Main points
- The gaming performance of the M3 chip has increased by 60%, making it 13 times faster than the Intel MacBook Air.
- Battery life is up to 18 hours, 6 hours more than the Intel-based MacBook Air.
- Supports two external monitors for improved workspace, productivity and multitasking capabilities.
Apple likes to make big announcements with a lot of fanfare. There’s usually a big event, with media from around the world arriving to see the company’s progress. But that’s not the case with the latest Apple MacBook Air laptop series released early Monday morning. There are no live events, not even live broadcasts. That doesn’t stop us from being excited about the next-generation MacBook Air, which features Apple’s M3 processor, dual-monitor support, and the same 18 hours of battery life as last year’s model (I’m writing this on the previous-generation MacBook Air ), and Apple’s primary environmental considerations.
When these new laptops become available, you can decide if it’s worth buying one of them (available in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes), or if your money is better spent on another laptop.
If you’re wondering why the new MacBook Air laptop is worth paying attention to, here are five things you need to know. This might help you decide if these new laptops (which come in 13-inch and 15-inch options) are worth it, or if you’d be better off spending your money on another laptop.
Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M2, 2023) review: Bigger is better
I turned to the 15-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip that was launched at WWDC. Is bigger better? This is my idea.
1 Air equipped with Apple M3 processor
Who doesn’t want a faster, more efficient MacBook Air?
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One of the most important selling points of all the latest MacBook models is the excellent 3nm M3 chip and up to 24GB of unified memory. It’s incredibly powerful and can handle almost any task you throw at it. Apple says that games such as “No Man’s Sky” run 60% faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air equipped with the M1 chip, so it has sufficient performance. Compared to Intel laptops, the M3 chip is 13 times faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air, so it sounds like it has plenty of power to run with.
If you want to save some cash and don’t mind using the still-powerful M2 processor, Apple has dropped the price of the M2 MacBook Air to $999, which is a great price.
What is the Apple M3 chip? How does it compare to the M2?
Apple has released its latest generation of M-series processors. They appear to be the biggest leap forward for Apple Silicon yet!
2 The new MacBook Air comes in four colors
The midnight color should also have fewer fingerprints now.
Both sizes of the new MacBook Air come in four different colors. Apple says it’s using a new “breakthrough anodized seal to reduce fingerprints” for the Midnight color option, while it’s still available in Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver. If you’ve ever used the Midnight color for more than a few minutes, you know it’s a fingerprint magnet. Hopefully Apple really fixes this issue, because apart from fingerprints, this color looks great.
3 New MacBook Air supports two external monitors
It’s time for Apple to figure out how to fix this problem
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This is a significant change from the previous generation MacBook Air and other Apple Silicon devices. Previously, you could have a two-monitor setup using your MacBook Air connected to an external monitor (with the lid open). Now you can connect two external monitors to your MacBook Air at the same time. The laptop’s lid must be closed to function properly, so three monitors cannot be displayed simultaneously. However, this is a big change if you’re using your MacBook Air as a stationary device with an external monitor attached.
4 Apple is leaning into artificial intelligence
This is the buzzword of 2024, so we’re not surprised
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Apple calls the new MacBook Air “the best artificial intelligence consumer laptop in the world.” M3 gives it a faster, more efficient 16-core Neural Engine to power on-device machine learning. In terms of the experience it brings, AI capabilities provide better speech-to-text, translation, text prediction, visual understanding, accessibility, and more.
Apple also said the App Store is expanding AI experiences thanks to the broad ecosystem of apps. For example, it mentioned that the AI math assistance feature in Goodnotes 6 is a feature that takes advantage of the M3 chip. The company also mentioned that the laptop is capable of running large language models (LLM) and diffusion models to generate images. This can be done natively on the MacBook and performs well.
5 Comes with faster Wi-Fi right out of the box
However, you’ll need a Wi-Fi 6E system to take advantage
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Both new MacBook Airs now come with Wi-Fi 6E, a faster and more reliable wireless internet standard than the Wi-Fi 6 featured in the M2 MacBook Air series. You’ll need to have a Wi-Fi 6E-capable Wi-Fi system to take advantage of the increased speeds, but once you do, you should see throughput double. It’s a welcome addition, even if it’s just to future-proof your MacBook Air.
If you’re interested in the new M3 MacBook Air, you can pre-order it starting March 4, with prices starting at $1,099 for the 13-inch model and $1,299 for the 15-inch model. From there, it will start shipping to buyers on March 8, the same day you can see the new laptops in Apple stores and retailers.