I honestly, truly cannot believe this thread... There is always something people can complain about.... Seriously...🤦♂️
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15" M2 MacBook Air is too heavy
- Thread starter Zest28
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It's funny, as my 15" Air is now my everyday remote work computer, coming from a 16" MacBook Pro that it replaced, I am still amazed, a couple of week in, at how light it feels in comparison, and how easy it is to grab and pickup with one hand and go from room to room. Yet, to some, it's too heavy...
sure you can pick up it one handed open but you won't be holding to for long like that
I've been using it for two weeks. I think it's a great machine. I wouldn't be asking myself if it's a bit too heavy if they'd named it MacBook rather than MacBook Air. After 13 years of using an Air, the name really doesn't fit.
Why would anyone be carrying a laptop like that for a prolonged period of time?
(that's in reply to surfsalot)
(that's in reply to surfsalot)
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I’m with you here. The “Air” branding bugs me because it has inconsistent meaning across the lineup.
To me, ‘Air’ indicates ‘thin and light’, a notebook segment Apple essentially created with the early MacBook Air lines. Most laptops today are ‘thin and lights’ targeted at consumers with an accompanying professional line. Apple’s pro line is indeed thicker, heavier and more expensive even if just marginally with some configurations.
Maybe it’s best to think of the Air and this segment overall as ‘thinner and lighter than our other offerings’, even if by less dramatic margins thanks to advances in parts miniaturization in all notebook segments.
Also, compare the MacBook Air, a very thin, fanless, silent, all metal, cool running, long lasting notebook that doesn’t lose power when unplugged to the ‘thin and light’ competition on the PC side. I think you’ll find the ‘Air’ branding still fits and makes sense.
Having said all that, if Apple introduced a 12”, even thinner, tiny, MacBook, even if it required a slightly less powerful Apple Silicon chip, I’d buy two. Tomorrow.
Maybe it’s best to think of the Air and this segment overall as ‘thinner and lighter than our other offerings’, even if by less dramatic margins thanks to advances in parts miniaturization in all notebook segments.
Also, compare the MacBook Air, a very thin, fanless, silent, all metal, cool running, long lasting notebook that doesn’t lose power when unplugged to the ‘thin and light’ competition on the PC side. I think you’ll find the ‘Air’ branding still fits and makes sense.
Having said all that, if Apple introduced a 12”, even thinner, tiny, MacBook, even if it required a slightly less powerful Apple Silicon chip, I’d buy two. Tomorrow.
Versus the MBP line I believe the Air nomenclature is a good fit for Apple's thin & light notebook line. The odd one out was the now discontinued 12" Retina MacBook.
Handled a 15" Air, to me is very far from being overly heavy for a 15" class notebook. Ultimately same as "Pro" it's just a marketing term. All that matters is the system fits the users needs...
Q-6
What I don’t understand is why we are using a modifier like “Air” (or even “Pro” i guess) when there is nothing simply called “MacBook” anymore.
It’s like the weird period when there was a HomePod Mini… but no HomePod
A “mini” version of something that doesn’t exist
Just like a “Pro” and “Air” version of a “MacBook”, which isn’t a current product.
(Of course there was a HomePod before and ultimately one came back, and there have been MacBooks, but not for a relatively long time now)
I think the MBA15 would have been a perfect machine to call just “MacBook”
If there’s one machine and size I’d recommend to a general buyer, it’s the MBA15..
That power class and that screen size are a superb “every persons general do it all computer”
Does any of this naming stuff ultimately matter?
Not really. Just weird and at times confusing
Lol
It’s like the weird period when there was a HomePod Mini… but no HomePod
A “mini” version of something that doesn’t exist
Just like a “Pro” and “Air” version of a “MacBook”, which isn’t a current product.
(Of course there was a HomePod before and ultimately one came back, and there have been MacBooks, but not for a relatively long time now)
I think the MBA15 would have been a perfect machine to call just “MacBook”
If there’s one machine and size I’d recommend to a general buyer, it’s the MBA15..
That power class and that screen size are a superb “every persons general do it all computer”
Does any of this naming stuff ultimately matter?
Not really. Just weird and at times confusing
Lol
tough decision to send my MBA 15 back or keep my14 MBP, both beautiful machines and highly capable for my basic to moderate needs. Why does apple make it so tough 
Marketing plain and simple. Many likely over purchase for no reason other than the marketing and that's the game...
Q-6
Is exactly why Apple is a three trillion $ company, smartest marketing by a wide margin. Break both down to your needs and keep the winner...tough decision to send my MBA 15 back or keep my14 MBP, both beautiful machines and highly capable for my basic to moderate needs. Why does apple make it so tough
Q-6
haha apple psychologist they have? Larger screen is nice, but then again the screen is nicer on the 14!
Then buy a 14" MBP if that's a factor for you. Apple's portables have always had the advantage with display technology. Even the base M1 Air was better than the majority of PC laptops.
