Apple’s new 15-in. M2 MacBook Air is a consumer workhorse

Can you run your business on a 15-in. MacBook Air? I’ve used one for about a week, and I think most people can. It provides everything that’s good in the existing M2 MacBook Air, but with a bigger screen and an approachable price.

Out of the box

Out of the box you can expect the usual Apple “wow” factor. The 0.45-in. thin, 3.3-pound, Midnight 512GB model I tested looks great, though I have developed a somewhat obsessive habit of cleaning up finger-marks on the chassis. (This model sells for $1,499.)

The packaging is a story in itself. Apple continues working to reduce its environmental impact, which means it has largely abandoned plastic in packaging. Instead, Apple’s boxes now make liberal use of clever paper tabs, glue, and highly effective design ideas borrowed from Origami.

That’s important at scale, as in combination with the increased use of recycled components, lengthy battery life and low power requirements, companies purchasing large numbers of these devices gain an immediate benefit in terms of meeting environmental and CSR targets.

But those green(ish) credentials come at no real compromise.

Fast and power efficient

The computer inside the box is a Mac, so it runs macOS, integrates well with the wider Apple ecosystem, and runs Windows in emulation using third-party Parallels software. If you like, you can also run versions of Linux in VM mode on these machines.