Apple's M3 MacBook Air Smokes M2 Model In Early Benchmarks, Preorders Live
Apple has launched its refreshed Macbook Air lineup, with the impressively potent M3 chip. While the spotlight is usually occupied by the heavy-hitting models such as the M3 Max in the MacBook Pro, the Air variants are no slouch. According to early benchmark scores from GeekBench, the M3 chip in the MacBook Air is nearly 20% better than the outgoing M2 chip.
The performance gains on paper are impressive enough, but as the M3 Max chips taught us, there are many other tweaks under the hood. The M3 Max was even impressive versus the highest-end M2 Ultra Macs, showing the relentless pace that Apple is improving its chips. The 2024 Apple MacBook Air ($1,099 at Amazon) will come in a 13 inch screen size, while the 15 inch MacBook Air model starts at $1,299 (also available to preorder at Amazon). Both are set to go on sale on March 8th, 2024, with pre-orders currently live.
The performance gains on paper are impressive enough, but as the M3 Max chips taught us, there are many other tweaks under the hood. The M3 Max was even impressive versus the highest-end M2 Ultra Macs, showing the relentless pace that Apple is improving its chips. The 2024 Apple MacBook Air ($1,099 at Amazon) will come in a 13 inch screen size, while the 15 inch MacBook Air model starts at $1,299 (also available to preorder at Amazon). Both are set to go on sale on March 8th, 2024, with pre-orders currently live.
The impressive 3,157 single-core score for the Apple MacBook Air with its M3 chip is impressive. The equally stellar 12,020 multi-core score is significant considering the very thin and portable nature of the MacBook Air. Given its nearly 20% improvement over the M2 chip, it is clear to see that Apple wants even its cheaper Macs to have performance attributes previously associated with higher-end machines.
The base M3 chip will feature an 8-core CPU, with up to a 10-core GPU available. RAM will max out at 24GB with Apple's unified memory, but it starts at a paltry 8GB for the base model. A 256GB SSD is also standard, which is certainly small in this day and age, regardless of its performance.
The base M3 chip will feature an 8-core CPU, with up to a 10-core GPU available. RAM will max out at 24GB with Apple's unified memory, but it starts at a paltry 8GB for the base model. A 256GB SSD is also standard, which is certainly small in this day and age, regardless of its performance.
There are other improvements on the new MacBook Air laptops, such as faster Wi-Fi compared to last generation. Apple is also touting the ability of the M3 MacBook Air to support two external displays while in clamshell mode, an upgrade from the M2 MacBook Air's capabilities. Keep in mind the laptop will have to be closed for this to work, plus you'll need an external keyboard and mouse.
What does this newfangled performance mean in real world use? For users upgrading from the M1 MacBook Air, it is a staunch 60% improvement in gaming and tasks such as video editing, according to Apple's metrics. Apple also talks about its 16-core Neural Engine for AI workloads, which nearly every laptop manufacture has made a priority in its marketing to keep up with the zeitgeist of the times. The M3 chip's strong performance coupled with pricing reflecting the entry-level status of MacBook Air, make it a competent choice for users who want a capable thin laptop.
What does this newfangled performance mean in real world use? For users upgrading from the M1 MacBook Air, it is a staunch 60% improvement in gaming and tasks such as video editing, according to Apple's metrics. Apple also talks about its 16-core Neural Engine for AI workloads, which nearly every laptop manufacture has made a priority in its marketing to keep up with the zeitgeist of the times. The M3 chip's strong performance coupled with pricing reflecting the entry-level status of MacBook Air, make it a competent choice for users who want a capable thin laptop.