Your point is? as said buy what works for you. No need to overspend, the Air's display is above average. The MBP is more suited for professional colour corrected work once you turn the toys off and or heavy lifting.
Q-6
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That's an interesting interpretation. I interpret this thread differently. I think people are expressing their own feelings and preferences about the new product. Only they are expressing it without the self-righteous disbelief that some people are using to express their feelings and preferences about this thread.
I share your reaction.
Yet, it's Apple's marketing genius. Frustrating, irritating, and disillusioning to us as customers, but it ensures that the buyer will never be fully satisfied -- and, thus, be primed for the next upgrade.
I find the practice abhorrent. There should be meaningful, obvious, qualitative differences among models, with sharp pricing distinctions that do not largely vanish as one adds some RAM or SSD upgrades.
That way, people will have clarity in their buying decisions and be unequivocally excited about their purchases rather than often having a back-of-the-mind, lingering sense of "Should have I gotten the other one?" or "Did I make the right decision?"
Oh, well. If Apple made it easy, many of the threads at MacRumors (such as the many 15" MBA vs. the 14" MBP ones) would be moot!
My favorite is the 8 GB vs 16 GB discussions. That has been talked to death with people expressing their opinion, based on their use, which has almost zero correlation to the person asking the question, such question having been repeated dozens of times.
I like my M2 Air, with 16 GB and 1 TB. I like the size for traveling. I like the weight having lugged that box through several countries and train rides in Europe. It fits in my arms, it fits my travel bag, it does what I need.
I run Lightroom and Photoshop without difficulty. Lightroom with upwards of 2,000 pictures at a time. Photoshop with a couple dozen layers on half a dozen images. The machine works. Could I do better with a bigger screen? Maybe, but I really don't care as I am pleased with what I have.
It's certainly not heavy, but the difference between the 15" and the MBP 14" isn't that significant.
The two lines could be merged soon. But they won't. They'd rather put an inferior screen in the air and other limiting things and keep selling the pro for the premium.
The two lines could be merged soon. But they won't. They'd rather put an inferior screen in the air and other limiting things and keep selling the pro for the premium.
Exactly right
The ASi is so good, that the "Pro" vs "not Pro" distinctions are really mostly just forced for marketing and upsell reasons.
It's a shame. Someone more visionary than Tim should really re-jigger how they approach all these product and price points eventually.
Whatever the "cost" would be, the machine I want, they don't offer simply because of their marketing approach to all this -- and that's a 15" MBA, but with a ProMotion screen
I'd really like to see BTO optionality on core features like that.
PC laptops have offered that sort of upgrade at purchase, on key components, forever
Got mien today.
It's wonderfully light compared to my 2018 MBP 15-inch.
I regret getting silver, but that's another thing. But it's wonderful to hold.
It's wonderfully light compared to my 2018 MBP 15-inch.
I regret getting silver, but that's another thing. But it's wonderful to hold.
Sometime in the past few years I stopped carrying the charger for phone or Laptop (air). I no longer had range anxiety. And it’s generally been fine.
That 15" air with 120hz could be 2-3 years away.
Apple is about maximising profits for shareholders, they won't release a holy grail of a machine until they're really forced to.
Opinions as they say, are like noses, everyone has one. On the one hand is the technical, what X weighs vs what Y weighs. You can read it; you can look at the scale.
The other is perception, and that's a very different beast. When I went to the local Best Buy store to replace my failing old 'lightweight' laptop that weighted just over 3 lbs light... I picked up the M2 13" MBP and it felt heavy... compared to the M2 MBA 13"... but the MBP weighed about the same as my Lenovo... but heavy somehow... I bought the 13" M2 MBA. Maybe it's the smaller footprint that gives me a perception that somehow it is WAY lighter than that old Lenovo... can't be more than 100 grams difference... less than a 1/4 lb... but I swear I feel it...
But really, get what works for you, if the 15" is too heavy go with a smaller laptop. My 15" I9 gaming laptop with a 16gig 3080 and OLED screen weighs over 5lbs and the AC brick for it probably weighs half as much as my MBA... Now that is heavy. Too heavy for just sitting out back with an ice tea on a sunny day to read the news and chat with friends.
The other is perception, and that's a very different beast. When I went to the local Best Buy store to replace my failing old 'lightweight' laptop that weighted just over 3 lbs light... I picked up the M2 13" MBP and it felt heavy... compared to the M2 MBA 13"... but the MBP weighed about the same as my Lenovo... but heavy somehow... I bought the 13" M2 MBA. Maybe it's the smaller footprint that gives me a perception that somehow it is WAY lighter than that old Lenovo... can't be more than 100 grams difference... less than a 1/4 lb... but I swear I feel it...
But really, get what works for you, if the 15" is too heavy go with a smaller laptop. My 15" I9 gaming laptop with a 16gig 3080 and OLED screen weighs over 5lbs and the AC brick for it probably weighs half as much as my MBA... Now that is heavy. Too heavy for just sitting out back with an ice tea on a sunny day to read the news and chat with friends.