Apple’s newest MacBook Air is here, and it has some flashy new specs. But is it worth the upgrade?
It was late last year when the MacBook Pro got the M3 chip upgrade, and now it’s the MacBook Air’s turn. Apple has announced a version of the MacBook Air with its M3 chip, which it claims is up to 60 percent faster than the M1 chip version.
You may be wondering if it’s time to upgrade, and the answer here isn’t as clear as it may usually be.
In many cases with Apple, if you own the previous generation, it’s often not worth an upgrade, but it is if you’re skipping a generation or entering the ecosystem for the first time. With the MacBook Air M3 though, there are a few major additions that might warrant a leap from the M2. And if you have an M1 or older, you have even more reasons to upgrade.
Want a little help deciding? Here’s a breakdown of the biggest differences between the M3 MacBook Air and the M2 MacBook Air, plus a few key reasons to buy each one.
MacBook Air M3
MacBook Air M2
Chip
M3
M2
Unified memory
Up to 24GB
Up to 24GB
Ports
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4
If you find yourself doing a lot of downloading for work or you’re a gamer, the MacBook Air with M3 features the new Wi-Fi 6e standard that provides much faster download speeds and much lower latency — provided you’re accessing a Wi-Fi 6e router, of course.
