Pros:
- Surprisingly thin and lightweight, even for a MacBook Air
- Top-notch performance thanks to the M3 SoC
- Pretty solid display
- Excellent keyboard and trackpad
- Solid sound stage
- Fanless design that keeps the machine quite even under load
- Great battery life
- Now supports two external displays
- Also supports Wi-Fi 6E
- Major focus on sustainability
Cons:
- The notch on the display feels like a blot
- Limited ports, no SD card slot
- The base variant still comes with 8GB RAM
Price: Rs 134,990/- for the testes 16GB +512GB Variant
Rating: 4.75/5
The 13-inch variant of the MacBook Air from Apple is as predictable as notebooks from Apple can get, at least on the surface. You get the same design that we have come to expect from Apple ever since they launched the M1-powered MacBooks. You get basically the same stunning display that we have come to associate with Macs over the years, and, you get the same keyboard and trackpad that we have seen previously in Macs. So, on the surface, things are essentially the same.
It is when you scratch the surface a little, and see what Apple’s M3 silicon does for the MacBook Air, does the latest 13-inch offering from the MacBook Air lineup starts making sense.
The MacBook Air has been the perfect laptop for most people who want an ultra-thin and light, that works straight out of the box. It has been especially wonderful for anyone who is embedded in Apple’s ecosystem. The 2024 version, the M3-powered MacBook Airs, in this sense is a lot like the Porsche 911 — Apple found something that works really well and kept on refining, and in the process redefining what perfection truly means.
That is not to say that the MacBook Air is the go-to ultrabook for everyone — for anyone looking for more power, for people who demand the highest performance out of their machines, Apple’s MacBook Pros make much more sense, especially with the M3 Max and the M3 Pro silicon. But for most people — students, homemakers, white-collared office workers, and the most demanding content creators — the M3 MacBook Air is all the laptop they’ll ever need. The only decision you’ll need to make is whether to go for the 13-inch variant or the 15-inch variant.
For this review, we had the 13-inch variant of the M3 MacBook Air, and we were thoroughly impressed.
Apple M3 13-inch MacBook Air Review: The design
People who have been keeping tabs on Apple’s MacBook lineup will notice that the new 2024 MacBook Air M3 13-inch looks a lot like the previous M2 version. We get the same sleek design, a display with thin borders, a notch, and a laptop that looks very modern and minimalistic.
For the review, we got the 13-inch MacBook Air in the Starlight colourway. Although it looks stunning as it is, we wish Apple sent us the Midnight Black version. Despite some issues with smudges and fingerprints last year, it was one of the best-looking laptops around. Just take a look at this year’s Midnight Black MacBook Pros, and you’ll see what we are on about. This year, Apple is using a new coating that makes fingerprints less of an issue.
Last year, we fell in love with the 15-inch MacBook Air for its power, slim design, and especially that big 15-inch screen. Naturally, we were a little hesitant about downsizing to the 13-inch model, worried it might feel cramped. But, we were wrong about that.
On paper, losing two inches of screen real estate on the MacBook Air 13-inch might sound like an issue, but once you actually start using the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, you realise it feels just like any other regular Apple laptop — you don’t feel the absence of the larger screen. Plus, you still get the same comfortable keyboard and nearly identical trackpad.
Apple is proud to emphasise that the new MacBook Air is their first product made with 50 per cent recycled materials. The body is crafted from 100 per cent recycled aluminium, and the main logic board uses 100 per cent recycled copper.
In terms of ports, the MacBook Air M3 keeps the same lineup as the previous model: two Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports for high-speed data transfers, a MagSafe 3 port for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. However, we do miss having an SD card slot like the one found in the MacBook Pro. The absence of an HDMI port is also noticeable, but it’s not a deal-breaker.
Thanks to the upgrade to the M3 chip, the new MacBook Air 13-inch can now support two external monitors simultaneously. One can display up to 6K resolution at 60Hz, while the other can handle up to 5K resolution. This is an improvement over the previous M2 model, which could only manage one 6K external monitor.
It’s also worth noting that all the MagSafe 3 and Thunderbolt ports are located on the left side which might put you in a bit of a tricky situation if you’re using them all at once. It also means you don’t have the flexibility to choose which side to plug the charger into.
