New M3 MacBook Air arrives with faster Wi-Fi and better performance
Four months after Apple debuted the M3 chip, it is now making an appearance in updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models.
13-inch and 15-inch M3 MacBook Air
The New MacBook Air lineup doesn't come with a design refresh. However, the internal spec boosts are notable.
A new feature also allows the M3 MacBook Air to use two external displays when the lid is closed in "Clamshell" mode. Previously, it could only drive the internal display and one external display.
Apple has implemented the M3 processor in both the 13-inch and 15-inch models. Furthermore, it's got faster Wi-Fi 6E, all incorporated into the same design.
The 13-inch MacBook Air and 15-inch MacBook Air
Other specs include a 13.6- or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display with up to 500 nits of brightness, and support for 1 billion colors. The M3 processors on the 13-inch and 15-inch model have an 8-core CPU, and while the 13-inch has an 8-core GPU to start with, both sizes can also ship with 10-core GPUs.
RAM stays at 8GB with 16GB and 24GB options. Storage starts at 256GB with 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacity upgrades available.
The 13-inch MacBook Air with M3 starts at $1,099 and $999 for education for an 8-core 8-GPU confirguration. The 15inch MacBook Air with M3 starts at $1,299 and $1,199 for education. Both are available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray.
The 13-inch MacBook Air with M2, available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray, remains in the lineup. It now starts at $999 and $899 for education customers.
Preorders start on Monday. Availability begins on March 8. You can compare prices across Apple resellers in the AppleInsider M3 MacBook Air 13-inch Price Guide and M3 MacBook Air 15-inch Price Guide.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Looks like Apple is going to avoid a big PR blunder with the M3 MacBook Pro and they just announced an upcoming software update that will enable the same dual external display support with the lid closed, as featured in the new M3 Air. So they basically admitted that dual external display support was disabled. Now that the M3 Air can do it, they realized they already have an M3 product on the market and they had to fix that one to avoid customer backlash.
Of course, I realize "technically possible" doesn't mean it'll ever happen.
Another mistake Apple made was to discontinue Rose Gold - I know a lot of girls with rose gold laptops and they all absolutely love the color. Starlight is not quite the same, appeal-wise. Also the new MacBook Air is a lot fatter, visually - it pretty much looks like a MBP. I can't understand for the life of me what got into them to make it look like that. We all know the volume is same or less than the M1 wedge shape MBA, so this is all just visuals - but the large feet under the laptop make it appear fat when it's on the table. A strange decision - ultrabooks from Huawei and Samsung look smaller (and may actually be smaller).