With the inclusion of the M3, the MacBook Air remains one of the best laptops you can buy for the price.
The MacBook Air is the world’s bestselling laptop, according to Apple. That was true before the M3, and it’ll likely be true a year from now.
On one hand, that means the inclusion of the M3 chip is easy to overlook or write off. And with the M2 MacBook Air selling for just $100 less (it’s discounted even more at some retailers), the M3 needs to prove itself. Some people will probably still be better off saving their money and buying the M2 MacBook Air, but the way the M3 supercharges this laptop’s GPU performance is downright impressive.Specs and pricing
The 13-inch M3 MacBook Air starts at $1,099, replacing the price of its predecessor, the M2 MacBook Air. Apple is still selling the M2, however, for $100 less at $999.
This starting configuration comes with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and an 8-core GPU. Apple charges $100 to go from 8 GPU cores to 10 GPU cores, which is only available on the 13-inch model. The 15-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,299, coming with the 10-core GPU.
Both sizes can be maxed out at 24GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, with the cost rising well over $2,000.Design
The MacBook Air is a stunning laptop. It remains the most extreme example of the Apple Silicon era, thanks to a design that is thin in a way that just wasn’t possible in the past. At 0.44 inches thick, it remains the thinnest clamshell laptop of this kind that’s ever been made. It’s also the most powerful laptop without a single fan.
So yes, the MacBook Air’s title as thinnest laptop is impressive, but let’s be honest: the difference between 0.44 inches and 0.5 inches is hardly noticeable unless you have two machines side by side. Windows laptops like the Asus Zenbook S 13 and Samsung Galaxy Book3 360 come fairly close to matching the MacBook Air’s compact nature.
Fortunately, the MacBook Air has a lot more than just thinness on its side. It’s also extremely well-built, which can sometimes be a concern when devices get this thin. We all remember #flexgate from 2019, right? Well, let’s just say many laptops this thin (including older MacBooks) have struggled to remain perfectly rigid under pressure. Not so with the current MacBook Air. It’s as robust as laptops get.
Now, none of that is new with the M3 MacBook Air. This design has been in use since the M2 MacBook Air came out in 2022.
The one new exterior element on the M3 MacBook Air is a new color option, Midnight Black. It first launched on the M3 MacBook Pros last year, and I’m happy to see it also available on the two MacBook Air sizes. It’s a great color, even if I still prefer Space Gray personally. Apple says its supposed to reject fingerprints better than other color options, but in my extended time with the Midnight Black MacBook Pro, I can’t say it looks much cleaner in the long run.
Nothing is new here in regard to the keyboard and trackpad. They’re both excellent, as always, offering exceptional typing and incredibly precise tracking. Apple’s oversized haptic feedback trackpads were the first in the business, and though they’re becoming more common, Apple’s still might be the best.Ports
One of the most concerning limitations of the MacBook Air is the number and variety of ports it offers. It’s not that restricting you to only Thunderbolt 3 via USB-C is uncommon these days. All sorts of laptops have followed Apple down that path. But with the MacBook Air, it comes with some significant restrictions on external displays.
In the past, the M2 MacBook Air could only support one external display, regardless of the resolution and refresh rate. There are ways to get around this, but it requires a dock and some extra software to jump the hurdle. Apple’s never actually explained this limitation, but we assume it has to do with limited bandwidth of the base M3, as it also applies to the M3 MacBook Pro.
With the M3 MacBook Air, though, this gets marginally better. The M3 model (whether 13-inch or 15-inch) can now officially support two external 5K monitors (at 60Hz), but there’s a catch.
