In March 2024, they refreshed the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air M3 silicon. The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) is available at a starting price of $1,099. However, it’s worth noting that there have been some discounts recently. For instance, you can currently find the M3 MacBook Air for $999, making it an even more attractive deal. This article will delve into the details of the Apple MacBook Air M3 (13-inch), including its specifications, upgrades, and availability.
Apple MacBook Air M3 Overview:
Design
In terms of appearance, the MacBook Air M3 doesn’t have any major changes compared to the M2 Air. It still has a sleek, lightweight metal design, weighing less than 1.25 kg, and is just over 1 cm thick. Unfortunately, there aren’t any new color options either. Aside from the usual ‘Silver’ and ‘Space Grey’, you can choose between ‘Starlight’ and ‘Midnight’. The ‘Midnight’ color now has a new coating to reduce fingerprints.
The screen hasn’t been upgraded either. The MacBook Air M3 still has a 13.3-inch Liquid Retina display with a maximum brightness of 500 nits. The resolution and color quality remain the same at 2560×1664 and Wide P3.
Additionally, the notch is still present, housing the same Full HD webcam as before.
M3 Magic
The new MacBook Air 13 comes with the M3 chip, which is the same one found in last year’s base MacBook Pro 13. Apple claims that this processor is up to 60% faster than the previous M1 chip. It has a total of 8 cores, with 4 dedicated to performance and the rest focusing on efficiency. Additionally, it boasts up to 10 GPU cores. The chip now supports hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, along with an AV1 decode engine for efficient video streaming and playback. This means you can enjoy higher-quality videos even with lower bitrates, improving your overall streaming experience.
With this extra power, the base MacBook Air M3 can now support two external displays while its lid is closed. You have the option to configure the machine with up to 24GB of unified memory and up to 2TB of storage. However, the base variants still come with a modest 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage.
Same lasting power with a new chip
Apple claims that the M3 MacBook has the same 18 hours of battery life as the previous M2 model. You might expect the newer M3, with its more efficient 3nm architecture, to offer even better endurance with its 52.6 Wh lithium polymer battery. However, according to Apple, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Additionally, while the device can support up to 67W of power via USB-C, Apple includes a 30W MagSafe charger with the base variants.
Continuing with the same subject, let’s check out the ports. They haven’t changed from the previous generation and include 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe connector, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Everything Else is the same
Everything else remains unchanged, except for the WiFi. You still get the renowned Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and the Force Touch trackpad that MacBooks are known for. There are four speakers in total, which support features like ‘Spatial Audio’ and ‘Dolby Atmos’, along with a three-microphone array using beamforming technology. The WiFi has been slightly upgraded from WiFi 6 to 6E, while Bluetooth connectivity remains at version 5.3. The Apple MacBook Air 13 with M3 comes pre-installed with macOS 14 Sonoma.
Apple MacBook Air M3 Overview:
- Display: 13.6-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 500 nits brightness
- Resolution: 2560 x 1664 pixels
- Dimension: 0.16-0.63H x 11.97W x 8.36 inches
- Weight: 1.24 kg
- CPU: Apple M3 chip
- GPU: 8-core / 10-core
- Memory:
- unified memory: up to 16GB
- Configurable to: 24GB
- Storage: up to: 512GB SSD and Configurable to: 2TB
- OS: macOS Sonoma
- Keyboard: Backlit Magic Keyboard
- Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD camera
- Ports: MagSafe 3 charging port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
- Battery: 52.6-watt‑hour lithium‑polymer battery with up to 67W USB-C power adapter
- Colors: Silver, Starlight, Space Gray, Midnight
