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Advantages
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Significant performance improvements thanks to M1/Intel Airs
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Great design and features in every way.
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Adds dual screen support, Wi-Fi 6E
Cons
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Basic configuration with low memory and storage
There is a tipping point when a computer goes from being useful to killing your productivity. This is where I am with my Intel-based 16-inch MacBook Pro, which I use for work. Testing the updated MacBook Air with Apple’s M3 chips only made its performance shortcomings that much more apparent. I mean, there’s a good reason Apple keeps comparing the M3’s performance improvements to older M1 and Intel-based MacBook Airs: Those are the people who stand to gain the most from the upgrade.
That’s not to say that the M3 silicon isn’t also an improvement over the M2, because it is. It’s just that the performance differences are modest overall, but graphics performance sees a noticeable increase, similar to the 14 and 16-inch M3 MacBook Pro Models we reviewed last year. In fact, the Basic 14-inch MacBook Pro It has the same M3 chip that’s standard in the updated 15-inch MacBook Air and an upgrade in the 13-inch. And while builders looking for a big power boost will probably want an M3 Pro or Max chip, the regular M3 fits well with the Air’s eminently portable design and absolutely defeated my Intel MacBook Pro.
The rest of the M3 MacBook Air is also excellent and largely the same as the M2 models, another reason why those with M1 and earlier models will want to consider upgrading.
Read more: Best MacBook Air M3 deals
See this: MacBook Air M3 review: A better reason to upgrade?
Apple MacBook Air (M3, 13-inch, 2024)
| Price as reviewed | $1,499 |
|---|---|
| Screen size/resolution | 13.6-inch 2560 x 1664 Liquid Retina LED-backlit display |
| CPU | 8-core CPU with Apple M3 chip |
| Memory | 16GB unified memory |
| Graphics | 10-core Apple GPU |
| Storage | 512GB SSD |
| Networks | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax); bluetooth 5.3 |
| OS | Apple macOS Sonoma 14.4 |
The 13- and 15-inch M3 MacBook Airs look the same as the M2 versions.
The same, but also better.
The new Airs start at a similar US price to the previous one: $1,099 (£1,099, AU$1,799) for the 13-inch Air with 8GB of unified memory and 256GB solid-state drive. The 15-inch Air, also with 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD, starts at $1,299 (£1,299, AU$2,199). From there you can increase the memory to 16 GB or 24 GB and the storage to 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB. The base M3 13-inch model has eight CPU cores and eight GPU cores. You can upgrade to an M3 with a 10-core GPU for $100, or if you add more memory or storage ($200 each), Apple also includes the 10-core M3 GPU in the configuration. This chip is also standard in the 15-inch size. Both chip versions have a 16-core neural engine to accelerate artificial intelligence and machine learning tasks.
The base 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage seem meager given the $1,099 starting price. While the MacBook Air does well with 8GB of unified memory in our experience, it will limit what you can do and the overall longevity of the laptop’s performance. Storage can always be bolstered with external drives or cloud storage, but there is no such option for memory. If you can pay the extra $200, get 16GB of memory.
The midnight finish has a fingerprint resistant seal.
All of the key features and design elements introduced with the M2 redesign carry over to the M3 MacBook Air. That means things like the fanless body made from recycled aluminum, beautiful Liquid Retina displays, excellent 1080p FaceTime camera, great-sounding speaker systems, MagSafe 3 charging, and two Thunderbolt-USB 4 ports, are all part of the game. of the M3 Air. package. The colors are also the same as before: midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray, and the midnight finish has an anodizing seal to reduce fingerprints.
However, that also means things like the camera notch at the top of the screens, the fact that there’s Touch ID on the keyboard but no Face ID yet to match the iPhone and iPad, and that the connector MagSafe and both USB-C ports are full on the left side, so there’s no option to charge from the right side, they’re still here too. Typically, changes like these aren’t made until there’s another major redesign, so I wasn’t expecting them. However, that doesn’t make them any less of a detractor for me.
You can have two external screens, but you can’t have three.
Apple added two features with the M3 chip update. One is the move from Wi-Fi 6 to 6E, which translates to faster wireless speeds, assuming have a router that supports it. The other change is to show support. Previous MacBook Air models supported scaling to a single external display. With the MacBook Airs M3, you can connect two external displays directly to the Thunderbolt USB-C ports, which will also power the MacBook.
