Review: The 15-inch MacBook Air (M3) – A Step up for Apple’s Flagship Laptop

At a glanceExpert’s Rating ProsStill an outstanding performer in its classExcellent battery lifeGreat combination of price, features, and performance256GB SSD is now two NAND chips, maintaining performanceConsDual external display support requires closed lidPricey memory upgradesOur VerdictThe MacBook Air gets a nice performance boost, thanks to the M3 chip upgrade. The new dual external display support is a compromise, but it’s a welcome change in production environments. Overall, the M3 MacBook Air succeeds in continuing in its role as the laptop for everyone. Over the years, we’ve touted the MacBook Air as the laptop for just about anyone–it’s an ideal combination of performance, features, and price. It became even more compelling when Apple redesigned it and upgraded to the M2 chip in 2022 and released a 15-inch M2 model in 2023. The MacBook Air now joins the M3 party that Apple started last fall. It’s practically the same laptop as before—besides the chip upgrade, there are only two other new features in the new M3 MacBook Air. A lot has not changed with the Air, and neither has our perception of the laptop: The MacBook Air continues to be the best laptop choice for just about anyone interested in Apple’s ecosystem. This review originally appeared on Macworld.com. 15-inch M3 MacBook Air: Specifications The MacBook Air gets an upgrade from the M2 to the M3 chip. It does not have options for the M3 Pro or Max chips; for that, you need to look at the MacBook Pro. Our guide to the M3 chip series provides more insight into the differences between the different M3 chips. The 15-inch MacBook Air in this review is the most expensive standard configuration in Apple’s lineup. It can be customized with more memory and a larger SSD, which raises the price. The 15-inch MacBook Air in Starlight.Foundry Geekbench 6.2.2 benchmarks We use Geekbench 6 to check the general, overall performance of a Mac. In both the Single-Core and Multi-Core tests, the M3 MacBook Air was 20 percent faster than the M2 MacBook Air–a typical boost from one chip generation to another. Compared to the M3 MacBook Pro, you can see that the M3 MacBook Air offers practically the same performance. That’s expected since they have the same chip. The major difference is that the MacBook Air does not have fans, while the MacBook Pro does. So, on heavy-duty tasks that put more pressure on the chip, the MacBook Air may throttle down a little in order to maintain a proper operating temperature. It takes a lot to make the MacBook Air do this, so most folks need not worry. Cinebench 2024 benchmarks Cinebench 2024 is a test that performs 3D rendering–the heavy-duty task that was just mentioned above. While a MacBook Air probably isn’t a primary tool for those who use such software, its performance doesn’t totally rule it out. This benchmark gives us a good point of comparison with the other Macs–and it shows that the M3 MacBook Air can handle its own during these tasks. HandBrake 1.7.3 video encode We used HandBrake to encode the Tears of Steel video from 4K to a 1080p H.265 file. When doing the encoding completely in software using the H.265 (x265) video encoder, the M3 is a healthy 26 percent faster than the M2. When using the available hardware acceleration through HandBrake’s H.265 (VideoToolBox) encoder, the M3 was 17 percent faster. iMovie 4K video benchmarks We exported a 10-minute 4K video at two settings in iMovie to gauge CPU performance. The M3 was 24 percent faster than the M2 when exporting the file using the ProRes codec. When we changed the quality setting of the export to High, the M3 advantage shrunk to 11 percent. Testing the speed of the 512GB SSD in our review unit, the results between the M3 and M2 are practically the same. One interesting point of comparison between the M3 and M1 results–the M1 MacBook Air we tested had a 256GB SSD, which is implemented as a single NAND chip, while the M3’s 512GB SSD is a pair of NAND chips. As we detail in the “Price and availability” section below, two chips are better than one, and you can see that here. Apple used a single 256GB chip in the M1 and M2 MacBook Air, but that’s changed with the 256GB SSD in the M3 MacBook Air. According to a teardown by Max Tech, Apple is now using two chips for the 256GB SSD. That’s a huge win for the customer because using just one NAND chip can cut performance by half–but that won’t happen with the 256GB SSD in the M3 MacBook Air. Hurray! Geekbench 6 Compute benchmarks Geekbench’s Compute benchmark tests GPU performance using Metal or OpenCL APIs. The M3 shows a slight 4 percent improvement that you probably wouldn’t notice. So it’s safe to say that the M3 and the M2 MacBook Airs offer the same GPU performance. The M3 does provide a significant, noticeable boost over the M1: 44 percent. It’s another aspect of the M3 MacBook Air that makes it an enticing upgrade from the M1 MacBook Air. Rise of the Tomb Raider and Civilization VI are older games written for Intel and not optimized for Apple’s Metal graphics API. That could explain why the M3 and M2 results are the same–these games aren’t taking advantage of any Metal API optimizations that are available. Game Mode for macOS still activates, though, it does it automatically when a game launches. 15-inch M3 MacBook Air: Design Same design and build as the M2 MacBook Air New Midnight color option with anodization seal Apple introduced the current MacBook Air design with the 2022 M2 model. While it doesn’t mirror the MacBook Pro design exactly, it looks so similar that at a glance you may not be able to tell the difference. Maybe you spend a lot of time in the Apple Store and have developed a keen sense of the MacBook colors and can use that to instantly identify which is which. But the MacBooks speak the same design language. In fact, the Apple “translated” a feature of the Space Black MacBook Pro to the Midnight color option of the MacBook Air. That model now has the same “breakthrough anodization seal” that Apple says reduces fingerprints. The laptop in this review is Starlight, not Midnight, so I wasn’t able to check on the seal but I did review a Space Black MacBook Pro, and the seal works–it doesn’t prevent fingerprints completely, but they’re not very apparent and they’re easy to wipe away. It helps maintain Apple’s design aesthetic. Besides Midnight and Starlight, the MacBook Air is also available in Silver and Space Gray. That’s four color options, compared to the only two available for the MacBook Pro. The wedge shape is gone. The MacBook Air takes its design cues from the MacBook Pro.Foundry Overall, the design and build are what you’d expect from Apple: well-thought-out, durable, and stylish. However, it’s not the unique wedge shape that was synonymous with the MacBook Air and garnered favor among Air users. If that’s what you really, really want, you can find the last wedge-shaped Air, the discontinued M1 MacBook Air, in the Apple Certified Refurbished Store or through third-party retailers with remaining stock. 15-inch M3 MacBook Air: Ports and connectivity Same ports as the previous model New ability to support two external 4K displays (with a caveat) Here are the ports on the MacBook Air: two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, a MagSafe 3 charging port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. That’s it. With the Air, Apple takes the approach that this laptop prioritizes mobility, as opposed to the MacBook Pro which is a mashup of mobility and desktop Mac sensibility. So that means fewer ports on the Air. Speaking of external displays, this leads us to the other new feature that was mentioned at the intro of this review. The M3 MacBook Air can now support two external 5K displays each running at a 60Hz refresh rate. However, the Air must be closed to do this. If you open the laptop with two external displays connected, one of them will have its video signal cut off and fed to the laptop display. We have a separate article that explains how dual external displays on the M3 MacBook Pro work. See the video below. On the surface,…