15-Inch MacBook Air Teardown Reveals Familiar Design and Upgraded Six-Speaker Sound System

[MacRumors]

Repair website iFixit today shared a 15-inch MacBook Air teardown on YouTube, offering a closer look inside the laptop. As expected, the 15-inch MacBook Air has a similar internal design as the 13-inch model, with the only notable difference being two extra speakers.

Image Credit: iFixit​

"The new 15-inch MacBook Air also features a phenomenal new six-speaker sound system with two tweeters and two sets of force-cancelling woofers," said Apple. "The new speakers deliver twice the bass depth for fuller sound, and Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos provides immersive experiences whether listening to music or watching movies."

The battery is also larger, but Apple says battery life is equal to the 13-inch model. As with the 13-inch model, the battery cells have adhesive pull tabs for easier removal, but the battery can only be accessed after several other components are disassembled.

The teardown offers a look at the 15-inch MacBook Air's logic board with the M2 chip and a single NAND chip for the 256GB model, which can result in slower SSD read and write speeds compared to 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB models.

Like other Apple laptops, iFixit said the 15-inch MacBook Air is very difficult to repair. In addition, RAM and storage cannot be upgraded after purchase.

Key advantages of the 15-inch MacBook Air over the 13-inch model include a larger display, larger trackpad, and six speakers instead of four. Both models have the M2 chip for equal performance, and very similar battery life. Apple began accepting orders for the 15-inch MacBook Air last week, and the laptop launched on Tuesday.

Article Link: 15-Inch MacBook Air Teardown Reveals Familiar Design and Upgraded Six-Speaker Sound System

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

They definitely could have fit bigger batteries in there , sad

Then again, there's the lightweight argument

 

[zoovroo]

So the battery isn't larger than the 13-inch?

 

[zorinlynx]

That crappy battery replacement experience is exactly why we need regulations to force companies to make it easier to swap batteries. There's NO VALID REASON they had to make the battery so hard to replace. Layering components in a different order and it'd be cake. They just don't want end users replacing them, pure and simple.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

They definitely could have fit bigger batteries in there , sad

Then again, there's the lightweight argument

So the battery isn't larger than the 13-inch?

Added a sentence to the MacRumors story to clarify this: "The battery is also larger, but Apple says battery life is equal to the 13-inch model."

 

[thegerman]

Scandal! I hope that the EU will release a law that bigger batteries have to be installed even if there is enough space 😉

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Did anyone catch this from the MacBook Air 15" render? A little strange!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1669446428240801794

 

[k1121j]

The ssd at 256GB is just sad for two reasons, 256GB in 2023 is crazy small. Apple overcharging the upgrade on memory and storage is also sad. Come on Apple Steve would not be impressed I can think of multiple quotes of his.

 

[JPack]

Did anyone catch this from the MacBook Air 15" render? A little strange!

Consistent with the rumor Apple intended to put M2 Pro in this 15-inch MBA.

 

[Longplays]

They definitely could have fit bigger batteries in there , sad

Then again, there's the lightweight argument

At $1299... Apple would add another $100 for a better 99Whr battery.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

The ssd at 256GB is just sad for two reasons, 256GB in 2023 is crazy small. Apple overcharging the upgrade on memory and storage is also sad. Come on Apple Steve would not be impressed I can think of multiple quotes of his.

Apple doesn't care about Steve Jobs. On the other hand they DO care about their stockholders and massive profits. So they will continue to charge 800% (or more) of cost for upgrades until pigs fly.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

At $1299... Apple would add another $100 for a better 99Whr battery.

Better yet, make a bigger battery an option and charge $200 (Apple's favorite number) to upgrade.

 

[zachz]

The ssd at 256GB is just sad for two reasons, 256GB in 2023 is crazy small. Apple overcharging the upgrade on memory and storage is also sad. Come on Apple Steve would not be impressed I can think of multiple quotes of his.

He might not be impressed, but he chose Tim Cook as his successor and stepped down (understandably), he’s no longer in charge. Unfortunate but that’s business.

