Apple MacBook Air 15-inch preview: Transportable energy

In addition to a slew of Macs, new Silicon and a compelling new Imaginative and prescient Professional headset, Apple additionally launched a 15-inch MacBook Air at its Worldwide Developer Convention (WWDC) right this moment. The bigger MacBook Air not solely provides a much bigger show than its 13-inch counterpart, however it additionally comes with a extra refined sound system and battery life that is rated for hours longer. I used to be capable of decide one as much as see the way it feels right here at Apple Park right this moment, although I wasn’t allowed to do a lot else with it. 

I do like how skinny and light-weight the brand new MacBook Air is — at 11.5mm (0.45inches) skinny and three.3 kilos (1.49 kgs), it beats the Dell XPS 15, which is each heavier and thicker. Apple’s machine has a barely smaller 15.3-inch Liquid Retina Show, although, whereas Dell’s is available in at 15.6 inches.

The 15-inch MacBook Air’s display screen can stand up to 500 nits of brightness, and although I by no means bought an opportunity to view it outdoor, the images and interfaces I did see have been beautiful and crisp. Colours have been vibrant and wealthy, and when an Apple rep confirmed me images of long-haired canines and a lady in a purple costume in entrance of some cliffs, the main points have been tack sharp.

I additionally bought to see how the laptop computer handles duties like photo-editing and gaming, which due to its M2 chip occurred impressively rapidly. An Apple rep used Photonator to erase a number of kayaks from a topdown picture of canoes on a river, and in addition modified the colours of sure elements of the picture. Every little thing occurred immediately and precisely. Additionally they confirmed me a part of a recreation known as Stray so I may see how the laptop computer dealt with the graphics rendering of issues like mild reflecting off a puddle. These have been very managed demos, so whereas all of them did carry out nicely and with out lag, I’d fairly consider the MacBook Air based mostly on our personal realworld testing.

I did get to take a look at the brand new six-speaker sound system with spatial audio when a rep performed some songs for me, together with Beyonce’s Cuff It. Sadly, as a result of the demo area we have been in was pretty noisy, it was laborious to gauge how nicely the audio sounded. I caught my ear proper subsequent to the machine and was solely barely capable of hear the track. That is one other function we’ll have to attend for a overview unit to check for ourselves.

I wasn’t capable of do a lot else with the brand new laptop computer, actually, however this is a fast recap of a few of its options. It has the identical notch design from the 13-inch MacBook Air that homes its 1080p webcam, however in contrast to the smaller mannequin, this yr’s machine comes with a 10-core GPU throughout the board as an alternative of 8 cores. It additionally ships with the dual-port 35W charger by default and has a bigger trackpad. 

When you’re intrigued, you’ll be able to order the 15-inch MacBook Air right this moment, beginning at $1,299, and it will be stocked in shops on June thirteenth. 

Observe all the information from Apple’s WWDC 2023 proper right here.