The MacBook Air 15-inch M2 is here!
This new laptop is a lot like its 13-inch counterpart, the MacBook Air M2, only with a larger 15-inch display. Like its smaller sibling, the 15-inch MacBook Air features a design similar to the 2021 MacBook Pros; complete with MagSafe charging, thinner bezels and an overall flat design. Apple claims this is the thinnest 15-inch laptop on the market and that it's twice as fast as Windows laptops with an Intel Core i7 CPU. It also comes in four different colors.
As we said in our MacBook Air 15-inch M2 review, this is the thinnest 15-inch laptop and the best. Be sure to read that review for a full breakdown. Below, you'll find a quick summary of what the MacBook Air 15-inch M2 has to offer.
MacBook Air 15-inch latest news (June 12)
- MacBook Air 15-inch starts at $1,299. Releases on June 13.
- The device is 11.5 mm thin, which is the thinnest 15-inch on the market.
- Weighs 3.3 pounds.
- The M2-powered 15-inch lasts nearly 15 hours.
- The new Air packs six speakers for immersive sound.
- There are four color options: Midnight, Starlight, Silver, and Space Gray
MacBook Air 15-inch: Specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | MacBook Air 15-inch |
| Price | $1,299 (starting) |
| Display | 15.3-inch Liquid Retina |
| Chipset | Apple M2 (8-core CPU/10-core GPU) |
| RAM | Up to 24GB |
| Webcam | 1080p |
| Battery | 14:59 hours (tested) |
| Weight | 3.3 pounds |
MacBook Air 15-inch: Release date and price
The MacBook Air 15-inch M2 launches on June 13 with a starting price of $1,299 at Apple’s online store. This is $100 more than last year’s 13-inch MacBook Air M2 cost when it launched. That smaller model now goes for an even cheaper $1,099. Like that version, the new 15-inch Air comes in four colors: Midnight, Starlight, Silver, and Space Gray.
Here's our guide on how to pre-order the MacBook Air 15-inch if you want to be one of the first-day users.
This entry-level configuration comes with an Apple M2 chip featuring an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, 8GB of Unified Memory (RAM) and 256GB of SSD storage. If you need more memory and space, you can upgrade up to 24GB of RAM and up to 2TB of SSD of storage — though that’ll bump the price up to $2,499. All configurations feature the same M2 chip with an 8-core CPU and 10-Core GPU.
MacBook Air 15-inch: Design
The MacBook Air 15-inch is a bigger version of the 13-inch MacBook Air. Despite its larger size and additional weight, this is still one of the thinnest and lightest laptops — measuring 13.4 x 9.3 x 0.45 inches and weighing 3.3 pounds.
Apple says this is the thinnest 15-inch laptop out there, and we’re inclined to believe that claim. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 and Dell XPS 15 OLED (2023) are 0.5 and 0.7 inches thick, respectively. At 3.3 pounds, the new Air is heavier than the 2.7-pound 13-inch model.
The MacBook Air 15-inch follows the same design language introduced last year — a flat, uniform chassis with flat edges. Though the keyboard and trackpad aren't noticeably larger, there is now more space between them and the device's edges.
Like the 13-inch MacBook Air M2, the new laptop features MagSafe charging, two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Thunderbolt ports allow you to connect up to a 6K external display.
As mentioned up top, the new Apple notebook comes in four finishes: Midnight, Starlight, Silver, and Space Gray.
MacBook Air 15-inch: Performance
The MacBook Air 15-inch sports the M2 chip, which first appeared in last year's MacBook Pro 13-inch and MacBook Air. Apple claims its newest laptop is up to 12 times faster than the fast Intel-based MacBook Air. The company also claims the new MacBook Air is up to twice as fast as a 15-inch PC laptop with a Core i7 processor and that its battery can last up to 18 hours.
The MacBook Air's M2 chip sports an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and four efficiency cores, a 10-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine. The M2 processor delivers 100GB/s of memory bandwidth and supports up to 24GB of unified memory (RAM).
When we benchmarked the MacBook Air 15-inch M2 on Geekbench 5, it notched a single-core score of 1,908 and 8,932 on the multi-core test. These results are almost identical to the 13-inch MacBook Air (1,911 / 8,965) and the MacBook Pro 13-inch M2 (1,898 / 8,911), which both have an M2 chip with 8 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores.
You can read our review to see how the MacBook Air 15-inch fared in our other lab tests, but suffice it to say that this laptop can handle almost anything you throw at it.
MacBook Air 15-inch: Display and sound
This laptop’s main selling point is its large 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display. It delivers bright and colorful images at a sharp native 2,880 x 1,864 resolution. In our experience, it's great for watching videos, web browsing, photo editing and more.
When we pointed our colorimeter at the screen, we found it produces 111.4% of the sRGB color spectrum and 78.9% of the more demanding DCI-P3 color gamut (100% is most accurate for both).
The MacBook Air’s panel gets fairly bright. When viewing HDR content, the laptop got as high as 479 nits of brightness when displaying HDR content on 10% of the display and 480 nits for 100% of the screen. With regard to non-HDR brightness, the panel averaged 473 nits of brightness.
One of the most notable upgrades this laptop has over its 13-inch counterpart is its 6-speaker sound system. The latter’s 4-speaker sound system was pretty good, but the new laptop’s speakers blow it away. Sound-wise, this laptop is almost on par with the latest MacBook Pros — which also feature a 6-speaker sound system.
MacBook Air 15-inch: Battery life
Apple boasted that the 15-inch MacBook Air has up to 18 hours of battery life. While the laptop didn’t last that long in our testing, it’s still one of the longest-lasting laptops you’ll come across.
On the Tom’s Guide battery rest, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness, the new 15-inch Air averaged 14 hours and 59 minutes. That's excellent for a laptop this size and better than the 13-inch Air, which averaged 14 hours and 6 minutes. However, neither can match the MacBook Pro 13-inch with its epic 18 hours and 20 minutes of battery life.
All configurations of the MacBook Air 15-inch M2 come with Apple's 35W Dual Port Adapter, meaning you could charge your MacBook and another device simultaneously. This charger was only offered for 13-inch MacBook Air models with higher specs, for comparison.
The MacBook Air 15-inch Apple sent us came with a 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter. What’s great about this particular adapter is that you can plug in another device at the same time. You can choose a 70W charger at no additional cost, though this adapter only has a single port for charging.
MacBook Air 15-inch: Outlook
The MacBook Air 15-inch might not be revolutionary but for what it offers, it's one of the best 15-inch laptops you can buy.
Its M2 chip delivers solid performance for everyday computing while its 15-inch display is ideally suited for watching videos and browsing the web. Toss in exceptional 15-hour battery life and an overall elegant design, and the MacBook Air 15 is a winner — especially for $1,299.
Overall, the MacBook Air 15-inch is well worth considering. Right now, it's the Apple laptop to beat in terms of overall price and performance.
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