15-Inch MacBook Air Demand Reportedly 'Weaker Than Expected' So Far

[theotherphil]

If you are looking for a laptop with an Nvidia graphics, then:

1) Any Nvidia smokes any apple graphics offerings.
2) You are talking about discrete vs integrated, apple doesn't offers add on video cards for their laptops anymore, when they did, they were more expensive than PC laptops with equivalent video card.

So the only reason to go apple laptop (assuming you don't care about the operating system/software) is the amount of hours the battery will last.

Thanks, it seems like we agree that the XPS15 with nVidia was more a workstation and better compared against a MBP and not MBA, as I've already explained a number of times.

As already mentioned, as it seems you agree also, that the MBA15 is aimed at a different market where the better screen, SC performance, weight, portability, noise, lack of heat, performance on battery and battery life itself, not to mention the much better OS is a number of reasons why somebody would choose the $250 cheaper MBA15".

 

[enb141]

Thanks, it seems like we agree that the XPS15 with nVidia was more a workstation and better compared against a MBP and not MBA, as I've already explained a number of times.

As already mentioned, as it seems you agree also, that the MBA15 is aimed at a different market where the better screen, SC performance, weight, portability, noise, lack of heat, performance on battery and battery life itself, not to mention the much better OS is a number of reasons why somebody would choose the $250 cheaper MBA15".

The Mac Book Air is more expensive than the XPS 15.

Mac Book Air 15:
16 GB RAM
512 SSD
Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
2880x1864 500 nit Display
$1700.00


XPS 15:
16 GB RAM
512 SSD
Arc A370M 4GB GDDR6
Core i7-13700H 14 Cores
1920x1200 500 nit Display
$1300.00

Only the display has better resolution, the rest will depend on different factors. the XPS is $400 cheaper.

The XPS has upgradable SSD and RAM, with The Mac Book Air (and any mac except mac pro) you can't upgrade anything.

If you are one of those that think Mac OS is better than Windows, you are already biased to get any mac, no matter their price, those includes the ones that are getting the cheapest Mac Pro instead of an equivalent Core i9 13 gen + RTX 4070 PC.

 

[enb141]

This is pure and utter tosh.

Yep.

 

[spicynujac]

I think the battery life on these is already so extraordinary that Apple will put the M3's process benefit into performance rather than efficiency. Thus the M3 will be faster because of both the improved process and the improved architecture.

Could be, especially for desktops, but I don't think there's the potential for a whole lot of performance bumps in laptops.

The current macbooks (Linus is a famous tech commenter--he is reviewing the 13"--the 15" is probably a bit better) are limited mostly by temperature, largely related to their small size. The M3 chip on a new manufacturing process will run cooler, but I think temp, not CPU, is already the limiting factor in these small bodies.

Of course, if you watch the video, you will see there are some cheap things Apple could do to obtain better cooling, like use a real heat sync instead of a thin piece of sheet metal, but if they improve the performance much, they risk hurting the Macbook Pro lines with the "max" chips.

(Personally I already replaced my Intel MBP with an Apple Silicon MBA).

The bottom line is what is most important to the typical user, faster processing or longer battery life? I don't have my new M2 machine yet, so I can't comment on how well it handles, say, Final Cut Pro, but reviews seem to say it handles just about anything you throw at it outside of running a full time music or video studio, so I don't know that there's really much demand for faster processing.

I wanted to wait for the same reasons as you, but went ahead and bit the bullet on an M2, anticipating the M3 will be delayed, and/or more costly than the current 15" M2 MBA which (apart from the base specs) is a steal, that I don't expect Apple to repeat.

 

[spicynujac]

The Mac Book Air is more expensive than the XPS 15.

Only the display has better resolution, the rest will depend on different factors. the XPS is $400 cheaper.
.

The Mac is 0.9 pounds lighter, which is a huge difference for portability.
Also the software that comes with the Mac (regardless of which OS you prefer) is worth a good bit. You are getting Apples version of Microsoft Office, along with a photo and video editor.

I wanted an XPS at first, but a 4.2 pound machine is not something I'm going to travel with, and with the education discount you pay $1580, and get a $150 gift card, so they are nearing price parity at that point.

Also, the wide color space (P3) is important to me for photo and video work. I couldn't quickly find the raw numbers but it appears you only get good coverage of P3 with the upgraded OLED screen, which is more $ for the Dell.

Sure, I wish you can upgrade Macs, and that's one reason I will keep a Windows desktop, but Apple makes the best laptop for the money if you ask me.

 

[theorist9]

Could be, especially for desktops, but I don't think there's the potential for a whole lot of performance bumps in laptops.

