The 15-inch MacBook Air offers superb battery life and portability at an aggressive price
Kif Leswing/CNBC
Apple announced a 15-inch MacBook Air last week. It hits store shelves on Tuesday and costs $1,299 for the base model or as much as $,2499 with upgraded RAM and storage.
The MacBook Air has come in 11-inch and 13-inch versions in the past, but this is the first time it’s had a 15-inch screen, which is the most popular laptop size. It could seriously boost Mac sales, which have been falling for the past two quarters.
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If you upgraded your laptop or PC in the past two years — like hundreds of millions of people did during the pandemic — this new model isn’t worth an upgrade. But if you held out and need a new laptop, the 15-inch MacBook Air hits the sweet spot for most people in terms of price, capability, and portability.
It’s probably the best laptop for most people if you like the MacOS operating system and plan to use it for everyday tasks like writing documents and spreadsheets, going to school, or using the internet.
My quick takeaways:
Like:
- Battery life is great.
- The big screen is better for doing work on the road.
- It’s thin and light enough to barely be noticeable in a backpack, despite the larger size.
Don’t like:
- The midnight finish is a fingerprint and smudge magnet.
- The speakers are mounted in the computer’s hinge near the screen, and are only OK.
- Many people don’t mind Apple’s notch. I always notice it on a laptop.
Worth upgrading to 512GB hard drive
The 15-inch MacBook Air is a very capable and powerful-feeling computer with battery life so long you won’t need to think about it: It lasts an entire day and only needs overnight charging.
It’s fast, can handle what feels like infinite windows and apps at the same time, and has nearly all of the software I need to use. Some apps, like the FactSet financial database I use at work, don’t have Mac versions. But Mac does support native Microsoft Office and Google Chrome, as well as Apple’s own built-in alternatives, iWork and Safari, which covers many people’s primary needs.
The extra screen size makes a difference versus the 13-inch MacBook Air. It’s easier to put two documents side-by-side at the same time. The physical screen is not only bigger, but it has a 2880×1864 resolution, higher than the 13-inch model, which means you can fit more on the screen.
The 13-inch M2 MacBook Air (silver) versus the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air (dark blue.)
Kif Leswing/CNBC
There isn’t much of a portability tradeoff from the extra screen size in my experience, either, mainly because it’s so thin. The 15-inch MacBook Air fits easily into a backpack or briefcase, and I didn’t really notice the extra 3.3 pounds while I was commuting with it on public transportation.
While $1,299 is fairly expensive for a laptop, it does represent value in Apple’s lineup, especially for people who want a bigger screen. The 15-inch screen is now the second largest display Apple offers in a laptop, behind the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $2,499 and has a lot of features most people don’t need, like a more powerful processor, fans, and ports for external camera cards.
However, I believe that most people will want more storage and should upgrade to 512GB of hard drive space, which brings the price to $1,499.
Even gaming, which isn’t a primary focus for Apple, is pretty good on the Mac. While new titles like Diablo 4 aren’t yet available, a huge portion of my Steam library runs on the computer, including titles like Civilization 6 and Stardew Valley.
Kif Leswing/CNBC
On the 15-inch MacBook Air, there are only two USB-C ports, but I don’t mind — recently, I’ve found myself using USB-A accessories much less. The more expensive MacBook Pro models come with HDMI ports to directly plug into TVs and monitors.
Meanwhile, the 13-inch MacBook Air got a price cut to $1,099, which makes it a good deal for people who don’t care about the larger screen, or people who plan to primarily use it while plugged into a monitor. However, I don’t think the smaller laptop is significantly more portable — they’re both light enough to stick in your bag and forget about.
Kif Leswing/CNBC
The two MacBook Air sizes have most of the same components, including similar M2 processors, which is currently Apple’s state-of-the-art offering for low-power laptops and tablets. Apple has now transitioned from Intel processors completely.
Apple also fixed the keyboards, and now they come with deep, clicky keys that are a joy to type on. There’s no more “Touch Bar,” which has been replaced by handy physical function keys that give one-button access to brightness, volume, and play/pause. Apple’s screens and webcams look great, and are usable even in broad daylight — although many models, including the 15-inch MacBook Air, come with a notch cut out at the top, like on the iPhone, which you might find distracting.
Kif Leswing/CNBC
All in all, the 15-inch MacBook Air is one of the first laptops from Apple since the M-series transition to be priced aggressively, and represents a great option for people who want a daily use laptop. It should be particularly attractive to people who haven’t recently upgraded.
CEO of Palantir Technologies Alex Karp attends the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
It’s been a tough November for Palantir.
Shares of the software analytics provider dropped 16% for their worst month since August 2023 as investors dumped AI stocks due to valuation fears. Meanwhile, famed investor Michael Burry doubled down on the artificial intelligence trade and bet against the company.
Palantir started November off on a high note.
The Denver-based company topped Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations. Palantir also posted its second-straight $1 billion revenue quarter, but high valuation concerns contributed to a post-print selloff.
In a note to clients, Jefferies analysts called Palantir’s valuation “extreme” and argued investors would find better risk-reward in AI names such as Microsoft and Snowflake. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets raised concerns about the company’s “increasingly concentrated growth profile,” while Deutsche Bank called the valuation “very difficult to wrap our heads around.”
Adding fuel to the post-earnings selloff was the revelation that Burry is betting against Palantir and AI chipmaker Nvidia. Burry, who is widely known for predicting the housing crisis that occurred in 2008 and the portrayal of him in the film “The Big Short,” later accused hyperscalers of artificially boosting earnings.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp vocally hit the front lines, appearing twice in one week on CNBC, where he accused Burry of “market manipulation” and called the investor’s actions “egregious.”
“The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats— crazy,” Karp told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Despite the vicious selloff, Palantir has notched some deal wins this month. That included a multiyear contract with consulting firm PwC to speed up AI adoption in the U.K. and a deal with aircraft engine maintenance company FTAI.
But those announcements did little to shake off valuation worries that have haunted all AI-tied companies in November.
Across the board, investors have viciously ditched the high-priced group, citing fears of stretched valuations and a bubble.
In November, Nvidia pulled back more than 12%, while Microsoft and Amazon dropped about 5% each. Quantum computing names such as Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum have shed more than a third of their value.
Apple and Alphabet were the only Magnificent 7 stocks to end the month with gains.
Sill, questions linger over Palantir’s valuation, and those worries aren’t a new concern.
Even after its steep price drop, the company’s stock trades at 233 times forward earnings. By comparison, Nvidia and Alphabet traded at about 38 times and 30 times, respectively, at Friday’s close.
Karp, who has long defended the company, didn’t miss an opportunity to clap back at his critics, arguing in a letter to shareholders that the company is making it feasible for everyday investors to attain rates of return once “limited to the most successful venture capitalists in Palo Alto.”
“Please turn on the conventional television and see how unhappy those that didn’t invest in us are,” Karp said during an earnings call. “Enjoy, get some popcorn. They’re crying. We are every day making this company better, and we’re doing it for this nation, for allied countries.”
Palantir declined to comment for this story.
WATCH: Palantir CEO Alex Karp: We’ve printed venture results for the average American
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