The new MacBook Air models don’t support Thunderbolt 4, which is still exclusive to Macs with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips.
In general, the MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) is another sleek and lightweight laptop from Apple. Although it closely resembles the previous model, it still feels stylish and very modern. At 1.2kgs, it practically is featherweight.
Furthermore, what’s really impressive with some of the more recent MacBooks is its fanless design, which somehow, doesn’t compromise its performance. But more on that later.
Apple M3 13-inch MacBook Air Review: The display
As I said, one of my biggest apprehensions about moving from the 14-inch MacBook Pro to the 13-inch MacBook Air was its display size. Surprisingly though, it isn’t much of a downgrade when you compare the two. The 14-inch display actually measures 14.2, whereas the 13-inch display on the M3 MacBook Air measures 13.6. Other than that, if you’re coming from some other Windows machine, you’re in for a treat.
Of course, you’re not getting a touch panel with the MacBook Pro or a fancy form factor.
Macs have some of the best displays fitted to a laptop on the market. The 13-inch MacBook Air is no different. You get a Liquid Retina display with a native resolution of 2560X1664 and a peak brightness of 500 nits. It covers 99.9 per cent of the sRGB colour space and 98.4 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, which is very impressive. It also supports Dolby Vision.
You also get Apple’s True Tone technology and a few other bells and whistles from Apple that make the display really pop out. You do miss out on a few things when compared to the Pro models, namely XDR and ProMotion.
One thing that Apple has tweaked with the M3 MacBook Air over the previous M2 MacBook air, is that now, we get support for two 5K displays at 60Hz, which makes this a viable and great option for someone looking for a multi-monitor setup.
My only real complaint would be the notch on the top edge, and the fact that it has slightly thicker bezels than what I had hoped for. The notch on top of the edge houses what I can only describe as one of the best-recoding webcam in any laptop, but skips on something like Facial ID. Apple can easily accommodate a Facial ID array in the notch, both in the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air but refuses to for some odd reason.
Also speaking of complaints, the screen is very glossy, and picks up smudges and oil marks from your fingers and keyboards very quickly, as with most MacBooks. I would suggest getting a display protector as soon as you take your MacBook out of the box.
Having said that, the display is a joy. The colours are accurate, lively, and vivid, and the details are tack-sharp. Even the blacks are inky dark, despite the fact that this is not an OLED Panel that we are dealing with. And even though this display has a peak brightness of 500 nits, macOS handles HDR content is a much better manner than Windows does.
The display is well calibrated and accurate and I would not hesitate to colour grade videos and edit photos on this. Plus, you get tonnes and tonnes of colour profiles to choose from, so you really have a lot of flexibility.
Apple M3 13-inch MacBook Air Review: The Keyboard and trackpad
The keyboard is a classic Apple affair and will feel like home to anyone who has used one of the recent Macs that Apple has launched. It is spacious, well laid out, and has the same 78 or 79 key layout that we have come to recognise from Apple, and is very comfortable to use. You also get acclimatised to it very quickly. As for the keystrokes, they have some travel and are great to touch type. As a result, they feel very tactile and responsive. You also get a backlit array that has quite a few intensity settings.
In simpler words, it is near perfect and a massive upgrade if you’r coming from a Windows machine. It certainly is one of the best laptop keyboards I have used.
As for the Force Touch trackpad, again, nothing much has changed, except maybe the size. It still is pretty big considering the overall size of the laptop and comes with all the creature comforts that Apple has designed into their trackpads over the years — pressure-sensing capabilities, accelerators, force clicks, of course, multi-touch gestures. In simple terms, the trackpad is a joy to use
Apple M3 13-inch MacBook Air Review: Speakers and Webcam
The M3 MacBook Air comes with a four-speaker sound system that just slaps. You also get support for Spatial Audio with the built-in speakers if you’re playing music or video that was designed as per Dolby Atmos standards. The sound out of the speakers, although not as loud as the M3 MacBook Pros, is pretty solid and robust. And it goes without saying it is exquisite and remarkably balanced when you compare it with most of what Windows has to offer.