The current macbooks (Linus is a famous tech commenter--he is reviewing the 13"--the 15" is probably a bit better) are limited mostly by temperature, largely related to their small size. The M3 chip on a new manufacturing process will run cooler, but I think temp, not CPU, is already the limiting factor in these small bodies.

Of course, if you watch the video, you will see there are some cheap things Apple could do to obtain better cooling, like use a real heat sync instead of a thin piece of sheet metal, but if they improve the performance much, they risk hurting the Macbook Pro lines with the "max" chips.

(Personally I already replaced my Intel MBP with an Apple Silicon MBA).

The bottom line is what is most important to the typical user, faster processing or longer battery life? I don't have my new M2 machine yet, so I can't comment on how well it handles, say, Final Cut Pro, but reviews seem to say it handles just about anything you throw at it outside of running a full time music or video studio, so I don't know that there's really much demand for faster processing.

I wanted to wait for the same reasons as you, but went ahead and bit the bullet on an M2, anticipating the M3 will be delayed, and/or more costly than the current 15" M2 MBA which (apart from the base specs) is a steal, that I don't expect Apple to repeat.

I think the video's title is a bit click-baity.

As Linus himself acknowledged, "most of these real-world use cases just aren't going to be continuous loads that will throttle the heck out of the chip". For several real-world tasks, Linus found there wasn't a significant difference in performance between the Air and the fan-cooled 13" MBP, indicating the Air typically isn't being thermally-limited in its performance.

I think most people who buy the Air aren't going to be driving all the cores in a sustained fashion. Their workloads will mostly be bursty and single-threaded, and I don't think such tasks are currently thermally limited on the Air. Thus I think Apple's best move with the M3 Air is to keep the TDP the same and increase performance.

[The Air might potentially get thermally stressed, even without sustained workloads, if Apple allowed you to make full use of its GPU and drive 3 external displays. Its GPU is certainly capable of that--even my 2014 MBP can do that. But by limiting it to only one external, they've removed the most likely source of overheating.]

Yes, the M2 Air may seem plenty responsive now but, as you know, apps and OS's get increasingly complex, which is why older computers seem to get slower with time. Using the improved process to provide more performance will help the M3 Airs keep up with increasing software complexity. I've never known Apple to produce a new generation of computer that was no faster than the last generation, and I think that's part of the reason.

 

[enb141]

The Mac is 0.9 pounds lighter, which is a huge difference for portability.
Also the software that comes with the Mac (regardless of which OS you prefer) is worth a good bit. You are getting Apples version of Microsoft Office, along with a photo and video editor.

I wanted an XPS at first, but a 4.2 pound machine is not something I'm going to travel with, and with the education discount you pay $1580, and get a $150 gift card, so they are nearing price parity at that point.

Also, the wide color space (P3) is important to me for photo and video work. I couldn't quickly find the raw numbers but it appears you only get good coverage of P3 with the upgraded OLED screen, which is more $ for the Dell.

Sure, I wish you can upgrade Macs, and that's one reason I will keep a Windows desktop, but Apple makes the best laptop for the money if you ask me.

Not everybody has education discount, but DELL usually give better pricing for their products over time, they don't fix their pricing as apple does, so eventually even with the education discount, it will be cheaper

About the $150 is only for mac products, you can't use it anywhere else, so DELL does something similar with points or whatever they call it.

One pound difference when you also have to carry a case, cables, mouse, charger, is pretty much negligible.

The two reason to me to not get a mac are their lack of upgradability and their rob overpriced upgrades.

 

[GalileoSeven]

With as convoluted as Apple's laptop/price structure is, is this really a surprise?

 

[ric22]

For me, personally, it's too heavily gimped- pathetically small SSD and incredibly expensive SSD upgrades, only 2 USB-C ports, cannot run two external monitors.

Add to that, no 120hz refresh rate, which would have been nice.

Please try harder, Apple. Years of waiting for this product, only for it to be gimped 😕 At best, it could be described by Apple fans as underwhelming. 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[theotherphil]

The Mac Book Air is more expensive than the XPS 15.

Mac Book Air 15:
16 GB RAM
512 SSD
Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
2880x1864 500 nit Display
$1700.00


XPS 15:
16 GB RAM
512 SSD
Arc A370M 4GB GDDR6
Core i7-13700H 14 Cores
1920x1200 500 nit Display
$1300.00

Only the display has better resolution, the rest will depend on different factors. the XPS is $400 cheaper.

The XPS has upgradable SSD and RAM, with The Mac Book Air (and any mac except mac pro) you can't upgrade anything.

