Apple - MacBook Air 15-inch Laptop - M3 chip Built for Apple Intelligence - 16GB Memory - 512GB SSD - Starlight

Pros: I love the screen size! Coming from 13”, the 15” screen is definite and noticeable upgrade in screen real estate. The midnight blue color is gorgeous. Seriously, gorgeous. It looks like a deep navy blue in most lighting, and like a dark hunter green in incandescent light. Under office lighting, it looks like a greeny-blue gunmetal color. The resolution of the retina screen is unmatched. No pixels here. IMO, this is 50% why you buy a mac. The keyboard feels good, if not slightly cramped, but I’m normally using the Ergo split desktop keyboard so this might be just me. The computer itself runs efficiently in every aspect. It’s fast, it has no problem with overheating, it handles multiple tasks or multiple tabs in your browser without issue. Cons: Last night it refused to accept the correct login password for any of the user accounts becaues the accepted password was 1 character longer than the input box. Be careful with this. It’s a software problem rather than a hardware problem. I tried to shut it down and it flashed half a pink screen at me before doing so. Eventually, it let me in after several more restarts I don’t now why. I’m not sure if I need to exchange this exact computer or it was a one time issue. I changed the passwords to something shorter, but the pink screen flash is concerning. Midnight black is known for smudging and fingerprinting. So far, I’ve had zero issue. If it becomes a problem, I’ll exchange it for a different color. I wish they sold this model in the space black. The speakers are on the back of the lower half, near the hinge. This results in a sort of muddy sound that I don’t recommend if you’re listening to music. You’re better off connecting to a bluetooth speaker like the JBL portable speakers or something similar. It’s heavier than I expected and not featherlight like the 13” Macbook air M1. I hope that in future macs, they can make the notch at the top smaller and not as wide. You can see in the photo that it takes up quite a bit of space, and it’s going to take up space if you're in full screen watching a movie. Dimming the keyboard backlight is no longer available via the keyboard itself, and must be done with a mouse click under the control center on the upper right. Battery life is not as great as I expected. It’s down to 35% after ~10.5 hours of use. This sounds like a lot, but the hopeful part of me wishes for 3 days of usage out of one charge. It looks like the battery will need recharging from zero at around 12 hours of usage. Neutral: If screen real estate is your top priority and you have extra money, I’d spend $350 more to get the 16” pro M3 while on sale. The 15” Air is not a “travel” laptop. This thing is big, so much bigger than the 13”. 2” is the size difference, but it feels like a lot more. I wouldn’t get this as a laptop to put in your backpack and walk around college with it. Ram and storage: I read recently that 16 gbs is the new benchmark for the minimum amount of ram anyone needs with upcoming technology. Since the ram is soldered to the logic board, you cannot upgrade it in the future. Get enough ram to future proof your laptop and ensure this will still be usable in up to 5 years. It’s doubtful 8 gbs will be sufficient if you want to do more than just web browsing on your computer. The storage size of the hard drive is less relevant if you plan to use an external drive and store your files there, connecting it to your computer with a cord. If you don’t plan to do that, 256 gbs is good for minimal to low moderate photo storage and few to no extra programs and software. Anything greater than these parameters means you should go with 500 gbs, again, to future proof your computer. You can’t upgrade the storage space later. One last positive: I like that I can place a setting where a finger tap anywhere on the trackpad = a click. Using just the designated space along the bottom of the trackpad to click with your thumb makes the click feel difficult and awkward to press.

When I bought my MacBook, Best Buy staff were extremely helpful with the information and specs for the MacBook, and the leasing to buy process. I was also offered deals and promotions for my MacBook from the very start of checkout. I started leasing to own this MacBook Air M3 almost 2 months ago. This thing is the most incredible laptop I’ve used so far! Not to mention that it’s the first MacBook I’ve ever used. I’ve had HP’s, Dell’s, Chromebooks before, and they were nothing like the experience I’ve gotten with the MacBook I’m using today. The 512 gb version gives you a ton of storage to use for your files. The 16 gb of ram, arguably the norm for today’s laptops, runs smoothly, with perfect precision, and speed. I love this MacBook and all of its amazing features. I hope to be able to continue using MacBooks, as they’re so much easier for me to use for work and school than a windows laptop was. The only downside is the dark color of the Midnight MacBook Air. The fingerprints are evident on both the inside and outside of the MacBook, plus the keyboard keeps leaving an imprint of itself on my screen. The 35W charging brick that it came with was so slow, it took 4 hours to charge to full. I ended up buying a 96W charging brick that charged the MacBook Air to full in an hour and a half (Both times from about 5% battery left). It also lacks an HDMI port, which I had to buy a separate $35 HDMI to USB-C cable to connect my MacBook to one monitor at 4K resolution. The battery life also lasts pretty long compared to most other computers and laptops that are everyday use. I can’t say the same for gaming laptops, since they’re pretty much optimized to last longer than everyday use ones. Other than that, short answer is, I’m satisfied with the quality of my purchase! Need I say more?