New M3 MacBook Air models official, in 13- and 15-inch sizes (original) (raw)

Quick Summary

Apple has officially launched its latest MacBook Air models, both running on the M3 chipset,

There are 13- and 15-inch models which start at £1,099 / 1,099/AUD1,099 / AUD1,099/AUD1,799 and ship from 8 March 2024.

As previously rumoured, Apple has announced two new MacBook Air models with upgraded M3 silicon.

The MacBook Air M3 comes in two sizes, 13- and 15-inch, and are claimed to run up to 60 per cent faster than the M1 model. Plus, if you're still rocking a MacBook Air with the Intel chip inside, the company says that you can expect the new version to run up to 13-times faster... certainly an excuse to consider an upgrade, then.

Other headline specifications include up to 18 hours of battery life and a Liquid Retina display. However, perhaps more intriguingly for those considering one of the latest MacBook Pro models instead, this version of the Air now supports two external displays – something the series has never offered before.

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple also claims that its latest devices come with two-times faster Wi-Fi support, and up to 10-core graphics that make them as capable with gaming as they are with video processing and utility use. That includes ray tracing capabilities.

There is support for up to 24GB of unified memory, too, plus up to 512GB of SSD storage.

The Face ID camera on each size is 1080p, while two Thunderbolt 4 ports provide super speedy wired connectivity. Touch ID is available on the Magic Keyboard, much like on the more recent MacBook Pro variants.

"MacBook Air is our most popular and loved Mac, with more customers choosing it over any other laptop. And today it gets even better with the M3 chip and new capabilities,” said Apple's senior VP of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak.

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(Image credit: Apple)

The 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air models with M3 are available to order now for delivery from 8 March 2024.

The 13-inch version starts at £1,099 / 1,099/AUD1,099 /AUD1,099/AUD1,799 , which gets you the M3 chip, 8-core graphics, 8GB of unified memory and 256GB SSD. The 15-incher is priced from 1,299/AUD1,299 / AUD1,299/AUD2,199 for roughly the same specs, although you get a 10-core GPU on the larger model.

Colours available include midnight, starlight, silver and space grey.