15" M2 MacBook Air is too heavy

[1BadManVan]

An underpowered ultra slim computer driving up 3 external monitors.. hmm I won’t want to do that. /thread

lol exactly, great, it supports 3 monitors that it can't actually drive without bogging down anyways. Not always the specs on paper that are most important. The M2 air also has less cores and a lower clock speed and we all know how that goes against the gram as well.

 

[jlnr]

Seriously? What do you dislike about the M2 MBP? I absolutely love mine, including far preferring the display to the MBA display. But the main reason for the MBP is way more available RAM (IMO the 24 GB maximum MBA RAM is likely suboptimal for many folks' 2023-2029 life cycle), more i/o bandwidth and multiple external display capability.

I have the M1 MBA at home and the M1 Pro MBP at the office. Subjectively, I really love the former and have buyer's remorse about the latter, no matter how powerful it may be. It's probably just that the "new design language" looks blocky and heavy to my eyes, and I'm rationalizing that it's the physical weight that bothers me.

 

[the future]

Titanium? Well...don't you even dare to ask. 100% titanium unibody laptop will have an astronomical price tag.

Also, Titanium is of course heavier than Aluminium.

Apple's TiBooks worked fine.

Compared to modern unibody MacBooks, they were relatively delicate.

 

[Wokis]

I personally don't like that they called this one "Air". It's just not small enough. Could have been called just Macbook or Macbook Studio. But this is of course not that important of an issue.

It does fit into the lineup overall. Bigger screen and smaller price than the 14". And yeah some probably think of the 16" Pro as the other viable alternative for them, which is a lot more expensive and way heavier.

 

[MauiPa]

Perhaps the word surprise was too strong, I expected it to be heavier, but I did expect that it overall it would have the same thin and light feeling as the 13 inch, which it does not.

I suppose what is the most unexpected, is how dense the 15 inch feels. It’s as if it’s carved directly out of a solid block of aluminum, where is the 13 inch feels like it’s hollowed out of a block of aluminum. Apple has gone on record, saying that they had to add extra strengthening to the 15 inch MacBook Air, and it is correspondingly heavier as a result.

Now to everyone who’s laughing at this thread, I think the point that OP is making is that this laptop has the moniker “air“ which set an expectation that this thing is going to weigh nothing. When I handed a good friend of mine, my 13 inch M2 air, his first comment was “why does it feel so heavy?!” Apple’s marketing has people thinking that this computer weighs nothing at all.

Battery, speakers, display, case. Those things actually weigh something, who new?

 

[Saturn007]

MBA has just two redeeming features: cheaper and lighter.

“Just two”?! 🙈

Here are, at least, three other major ones.

1. No PWM — a HUGE difference for those who are sensitive to it.​

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2. For the 15”, a substantially bigger display.​

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3. Much better battery life.​

​

Those add up to a big difference for many people!

 

[Mr. Heckles]

You know, when somebody says an incredibly powerful 15 inch laptop that's barely more than 3 pounds is "too heavy" it starts to get a little ridiculous. All I can say is that 'somebody' should stop WAITING for Apple to make it even lighter, and instead hit the WEIGHTS.

🤷‍♀️

😂 I can’t believe someone thinks the Air is too heavy.
This is proof that people will find anything to complain about. You gotta love the Internet.

 

[Isamilis]

Why only compare the 15” MBA with the 14” MBP….why not the 16” MBP

The 15” MBA is 1.4 lbs lighter that the 16” MBP.

Many (most?) people who know they need an MBA (not an MBP), but who feel the 13” MBA is too small, would find the 14” MBP not a big enough increase ….so the 16” MBP would be the one to consider.

14” MBP then 15” MBA then 16” MBP on chart:

View attachment 2229883

Thanks for this. Just aware that 15” MBA is the thinnest and lightest among 14” and 16” MBP.

 

[EuroChilli]

You must try pick up my old 15” Compaq Presario. No need to go to the gym.

I really don’t care what a computer is called, as long as it does the job I need it to. They can call this monster a MacBook Feather for all I care

And here we are worried about 90grams??

 

[Lioness~]

The problem is that Apple have too many portables to chose from now.
Especially if the portable is/will be the buyer's only computer.

Find one that is powerful enough, light enough, cheap enough - somewhere compromises must be done.
It's only to decide what's most important - price and what it is worth for you, performance, weight/size and how long time you expect to have it. That math is pretty simple.

 

[BigMcGuire]

You must try pick up my old 15” Compaq Presario. No need to go to the gym.

I really don’t care what a computer is called, as long as it does the job I need it to. They can call this monster a MacBook Feather for all I care

And here we are worried about 90grams??

Back in the day I lugged my Dell Latitude D830 with several media bay batteries to last a few college classes... If I remember right, it was north of 10 pounds.

Going from that to an 11' MBA that lasted all day.... is why I am now a Mac user. lol.

 

[mpetrides]

I must admit, I agree with OP. I have a 16" M1Pro MBP but virtually never take it anywhere because it is (in today's world) more of a luggable than a portable laptop. So a year ago when I happened to be in a store that had the 16" MBP and the 14" MBP right next to the newly released 13" M2 MBA, I lifted each in succession. There was a noticeable improvement in weight going from the 16" to the 14" MBP but the 14" MBP remained noticeably heavier and bulkier than the 13" M2 MBA. At that point, I started to lust after the 13" M2 MBA--as an addition to my collection of Macs, a replacement for the 12.9 iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard case, not as a replacement for my 16" MBP.