The soundstage is surprisingly wide and very immersive. The M3 MacBook Air is bound to give you a great experience when you’re watching content, whether you use the built-in speakers.
Do note that in my experience, the 15-inch MacBook Air, both the M3 version as well as the M2 version, sound a little better and a little louder, due to the fact that you get 6 speakers with force-cancelling woofers.
You also get a 3.5 mm headphone jack that comes support high‑impedance headphones, making them sound fantastic. For wireless connectivity, you get support for Spatial Audio along with dynamic head tracking if you’re using Apple’s latest generation of audio products like the 3rd-Gen AirPods, the AirPods Pro or the AirPods Max.
As for the webcam, the 1080p FaceTime camera has some neat party tricks like Central Stage, thanks to the Neural Engine in Apple Silicon. The in-built webcam performs really well in video calls. And if you have an iPhone, you can always switch to the rear camera of your iPhone.
For audio during video calls, you get a three-mic array that come with wide spectrum microphone modes. The result is that the speaker’s voice gets better isolation effects and is enhanced even more for better voice clarity.
Our only complaints would be the lack of a kill switch for the camera, and the fact that the M3 Macs have a 1080P camera when we’re seeing some manufacturers using 4K sensors for their products, Having said that, the image and video output are actually better than any of the 4K webcams that we have seen.
Apple M3 13-inch MacBook Air Review: The performance
Normally, Apple positions the MacBook Air series as a more consumer-oriented device, whereas MacBook Pros are oriented for more professional, heavier workloads. That is why, we get to see only the M3 silicon on the MacBook Air, and not the M3 Pro or the M3 Max, although there is nothing stopping Apple from putting an M3 Pro or M3 Max in a MacBook Air.
Do note that historically, MacBook Airs have always been given the non-Pro, non-Max silicon.
With that being said, I found the M3 MacBook Air just perfect in terms of performance for my needs, even when I was dealing with heavier workloads and gaming.
Apple is offering the 2024 MacBook Air in two variants of M3 Silicon. One comes with with an 8-core GPU and the other a 10-core GPU. Both get an 8-core CPU —four high-performance cores and four efficiency cores. MacOS switches between these cores depending on the load and how demanding a task is. This not only ensures that you get great performance but also a top-notch batter life, but more on that later.
Our test unit came with the 10-core GPU 16GB of unified memory, and 512GB of SSD storage. Apart from the choice in the M3 silicon and the display option, you can spec out your MacBook Air 2024 starting from 8GB to all the way up to 24GB. For storage, you can go from 256GB to 2TB SSD. Even though you get a ton of options, and even though macOS’ RAM management is amazing, 8GB RAM for the base variant is ponderous in this day and age.
In our day-to-day usage, the M3 MacBook Air feels just as stellar as its predecessor, and almost at par with the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro. It is only when we get into the benchmarks that the Pro starts pulling away.
In day-to-day usage though, benchmarks really don’t matter, and we saw just that. Whether one is browsing the web with over 30 tabs open in Chrome, or hammering away on office documents, the performance is consistently smooth and effortless. Even when we push the M3 MacBook Air with heavier tasks like Photoshop and Premiere Pro, it stays cool, calm, and composed, never throwing a hissy fit.
MacOS Sonoma is snappy and responsive, and with a growing library of apps designed specifically for Apple’s M series chips, it takes full advantage of the latest hardware.
Compared to the M2 chip, the M3 offers a bit more horsepower. It boasts faster burst performance on paper, clocking in at 4.05GHz compared to the M2’s 3.5GHz. The improved GPU performance of the M3 makes it shine, especially in demanding video editing apps like Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.
When it comes to content creation, the M3 Air is a solid choice. While it may not be the go-to machine for hardcore multimedia work, it’s more than capable for the majority of tasks, unless you’re dealing with massive projects for the most demanding of clients and agencies, and just have to have that extra drop of performance.
For most users, the MacBook Air 13-inch with the M3 chip will be more than enough to meet their needs.
