Mike Wuerthele
Four months after Apple debuted the M3 chip, it is now making an appearance in updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models.
The New MacBook Air lineup doesn't come with a design refresh. However, the internal spec boosts are notable.
A new feature also allows the M3 MacBook Air to use two external displays when the lid is closed in "Clamshell" mode. Previously, it could only drive the internal display and one external display.
Apple has implemented the M3 processor in both the 13-inch and 15-inch models. Furthermore, it's got faster Wi-Fi 6E, all incorporated into the same design.
Other specs include a 13.6- or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display with up to 500 nits of brightness, and support for 1 billion colors. The M3 processors on the 13-inch and 15-inch model have an 8-core CPU, and while the 13-inch has an 8-core GPU to start with, both sizes can also ship with 10-core GPUs.
RAM stays at 8GB with 16GB and 24GB options. Storage starts at 256GB with 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacity upgrades available.
The 13-inch MacBook Air with M3 starts at $1,099 and $999 for education for an 8-core 8-GPU confirguration. The 15inch MacBook Air with M3 starts at $1,299 and $1,199 for education. Both are available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray.
M3 MacBook Air 13-inch
The 13-inch MacBook Air with M2, available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray, remains in the lineup. It now starts at $999 and $899 for education customers.
Preorders start on Monday. Availability begins on March 8. You can compare prices across Apple resellers in the AppleInsider M3 MacBook Air 13-inch Price Guide and M3 MacBook Air 15-inch Price Guide.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
18 Comments
Can't wait to see Spotify's laptop lineup now that the EU has removed the barriers to competition! /s
I see they now offer a 16GB version among the standard configurations they keep in stock, instead of having to order it. That wasn’t possible when we walked into the store and bought an M2 Air back when it first came out. We got the 8GB (which has been fine for what it is used for), but I remember thinking Apple had left money on the table, as we would have gotten the 16GB if we could have walked out of the store with it right then and there.
The King is dead! Long live the King! Lost in the above news is that the venerable wedge-shaped Macbook Air has been dropped from the product line, just a little more than 16 years after Steve pulled it from an envelope. What an unbelievable, precedent-setting run of success that will likely never be equaled. I hope AI will devote an upcoming article to the history of this incredible laptop.
I'm seeing in the app on the headline list that the "MacBook" was updated. It should be changed to "MacBook Air" since these are two different products.