated by the author of the article on PCMag. When the author holds or presses down on the device's body, the MacBook Air 15 inch does not feel flimsy, but when opening the machine by lifting the corner, there is still a slight flex. However, this does not greatly affect the experience, especially during use. It is recommended to open the machine only from the center of the screen edge to avoid unfortunate damage.

Although it has larger dimensions compared to the MacBook Air M2 2022, the MacBook Air 15 inch still limits connectivity ports. Specifically, on the left side of the device, there are only 2 USB-C ports supporting Thunderbolt 4 and 1 Magsafe port, while on the right side of the machine, there is only 1 standard 3.5 mm audio port. Therefore, to expand the connectivity capabilities of the MacBook Air 15 inch, users still need to rely on the assistance of dedicated USB hubs.

Opening it up, the MacBook Air 15 inch still uses a 75% keyboard layout similar to the MacBook Air M2 2022, and according to the author's sharing, the typing experience on the MacBook Air model is not much different from the 13-inch version, still providing a comfortable, quiet feel and good key bounce. Of course, the keyboard of the MacBook Air 15 inch is still equipped with backlighting for users to use well in low-light environments.

At the same time, the TouchPad of the MacBook Air 15 inch is still made with a large size, providing users with a large space to freely move the mouse, not only that but also providing a very comfortable swiping feeling.

MacBook Air 15 inch offers a large screen for immersive experience

In terms of display capabilities, the MacBook Air 15 inch is equipped with a Liquid Retina display with a size of 15.3 inches, a resolution of 2,880 x 1,864 pixels, combined with Wide Color technology using the DCI-P3 color gamut, resulting in sharp images and true-to-life colors. Additionally, the MacBook Air 15 inch's display uses an IPS panel, so the screen brightness can reach up to 500 nits (as announced by Apple), combined with True Tone technology that can automatically adjust the brightness level depending on the working environment, helping to minimize eye strain for users when using the machine for extended periods.

According to the reviewer's tests on PCMag, the Liquid Retina display of the MacBook Air 15 inch actually only emits light at a level of 410 nits when manually adjusted to the maximum, accompanied by a DCI-P3 color coverage of 99%. Therefore, the MacBook Air 15 inch will still perform well for daily office use or graphic-intensive tasks that require color accuracy.

Moreover, in the middle of the top edge of the MacBook Air 15 inch screen, there is a notch resembling a rabbit's ear, which has become familiar to iPhone and MacBook Pro users in recent years. This area houses the 1080p FaceTime webcam, and initially, the notch may cause some discomfort because it occupies a small part of the screen. However, Apple has utilized the remaining screen corner for the macOS menu bar, ensuring consistency in the device's user interface.

MacBook Air 15 inch boasts powerful performance with the Apple M2 chip

Let's quickly go through some of the specifications of the MacBook Air 15 inch!

• Display: 15.3-inch size, Liquid Retina Display panel, 2,880 x 1,864 pixels resolution, 500 nits brightness, True Tone support.
• CPU: Apple M2.
• GPU: 10 cores.
• RAM: 16 GB (highest RAM version 24 GB).
• SSD: 512 GB (highest SSD version 2 TB).
• Webcam: 1080p resolution.
• Battery: 18 hours (as announced by Apple).
• Operating System: macOS 14 Sonoma.

See more: All About Apple M Series: Apple's most powerful and sophisticated chip series

In terms of performance, the MacBook Air 15 inch is equipped with the Apple M2 - a SoC processor with a similar structure to its predecessor, the Apple M1, but with 18% higher operational performance and 1.9 times faster than other laptops with 10-core processors. Therefore, the MacBook Air 15 inch can easily handle all tasks from studying, working, to graphic design and deep technical tasks. Additionally, according to Apple's announcement, the power of the MacBook Air 15 inch surpasses that of MacBook Air models using Intel processors by 12 times.

Additionally, Apple provides the MacBook Air 15 inch with 16 GB of RAM (other optional versions include 8 GB and 24 GB), which is a large RAM capacity allowing the machine to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and even graphic-related tasks. Furthermore, the MacBook Air 15 inch also features up to 512 GB of SSD storage (other optional versions include 256 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB), providing users with ample storage for work or entertainment data.

To better understand the performance of the Apple M2 chip on the MacBook Air 15 inch, the reviewer at the technology news site PCMag used specialized benchmarking software such as GeekBench 5.4.1 Pro, Cinebench R23, and video rendering with HandBrake 1.4 to perform some tests. The results were very good, and you can refer to them below:

- GeekBench 5.4.1 Pro: 8,892 points (multi-core performance).

- Cinebench R23: 8,310 points (multi-core performance).

- HandBrake 1.4: 7 minutes 29 seconds (rendering 1080p video from original 4K resolution).

For the graphics performance of the MacBook Air 15 inch, the author used 3DMark Wild Life Extreme and GFXBench 5.0 Aztec Ruins software to conduct tests. You can refer to the results below:

- 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 6,856 points.

- GFXBench 5.0 Aztec Ruins: 108 points.

Overall, compared to the MacBook Air 13 inch M2 model, the 15-inch version doesn't have much difference in terms of performance. Of course, there are some differences due to the specific responsiveness of macOS 14 Sonoma for each test software. Therefore, users can fully trust the pure performance of the MacBook Air 15 inch when using the machine for work and entertainment tasks in real-world conditions.

MacBook Air 15 inch boasts a robust battery lasting nearly 19 hours of continuous video playback

In addition to the powerful performance provided by the Apple M2 'homegrown' processor, the MacBook Air 15 inch is equipped with a large battery that Apple has announced can provide the device with the ability to operate continuously for approximately 18 hours. Of course, that number is the result achieved under ideal laboratory conditions, so I think you'll be curious about how long the MacBook Air 15 inch can actually last, right?

According to the author of the article on PCMag, when he used the MacBook Air 15 inch to play pre-stored 720p videos with the screen brightness set at 50%, volume at 100%, keyboard backlight and Wi-Fi turned off, it took about 18 hours and 52 minutes for the MacBook Air 15 inch's fully charged battery to be 'drained'.

Overall, the author's test results have demonstrated that the responsiveness of the MacBook Air 15 inch surpasses what Apple has announced and is perfectly suited for simple office tasks. However, for tasks such as photo or video editing, or heavy graphic work, it may consume much more battery, so users still need to use the charger to optimize performance and battery life for the device.

How much does the MacBook Air 15 inch cost? Is it worth owning?

According to Apple's announcement, the starting price of the MacBook Air 15 inch is $1,299 (about 30.5 million VND) for the lowest configuration version (8 GB RAM/256 GB SSD), higher than the $1,099 of the MacBook Air M2 2022 version. This is a relatively good price for a MacBook model that is not only slim and lightweight but also has powerful performance and a large screen size.

What are your thoughts on the MacBook Air 15 inch? Leave your comments below the article for everyone to know! Thank you for taking the time to read my article.

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