However, doing this comes at a cost to the MacBook Air’s display; The lid must be closed to control both external monitors. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a big deal, unless you normally use your laptop’s keyboard and trackpad while working on an external display. For me, the biggest issue is the loss of Touch ID on the Air’s keyboard. You can just open and close the lid to use Touch ID, but I use mine so frequently during the day that it would get old very quickly. The best option is to get Apple’s Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and while you’re at it, get a Magic Trackpad or Mouse to complete the package.
There are no changes to the trackpads or keyboards of the M3 models.
But that’s it for the M3 Air’s new features. And if you’re looking for big differences between the 13- and 15-inch models, there really aren’t any. Aside from the obvious size difference and the 15-inch model’s base M3 chip having a 10-core GPU, there’s also a difference in its speakers. The 13-inch has a four-speaker sound system, while the 15-inch has six speakers with force-canceling woofers. Both sound remarkably good. Seriously, I’ve listened to hundreds of laptop sound systems over my years of reviewing, and few sound this good.
Again, if you already have an M2 MacBook Air, the reasons to upgrade are limited. If you’re a creator or want to play more demanding games (we play a bit of Baldur’s Gate and Death Stranding, for example), trading in an M2 Air for a shiny new M3 MacBook Air might make sense. On the other hand, for owners of MacBook Air M1 or Air with Intel (or MacBook Pro Intel owners), the reasons to upgrade are plentiful.
We’ve only had the new Airs for a few days, but we were able to run our benchmark tests and the performance essentially matches that of the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro we tested late last year. The M3 Air is generally faster than the M2 Air, but again, it’s the graphics performance that really shines. And my work laptop, an Intel-based 2019 MacBook Pro, was no match for the M3.
Just in case, we also tried a new Lenovo Slim 7, which is a 14-inch OLED laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, integrated Arc graphics, 32GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD for around $1,000. Its performance pretty much matches that of the M3, except, again, in graphics, where Lenovo was competitive with… the 2020 M1 MacBook Air, so Intel clearly still has some work to do to catch up.
Anyway, if you’re wondering about battery life, we frankly haven’t been able to fully test it in the short time we’ve had the new models. They’re likely closer to the 18 hours Apple claims; The 14-inch M3 Pro ran for almost 19 hours in our tests. This is also why we have not given a final rating to this review.
Still, the MacBook Air M3, of any size, is an easy recommendation. If you’re ready to upgrade from a previous MacBook Air, the M2 or M3 models will be a significant upgrade. The 13-inch M2 MacBook Air is now the $999 base model and Apple has discontinued the 15-inch M2 Air, so you can probably find a few. good deals on that right now. But if you plan to use your MacBook Air for STEM work, design work, rendering videos, or editing raw photos, the M3 is the best option and you should get at least 16GB of memory.
Geekbench 6 (multicore)
Lenovo Slim 7i (14 inches 2024) 12128Apple MacBook Air (M3, 13-inch, 2024) 12063Apple MacBook Pro (M3, 14-inch, 2023) 12049Apple MacBook Air (M3, 15-inch, 2024) 12034Apple MacBook Air (M2, 15-inch, 2023) 9859Apple MacBook Air (M1, 13-inch, 2020) 8710Apple MacBook Pro (Intel, 16-inch, 2019) 5342
JetStream2 (JavaScript and WebAssembly Benchmark) in Chrome
Apple MacBook Air (M3, 15-inch, 2024) 345,887Apple MacBook Air (M3, 13-inch, 2024) 344,316Apple MacBook Pro (M3, 14-inch, 2023) 336,076Lenovo Slim 7i (14 inches 2024) 291,115Apple MacBook Air (M2, 15-inch 2023) 264,984Apple MacBook Air (M1, 13-inch, 2020) 248,222Apple MacBook Pro (Intel, 16-inch, 2019) 173,313
Cinebench 2024 CPU (multi-core)
Apple MacBook Pro (M3, 14-inch, 2023) 710Lenovo Slim 7i (14 inches 2024) 628Apple MacBook Air (M3, 15-inch, 2024) 591Apple MacBook Air (M2, 15-inch 2023) 552Apple MacBook Air (M3, 13-inch, 2024) 541Apple MacBook Air (M1, 13-inch, 2020) 449Apple MacBook Pro (Intel, 16-inch, 2019) 384
3DMark Unlimited Extreme Wildlife
Apple MacBook Pro (M3, 14-inch, 2023) 8288Apple MacBook Air (M3, 15-inch, 2024) 8253Apple MacBook Air (M3, 13-inch, 2024) 8252Apple MacBook Air (M2, 15-inch 2023) 6876Lenovo Slim 7i (14 inches 2024) 4851Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M1, 2020) 4530