The Case for a 15-Inch MacBook Air

Apple’s iconic MacBook Air laptop computer is available in one 13-inch display screen measurement, for now. 

A gentle stream of rumors factors to a brand new 15-inch MacBook Air debuting at Apple’s upcoming WWDC convention in June. The newest not-quite-confirmation comes from Bloomberg’s famous Apple prognosticator, Mark Gurman, who says the brand new 15-inch Air will be a part of WatchOS 10, iOS 17, MacOS 15 and Apple’s long-awaited mixed-reality headset on the June 5-9 occasion. 

This is able to not be the primary time Apple has provided a MacBook Air in a unique display screen measurement. From 2010 to 2016, the corporate provided an 11-inch MacBook Air, which we reviewed a number of occasions throughout its six-year lifespan. 

Learn extra: Finest MacBook for 2023

Following that, Apple launched the 12-inch MacBook (minus the “Air”). That small system ended up being considered one of my favourite laptops of all time, nevertheless it has sadly additionally been discontinued. 

Additional, Apple’s long-standing 15-inch MacBook Professional vanished in 2019, changed by new 14-inch and 16-inch variations, leaving Apple and not using a 15-inch laptop computer, which continues to be one of the vital frequent display screen sizes for Home windows laptops.  

All through all this, the 13-inch Air has remained a normal, though the precise display screen dimensions shifted a bit between the 16:10 facet ratio of the M1 Air and the marginally bigger 3:2 facet ratio of the newer M2 MacBook Air. 

However there’s a wonderful case to be made for a 15-inch model of the MacBook Air. The 13-inch MacBook Air stays my default alternative as the one most universally helpful laptop computer for most individuals. However a 13-inch display screen, regardless of how good, is not essentially sufficiently big to be your all-day, on a regular basis laptop computer. Particularly if, like me, you’ve a set of ageing eyes, larger screens have gotten extra vital.  

The issue is that the least-expensive 14-inch MacBook Professional is $1,999. The least-expensive 16-inch MacBook Professional is $2,499. That is a giant bounce from the $1,199 13-inch MacBook Air. 

The thought of leaping into a bigger 15-inch display screen for a MacBook Air, utilizing the identical M2 chip because the 13-inch Air is an interesting one, particularly if it provides solely a modest premium to the worth. Personally, I would say round $1,300 to $1,400 could be an affordable beginning value, in case you assume it might have specs much like these of the 13-inch M2 Air. 

That is removed from the primary time we have talked about this. A fast Google search revealed that I wrote concerning the potential attraction of a 15-inch MacBook Air manner again in 2012. In line with a ballot we ran in 2012, a 15-inch Air was the winner amongst CNET readers for the most-anticipated laptop computer of 2012.

We have been clearly leaping the gun again then, however a mere decade later, it could lastly be time to offer the MacBook Air a supersized possibility.