15" MacBook Air First Impressions

[Saturn007]

Yes, the weight loss is noticeable, but not as dramatic as you’re thinking. The 15” MBP that I have (2017) is almost exactly 4 lbs.

That was helpful. My comparison point was a 2008 15” MBP that weighed 5.5 pounds! So, 3.3 would be a HUGE difference. Still, going from 4 pounds to 3.3 is not to be sneezed at. Intriguingly, however, that’s the same difference as going to the M2 MBA at 2.7 pounds! But at the cost of the larger 15.3” screen.

Doesn't your head hurt now when you fast scroll on your intel Mac? There is no ProMotion on those models.

Solution: Don’t fast scroll! 🙈

I've been using a 2015 13” MBA without real issues. No problem reading news articles, MR threads, etc. Just discovered the other day, however, that it uses PWM — but at an incredibly high frequency, much higher than the current MacBook Pros (by a factor of 10 or more, IIRC). But it's not been a problem.

A Retina Display (2019 MBA, e.g.) is markedly better, but it's amazing what one can adjust to. Of course, my usual internet browsing is done on an iPad 9, so it's not that big a deal, anyway.

 

[xfusejc]

I may be a bit of an odd duck in terms of the swap, but I sold my M1 Pro 16'' and got the 15'' Air in Midnight. It's a downgrade across the board, BUT, the Pro was just too much for my needs. I originally got it for the bigger screen and only for the bigger screen (which is glorious, and that full nit brightness is epic for defeating outside glare), but for my uses, it was a very overpowered machine. With the education discount and what I got from the Pro, it came out to about $300 for the brand new 15'' Air when AppleCare is factored in, and that's a great price that I couldn't pass up.

The screen is smaller, the resolution is smaller, the brightness is less, and there's no XDR option. However, the weight feels significantly less (even if it's only 1+ lb, the difference between 4.4lbs and 3.3lb is noticeable), the ease of portability and carrying around is significantly improved, and the overall laptop is a freaking delight to use. I tested them basically side by side, and while I can definitely see where the 16'' Pro excels over the Air, for someone like me who wasn't using all its PRO advantages to the limit, this was a no-brainer of a swap, particularly given what it ended up costing.

 

[souko]

Yes, it is harder to calibrate XDR displays. But with callibration device for $200 you can callibrate them specifically with 150 nits for best accuracy. And you do not have to look after your actual brightness for accuracy. I consider that as advantage. But for non professional use (even for professional to some degree) is Air’s screen certainly enough.

I would factor GPU performance as Air’s disadvantage if you use AI enhanced RAW in Lightroom. It depends heavily on GPU and with multiple photos can better gpu greatly save time.

 

[lJoSquaredl]

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 am curious how much the heat with sustained loads over a long time hurts things like battery life tho. Feels like my Air's battery has deteriorated a lot faster than any other fan based system I've ever used, wonder if that may be the cause.

 

[Bcn]

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.

pro motion for me is a big deal.

 

[lJoSquaredl]

pro motion for me is a big deal.

Guess everyones different, I would personally keep it off to save battery life a majority of the time. (maybe not when playing WoW cuz so much swiping) Same with the XDR display, if I'm not watching movies in HDR seems less useful, I still get the inky deep blacks and I'm never above 50% brightness anyways.

 

[bill-p]

Yes, it is harder to calibrate XDR displays. But with callibration device for $200 you can callibrate them specifically with 150 nits for best accuracy. And you do not have to look after your actual brightness for accuracy. I consider that as advantage. But for non professional use (even for professional to some degree) is Air’s screen certainly enough.

I would factor GPU performance as Air’s disadvantage if you use AI enhanced RAW in Lightroom. It depends heavily on GPU and with multiple photos can better gpu greatly save time.