The one thing that stands out is Apple’s fanless design. One of the standout features of Apple’s M-series chips is their efficiency, resulting in minimal heat generation. Thanks to Apple’s clever thermal design, and the efficiency and thermal limits of Apple silicon, the M3 MacBook Air 13-inch tackles even the demanding tasks without a fan. Compare that to some of the best thin lights that Windows has to offer, and you’ll see, that many of them have to have their fans kick into a high gear even at the slightest loads.
The M3 MacBook Air now also supports Wi-Fi 6E, compared to the previous model’s Wi-Fi 6. This translates to faster speeds and more reliable connections, which we found particularly useful when during our time with the MacBook Air 13-inch (M3).
And while the MacBook Air might not be the first choice for hardcore gamers, it still holds its own when it comes to playing modern games, including some graphically intensive titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Resident Evil 4. While you might not be able to max out the visual settings, the games we tried looked impressive on the vibrant 13.6-inch screen.
Apple’s focus on AI performance with the MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) is a pleasant surprise. With the upgraded 16-core Neural Engine, Apple claims it’s the “world’s best consumer laptop for AI.” While it’s hard to confirm this without comparing it to other laptops with AI-focused chips, we were impressed by how the M3 coped with AI tasks. Whether it’s Microsoft Copilot in Microsoft Office or apps like Pixelmator Pro and Photoshop, the on-device performance was particularly remarkable, allowing for seamless AI tasks. It will be interesting to see how the M3 SoC fares when Apple finally launches their AI tools for MacOS and brings some on-device AI features to this line of MacBooks.
Apple M3 13-inch MacBook Air Review: The battery
All MacBooks powered by Apple Silicon have exceptional battery life. The M3 MacBook Air is no different. You get the same, all-day battery life that MacBook Airs have been known for.
Even though the M3 SoC brings a significant improvement over the M2 SoC, the battery life on the M3 Air is still very impressive. The 13-inch M3 MacBook Air gets a 52.6Wh Li-Po battery, whereas the 15-inch version gets a 66.5Wh pack. To charge the MacBook Air, we got a 35W Dual USB-C power adapter. Do note, that in case you go for the MacBook Air that comes with the 8-core GPU instead of the 10-core GPU that we had in our unit, you will get the 30W charger in the box.
The M3 MacBook Air is super efficient when it comes to power so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you literally get an all-day battery life. During a typical work day that involved a lot of web browsing, typing, photo editing and some content consumption, we would often see the M3 MacBook Air last as long as 16 hours or so, that too with the display at about 80-85 per cent brightness.
What’s even more impressive is that there is practically no drop in performance when you’re on battery power, and not using plugged into the wall. If you’re coming from a Windows laptop, you will be in for a massive treat. It honestly feels nearly impossible to get the battery to zero unless you’re trying hard
And when you do manage to drain the battery, the M3 MacBook Air takes about 2 hours to recharge back to 100 per cent. That’s seriously impressive.
Apple M3 13-inch MacBook Air Review: Verdict
Make no mistake, if you’re looking for an ultrathin laptop that can give you an all-day battery life, and you also find performance important, and can’t compromise on that, the M3 MacBook Air is the best option you have on the market. The only decision you’ll need to make is whether to go for the 13-inch variant or the 15-inch variant. How do decide between the two? Well, if you need a larger display and a slightly better speaker system, the 15-inch is where you should go, otherwise, the 13-inch is more than enough.
If you can manage with a slightly thicker ultra-thin and light, and can’t do without having to have a 120Hz display, you have the M3-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro.
There are some issues. I would love to see Apple do something about that notch, atop the display. And seriously, can we stop giving an 8GB RAM option for a machine that costs Rs 114,900? It’s time that laptop makers start pairing their machines with at least 16GB of memory even for the base variants, especially when they know the kind of people who are going to buy them.
Having said that, the MacBook Air 13-inch variant has been one of the most popular Macs in recent years, and now with the M3 silicon, it’s even better. It gets the job done well, no matter what you ask.
The 13-inch M3 MacBook Air truly is a standout choice in Apple’s lineup, offering exceptional value, especially considering Apple’s standards.
Thanks to the M3 chip, it delivers noteworthy performance improvements over the M2 without necessarily reinventing the wheel. Moreover, its virtually endless battery life ensures seamless productivity throughout a full workday on a single charge.
