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I’m currently travelling back from Berlin as part of a press trip. On my return home, I’ll be welcomed by not only my lovely family but also a brand-spanking-new 15-inch MacBook Air.
Like a lot of people, this is the laptop I didn’t know I needed (or wanted) until now.
At least, I think I need it. You see, I do have a couple of concerns about the 15-inch MacBook Air, and the exact spec I’ve ordered.
Let’s try and work this out together.
Who is the 15-inch MacBook Air for?
Apple hasn’t offered an affordable big-screen MacBook… well, ever. Up until now, if you wanted anything bigger than 14 inches, you’d have to go for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which is expensive and overkill for all but the most demanding of creative users.
This is, with hindsight, why the introduction of a 15-inch MacBook Air makes a tonne of sense. It removes the need to head into MacBook Pro territory if you want a bigger display, and Apple has nailed the pricing. I think they’re going to sell a boatload of these things.
This is still an expensive laptop, but in MacBook Land, it sits sensibly within the current pricing tiers. Starting at £1,399/$1,299, the 15-inch MacBook Air still demands a fairly significant budget but is far shy of the asking price for a base model 16-inch MacBook Pro.
But who is it for, exactly? Well, as it turns out, research suggests that 15 inches is the most popular laptop size. Clearly, there is a significant demand for large-screened laptops, and not just from those who use such machines for creative work.
The same person who buys a large smartphone (which is, let’s be honest, most smartphones these days) will likely opt for a nice big laptop display, too. Equally, as lovely as the 13-inch MacBook Air has always been, it can often feel cramped when working with two or more apps. It’s more convenient in certain coffee shops and on the tiny plane trays most of us have to use, but the trade-off in screen estate can be a bit too much for some.
So, the big question is whether or not the 15-inch MacBook Air is for me.
My use case
My main workhorse for production duties is my beast of an M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro. It will, one day, make way for the M3 14-inch MacBook Pro, simply because I’ve grown tired of its size and weight while travelling.
I will miss that display, though. If there’s one thing I love about the 16-inch MacBook Pro, it’s the wealth of screen estate on offer. This doesn’t just benefit video editing, either – it’s incredibly useful for content planning, publishing, writing, and anything else where I need to reference several apps and windows at once.
This is where, I think, the 15-inch MacBook Air will shine. I still have no plans to undertake video editing on it, but it will be my main companion for virtually every other scenario – including the increasing work I’m undertaking while out on the road this year.
I’m fully aware that there isn’t a massive (excuse the pun) size difference between the 15-inch MacBook Air and the 16-inch MacBook Pro, but I’m fascinated to see how this manifests itself. Will it feel as unwieldy as the big boy MacBook Pro? Will the weight difference of 1.4 pounds (in the Air’s favour) and a more slender frame make it less troublesome in my backpack?
Well, I’m nothing if not thorough with my testing, which is why the first big task for the 15-inch MacBook Air will be to accompany me on a week-long trip to New York City next week. I can’t think of a better test for its portability and practicality.
My spec worry
True to form, my 15-inch MacBook Air is the base spec model containing an M2 chip with an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB of unified memory, and a 256GB SSD.
Those in the know will be aware that I’ve chosen – again – the ‘crippled’ version of the M2 MacBook Air. With only one NAND chip for its storage, performance is, in certain scenarios, slower than its M1 predecessor. To rid yourself of this potential issue, you have no choice but to opt for the 1TB version (the 512GB edition is also single-NAND).
My 13-inch M2 MacBook Air let me down, big time, in London last year when I asked it to undertake some relatively simple 4K video editing. I had to give up and vowed to never use that machine again for such work. Despite this, it has never put a foot wrong elsewhere and remains as reliable and fast as I need it to be as the writing and admin tool behind the scenes.
So, why am I worried about the same spec for this 15-inch MacBook Air? To be honest, I’m not sure; as noted, I have no intention to use it for video editing and its list of tasks will match that of the 13-inch version it’s replacing. There’s just something about that bigger display and, I guess, the temptation to occasionally use it for more creative work.
Wrapping up
I get to play with a lot of Macs – so many that it’s embarrassingly easy to lose the excitement that should come from opening a box containing a new one. But that excitement has returned with the 15-inch MacBook Air.
I’m genuinely looking forward to getting my hands on it and putting it through its paces during next week’s travels. It’s a brand-new category for Apple and one which I personally never saw coming.
I’m glad it has, though. Will it replace my 13-inch MacBook Air full-time? Will that spec need bumping? Stay tuned.
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