The problem with "best accuracy" at certain nits is... I cannot possibly calibrate exactly to the same lighting condition in the room on the spot and then tweak so that the colors will come out right in the print. And yes, it is a big deal when you're out in the field and you're working with a local print shop to get your photos to come out right. "Calibrating to a certain nits" only works in the movie industry.

Alternatively, I guess I can lug along the $200 or $500 calibration tool. Fine. But that's even more I have to carry in the bag just for that one occasion I need it for printing. And even then, I have to trust that the software that interfaces with the tool is accurate enough. And... even then, the calibration ends up being just white point and not other things like tint/hue/gamma/brightness/contrast, all of which are device-dependent, too.

Yes, you can tell I have had to "hack" around all of this with the XDR display. I think Apple got the right idea for the display to work with movie editing workflows but... in the process, they basically made it unusable for photo editing unless someone is super code-savvy and can deal with all of the OS hacks needed to get calibration to work by forcing color profiles into the display stack.

AI-enhancements also do not work all the time and you'll still end up doing manual tweaks anyway. I've found that nothing saves as much time as... getting the screen to "look right" for that lighting condition and the printer... and then make adjustments, and then just print. Works every time and never requires me to reprint afterwards.

If you don't have to work with prints and your photos only have to be displayed on the web, then in which case, the same things apply except... now you gotta calibrate the screen to the clients' phone displays. Oh yes, I have had those requests too. "Why do your photos look so yellow on my iPhone's display?"

How do I explain to the clients what "true tone" is doing?

Thanks, Apple!

 

[applesed]

This is kind of funny:

1tb,24gb,1 external monitor,3.3lb: $2k
1tb,32tb,2 external monitors, 3.26lb, touch screen: $1k…


What??

(Why would one get the 15” air or over the 16” lg gram?)

 

[bill-p]

(Why would one get the 15” air or over the 16” lg gram?)

Because they obviously have not used the 16" LG Gram and experienced how horrible the whole thing flexes, plus how dim the display is, and how hot it can get before it throttles down to oblivion.

 

[ozziegn]

My 15" Silver MBA was delivered on Tuesday and I fell in love with it. I transferred all my stuff from my 13" M1 MBA and I was getting ready to either sell it or trade it in to Apple. Something told me to hold on to it and wait. I'm glad I did because I started to watch a movie on my new laptop last night and I noticed my screen has a problem on the left side. Needless to say I returned it back to Apple today and I'm just going to stick with my old reliable 13" M1 MBA....

Such is life.....

 

[IJBrekke]

Update: Returned the midnight, but am now cautiously optimistic on the screen (eye fatigue issues as previously discussed). It’s bothering me less than the problem laptops did last year, for whatever reason (could be the screen, could be me). I re-ordered the space gray to keep test driving.

Everything else about the machine is excellent. I have wanted a true replacement to the 15” MBP for years, and this is absolutely it.

 

[Zazoh]

Or go ahead and eat a bag of chips?

I will say this. I’ve had midnight since M2 launch. I quit cleaning it and it eventually has an even look, not shinny but a matte finish.

 

[Blaine]

I will say this. I’ve had midnight since M2 launch. I quit cleaning it and it eventually has an even look, not shinny but a matte finish.

Do you have a picture of how it looks by any chance? 🥰

 

[lJoSquaredl]

My 15" Silver MBA was delivered on Tuesday and I fell in love with it. I transferred all my stuff from my 13" M1 MBA and I was getting ready to either sell it or trade it in to Apple. Something told me to hold on to it and wait. I'm glad I did because I started to watch a movie on my new laptop last night and I noticed my screen has a problem on the left side. Needless to say I returned it back to Apple today and I'm just going to stick with my old reliable 13" M1 MBA....

Such is life.....

