Apple MacBook Air 15 (base) - A Long Term User Review.

So I tried the Base Model 15" MacBook Air. At $1299, it looks like a pretty good deal for a 15" thin and light laptop but how does that translate to real-world usage? Let's find out!

Review unit provided free of charge by Apple. As per Hardware Canucks guidelines, no review direction was received from manufacturer. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Some context
1:09 - Why am I switching to the Base MacBook Air 15?
2:10 - Unboxing and Setup
2:34 - Uh oh….
3:58 - Design and Weight
4:42 - Build Quality
5:01 - Size Matters
6:51 - Yo…this webcam is solid!
7:24 - Better speakers than the 13” Air!
8:00 - Sleek keyboard and trackpad
8:51 - Dongle life
9:41 - Battery Bump vs 13”
10:44 - Performance
11:38 - Surprising Results!
12:31 - Final Thoughts

Follow us for more updates!
----------------------------------------­------------------------

#macbookair15 #hardwarecanucks

[Sache]

All those content creators ignoring the 99, 999% base users out there.

[jig]

I don’t want to say that I love this laptop.. But it’s true I love this laptop. It’s everything I wanted in the MacBook Air. I remember back in my late 20’s I got the white 13 inch MacBook, it was great. I loved the 13 inch screen. With the exception of my company-issued laptops all of my personal laptops (Windows and Mac) ever since have been 13 inches. Now that I’m in my mid 40’s I hate the 13 inch screens. I share a M1 Air with my teenage and I just don’t like using it because it’s just to small. I held off on buying 13 inch M2 because of the rumors that a 15 inch was coming. I’m really glad I did, I love this laptop. The size of the screen makes all the difference. Having the extra real estate transforms the whole experience. I know this screen is not as good as the MacBook Pro but it’s awesome that I didn’t have to pay for a MacBook pro to get a bigger screen. I picked up the base model and it’s perfectly fine. It’s cool and silent and packs a punch. The battery life is crazy, I don’t know how long it last but it’s definitely several days. I would have liked to get more RAM but I’m one of those folks that is really offended by what Apple changes for RAM. If this was my only machine I would have sprung for the extra RAM. It’s not my main machine so it really doesn’t bother me. If I need to do any real heavy lifting then I use my M1 Studio. My only gripe is I wish they would have put a USB-C port on the right side of the laptop. It would have been nice to be able to charge from either side of the laptop. All in all this is a fantastic laptop and I’d recommend it to almost anyone. Youtubers do heavy lifting with their laptops, but be honest, most people do not. And no this is not a MacBook Pro. If you're in the market for a MacBook Pro, they are not in the market for a MacBook Air regardless how big the screen is.

[MrNeocortex]

What Apple charges to go from the base 256GB to a 2TB SSD is daylight robbery. They want £800! You can buy a Gen 4 2TB M.2 drive for £100 that will be faster than the proprietary SSD (controller is in the M2 chip) in the MacBooks. How they believe that is acceptable is beyond me.

[tommihommi]

something is off with the bass in the voice

[anakin]

I really wish Apple would allow storage upgrades. I understand the memory is on a SOC, so that is a no go. But my Macs have regularly lasted 7-10 years of use and storage has ALWAYS been the primary issue.

[car_tar]

My grandma just got this laptop and she seems to like it and it is so fast compared to her 2019 windows laptop undoubtably expenses but pretty worth it and would be a steal if it came with 512+16 gigs by default

[ObikenobiHD]

I got myself the 15 Air with 24GB RAM and 256 SSD, the reason why I went with the configuration is cause I use a gaming monitor as a 2nd Monitor display which can use significant energy when I have 2 windows open on an browser so that extra RAM is very useful and there is NO alternatives for extra ram while I do have a 5TB external hard drive which there is many alternatives and having a bigger screen on the MacBook Air for less then 2000 bucks is just insane value. I was thinking at a Pro version at first but just to have the 14 M2 Pro is already 2000 bucks + tax and I don’t really need the HDMI port since I already have a USB Hub, overall I love the portability of the MacBook Air 15 and upgrading it from my Intel 2020 MacBook Air is a huge Win for me! Especially adding the Educational Pricing Discount!

