Review: The 15-Inch MacBook Air Offers Processing Power and Portability
As more portable devices come with features powered by artificial intelligence (AI) built in, Apple continues to refine its offerings with the MacBook Air.
The 15-inch model is half an inch thick when closed and weighs just over 3 pounds. It also features almost an entire studio’s worth of audio and visual tools for collaboration, and a number of ports and connectivity options.
A key feature that can make this lightweight device attractive for remote workers is a Full HD camera that is optimized for FaceTime. The video feed is supported by a three-microphone array optimized to capture human voices. There are also four speakers equipped with spatial audio capabilities.
Imagine the possibilities for this MacBook in telemedicine applications. Doctors and patients could share information clearly and easily without interruption. In testing this device over several meetings, participants on the other end of my conversations were always amazed at how good I looked and sounded when using the MacBook Air.
For health systems with upgraded networking capabilities, the MacBook Air supports Wi-Fi 6E, which can ensure that critical applications and priority users get network access even in extremely busy and saturated environments.
This device also has two Thunderbolt ports for connecting peripherals. All of that is driven by a powerful 8-core M3 processor, limiting any slowdowns or delays.
The 15.6-inch Liquid Retina LED screen has a native resolution of 2880 by 1864. Videos are accelerated using hardware processing, and all graphical applications support up to a billion colors. Despite how amazing the display looks, using it did not seem to drain the battery immediately to zero. In testing, I could squeeze out just over 16 hours of battery life between charges with nearly constant use.
The MacBook Air can also support Apple’s version of generative AI natively, with many AI functions available on the device without needing to query a cloud-based service, which keeps any protected data from leaving. And when generative AI queries do require cloud-based processing, they are fully protected by Apple’s new Private Cloud Compute environment.
Packed with powerful features and access to a secure generative AI application, the 15-inch MacBook Air strikes the right balance between performance and portability for complex work environments. In healthcare, it can provide support for critical workloads and patient care throughout a busy hospital shift without needing a break or a charge.
SPECIFICATIONSDEVICE TYPE: Portable notebook computer optimized for AIPROCESSOR: M3SCREEN: 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display with 1 billion colorsRAM: 16GBSTORAGE: 512GB solid-state driveDIMENSIONS: 13.4x9.4x0.5 inchesWEIGHT: 3.33 pounds
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