Launch of Apple’s M3-based MacBook Air 13 and 15: the mass market’s first 3nm CPU

Apple unveiled its next generation MacBook Air laptops on Monday, built around the M3 system-on-chip (SoC), the company’s most recent offering. The new MacBook Air notebooks are priced between $1,099 and $1,299, and they are available in the same sizes as the previous models: 13.6 inches and 15.3 inches.

Of course, the M3 CPU is the main upgrade in Apple’s 2024 MacBook Air notebooks. Apple’s most recent mainstream SoC, which is being fabbed on TSMC’s N3B process, was first introduced late last year as a component of the 2023 MacBook Pro series. It is currently being rolled out to the MacBook Air family. A 10-core GPU based on the newest graphics architecture (with hardware-accelerated mesh shading, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and dynamic caching), four energy-efficient cores, and a new media engine with hardware-accelerated AV1 decoding are all included in the vanilla M3.

Similar to other M-series SoCs, the M3 has two display engines, which enable it to power two screens. With the M3/2024 MBAs, the laptop may now drive two external 5K displays when the internal display is disabled, such as when the lid is closed. Previously, this was limited to one internal and one external monitor.

Apple has decided to test the new AIrs’ performance against the 2020 models equipped with Apple’s M1 SoC. Depending on the workload, the CPU is said to be up to 35%–60% faster than the original M1 chip; however, these comparisons should be regarded with a grain of salt because manufacturers frequently overstate its biggest benefits. Remember that the performance of MacBook Airs is usually lower than that of MacBook Pros with the same processor because they lack active cooling.

The SoC can handle up to 24 GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory, with a 100 GB/s bandwidth; however, entry-level MacBook Air devices still only have a modest 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD. More sophisticated (and functional) setups come with up to 2 TB of solid-state storage and 16 or 24 GB of RAM.

The M3 processor-based Apple 2024 MacBook Air laptops have further enhancements over its predecessors, such as support for Wi-Fi 6E and a better array of three microphones that offer better voice clarity, sound isolation, and wide spectrum modes.

The new MacBook Air notebooks have two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C connections, a MagSafe port for charging, a 3.5-mm headset jack, and a 1080p FaceTime HD camera in terms of input/output capabilities.

The colors midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray are available for the Apple MacBook Air 2024. A 52.6 Wh battery within the computers allows for up to eighteen hours of movie playback. The 15.3-inch laptop weights 3.3 pounds (1.51 kilograms) and is 0.45 inches (1.15 cm) thick, while the 13.6-inch machine weighs 2.7 pounds (1.24 kilograms).

Apple will discontinue its M2-based MacBook Air 15 with the release of its M3-based MacBook Airs, but it will continue to offer the M2-based MacBook Air 13 as its entry-level model, with pricing starting at $999.