Does your screen have a slight red tint to it as well? I've seen that as an issue on some MBAs but I've never seen it on the MBP line, I wonder if they just take less care in making sure it's color accurate or make skin tones look a little better with a slight red tint to the panel for the more casual consumers on the Air? I think I've even heard Fincher mention how lots of monitors these days have red tint to make people look prettier...and how he'd rather people look real and sick lol

 

[Koobs]

Coming from a 2015 MacBook, the 15" MBA is a Ferrari. Love it.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I am curious how much the heat with sustained loads over a long time hurts things like battery life tho. Feels like my Air's battery has deteriorated a lot faster than any other fan based system I've ever used, wonder if that may be the cause.

I have had two M1 MBAs and now an M2 MBA. I sold the the two M1 MBAs at close to 2 years old and one had 99% Health and the other 100%. My M2 MBA is now nearly a year old and has 100%.

All three have been plugged in most of the time so I have used AlDente to limit max charge to 70% (Apple’s OBC never worked for me). I am not claiming AlDente has done this as there is a lot of variability in battery health drop.

I live in temperate UK.

 

[Surfsalot]

My 15" Silver MBA was delivered on Tuesday and I fell in love with it. I transferred all my stuff from my 13" M1 MBA and I was getting ready to either sell it or trade it in to Apple. Something told me to hold on to it and wait. I'm glad I did because I started to watch a movie on my new laptop last night and I noticed my screen has a problem on the left side. Needless to say I returned it back to Apple today and I'm just going to stick with my old reliable 13" M1 MBA....

Such is life.....

I had an air 2 that was worse, got it for $900AUD off retail from a lady who bought wrong gb size for her.
Flipped it a week later for $100 profit lol.
Could of went through the screen lottery with Apple but couldn’t be bothered.

 

[boak]

Guess everyones different, I would personally keep it off to save battery life a majority of the time. (maybe not when playing WoW cuz so much swiping) Same with the XDR display, if I'm not watching movies in HDR seems less useful, I still get the inky deep blacks and I'm never above 50% brightness anyways.

ProMotion saves battery though

 

[TVreporter]

My first impression: holy it’s $1750 Canadian just for the base model.

My ideal is 16 GB/512SSD and that puts it at $2250 … $2540 with taxes.

Pain… that’s the first impression

 

[ilikewhey]

My 15" Silver MBA was delivered on Tuesday and I fell in love with it. I transferred all my stuff from my 13" M1 MBA and I was getting ready to either sell it or trade it in to Apple. Something told me to hold on to it and wait. I'm glad I did because I started to watch a movie on my new laptop last night and I noticed my screen has a problem on the left side. Needless to say I returned it back to Apple today and I'm just going to stick with my old reliable 13" M1 MBA....

Such is life.....

holy crap that is even worse than my work issued m2 mba 😂 and i thought my was a outlier. funny enough all these ppl claiming their mba display is perfect never back it up with a pictures.

 

[Scarrus]

I may be a bit of an odd duck in terms of the swap, but I sold my M1 Pro 16'' and got the 15'' Air in Midnight. It's a downgrade across the board, BUT, the Pro was just too much for my needs. I originally got it for the bigger screen and only for the bigger screen (which is glorious, and that full nit brightness is epic for defeating outside glare), but for my uses, it was a very overpowered machine. With the education discount and what I got from the Pro, it came out to about $300 for the brand new 15'' Air when AppleCare is factored in, and that's a great price that I couldn't pass up.

The screen is smaller, the resolution is smaller, the brightness is less, and there's no XDR option. However, the weight feels significantly less (even if it's only 1+ lb, the difference between 4.4lbs and 3.3lb is noticeable), the ease of portability and carrying around is significantly improved, and the overall laptop is a freaking delight to use. I tested them basically side by side, and while I can definitely see where the 16'' Pro excels over the Air, for someone like me who wasn't using all its PRO advantages to the limit, this was a no-brainer of a swap, particularly given what it ended up costing.

So you paid 300$ to get rid of your 16" ins favour of the 15"?
I don't call that a deal.