[iphoneographypdx]

Love you realistic review of your 15 inch MacBook Air. I have that too, and it is a powerful workhorse! I use it for college, and if I need to do light photo and video editing on it then this MBA really hits the sweet spot. Battery life is impressive on this too.

[stevemcclure]

New to the channel and glad I found it! Your information is balanced and solid. Your camera work and editing is gorgeous! It totally looks like an Apple production :-). I’ve got a MacBook Air 15 open box special from Best Buy in my cart and I was reviewing this one more time before I hit purchase:-)

[nsfmatios]

Bought myself a 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD this week. Honestly don't care that much about SSD R/W speed since I don't work with big files anyway. When storage eventually (and quickly) becomes an issue I can always just buy an external drive, besides I also have plenty of cloud storage

[hhoebeke]

Great review.. but it really depends what you do with your machine... I use my M1 Air (base model) to run my business and it does so without breaking a sweat. I don't work with graphics / video, ... and for me after 2.5 years of intensive use, I am at only 50 per cent of my storage. 256 is absolutely fine for me. I use cloud storage a lot and most of my data are documents etc. And I think - looking around me - that is the case for most people. I am quite interested in the Air 15 as a bigger screen would make a considerable difference for my work, and I like the design a lot. When it comes to performance, I am sure that for me (and others using their laptops to write / do office work and research - the base model seems more than adequate (my M1 does not break a sweat) and maintains very solid battery life, etc. There M Macs are incredibly solid machines.... great times for used focused technology!

[channybsmith]

Do you think a MacBook air m2 8/512 would be good enough for realty photo and video editing... also drone footage... Thanks for any insight.

[wesleybarnes]

I am comparing this laptop to my current M1, Pro, 13inch, 2020 - As I want this bigger screen! I mainly do Xcode builds and development, wondering if performance is enough, since it's M2 I assume it it's better? Looking at bench marks, right?

[zjl]

this review is spot on, especially the battery life is the reason that differentiate from getting the macbook pros which are more value for money.

[jyfjgtyuh]

256GB storage and 8GB of RAM is the same as the base model iPhone 15 pro max, this spec is a joke for a laptop in 2023. Here in Europe the price for a real basic 16GB RAM and 512 SSD 15" air, is 2100 Euro. Apple realy don't want us to buy the 15" air, otherwise I don't understand the reasoning for this ridicules price.

[ceciljohn]

Great presentation! I'm really glad you tested the base 8/256 version. As you and everyone mentioned it's a shame the base MBA doesn't come with minimum 16/512. I have a 13 MBA M1 8/256 and does well for day to day business stuff like you were using it for. This is my second MBA and I got the base speck as I also had a desktop. But the MBA base model also used to come with a SD card slot. I've always just used it as a field computer, could pop in a SD card out of a camera and into MBA make a quick back up.and view video or pics and transfer raw footage to external HD. Really not for storage. Even the M1 8/256 is fine. But I just ordered the MBP 14 M3 Pro. I convinced myself maybe I'll dabble with some video projects again but will likely be overkill for what I'm doing these days, but extra $500 isnt' a big deal to me now either, as I'm on a lap top all the time, and may love the screen, sound, and extra ports. Who knows I may feel like doing some content creation for social media but even then I won't be half as cool as you! Keep up great work!

[NaqqashLatif]

Always a treat to watch Eber's experience.

[jonein]

Eber, what is the monitor underneath the main one on your desk setup? I love that for editing!

[Granqwizo]

would you recomend the M2 MacBook air for video editing?

[wingchun]

how do you get the cpu, ram etc. on top right menu bar?