The meta-narrative surrounding the new 15" MBA is that it is the same as the 13" model, but bigger. While that is technically true, it could be a little too reductionist. One need not bother to write a review for a product that brings nothing more to the table than a couple of inches. But that mindset can cause one to miss the full impact of what is on offer. Allow me to highlight a few things that make this product a little more than the sum of its parts:

Still thin and light

The biggest disadvantage to making the MBA bigger is that it will be bigger in every way. If you bought the MBA for the size and weight, you might not look forward to something that will remove some of that advantage.

While the 15" MBA is bigger and heavier, it is not the boat anchor you fear. It is practically the same thickness as the 13" model. That feels like a miracle all by itself. Naturally, the x/y axis has to grow a bit. But the weight was held in check. Though being a half a pound heavier than the 13" MBA, the 15" doesn't feel heavier in the hand. This is partially because the weight is well balanced and perfectly distributed over the platter. It is still every inch (and pound) the MacBook Air, only more of it.

If you are coming from the PC world, you are more than familiar with 15" laptops. They are either slower, louder, or heavier. There will be other compromises. That is not to say there are no good ones to compare. But when you see the 15" Air, you will realize that in all the ways that really matter, nothing compares. This is what every large-format thin and light wants to be. It doesn't at all feel like a 15" PC laptop.

On the lap

Believe it or not, laptops were made to be used on the lap rather than a desk. If anything, the 15" handles better on the lap than the smaller one. For a small laptop to work, you need a small lap. If you have a larger lap, you need a larger laptop.

I am roughly 6', 190 lb. At rest, my legs have a natural spread so that my knees are not pressed together when I sit. The 13" Air has to find a place in the middle where it is stable and balanced. It sometimes rests more on one leg than the other. But the 15" Air rests on my lap more naturally. The larger surface area makes for a better lap experience.

When open on a desk, it requires a bit more space due to its larger footprint. That said, the benefit is that the screen is a little taller so you don't have to look down quite as much. As it happens, I use my laptop while sitting in comfortable chairs. So the increased lapability is a big deal for me.

I/o

You get the same arrangement of ports. Nothing has changed. Whatever you didn't like about the ports on the smaller version is there for you to dislike on the larger version. But ports are not the only part of the story.

The biggest change is the trackpad. It is not that the one on the 13" is small. It is that the one on the 15" is huge. To be more precise, it fills the extra space nicely. If you are a lover of large trackpads, this might be a selling point for you.

I have no reason to believe the keys are any different. Yet my first impression typing on the 15" was that the keys felt a tad bit larger and more spaced out. This is nothing more than an illusion. But it is a pleasant one. I am sensitive to even small differences in keyboards. And this one felt ever so slightly larger. But that is probably due to seeing a much larger canvas.

The sound is no joke. I see some people downplaying the improvement in audio and I suspect they are users of one of the pro models. Coming from the 13" Air, the improvement is easily noticeable and quite significant. The louder, more full sound comes courtesy of a new 6-speaker array. There are many PC notebooks with such understated great sound. There are no special buzz-worthy partnerships with premium speaker companies. This is just Apple being quietly outstanding at what they do.

The big picture

Two laptop inches is a big deal. Again, any reviewer downplaying this fact is doing a disservice to their readers. On a laptop screen, everything is better when it is bigger. Sometimes, more is more. If a game on a 13" screen is fun, it is more fun at 15". If a document is productive on a 13" screen, it is even more productive at 15". You get the idea.

If all you do on your laptop is surf the web, email, and message, you will still benefit from a larger scree. When the screen gets bigger, you have two options:

1. You can view everything a little bigger as in bigger text and larger images. The information density stays the same while everything expands.
2. You keep all the sizes the same as before but opt to have more information on the screen at one time. That is increased information density.

There is no wrong choice. If your vision is poor like mine, you might want to stick with a low resolution and make everything a lot bigger. This is the perfect option for a lot of people.

Even so, there are times when you really need to squeeze as much information on the screen as possible. This is especially true for apps with lots of information and windows. Think content creation apps and spreadsheets. macOS makes it easy to switch back and forth between display resolutions. So you can choose the one that best suits you for a particular task.

There is also the matter of entertainment. No one wants to watch a movie on a smartphone screen if they have a bigger one at their disposal. Watching movies, shows, and videos on a larger screen is better in obvious ways.

I'm not much of a gamer and I can crush candy on any display. But for those games with lots of elements, text bubbles, and huge worlds to explore, 15" is the starting point. The bigger screen is a bigger window into your digital world. And that absolutely makes a big difference.

Power and performance

Don't expect benchmarks. I am simply never going to go out and do benchmark tests. They serve no practical purpose for me. And I have yet to hear anyone else provide a good reason why anyone should care about such things.

Your measure of performance has nothing to do with how fast some 8K video renders. It is strictly a matter of how it feels to you when you are actually using the machine for the things that you normally do. There is nothing about the experience that feels slow. The M2 chip is no joke. Everything is as zippy as you could imagine possible. At no point will you be operating the interface and think to yourself that you wish it was just a little faster. That thought will never cross your mind.

Another reason benchmarks aren't particularly helpful is they mostly only show you the theoretical results you might get if you used certain applications and did particular things in those applications. The fastest machine on the market is going to run your application poorly if it is not coded very well or if it does not have recent updates that take advantage of your system's tech.

Everyone has at least one of those apps. You probably have more than one. It is an app that you either need for a particular job or one that you just enjoy. You either can't replace it or you don't want to. Furthermore, if it still works, you shouldn't have to. Just don't blame the system for the sluggishness. It isn't the system, it's the app.

I find that the M2 handles all my old and crusty applications as well as one can reasonably expect. I have no complaints. And newer, better optimized apps fly like the wind. Note that I am using the base model. There are no upgrades clouding my judgement.

Another performance bottleneck that is often blamed on a machine is one that involves network constraints. It is hard to find applications and experiences that don't rely heavily on a fast internet connection. Everything is connected. If your internet speed is slow, your system will feel slow.

Some processes take a longer such as video renders. This machine will not get you the same blazing speeds you would get from an M2 Ultra. So what? This will get the work done way faster than you expect, and way faster than a comparable PC doing the same task. You can absolutely do a pro workload on this machine. Hollywood producers need not apply.

Value proposition

The 15" MacBook Air is not just a good value: it's phenomenal! At $1,299 for the base model, it is exactly the price of the 13" unit moments before being unveiled. It was not $100 more. If you got the 13" with the same processor as the 15", you would have paid $1,299 for the privilege. So in fact, the 15 Air entered the market at the same price as the 13".

What makes the deal even better is that on the day of the announcement, Apple actually lowered the price of the 13" by $100. If you upgrade the processor to match the 15", the price difference is now only $100. Apple made a great new computer a no-brainer. If you were thinking about buying an M2 Air, it just makes more sense for most people to go with the 15" model. It is now the new standard for elegance, performance, and price. That is not something you can always say about Apple products.

Conclusion: Yes, you should buy it!

If you are waiting for an all-clear, you got it. There is no good reason not to buy the 15" MacBook Air. It is big, beautiful, and budget-friendly. Despite the additional size and weight, it does not feel at all thick and heavy. It remains a thin and light.

Having owned the 16" MacBook Pro, I can tell you that thing was a boat anchor. It was great all the way up to the point that you had to pick it up and bring it someplace that wasn't your desk. This is not that. The 15" MacBook Air is a no-compromise experience that has been a long time coming in the Mac laptop line. Whether you know it or not, this is the one you have been waiting for.

David Johnson