I have several M series laptops. My primary driver is a 2019 MacPro and when traveling, I typically bring a 27” monitor for use, I haven’t experienced anything different about the displays.
Can you elaborate more on what you’re referring to?
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15" MacBook Air First Impressions
- Thread starter IJBrekke
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Can you elaborate more on what you’re referring to?
Where in the accessibility setting is that? Looking on my iPhone 14 pro max, can't find it.
I was pretty sure about that too, but then I found MacOS mentioning enabling eye-tracking and head-tracking here. Head-tracking is done via web camera, I wonder what they mean by eye-tracking?.. Haven't found any additional info.
Anyway, I was just posting my experience, hope it would aid someone with identifying the root of the problem.
Hey Tim, we're gonna need a bigger polishing cloth for that midnight 15-inch MBA!
I've been using my Starlight 15" Air since launch day and as someone who has owned basically every Mac laptop made in the last 6 years I finally found exactly what I need in a MacBook. I use my computer for basic media and from time to time I'll do some intense photo editing but I'm the target market for the 15" Air and it's the perfect MacBook for 90% of end users.
*Like others have said it's very close in size to the old 15" MacBook Pro of which I previously owned but it's much lighter and the screen is much better in comparison. I only purchased that computer for the screen as I never took that computer to a quarter of its potential at the time.
*The speakers are AMAZING in comparison to my previous 13" Pro and M1 and M2 Air. The only MacBook that beats it was my 16" i9 MBP I had a few years back. Those speakers were louder and more full but bass wise I would put the 15" Air on par with those.
*The keyboard is spacious and great to type on. Honestly I've never had complaints with any of my MacBook keyboards; even the old 2016 15" MBP I had didn't bother me but this keyboard is miles better than that. Still not up to par to certain ThinkPad models (T Series and X1 Carbon series).
*Bright, beautiful screen and the notch doesn't bother me with the larger screen (it honestly did on the 13" M2 Air) and I don't see any of the issues noted on the forums with this screen. Again I've never been picky or had any problems with my MacBook screens (except for the 2nd Gen Air. Terrible screens). I have auto dimming turned off as I like to pick how bright my screen is.
*I purchased the 8/256 model and I don't have any complaints at all regarding speed. I do notice a difference in SSD speed in comparison to my M1 Air I just returned to get this 15". When transferring files it's noticeable Apple is using the slower, single SSD in comparison to M1. Other than that particular instance it's very fast and more than enough space and RAM for me.
Apple hit a home run here with the 15" Air. Nothing groundbreaking about the design or overall package in general but it delivers exactly what most users want from a MacBook: a big, beautiful screened laptop that doesn't break the bank. If this had been priced any higher than $1499 base I wouldn't have purchased one but I think the aggressive pricing of this laptop will make it a best seller very quickly.
*Like others have said it's very close in size to the old 15" MacBook Pro of which I previously owned but it's much lighter and the screen is much better in comparison. I only purchased that computer for the screen as I never took that computer to a quarter of its potential at the time.
*The speakers are AMAZING in comparison to my previous 13" Pro and M1 and M2 Air. The only MacBook that beats it was my 16" i9 MBP I had a few years back. Those speakers were louder and more full but bass wise I would put the 15" Air on par with those.
*The keyboard is spacious and great to type on. Honestly I've never had complaints with any of my MacBook keyboards; even the old 2016 15" MBP I had didn't bother me but this keyboard is miles better than that. Still not up to par to certain ThinkPad models (T Series and X1 Carbon series).
*Bright, beautiful screen and the notch doesn't bother me with the larger screen (it honestly did on the 13" M2 Air) and I don't see any of the issues noted on the forums with this screen. Again I've never been picky or had any problems with my MacBook screens (except for the 2nd Gen Air. Terrible screens). I have auto dimming turned off as I like to pick how bright my screen is.
*I purchased the 8/256 model and I don't have any complaints at all regarding speed. I do notice a difference in SSD speed in comparison to my M1 Air I just returned to get this 15". When transferring files it's noticeable Apple is using the slower, single SSD in comparison to M1. Other than that particular instance it's very fast and more than enough space and RAM for me.
Apple hit a home run here with the 15" Air. Nothing groundbreaking about the design or overall package in general but it delivers exactly what most users want from a MacBook: a big, beautiful screened laptop that doesn't break the bank. If this had been priced any higher than $1499 base I wouldn't have purchased one but I think the aggressive pricing of this laptop will make it a best seller very quickly.
Any other thoughts on the speakers? I have a 2016 13" Pro that I'm looking to upgrade. I assume the speakers in my Pro are the same as those in the M1 Air which some reviews have said to sound better than the M2 Air speakers since they're either side of the keyboard. Now I've heard some reviewers say the 15" Air speakers sound very marginally better than the 13" M2 speaker while others have said they sound considerably better. Basically I don't want to buy a 15" Air to find out my 6 year old Pro's speakers sound better.
I'm going from a 16" MBP which has incredible speakers.
The 15" MBA has "okay" speakers when compared to that beast.
