1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,640 I like small phones, small cars, even small people. 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:12,800 And so when Apple announced their largest ever 15 inch MacBook Air at WWDC, I wasn't 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:18,760 confident it would connect with me. At first glance, this looks like a longer and wider version of the M2 model they launched 4 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:23,040 last year. And I mean, it basically is, so ho hum. 5 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:29,040 And yet, I think this is a really big deal, and I'm not talking about the size. 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,040 Alright, that's great. 7 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,200 Apple has never made a large consumer notebook like this before. 8 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,580 If you wanted to get more screen real estate on the go, you would have to pay up for a 16 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:45,680 inch MacBook Pro. At $2500, it's almost double what this costs. 10 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:51,760 I guess the closest analog to this from Apple's history would be the 14 inch iBook from 2002. 11 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,180 But you didn't really get much from that bigger screen because it had the exact same 12 00:00:55,180 --> 00:00:58,640 resolution as the smaller 12 inch iBook. 13 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:03,600 So everything on screen just appeared bigger, there wasn't any room to roam. 14 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:08,460 This MacBook, however, has a higher resolution, and therefore much more real estate. 15 00:01:08,460 --> 00:01:12,560 So you can fit more documents, webpages, premiere tracks, and more of the photos you're editing 16 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:18,440 on the screen at a time. If you're a big multitasker and you're on the go, this is great. 17 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:23,080 I should note one thing though, unlike the MacBook Pro's on the MacBook Air's, display 18 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:30,440 scaling is on by default. For the absolute clearest image, use this setting. 19 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:35,560 Many many years ago, back in high school, I used a 15 inch Acer laptop, and I remember 20 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,920 after graduating making another one of my size policies. 21 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:45,820 No laptop bigger than 14 inches, they were really big, thick, and ponderous back then. 22 00:01:45,820 --> 00:01:49,540 This isn't, and so I might need to recalibrate my views. 23 00:01:49,540 --> 00:01:56,620 This Air is very thin and light. At 3.3 pounds, it's only half a pound heavier than the smaller Air. 24 00:01:56,620 --> 00:02:02,380 But crucially, it's a full pound and a half lighter than a 16 inch MacBook Pro. 25 00:02:02,380 --> 00:02:06,860 It's even lighter than the 14 inch model, and that means that despite its size, it's 26 00:02:06,860 --> 00:02:10,660 not clunky. I'm actually surprised at how portable it is. 27 00:02:10,660 --> 00:02:14,700 Many backpacks and laptop bags are designed for laptops with this screen size. 28 00:02:14,700 --> 00:02:19,220 So when I put my smaller MacBooks in, I'm always aware of them shifting about. 29 00:02:19,220 --> 00:02:22,820 This fits much more nicely into those spaces. It's just right. 30 00:02:22,820 --> 00:02:27,140 The 15 inch model is a sliver thicker than the smaller one. 31 00:02:27,140 --> 00:02:32,140 That makes it sturdy. When you hold up a laptop this big from one corner like this, more force is being put 32 00:02:32,140 --> 00:02:39,380 on the opposite corner. Cheap plastic Windows laptops flex and creak when I do this, but look, I don't feel bad 33 00:02:39,380 --> 00:02:44,900 at all. But weirdly, despite its extra size, Apple has not specced more battery life. 34 00:02:44,900 --> 00:02:49,100 Their claims for both models are still 18 hours of video playback. 35 00:02:49,100 --> 00:02:53,460 But in my usage at the office, I was able to stretch the battery over 12 and a half hours 36 00:02:53,460 --> 00:02:57,540 of screen on time. It's not up to Apple's claims, but it is very good. 37 00:02:57,540 --> 00:03:01,900 Along with the bigger screen, you get a bigger trackpad with very good palm rejection. 38 00:03:01,900 --> 00:03:06,060 But you also get more space for heat and sound. 39 00:03:06,060 --> 00:03:09,660 Last year I complained about the decrease in performance of the M2 MacBook Air because 40 00:03:09,660 --> 00:03:15,740 of its compromised cooling. They use a heat shield and an air gap, and it's used here too. 41 00:03:15,740 --> 00:03:19,300 But because of the greater surface area, the impact is less. 42 00:03:19,300 --> 00:03:24,060 In my DaVinci export test, the 15 inch model is much closer in performance to the fan cooled 43 00:03:24,060 --> 00:03:28,020 Touch Bar M2 MacBook Pro than the smaller Air. 44 00:03:28,020 --> 00:03:32,380 I still believe some thermal mass would go a long way for both the M2 Air's performance 45 00:03:32,380 --> 00:03:39,580 over longer periods. The chip isn't hot enough to really push the cooling of the Pro model, but it is enough 46 00:03:39,580 --> 00:03:43,140 to saturate the cooling of these two. 47 00:03:43,140 --> 00:03:47,620 Now though, instead of worrying about a 10 plus minute workload, I'm happy to say that 48 00:03:47,620 --> 00:03:55,540 this will last longer. Maybe just don't push it in multi hour gaming sessions. 