If you are one of those that think Mac OS is better than Windows, you are already biased to get any mac, no matter their price, those includes the ones that are getting the cheapest Mac Pro instead of an equivalent Core i9 13 gen + RTX 4070 PC.

Brilliant, you are still missing the point that I was talking about the XPS15 with nVidia graphics, and have been throughout the entire thread.

Regardless, I still wouldn't buy the XPS15 you listed as battery life and performance on battery is important to me....you know, the entire reason for laptops in the first place. The ARC370M has a TGP of 35-50W on it's own, the entire M2 SOC in the MBA is less than that.

You're also still missing the point that Apple customers are happy to pay more for an overall better experience. That better "experience" is a value add.

My work provided computer is a HP Elitebook with windows and it sucks - performance is poor, screen resolution sucks, it's hot and noisy and needs to be tethered to a wall outlet...I'm happy to pay hundreds more to fix those quality of life issues. My Wife's 16/512 MBA is an infinitely better experience....she charges after every 2 days of untethered work. My personal device is a 14" MBP MAX with 32Gb - I'm literally happy to pay thousands more to fix those quality of life issues.

 

[theotherphil]

Double post

 

[enb141]

Brilliant, you are still missing the point that I was talking about the XPS15 with nVidia graphics, and have been throughout the entire thread.

Regardless, I still wouldn't buy the XPS15 you listed as battery life and performance on battery is important to me....you know, the entire reason for laptops in the first place. The ARC370M has a TGP of 35-50W on it's own, the entire M2 SOC in the MBA is less than that.

You're also still missing the point that Apple customers are happy to pay more for an overall better experience. That better "experience" is a value add.

My work provided computer is a HP Elitebook with windows and it sucks - performance is poor, screen resolution sucks, it's hot and noisy and needs to be tethered to a wall outlet...I'm happy to pay hundreds more to fix those quality of life issues. My Wife's 16/512 MBA is an infinitely better experience....she charges after every 2 days of untethered work. My personal device is a 14" MBP MAX with 32Gb - I'm literally happy to pay thousands more to fix those quality of life issues.

Congratulations, you are Apple target, that's why they can charge to people like you whatever amount they want.

Your point remembers me the story when Spanish came to America, they were trading mirrors for gold, for the native americans, Mirrors were way superior to whatever method they used to look at themselves.

For the 86% rest of us (Apple has 14% market share in North America), that's not the case.

 

[theorist9]

The Mac Book Air is more expensive than the XPS 15.

Mac Book Air 15:
16 GB RAM
512 SSD
Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
2880x1864 500 nit Display
$1700.00


XPS 15:
16 GB RAM
512 SSD
Arc A370M 4GB GDDR6
Core i7-13700H 14 Cores
1920x1200 500 nit Display
$1300.00

Only the display has better resolution, the rest will depend on different factors. the XPS is $400 cheaper.

The XPS has upgradable SSD and RAM, with The Mac Book Air (and any mac except mac pro) you can't upgrade anything.

Considering only the display is an incomplete comparison. The Mac has far longer battery life and, unlike current high-end Intel laptops, doesn't lose performance when on battery. It's also silent, as compared to the XPS 15, which can get noisy; and it's about a pound lighter. You may not care about those differences, but most do.

I agree the Mac's main hardware downside is that its SSD and RAM aren't upgradeable. In addition, it only supports one external display. The XPS probably supports 2+. And if you want more RAM or SSD, Apple charges a lot more.

See, that's how you write a fair hardware comparison.

For the 86% rest of us (Apple has 14% market share in North America), that's not the case.

Source? Here's data for the US, according to https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/united-states-of-america/#monthly-201304-202304 :

Windows 53.2%
MacOS 31.5%

Plus look at the trend. Windows in blue (a reference to the Blue Screen of Death?), Mac in magneta:

Note: "Desktop Operating System" doesn't means desktops, it means all computers using MacOS vs. all using Windows, and thus includes laptops.

 

[theorist9]

For me, personally, it's too heavily gimped- pathetically small SSD and incredibly expensive SSD upgrades, only 2 USB-C ports, cannot run two external monitors.

Add to that, no 120hz refresh rate, which would have been nice.

Please try harder, Apple. Years of waiting for this product, only for it to be gimped 😕 At best, it could be described by Apple fans as underwhelming. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Yes, it seems the M1 chips shouldn't be able to run two externals. But given how expansive your laundry list is, including more TB ports and a 120 Hz display, it seems like you're really describing the 14"/16" MBPs, and thus you're essentially disappointed the Air wasn't more like the MBP (which was not going to happen since, well, Apple has the MBP's for those who want that extra functionality).

