Launched in Brazil at the beginning of March, the MacBook Air M3’s mission is to continue Apple’s good legacy when it comes to lightweight, premium notebooks with good autonomy.
In this generation, the device gained a new chipset and some internal improvements, but it still maintains the essence of previous generations.
Is it worth migrating from a MacBook Air M1 to the M3? For those who want to have their first MacBook, is it worth buying this model or the older one?
Discover more details about the MacBook Air M3 in this quick hands-on. Scroll down the page!
Design and construction
When you take the MacBook Air M3 out of the box, it gives the impression that you are picking up a device from last year or even a MacBook M1.
In the tested model, we have a 13-inch screen and this is good for those looking for mobility, as the notebook fits in any backpack or bag.
However, for those who prefer a larger option, Apple offers the version with a 15-inch screen. In construction, the notebook has a metal structure and this gives it a feeling of robustness, while its weight of just 1.2 kg is excellent for daily use.
The Apple keyboard is good and has ideal spacing, even for those with larger fingers. The trackpad is, without a doubt, one of the best on the market.
In terms of connections, the MacBook Air M3 is modest by offering only two Thunderbolt standard USB-C ports, a P2 port for headphones and the reborn MagSafe. The advantage of MagSafe’s return is that you now have two USB ports free while charging the notebook.
But, if you prefer, you can also charge using any of the Thunderbolt ports. In terms of connectivity, we have Wi-Fi updated to version 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 for connecting to wireless headphones and also support for two monitors, something unheard of in Apple’s cheapest laptops.
In the box, Apple sends the notebook, the 30W or 35W USB-C power adapter, depending on the device specification, and a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable.
Screen and hardware
The MacBook Air M3’s screen is a 13-inch Liquid Retina with a maximum brightness of 500 nits. As expected, this display has excellent color calibration and can deliver a high level of fidelity.
The only annoying point for many is the presence of a notch to accommodate the 1080p resolution webcam. In audio, in this tested model we have four speakers certified with Dolby Atmos technology.
This guarantees a good volume level and, oddly enough, a well-calibrated sound for a notebook. You can hear that there is a bit of bass in the sound and that is notable.
The MacBook Air M3 chipset is, without a doubt, more powerful than the M1, but the improvement over the M2 is modest. Furthermore, this notebook does not have active cooling, like the MacBook Pro variant.
So the MacBook Air is clearly designed for people who will be surfing the web, viewing messages, editing documents and media such as photos in Photoshop and light video rendering.
This is because passive heat dissipation will end up compromising processing power when the chip heats up more. In raw numbers, the M3’s performance is 25% better than the M1.
In other words, an interesting improvement, but it doesn’t make much difference in everyday life. Even more so in this context of lighter use.
In terms of RAM memory, which Apple usually calls unified, we have 8 GB by default. The Cupertino giant says that this amount is more than enough for most light activities, since MacOS can manage RAM well.
But, if you wish, you can expand the RAM to 16 GB or 24 GB at the time of purchase. Storage starts at 256GB and you can also upgrade to 512GB, 1TB, or even 2TB.
In terms of autonomy, the MacBook Air M3 manages to stand out compared to Windows notebooks, even more so now that the chip is more efficient thanks to the 3 nanometer construction process.
Apple guarantees autonomy of up to 18 hours with the MacBook Air, but in our daily use tests we averaged between 12 and 16 hours during a heavier workday.
In other words, it is an excellent brand and, for many, the MacBook Air M3 can deliver autonomy for up to 2 days if used even lighter.
Software
MacOS Sonoma is the operating system that runs on the MacBook Air M3 and it is highly optimized for use on notebooks with an ARM chip. In other words, the transition process started on M1 is practically over and you will see the vast majority of programs running natively.
This results in good performance not only for daily tasks, but also for editing files or even casual games. But it is necessary to warn that the system is definitely not suitable for gamers, but programmers, editors and other professionals can make good use of it.
And an important detail is that the Mac really manages to extract everything and more from the 8 GB of RAM of the most basic model of the MacBook Air M3.
Even if you open several Chrome tabs and run some heavier programs, the system will provide you with good processing without any hiccups.
The transitions also continue to be rich and the MacBook’s mousepad features some gestures that speed up your work to the point where you forget about the mouse.
First impressions and prices
Is it worth migrating from M1 or M2 to M3? The simple and direct answer is no. In relation to the M2, it is necessary to emphasize that the progress was very little.
When we take the MacBook Air M1 into consideration, it’s also not worth migrating to this notebook with M3. This is because the performance improvement, although substantial in numbers, does not reflect much in daily use.
For those who want to enter the Apple universe and have a MacBook, the best option is to buy the model with the M1 chip.
This is because the most basic model of the MacBook Air with an M3 chip costs R$12,500 on Apple’s official website. In this, you only get the basic combo of 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage.
If you are going to upgrade your RAM, you will have to pay R$2,000 more. Not to mention that the M3 chip with a 10-core GPU has a starting price of R$14,500.
On the other hand, the MacBook Air M1 can now be found in national retail promotions costing around R$6,800 in the base version.
Therefore, we can say that the MacBook Air M1 will be the gateway for many Brazilians into the Apple universe.
Offers
