The M3 family of MacBook machines is now complete, with the launch of the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch and MacBook Air 15-inch, powered by the company’s latest M3 processor.
Both models, which can be ordered from today, will be available starting Friday, March 8. Both MacBook Air M3 models join the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 machines which were launched in November 2023. While there are three variants of the M3 chip – M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max – available on the MBP models, the new MBAs will ship with the base M3 chip.
According to Apple, the new M3 makes the new MacBook Air machines up to 60 percent faster than the MacBook Air with M1 chip, and up to 13 times faster than the since-discontinued fastest Intel-based MacBook Air. The availability of the new M3 MBA 13-inch also means that Apple is discontinuing its M1 MBA 13-inch that was unveiled in November 2020.
Armed with a faster and more efficient Neural Engine, the new MacBook Air comes with up to 18 hours of battery life, supported by Apple’s leading Liquid Retina display and new hardware, including faster Wi-Fi performance with Wi-Fi 6E, as well as, for the first time on an MBA, support for up to two external displays when the unit is closed. Together with the 16-core Neural Engine, the GPU on the M3 MacBook Air models also supports hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, touting more realistic game performance on the machine.
The new models come in four colours – midnight, which uses an anodization seal to reduce fingerprints, starlight, space gray and silver. Prices for the 13-inch MBA with 8-Core CPU, 8-Core GPU, 8GB Unified Memory and 256GB of internal storage starts from S$1,599, while the base MBA 15-inch model with 8-Core CPU, 10-Core GPU, 8GB Unified Memory and 256GB of storage starts from S$1,899.
The base MBA 13-inch, powered by M2, is now available at S$1,399.
Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?
Si Jia