 

[Tenashus1]

I went for the 15" MBA with 16gb/1tb. Then I looked at how much I spent. Then I saw the 14" MBP M2 Pro. I saw how there was no touch bar on the MBP, and I liked that because I don't like the touch bar. Then I read that the fans on the MBP are 99% quiet. Then I saw how much power the MBP had. Then I realized that the MBP was a much better machine at that price point. So, I returned the MBA, and bought a Apple refurbished MBP M2 Pro with a lot of cores of GPU. Hardly a difference in price between the MBA and the MBP. Same weight essentially. Returned the MBA today. And that's what happened in a nutshell. For me, it's like the difference between an V6 Mustang and a GT. I think I will be happy with the MBP for a long time to come. Yay!

 

[Scarrus]

I went for the 15" MBA with 16gb/1tb. Then I looked at how much I spent. Then I saw the 14" MBP M2 Pro. I saw how there was no touch bar on the MBP, and I liked that because I don't like the touch bar. Then I read that the fans on the MBP are 99% quiet. Then I saw how much power the MBP had. Then I realized that the MBP was a much better machine at that price point. So, I returned the MBA, and bought a Apple refurbished MBP M2 Pro with a lot of cores of GPU. Hardly a difference in price between the MBA and the MBP. Same weight essentially. Returned the MBA today. And that's what happened in a nutshell. For me, it's like the difference between an V6 Mustang and a GT. I think I will be happy with the MBP for a long time to come. Yay!

But the screen does seem smaller doesn't it? Or is it negligible?

 

[Mr. Dee]

Visited the local Apple store to check out the new MacBook Air 15 inch. First observation, people are buying this new SKU like crazy! Apple knew what it was doing by releasing this now. Get as much buyers for the 16 inch as possible, even if they don't need all that power. By the time they are ready to launch 15 inch, those 16 inch with buyers remorse can't return it or can only trade it in, win-win for Apple. We even see it here in the forums with the many trade in's of the 16 inch for the 15.

First impressions upon seeing the 15 Air, its big, its like a deja vu of the retina 15 inch MacBook Pro, only its much lighter, less ports and no backlit logo. In fact, a dad who was in the store purchasing one for his daughter asked the Apple rep if the logo lights up on these. Only to be told no with a look of disappointment on his face. Many I noticed are opting for the base model, which probably suggest this purchase is influenced by inflation, cloud storage, Google Docs, I just want a big screen and basic office productivity/web browsing.

Apple I also believed created the 15 inch to better utilize features in macOS like the new Stage Manager in Ventura. Stage Manager makes so much sense on a larger screen and is more fun to use.

Using apps like Photos felt more like a vista, getting a birds eye view of more content in the photo library is much nicer.

Working with content in split view is super great, I could have Word and a browser window open be able to easily type and reference information. This will be an excellent laptop for students and just based on how light and thin it is, it will be easy to carry around.

Apple has its best line up in years and the company I believe is being very strategic. With the 15 MacBook Air now available , it provides an excellent alternative for those who were considering the 16 inch MacBook Pro for the larger screen and even for those who were looking at the Touch Bar M2 MBP. Of course if you are gonna be editing large media projects the thermal requirements needed might push many to still look into the 14 or 16 in Pro or 13 inch MBP if they are on a budget.

My recommendation for Apple would be to make 14 inch MacBook Pro in the 1499 price point who need the cooling for sustained power when working on complex projects and finally drop that 13 inch Touch Bar MacBook. I was very tempted yesterday to purchase a 15 in MacBook Air, but with a move coming up soon, vacation in August and still using my excellent 2020 M1 MacBook Pro, it just couldn't be a justified purchase at this time

 

[Tenashus1]

But the screen does seem smaller doesn't it? Or is it negligible?

I found the 15" to be massive and a bit overwhelming to me. My finger had to travel further on the MBA to get where I needed to go. 14" is smaller, but something I'm more used to in a Mac. 14" is a sweet spot for me. There are many pluses to the MBP Pro M2. It should certainly be considered if you're looking to spend around 2K for an M2.