So it sounds like you'd be happy with an MBP. There are great deals available now on the M1 MBP's, and one of those would check all your boxes.

 

[enb141]

Considering only the display is an incomplete comparison. The Mac has far longer battery life and, unlike current high-end Intel laptops, doesn't lose performance when on battery. It's also silent, as compared to the XPS 15, which can get noisy; and it's about a pound lighter. You may not care about those differences, but most do.

I agree the Mac's main hardware downside is that its SSD and RAM aren't upgradeable. In addition, it only supports one external display. The XPS probably supports 2+. And if you want more RAM or SSD, Apple charges a lot more.

As I said before, if you want a mac is because you need longer battery time, that's the advantage of Apple Silicon, for the rest Windows Laptops are the way to go, if you need a better monitor, then DELL has a way way better monitor that smokes any monitor that apple offers.

See, that's how you write a fair hardware comparison.

Source? Here's data for the US, according to https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/united-states-of-america/#monthly-201304-202304 :

Windows 53.2%
MacOS 31.5%

Plus look at the trend. Windows in blue (a reference to the Blue Screen of Death?), Mac in magneta:

View attachment 2241676
Note: "Desktop Operating System" doesn't means desktops, it means all computers using MacOS vs. all using Windows, and thus includes laptops.

That's USA, I said North America

Desktop operating system market share 2013-2025| Statista

Microsoft's Windows was the dominant desktop operating system (OS) worldwide as of March 2025, with a market share of around ** percent.

www.statista.com

 

[Queen6]

It's an odd product I think.

Love my 13 inch Air, its super portable that's the beauty of it. The 15 inch is less portable than the 13 but doesn't really offer anything else in addition to the screen real estate.

Owing a base 2020 13" MBP feel the same. Base 15" Air will be less performant, upgrading it brings pricing ever closer to the 14" MBP. Likely sit it out and see what M3 brings to the table or opt for the 14" equally that has it's own downsides...

Q-6

 

[ArkSingularity]

Owing a base 2020 13" MBP feel the same. Base 15" Air will be less performant, upgrading it brings pricing ever closer to the 14" MBP. Likely sit it out and see what M3 brings to the table or opt for the 14" equally that has it's own downsides...

Q-6

I mostly opted for the 14" for the ports (and I need them, I do music stuff with mine). If the Air had just one extra USB-C port, I would have given the 15" a much more serious consideration.

Apple really blew the 14" out of the park this generation. They gave people pretty much exactly what they wanted in a machine.

 

[theorist9]

As I said before, if you want a mac is because you need longer battery time, that's the advantage of Apple Silicon, for the rest Windows Laptops are the way to go, if you need a better monitor, then DELL has a way way better monitor that smokes any monitor that apple offers.

Nope, not just battery life. There's also the significant throttling of performance when on battery seen with XPS laptops; plus they're much noisier under load. I'm willing to fully acknowledge the downsides of Mac hardware. I've made many legitimate criticisms of Apple prouducts when on this site. By comparison, you just want to play debating games by refusing to do the same for Dell products. Do you work for them?

That's USA, I said North America

Desktop operating system market share 2013-2025| Statista

Microsoft's Windows was the dominant desktop operating system (OS) worldwide as of March 2025, with a market share of around ** percent.

www.statista.com

That's not North America, that's worldwide. And worldwide OS use is more reflective of the limited economic choices most folks in the developing world commonly have. It's simply not relevant to this disucssion.

DELL has a way way better monitor that smokes any monitor that apple offers.

That's just vague and ridiculous hyperbole, notably unsupported by any specifics.

 

[Queen6]

I mostly opted for the 14" for the ports (and I need them, I do music stuff with mine). If the Air had just one extra USB-C port, I would have given the 15" a much more serious consideration.

Apple really blew the 14" out of the park this generation. They gave people pretty much exactly what they wanted in a machine.

For my need battery runtime is a big factor and the 13" MBP has serious longevity. Must admit the 14" MBP additional ports would be be welcome. 16" MBP has the battery, yet is too big for most hotel room safes which presents another problem.

Q-6

 

[enb141]

Nope, not just battery life. There's also the significant throttling of performance when on battery seen with XPS laptops; plus they're much noisier under load. I'm willing to fully acknowledge the downsides of Mac hardware. I've made many legitimate criticisms of Apple prouducts when on this site. By comparison, you just want to play debating games by refusing to do the same for Dell products. Do you work for them?

No I don't work for them, but their pricing and products are better for my taste than any apple product.