 

[Orange Bat]

All I know is that my 15 inch Air is a slick machine no matter the internals. I love the screen size, and the speakers are better than expected. This is the machine to get, IMO, unless you know for certain that you need something more powerful.

 

[Longplays]

Better yet, make a bigger battery an option and charge $200 (Apple's favorite number) to upgrade.

Add more SKUs to an already complicated supply chain.

You're better off buying a 99Whr USB PD powerbank for <$100.

 

[JPack]

It's reasonably packed from the teardown.

2/3 of the volume is battery
1/3 is the logic board, speakers, and touch pad

 

[msackey]

That crappy battery replacement experience is exactly why we need regulations to force companies to make it easier to swap batteries. There's NO VALID REASON they had to make the battery so hard to replace. Layering components in a different order and it'd be cake. They just don't want end users replacing them, pure and simple.

I don’t fully agree that there are no valid reasons to make the battery hard to replace. I can imagine design issues being the reason. To make the entire device as compact as possible, I can see ease of battery replacement being a secondary concern.

The battery is still replaceable, but not as easy.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Did anyone catch this from the MacBook Air 15" render? A little strange!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1669446428240801794

Weird. Just watched the Apple Vid on YT for US and UK. Seem identical with "silent" being the keyword. Don't see that graphic of the Logicboard with fans, or am I misunderstanding that Twitter post?

 

[Circa1984]

I hope Apple has enough capacity to crank out millions of these laptops. This is THE laptop to buy, and will make for some very profitable quarters ahead. My only issue - get RID of the 256 configuration, it only exists allow them to quote a lower ‘starting at’ price. Anyone that knows anything about laptops would never get that model, insufficient memory AND slower.

 

[Realityck]

So the battery isn't larger than the 13-inch?

M2 13" MBA = 52.6-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery. M2 15" MBA = 66.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
Pretty close in spec. They rate both sizes to the same battery times. 15 hours wireless web, 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback.

 

[JPack]

Weird. Just watched the Apple Vid on YT for US and UK. Seem identical with "silent" being the keyword. Don't see that graphic of the Logicboard with fans, or am I misunderstanding that Twitter post?

They fixed it already.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

They fixed it already.

Right, thanks for clarifying.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Added a sentence to the MacRumors story to clarify this: "The battery is also larger, but Apple says battery life is equal to the 13-inch model."

I'm aware thanks ! I meant to say they could have fit an even bigger battery, those making the MBA 15 even better than the 13

 

[jlc1978]

That crappy battery replacement experience is exactly why we need regulations to force companies to make it easier to swap batteries. There's NO VALID REASON they had to make the battery so hard to replace. Layering components in a different order and it'd be cake. They just don't want end users replacing them, pure and simple.

Actually, there may be valid design decisions involving how components are layered, from both a product and assembly POV. It's not as simple as just change the order of the layers.

The ssd at 256GB is just sad for two reasons, 256GB in 2023 is crazy small. Apple overcharging the upgrade on memory and storage is also sad.

256, at the entry level, is more than enough for most of those buyers.

Come on Apple Steve would not be impressed I can think of multiple quotes of his.

Had the IC tech that exists today been available and affordable for mass market devices, during Steve's tenure as CEO we'd seen the same decisions being made than as today.

I hope Apple has enough capacity to crank out millions of these laptops. This is THE laptop to buy, and will make for some very profitable quarters ahead. My only issue - get RID of the 256 configuration, it only exists allow them to quote a lower ‘starting at’ price. Anyone that knows anything about laptops would never get that model, insufficient memory AND slower.

A lower price point makes for an attractive entry point for many users who only want to do some web surfing, check emails, have some photos to edit in Photos, and maybe use Office. 256 is plenty for light users, whop will notice no impact from a slower memory bandwidth.

Techies are obsessed with specs and think their use case is the same for everyone.

 

[Realityck]

Added a sentence to the MacRumors story to clarify this: "The battery is also larger, but Apple says battery life is equal to the 13-inch model."

I've always found the https://www.notebookcheck.net has the most thorough hardware reviews, just have to wait until they do their M2 15" MBA review to compare it to 13" M2 MBA review for how the various battery life trials compare.