The new 15-inch MacBook Air M2 is similar to the 13-inch MacBook Air M2, but larger. Featuring a bright 15.3-inch display, powerful Apple M2 chip, two additional speakers, and an ultra-thin 0.45-inch chassis, it’s arguably the best 15-inch laptop you can buy, as we found in the 15-inch MacBook Air. M2 review. That’s why this device has earned its spot on our best laptops and best MacBooks lists.
The 15-inch MacBook Air M2 also has impressive battery life. On the Tom’s Guide battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness, the 15-inch MacBook Air lasted 14 hours and 59 minutes. It’s one of the longest 15-inch laptops we’ve ever reviewed, but it’s not quite the champ.
How does the 15-inch MacBook Air stack up against other laptops on battery life? Below, we’ll compare the new 15-inch MacBook Air to other laptops of the past to see where it fares. Although we’ve reviewed many of these notebooks, we used Laptop Mag’s sister site Laptops with the best battery life Directory for additional data. Since both sites use the same testing protocol, we think it’s fair to use their results.
Battery life of the MacBook Air 15-inch M2 vs. competing laptops
time (hour: mm) | |
MacBook Air 15-inch M2 | 14:59 |
MacBook Air with M2 | 14:06 |
MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 | 16:37 |
MacBook Pro 16-inch 2023 (M2 Max) | 18:56 |
13-inch MacBook Pro (M2, 2022) | 18:20 |
Dell Latitude 9510 | 18:17 |
Latitude 9410 2-in-1 Dell Latitude 9410 | 16:54 |
Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 | 14:38 |
Asus ExpertBook B9450 | 16:42 |
HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7 | 15:45 |
MacBook Air 15-inch M2: How long will it last?
The MacBook Air 15-inch M2 isn’t the longest-lasting laptop we’ve tested. That honor goes to the 16-inch 2023 MacBook Pro. Apple sent us a model with an M2 Max chip (12-core CPU, 38-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine), 96GB of unified memory and 4 A terabyte of SSD storage. In our battery test, this Apple notebook clocked in at 18 hours, 56 minutes! That’s longer than the M2-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro, which lasted 18 hours and 20 minutes. If you value battery life above all else, these are the Apple laptops.
The 15-inch Dell Latitude 9510 is another laptop in the same battery life league as the two MacBook Pros mentioned above, clocking in at 18 hours, 17 minutes. That’s just three minutes shy of the 2022 MacBook Pro, which makes the two laptops more or less identical. With that said, the Dell notebook has a lower resolution 1080p display.
The new 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro also delivers exceptional battery life. The entry-level $1,999 model we tested lasted 16 hours, 37 minutes. We also benchmarked the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the entry-level M2 Max chip (12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine), and found that it lasted 17 hours and 6 minutes.
For laptops with battery life closer to the new MacBook Air 15-inch M2, the HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7 (15:45) and Samsung Galaxy Book Flex 15 (15:44) last about 45 minutes. the MacBook Air with M1 (14:41), MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) (14:08) and MacBook Air 2022 (14:02) It offers less battery life, but anything over 14 hours is great.
MacBook Air 15-inch battery life: Great value
The 15-inch MacBook Air M2 isn’t the tallest laptop on the market. However, given its near-perfect balance of performance, portability, and battery life, it’s arguably the best laptop you can buy for $1,299. We wouldn’t be surprised if this laptop becomes another hit for the Air series.
If you need a laptop that can last all day (and more), the 15-inch MacBook Air M2 is worth considering. But if you want an Apple laptop that lasts longer and has more power, either of the new MacBook Pros are great—just expect to pay a premium.
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