They sound loud, but tinny. They don't have the "oomph" that 16" MBP frame allows for in it's bass.
I prefer the speakers in the MBP, but not the body & weight necessary to make those speakers the best.
Many users want a laptop for function, so boring for us is not a bad thing. IMO it is essential that laptop coloration not impact color perception, and space gray is ideal.
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I’m thinking of getting the 15 inch MacBook Air.
I have the 2020 MacBook Air at the moment with Intel i3, most of the time I just use it for web browsing, email etc. However the moment I used Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator or even iMovie the laptop seriously struggles.
Do you think the new M2 MacBook Air would be good for this? Also considering a MacBook Pro but they are quite expensive…
I have the 2020 MacBook Air at the moment with Intel i3, most of the time I just use it for web browsing, email etc. However the moment I used Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator or even iMovie the laptop seriously struggles.
Do you think the new M2 MacBook Air would be good for this? Also considering a MacBook Pro but they are quite expensive…
Simple answer is yes....I use the Affinity equivalents to the Adobe suite (so Affinity Photo / Publisher and Designer) and they fly compared to my previous machine. Yes, my machine was older than yours, but i7 with 16Gb and was quick at the time I had it.
If you do go for the MBA, it's probably worth stepping up from base spec, for the well reported slower SSD on that machine.
If you go the Air route, the 16GB / 512SSD is the safe choice if you're going to use those programs.
If you want to hedge your bets, look at the 14inch MBP refurbed on Apple's site. They have the 16GB / 512 SSD with the M2Pro chip for the same price.
Since you find the display OK on your current MBA I see no reason you would not be thrilled with the new 15" MBA with your described usage. I strongly recommend the 24 GB RAM choice and minimum 1 TB SSD. A good rule of thumb is to have available about double the maximum SSD space that you will use.
The main reasons for doubling the cost to get a MBP are 1) better display, 2) more available RAM, 3) more TB ports with more bandwidth and 4) the ability to drive more than one additional external display. It sounds like none of those four apply to you.
If you were to get serious about Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator or their ilk the MBA's max of 24 GB RAM is limiting. But Apple's Mac OS memory management is excellent, so as long as your usage of such apps is casual rather than intense you are unlikely to notice.
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I strongly disagree. IMO the 16GB / 512SSD is not the safe choice if you're going to use those programs; 16 GB is bare minimum for Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator that only works because the Mac OS manages memory so well. Note that RAM demands always increase over time, and a new box should reasonably be expected to be used until ~2027-2028.
Note: the display in the MacBook Pro is NOT necessarily better for color-sensitive work. Here's why:
I find it very misleading people keep saying the XDR displays as "better" and just keep citing the extra brightness and deeper blacks without mentioning colors and anything else that typically make a display "better". It's actually easier to calibrate and work with a non-XDR display in MacOS right now than with an XDR one.
I wouldn't bother trying to correct this misunderstanding had the circumstances not involved Photoshop/Indesign/Illustrator or anything that mostly needs color-critical work. Apple, in their infinite wisdom, actually has made it very hard to calibrate these displays without dedicated hardware or insane hacks to work around the whole display stack. It's maddeningly hard compared to what can be accomplished with a non-XDR display... like what's on the MacBook Air here.
As a result, for photo editing and design works... that require highly accurate colors, the MacBook Air's display is actually superior to the XDR displays in the Pro models just because of this one reason.
It's not. I checked mine.
We also have seen this issue with a M1 Air before and could just exchange the device at a local Apple Store.
But beside that, this is only an issue with displaying black in a dark room. The issue I'm talking about with the XDR display is lack of proper calibration support. So basically... any color other than black.
This is very true but this argument will drive some people mad. "You should get the MacBook Pro for that price."
In France, even with 16GB of ram and a 512GB SSD, the 15inch air is stills 340€ cheaper. And the 15inch, is a lot bigger than the 14inch. As mentioned by a lot of reviewers the 14inch pro is more similar to the 13inch air.
The argument of pro motion, which is barely noticeable, vs a fairly larger screen which is quite noticeable, remains.
Going higher means more money, and I don't assume anyone has the money to go wild with the best options. So I stuck with a budget based on what thought the poster seemed to be asking. Sure if you can go $2K, that's a no brainer. But if you are spending that much money, one would probably be better off getting a refurbed MBP.
I always go for Space Grey. It's a personal preference. Not boring to me.
There is another very important reason. Fans….cooled CPU enables max preformance for long durations.
This implies that the fanless MBA is not capable of sustained high load…which is not true. I have run my 13" M2 MBA at 100% CPU for two hours doing chess analysis. It settles down to a throttled state that gets the job done. I tried doing the same on an M1 MBP pro with fans and of course it was faster but the fans were on full speed and it was not a pleasant experience!
Of course people who need to do sustained high load at max performance regularly should get a cooled MBP, but the rest of us can take a little longer and enjoy the silence.
Even in its throttled state the M2 MBA is faster than many recent Intel Macs.
For decades throttling has been seen as the work of the devil, indicator of a badly designed machine. The whole paradigm has changed, now it is a design tool, but perceptions are slow to change.
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