That's not North America, that's worldwide. And worldwide OS use is more reflective of the limited economic choices most folks in the developing world commonly have. It's simply not relevant to this disucssion.

Good luck getting macs in countries other than Canada, USA, European Union, UK, Australia.

That's just vague and ridiculous hyperbole, notably unsupported by any specifics.

So macs displays (if that's what you call notably unsupported by any specifics) are the same with lower quality.

 

[theorist9]

No I don't work for them, but their pricing and products are better for my taste than any apple product.

Then what are you doing here? I don't spend my time trolling the Dell forums.

Good luck getting macs in countries other than Canada, USA, European Union, UK, Australia.

Your perspective is Western/Euro-centric. There's also China, Taiwan, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, India, Turkey, Thailand, S. Korea, etc. [Some don't have conveniently local Apple stores, but that's true of many in the rural US as well; there's still no barrier to any of ordering from Apple online.] At the same time, yes, most wordwide don't have access to Apple for economic reasons, which is exactly why it's meaningless to look at worldwide comparative statistics of Windows vs. MacOS to conclude anything about quality, desirability, etc.

So macs displays (if that's what you call notably unsupported by any specifics) are the same with lower quality.

You don't seem to understand what specifics are. You wrote "DELL has a way way better monitor that smokes any monitor that apple offers." without even specifying what monitor you were making the claim about, and what supported that claim.

 

[enb141]

Then what are you doing here? I don't spend my time trolling the Dell forums.

I explained that to another macrumor guy here.

I love computers, I love technology, that's why I'm here, but currently mac doesn't offers a computer that meets my needs, except the Apple TV, which I currently have.

Your perspective is Western/Euro-centric. There's also China, Taiwan, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, India, Turkey, Thailand, S. Korea, etc. [Some don't have conveniently local Apple stores, but that's true of many in the rural US as well; there's still no barrier to any of ordering from Apple online.] At the same time, yes, most wordwide don't have access to Apple for economic reasons, which is exactly why it's meaningless to look at worldwide comparative statistics of Windows vs. MacOS to conclude anything about quality, desirability, etc.

Those countries doesn't have decent mac user base, except for cellphones.

You don't seem to understand what specifics are. You wrote "DELL has a way way better monitor that smokes any monitor that apple offers." without even specifying what monitor you were making the claim about, and what supported that claim.

XPS 15 9530 Laptop | Dell USA

Shop the Dell XPS 15 laptop featuring 16:10 4-sided InfinityEdge display & 100% Adobe RGB color, or view all new XPS laptops at Dell.com.

www.dell.com

• Display
  15.6" OLED 3.5K (3456x2160) InfinityEdge Touch Anti-Reflective 400-Nit Display

 

[ric22]

Yes, it seems the M1 chips shouldn't be able to run two externals. But given how expansive your laundry list is, including more TB ports and a 120 Hz display, it seems like you're really describing the 14"/16" MBPs, and thus you're essentially disappointed the Air wasn't more like the MBP (which was not going to happen since, well, Apple has the MBP's for those who want that extra functionality).

So it sounds like you'd be happy with an MBP. There are great deals available now on the M1 MBP's, and one of those would check all your boxes.

I have a 16" Pro... I didn't really need the multi core power or graphical power, though, but I did need the extra monitors and larger screen. The old Intel Apple laptops could run two monitors, and cheap Chinese laptops can already run at 120hz, so I don't feel like I'm asking for much from a >$1,800 laptop (international pricing for the 15" Air without base spec SSD).

Even though the Air 15" finally exists, I'm now stuck between a mediocre device and a device that is more expensive/heavy/powerful than I need it to be. Do I have to return to Windows?

 

[Zorori]

I am sure plenty of excuses will be made. However, it seems the 15” MBA group were yet another loud minority

 

[ericwn]

I explained that to another macrumor guy here.

I love computers, I love technology, that's why I'm here, but currently mac doesn't offers a computer that meets my needs, except the Apple TV, which I currently have.



Those countries doesn't have decent mac user base, except for cellphones.

XPS 15 9530 Laptop | Dell USA

Shop the Dell XPS 15 laptop featuring 16:10 4-sided InfinityEdge display & 100% Adobe RGB color, or view all new XPS laptops at Dell.com.

www.dell.com

• Display
  15.6" OLED 3.5K (3456x2160) InfinityEdge Touch Anti-Reflective 400-Nit Display

It may come as a surprise to you, but Mac is a product and doesn’t make cellphones and Mac doesn’t offer computers, it is a computer. Apple, the company that makes Macs also makes smartphones. And I would not spend time on a forum for a product I don’t use, personally.