Dream Big: Apple Introduces the World’s Thinnest 15-inch Laptop

As had been widely rumoured, the first new Mac announcement at this year’s WWDC was a second member of the MacBook Air family, marking the second time in the product’s history that models with two different display sizes have been offered. When the second-generation MacBook Air was introduced back in 2010, it was available with either a 13.3-inch display size or an 11.6-inch display. However, with the smaller sibling having been discontinued in October 2016, this time, rather than again offering a Lilliputian variant, Apple have opted for the Brobdingnagian alternative, presenting a new 15.3-inch model.

The new 15.3-inch MacBook Air is exactly that: the features from the second -generation MacBook Air, introduced at last year’s WWDC, with a larger display. In fact, aside from the display, there are only two things that differentiate the existing 13.6-inch and new 15.3-inch models: the latter has a 10-core GPU and a 35W dual USB-C charger as standard (whereas, the former starts with an 8-core GPU and 30W charger, configurable to the 10-core and 35W dual options), and the 15.3-inch MacBook Air has a six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers (compared to the four-speaker sound system on the 13.3-inch model).

This means the sound system is similar to the ‘high-fidelity, six-speaker system with force cancelling woofers’ found on the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, although Apple omits the high-fidelity compound adjective from the description of the 15.3-inch MacBook Air’s speakers. One reason for this might be the absence of adjacent speaker grills on both sides of the keyboard, and the sound seemed to be funnelled through the rear of the laptop where the screen hinge is located.

In some ways, the decision to offer a 15.3-inch MacBook Air is eminently sensible, since it fills a natural gap between the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models — especially where you want the larger display but don’t need anything more ambitious than an M2 chip in terms of performance. Although, as I found when reviewing the M2-based MacBook Pro, or, more recently, the M2-based Mac mini, the performance you can expect is more than capable of handling many music and audio-related workflows, especially if the system is configured with 16GB or 24GB unified memory.

Therefore, perhaps the most important factor when considering the new 15.3-inch MacBook Air is cost. And with a starting price of $1299, this latest model will leave an identically sized hole in your wallet to the 13.6-inch model when it was launched a year ago, whilst taking up slightly more space in your satchel. This cost positions the 15.3-inch MacBook Air with a $700 cheaper price tag than a 14-inch MacBook Pro, although it’s worth remembering this works out to be $300 less if you configure the Air with the same 512GB storage and 16GB unified memory options as the Pro, albeit with the Air offering the larger display.

If there’s a downside to the 15.3-inch MacBook Air, it’s that the hope of seeing the reintroduction of something that’s smaller and lighter than the Air remains, well, hot air! Because while many speculated the increased energy efficiency of Apple Silicon might lead to a product not dissimilar to the affectionately maligned 12-inch MacBook, so far this has proved not to be the case. Although, perhaps the iPad Air makes more sense for this usage case these days, especially with the introduction of Logic Pro for iPad.

If there’s a downside to the 15.3-inch MacBook Air, it’s that the hope of seeing the reintroduction of something that’s smaller and lighter than the Air remains, well, hot air! Because while many speculated the increased energy efficiency of Apple Silicon might lead to a product not dissimilar to the affectionately maligned 12-inch MacBook, so far this has proved not to be the case. Although, perhaps the iPad Air makes more sense for this usage case these days, especially with the introduction of Logic Pro for iPad.

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