Choose the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) if you prioritize a lower price, excellent battery life, and portability thanks to its lightweight and fanless design, making it ideal for everyday use and tasks that don't demand heavy graphics or processing power. If your work involves gaming, 3D rendering, machine learning, or other intensive tasks, the Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R, despite being more expensive, provides superior performance due to its more powerful processor, advanced graphics card, and better suitability for engineering applications, but it is heavier and has shorter battery life, diminishing its portability. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023)
Best in class overall build quality
Very good portability
Excellent battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R
Very good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good overall display quality
Key differences
Gaming and AI
6.5/10
8.7/10
4.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.9/10
2880 x 1864
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.7/10
The Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R is very good for gaming and AI, while the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) is only fair.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) with its Apple M2 GPU is adequate for some 3D tasks but falls behind the Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R, which flaunts a powerful Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti GPU; the latter is favored in gaming performance, especially with its higher refresh rate, making it more suitable for fast-paced gaming and detailed 3D work. Moreover, the Mech-15's compatibility with a wider array of games through Windows 11 Home contrasts with the MacBook Air's macOS, which limits the selection of games that can be played.
Engineering and Design
7.6/10
8.7/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
4.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R is very good for engineering and design, while the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) is good.
The Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R is very good for engineering and design due to its powerful Intel i7 processor, high-end Nvidia RTX GPU, double the RAM, and a high refresh rate screen compared to the Apple MacBook Air 15, which, while offering good CPU and GPU capabilities due to the Apple M2 chip, is constrained by less RAM and a lower refresh rate screen, making it simply good for these tasks. Despite the MacBook Air’s excellent portability and silent operation, the Mech-15’s superior performance specs, though heavier and likely louder, make it more suited for demanding engineering and design software.
Screen Quality
7.8/10
8.4/10
15.3in
SIZE
15.6in
2880 x 1864
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
501.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R has a better screen than the Apple MacBook Air 15 for gaming and AI, and software development.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 likely has a high-resolution display with good brightness, making it suitable for general use, and wide color gamuts necessary for precise engineering and design work, but its lower refresh rate diminishes its appeal for 3D applications. The Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R also offers a display with quality resolution and brightness suitable for everyday tasks, and it covers a range of colors needed for professional design, but for gaming and 3D scenarios, the screen may not keep up due to a less optimal refresh rate. Choosing between these laptops depends on whether your focus is on high-fidelity design work or if 3D performance for gaming is a priority.
Battery
15.0 Hours
6.5 Hours
The Apple MacBook Air 15 has 15 hours of battery life. The Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R has 6.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Good
15.3in
SIZE
15.6in
3.3 lbs
WEIGHT
4.6 lbs
0.4in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) has very good portability, while the Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.8/10
The Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) has best in class build quality, while the Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,299
$2,400
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
$4,000
The Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) has a price of $1,299 and the Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R costs $2,400.
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R to be very good for general use, while the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Content Creation
8.0/10
8.4/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
2880 x 1864
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R and Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) are both very good for content creation.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
8.1/10
8.1/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2880 x 1864
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
10.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
The Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R and Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) are both very good for software development.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
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How the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) and the Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R compare to other laptops
"The Apple MacBook Air 15 is boringly good. The new MacBook Air 15 is a very good, but also boring device, because apart from the larger screen and the higher price, there are no differences compared to the smaller MacBook Air M2 from last year. No new processor, no additional ports, just the usual basic hardware - but the overall package is extremely good and it simply works. Above all, the lack of fans is an aspect that should not be underestimated in everyday use. In our opinion, the Air could be a lot better, but Apple goes easy on itself here."
"Everything considered, the XMG Neo 15 (Mech-15 G3R) with RTX 3070 Ti is a great gaming performer. The combination of the Ti graphics card with the new Intel 12th gen CPU is enough to go toe-to-toe, and even slightly pull ahead of the RTX 3080 in most titles, though on games with Ray-Tracing enabled, particularly with graphics set to the maximum and on higher resolutions, the additional VRAM of the RTX 3080 makes a big impact, and the 8GB RTX 3070 Ti machine simply can’t compete, even with the more powerful processor."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Air 15 (2023) or the Eluktronics Mech-15 G3R
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
About Eluktronics
Eluktronics is a relatively new American gaming laptop company, founded in 2011. They are a reseller for the Taiwanese brand Clevo, who manufacture laptops exclusively and ship them to resellers like Eluktronics who customize them. Eluktronics laptops generally have great hardware specifications for the money, including the CPU, GPU, and RAM. They also feature a relatively clean design by gaming laptop standards, with few logos and discreet colors.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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