49 00:03:55,540 --> 00:03:59,620 The speakers take advantage of the increased space as well, sounding a lot fuller compared 50 00:03:59,620 --> 00:04:09,780 to the tin cans on the other M2 models. 51 00:04:09,780 --> 00:04:13,180 These are not as bassy as the speakers found in the expensive Pro models, but they are 52 00:04:13,180 --> 00:04:17,940 very good. And it's nice that Apple took the opportunity to upgrade them as well. 53 00:04:17,940 --> 00:04:21,500 My biggest criticism, however, is with IO. 54 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:25,740 With all this extra space on the body here, I think Apple could have added another Thunderbolt 55 00:04:25,740 --> 00:04:31,780 port on the right side. Would be especially handy for people who rely on the studio display's criminally short 56 00:04:31,780 --> 00:04:36,700 included cable. Better still, I think they should add an SD card reader, like the MacBook Air's used 57 00:04:36,700 --> 00:04:44,340 to get back in the day. Because I think this specific laptop is perfect for photographers. 58 00:04:44,340 --> 00:04:48,600 Photographers don't use the HDR offered by the XDR display, but they do want more screen 59 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:54,540 real estate. Photographers don't want to lug around heavy equipment, but they do want a laptop. 60 00:04:54,820 --> 00:05:00,740 Photographers don't do sustained loads, but they do need more memory. Which at 24 gigs, this has. 61 00:05:00,740 --> 00:05:05,460 Even if you are a photographer, this amount of RAM is very hard to justify. 62 00:05:05,460 --> 00:05:14,300 You better be processing 100 megapixel RAWs. The price for this fully upgraded model with a terabyte of storage, for example, is $2,100. 63 00:05:14,300 --> 00:05:17,340 You're going to need to shoot a lot of weddings to pay for it. 64 00:05:17,340 --> 00:05:21,260 Everyone else should take note of the recalibration of MacBook Air pricing. 65 00:05:21,260 --> 00:05:28,740 This smaller base M2 Air gets a $100 decrease to $1,100, and this starts at $200 more. 66 00:05:28,740 --> 00:05:34,020 At $1,300, this is priced identically to the older style 13 inch MacBook Pro, with the 67 00:05:34,020 --> 00:05:40,380 touch bar, which they still sell. If you're thinking, well why would I get the Air if it's the same price as the Pro, 68 00:05:40,380 --> 00:05:46,740 be careful. This lacks the better screen, higher performance, and IO that the real MacBook Pros have. 69 00:05:46,740 --> 00:05:51,140 And besides, the Air has the same 10 core GPU upgrade as this anyway. 70 00:05:51,140 --> 00:05:56,860 There were reports that falling laptop sales forced Apple to suspend M2 chip production, 71 00:05:56,860 --> 00:06:00,260 and clearly it was enough for Apple to push the prices down. 72 00:06:00,260 --> 00:06:05,180 With the exception of the M1 model, which is still $1,000, the same price it was introduced 73 00:06:05,180 --> 00:06:13,060 at almost three years ago. And to my fellow Canadians, our dollars doing pretty bad, so we only get a $50 price drop 74 00:06:13,060 --> 00:06:16,140 on the small MacBook Air. Ouch. 75 00:06:16,140 --> 00:06:20,620 This new pricing does change the calculus a bit when it comes to buying a MacBook. 76 00:06:20,620 --> 00:06:24,220 If you have always wanted a large MacBook, or have been spending the last many years 77 00:06:24,220 --> 00:06:29,020 paying up for a way too powerful Pro, this is a dream come true. 78 00:06:29,020 --> 00:06:32,580 It'll be everything you hope for, and more. 79 00:06:32,580 --> 00:06:37,660 As for how to spec it, well if you do very light tasks like web browsing and office stuff, 80 00:06:37,660 --> 00:06:41,960 I'm still willing to recommend the base model, but just barely. 81 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:46,260 But my tests showed significant performance differences between the base and fully loaded 82 00:06:46,260 --> 00:06:51,020 RAM configs. So that upgrade does contribute to a performance boost. 83 00:06:51,020 --> 00:06:57,140 I like this, and I'm really surprised I do. It breaks down my 15 inch laptop policy. 84 00:06:57,140 --> 00:07:00,780 Even like the starlight color, it's a hard laptop to fault. 85 00:07:00,780 --> 00:07:04,580 But would I spend my own money on it? 86 00:07:04,580 --> 00:07:09,420 Ugh. I think I'm still a small laptop person. 87 00:07:09,420 --> 00:07:12,620 Even though this is big, it's still too big. 88 00:07:12,620 --> 00:07:17,260 For me. 89 00:07:17,260 --> 00:07:22,140 Thanks for expanding this Mac Address. If you're a big laptop fan, give this video a like. 90 00:07:22,140 --> 00:07:29,340 And if you're a small laptop fan, you might as well subscribe. I am curious in the comments below what the most ideal laptop screen size is for you. 91 00:07:29,340 --> 00:07:29,840 Comment below.