15-inch laptops compared: Apple MacBook Air 15, Dell XPS 15 and ASUS ZenBook Pro 15
How does Apple's newest M2 laptop stack up to the competition?
During the keynote at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, rumors about a new 15-inch MacBook Air were confirmed with the announcement of the company's latest lightweight laptop. The new model adds two inches to the screen, which means if all you want is a bigger display, you no longer have to pay a premium for a Pro model. The machine runs on Apple's latest M2 chip, has a Liquid Retina display, up to 24GB of RAM and starts at $1,299. Units are available for pre-order now and should ship next week.
There are plenty of other relatively lightweight laptops with 15-inch screens on the market. Here's how Apple's measures up to two of the more popular ones: the XPS 15 from Dell and ASUS's ZenBook Pro 15.
MacBook Air 15 vs Dell XPS 15 vs ASUS ZenBook 15
Apple MacBook Air 15 | Dell XPS 15 | Zenbook Pro 15 | |
Pricing | Starts at $1,299 | Starts at $1,099 | Starts at $1,400 |
Weight | 3.3 pounds | 4.22 pounds | 4.4 pounds |
Dimensions | 0.45 inches thick (11.5 x mm thick) | 0.73 x 13.56 x 9.06 inches (18.54 x 344.40 x 230.10 mm) | 0.70 x 13.94 x 9.37 inches (17.9 x 354 x 238 mm) |
Processor | M2 8-core CPU | 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12500H | AMD Ryzen 7 5800U or AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX |
Graphics Card | M2 10-core GPU | Intel Iris Xe | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti |
Operating System | macOS Ventura | Windows 11 Home or Pro | Windows 11 Pro |
Memory | Up to 24GB | 8GB to 32GB | 16GB |
Storage | Up to 2TB | 512GB to 8TB | 16GB or 1TB |
Screen Size | 15.3 inches | 15.6 inches | 15.6 inches |
Screen Resolution | 2560 x 1664 | 1920 x 1200, 60Hz or 3456 x 2160, 60Hz | 1920 x 1080, 60Hz |
Screen Type | Liquid Retina | Non-touch or touch | OLED |
Camera | 1080p | 720p at 30 fps | HD with infrared for Windows Hello |
Ports | 2 x Thunderbolt 4, 3.5mm jack, MagSafe | 1 x USB-C, 2 x Thunderbolt 4, 3.5mm jack, SD card slot | 1 x USB-A, 1 x USB-C, 1 x HDMI, 3.5mm jack, 1x DC-in, SD card slot |
Follow all of the news from Apple's WWDC 2023 right here.
