The Apple MacBook Air 15 is a high-end ultraportable laptop. It's a larger version of the Apple MacBook Air 13 (2022) but with a 15.3-inch display and a six-speaker (up from four) sound system. It has a 10-core GPU M2 SoC, and its memory and storage are configurable up to 24GB and 2TB, respectively. Like its 13-inch sibling, it has a 1080p webcam and Wi-Fi 6, and its ports include two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3s, a MagSafe charging port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It's available in the same colors: Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver. You can see our unit's specifications and the available configuration options in the Differences Between Variants section below.
Our Verdict
The Apple MacBook Air 15 is great for school use. Thanks to its thin and light design, it feels incredibly well-built and very portable. It has a sharp, bright display, a comfortable keyboard, and a large, responsive touchpad. Its M2 SoC can handle general productivity tasks and more demanding workloads like photo and video editing. The battery lasts about eight hours of light use, so depending on your usage, you may have to plug it in for a quick charge to get through the day. Unfortunately, it only has two USB-C ports with support for a single external display.
- Well built and easy to carry around.
- Sharp, bright display.
- Comfortable keyboard, gigantic touchpad.
- Battery lasts slightly over eight hours of light use.
- M2 SoC can handle some demanding tasks.
- Only two USB-C ports with support for a single external display.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 is mediocre for gaming. Although its M2 SoC is capable, gaming performance will vary greatly depending on the game, as few titles have been optimized for macOS with Apple's ARM-based SoC. Also, it has a 60Hz display with a slow response time and doesn't support variable refresh rate to reduce screen tearing. On the upside, it doesn't get hot under load, and since it's fanless, there's no fan noise.
- Comfortable keyboard, gigantic touchpad.
- M2 SoC can handle some demanding tasks.
- Fast SSD.
- 60Hz display with slow response time.
- Only two USB-C ports with support for a single external display.
- RAM and storage aren't user-replaceable.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 is great for media consumption. It's easy to carry around, and its battery lasts over eight hours of video playback, giving you plenty of time to get through multiple full-length movies. The display is sharp, bright, and color-accurate; however, blacks look gray in dim settings due to its relatively low contrast. The speakers get very loud and sound full and well-balanced with a good amount of bass.
- Well built and easy to carry around.
- Sharp, bright display.
- Loud speakers with a full, well-balanced sound.
- Battery lasts slightly over eight hours of light use.
- Superb factory calibration.
- Blacks look gray in dim settings.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 is great for use as a workstation. Its M2 SoC can handle fairly demanding workloads, including tasks like video editing. Plus, it has a display with full DCI P3 coverage, so you can fully rely on it for color work. It doesn't get hot under load, and since it's a fanless device, there's no fan noise. Unfortunately, its port selection is limited to two USB-C ports with support for a single external display, and its memory and storage aren't user-upgradeable.
- Comfortable keyboard, gigantic touchpad.
- M2 SoC can handle some demanding tasks.
- Fast SSD.
- Display has full DCI P3 coverage.
- Superb factory calibration.
- Only two USB-C ports with support for a single external display.
- RAM and storage aren't user-replaceable.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 is great for business use. It feels incredibly well-built and is very portable. Its M2 SoC can handle most productivity tasks, like text formatting, spreadsheets, and presentations, and you can even do some occasional photo and video editing. The display is sharp and bright, the keyboard is comfortable to type on, and the touchpad is large and responsive. The webcam's video quality is excellent, and the microphone sounds loud and clear. The battery lasts around eight hours of light use, so you may need to plug it in for a quick charge to get through the day. The main downside is that it only has two USB-C ports and can only output a video signal to a single external display.
- Well built and easy to carry around.
- Sharp, bright display.
- Comfortable keyboard, gigantic touchpad.
- Battery lasts slightly over eight hours of light use.
- M2 SoC can handle some demanding tasks.
- Only two USB-C ports with support for a single external display.
Changelog
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Updated Apr 04, 2025:
We've added the Apple MacBook Air 15 (M4, 2025) as an alternative with better external display support in the Ports section.
- Updated Jan 18, 2024: Added mention of the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) as an alternative with a wider port selection and multi-display support in the Ports section.
- Updated Dec 07, 2023: Converted to Test Bench 0.8.2.
- Updated Nov 30, 2023: We've changed the Flicker-Free result in the Flicker section to 'No' because the backlight technically flickers.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Apple MacBook Air 15 with an M2 SoC (8 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores), 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Only the memory and storage are configurable; the available options are in the table below.
| Screen |
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| SoC |
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| Memory |
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| Storage |
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| Color |
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You can see our unit's label here.
Popular Laptop Comparisons
The Apple MacBook Air 15 is among the best ultraportables on the market. It stands out for its exceptional build and the user experience it provides. However, like its 13-inch sibling, it's still limited to two USB-C ports with support for a single external display, and its battery life is only decent at about eight hours of life use.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best business laptops, the best 15-16 inch laptops, and the best laptops for working from home.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 (M2, 2023) is better than the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020) in almost every way except for battery life, as the M1 MacBook Air's battery lasts about five hours longer. The 15-inch MacBook Air has a newer, sleeker design, a larger and brighter display, and a better 1080p webcam. It also has a MagSafe charging port, which frees up the USB-C you would otherwise need to charge the laptop, and its M2 SoC is faster.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 (M2, 2023) is essentially the same device as the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022) but with a larger 15.3-inch screen and better-sounding speakers. The 15-inch model's larger chassis helps with thermals, so the keyboard doesn't get as hot, and the SoC doesn't throttle as much under load. It has a larger battery to compensate for its more power-hungry 15-inch screen, but the battery life is only decent at around eight hours of light use, two hours shorter than its 13-inch sibling.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M2, 2023) is better than the Apple MacBook Air 15 (M2, 2023). The MacBook Pro is a higher-tier device designed for more demanding tasks like content creation, while the MacBook Air is an ultraportable that can handle some moderately intensive workloads. The MacBook Pro also has a nicer 120Hz Mini LED display, a wider port selection, better-sounding speakers, and longer battery life. On the other hand, the MacBook Air is thinner and lighter, even though it's a larger device, and unlike the MacBook Pro, it doesn't have a fan.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024) is a newer version of the Apple MacBook Air 15 (M2, 2023). The 2024 M3 model's outer design is identical to its M2 predecessor from 2023, as it’s mainly an internal upgrade. The newer model has a slightly faster M3 SoC, Wi-Fi 6E (up from Wi-Fi 6), and support for two external displays (with the laptop closed. Apple’s M3 SoC brings a few new features, including hardware-accelerated ray tracing, Dynamic Caching (helps with graphical performance), and an AV1 decoding engine (makes playback of AV1-encoded videos more efficient, resulting in longer battery life). The Midnight model also has a new coating that’s more fingerprint- and smudge-resistant.
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