Fast forward to a month ago when the 15" M2 MBA was announced. I looked at the weight, I saw that it was essentially the same as the 14" M1 MBP that I had already decided was not enough of an improvement in weight and bulk over my 16" MBP. And, following the price drop on the 13" M2 MBA, I found the Siren Song too hard to resist and bit the bullet on a 13" M2 MBA 16/1TB. Now that I've had it for a couple of weeks, I've concluded that for someone like me who was looking for power with extreme portability, the 13" model is the way to go.

The calculus probably would have been different if the MBA were intended as my primary laptop. But, in that case, I probably would have chosen the 14" M2 Pro MBP as being just about the same weight as the 15" MBA and very close in price, as well, yet sporting a much nicer screen and significantly more ports, not to mention the cooling advantage of having a fan.

Basic bottom line, this ends up being a very personal choice. While it might be disorienting to someone new to Apple to try to choose among the various, often similar products, it's great that we have the choice and can pick the machine that best suits our needs to this level of granularity.

 

[mysticmanix]

Start doing some bicep curls and tricep extensions, you won't feel the weight after a week

 

[mpetrides]

Consumers: "Want bigger MBA!"
Apple: "Okay, 15" MBA."
Consumers: "No, no, too much MBA. This too heavy."
Apple: "We literally just scaled the 13" up to 15". Beyond the larger display and battery for the 15" MBA, they're basically identical."
Consumers: "Whatever. MBA should be like MBP."
Apple: "But you can just get a MBP?"
Consumers: "No, too expensive."
_ user @Apple has left the chat_

ROTFLWTIME 😂🤣😂😂🤣😂😂🤣😂

 

[dturner123]

Coming from a 2019 16" MacBook Pro, this thing is like a feather compared to that lol

 

[Ericdjensen]

If anything, it isn’t heavy enough

 

[msackey]

There is only a 90 gram difference in weight between the 15" M2 MacBook Air and the 14" MacBook Pro. What's the point of calling it an Air if it weighs the same as a MacBook Pro.

Apple needs to add more high quality materials such as carbon and magnesium to get the weight down more.

I tried out the MBA 15” yesterday and it felt fine. The MBP 14” feels heavier than I’d like. I use an MBP 13” and the weight is good. In looking up some details, I was surprised to see that the MBP 13 is actually lighter than the MBA 15”.

The weight of the old 13 MBP and current 13 MBA is perfect

I’d like Apple to design lighter laptops.

 

[msackey]

Didn’t we just go through this in the Jony Ive era? Too light and you ruin the structural integrity. Use better materials to increase this and you raise prices.

People on these forums acting like they have enough money to have a carbon fiber phone who would then complain it doesn’t ‘feel’ premium enough or it shattered when dropped from a building because they don’t understand how CF works.

I don’t recall the Ive era being a lot of criticism about being light. The criticisms were primarily around being thin, not light.

 

[salamanderjuice]

The LG Gram is basically all plastic that’s why.

Magnesium alloy is plastic?

 

[Sami13496]

I think some people are just salty because they recently bought 14” Pro when they don’t really need any of those Pro features. 15” Air would have been so much better option for them, it’s thinner and lighter with bigger display and cheaper. But cannot admit it so have to justify 14” somehow hence the made up “problems”.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Also, Titanium is of course heavier than Aluminium.

Compared to modern unibody MacBooks, they were relatively delicate.

As used in real products, Titanium alloy applications are not necessarily heavier than Aluminum applications. In fact Titanium alloys are most commonly used to reduce weight while maintaining strength.

Apple's TiBooks were ancient tech, but were not considered delicate at the time. Comparison to today's solid aluminum metal MacBook designs really does not make much sense. Better consideration of Titanium usage today would be to look at the Apple Watch Ultra.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I must admit, I agree with OP. I have a 16" M1Pro MBP but virtually never take it anywhere because it is (in today's world) more of a luggable than a portable laptop. So a year ago when I happened to be in a store that had the 16" MBP and the 14" MBP right next to the newly released 13" M2 MBA, I lifted each in succession. There was a noticeable improvement in weight going from the 16" to the 14" MBP but the 14" MBP remained noticeably heavier and bulkier than the 13" M2 MBA. At that point, I started to lust after the 13" M2 MBA--as an addition to my collection of Macs, a replacement for the 12.9 iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard case, not as a replacement for my 16" MBP.

Fast forward to a month ago when the 15" M2 MBA was announced. I looked at the weight, I saw that it was essentially the same as the 14" M1 MBP that I had already decided was not enough of an improvement in weight and bulk over my 16" MBP. And, following the price drop on the 13" M2 MBA, I found the Siren Song too hard to resist and bit the bullet on a 13" M2 MBA 16/1TB. Now that I've had it for a couple of weeks, I've concluded that for someone like me who was looking for power with extreme portability, the 13" model is the way to go.

The calculus probably would have been different if the MBA were intended as my primary laptop. But, in that case, I probably would have chosen the 14" M2 Pro MBP as being just about the same weight as the 15" MBA and very close in price, as well, yet sporting a much nicer screen and significantly more ports, not to mention the cooling advantage of having a fan.

Basic bottom line, this ends up being a very personal choice. While it might be disorienting to someone new to Apple to try to choose among the various, often similar products, it's great that we have the choice and can pick the machine that best suits our needs to this level of granularity.

I have no problem traveling with my 16 MBP. It provides amazing computing power on the move in a compact size.

 

[Surfsalot]

It's not heavy but it is big.

 

[0339327]

In the modern world, where most laptops are fairly lightweight, I interpret “Air” to mean light in reference to the price, components or both. Meaning a less expensive alternative.

Making the MacBook lighter would result in a higher price point, lower battery life, less resilient material or a combination of the three.

 

[applesed]

Welcome to the future:

LG Gram SuperSlim review: LG’s thinnest laptop with great battery life

How can you get the MacBook Air 15 when the SuperSlim exists?!

www.laptopmag.com