Ever since the MacBook Pro lineup was updated with the new generation M3 chipset, it was only a matter of time before Apple distributed its new 3nm ‘revolutionary’ platform into the more accessible MacBook Air lineup. The 2024 MacBook Air with this upgrade is now more compelling than ever on paper for students and professionals.
Simultaneously, Apple has adjusted the previous-gen MacBook Air M2 in its current lineup with an even more accessible price tag. While that sounds gold to price-conscious buyers, it also makes it tricky to choose between a vastly expanded lineup of the MacBook Air. Should you save money with the older M2 variant or spend more on getting the extra horsepower on the M3 model?
A MacBook Air M3 vs MacBook Air M2 comparison is the only way to figure out.
MacBook Air M3 vs MacBook Air M2: Comparing their specifications and prices
For this comparison, we will consider the 13-inch variants of the MacBook Air since the 15-inch variant of the M2 MacBook Air has been discontinued. You can only have a 15-inch MacBook Air with the M3 chip. Since the MacBook Air M3 is more of an evolutionary update, we will first look at the similarities between these variants.
Design
The MacBook Air received a major design overhaul in mid-2022 and even after 1.5 years, it looks fresh. The slim profile of the MacBook Air’s chassis makes it look like a laptop from space age and the all-aluminium body makes it a sturdy laptop. Little conveniences like opening the lid with your finger without unsettling the laptop and getting a MagSafe charging port make it much easier to live with.
The keyboard is well-laid out and the large trackpad with its haptic feedback makes scrolling seem natural. The display notch might be peculiar to new users but once you get used, it barely steps into the peripheral vision.
On the whole, the MacBook Air is a beautiful and sturdy laptop, regardless of the M2 or M3 variant.
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Display
Whether you choose the M2 or M3 variant, the MacBook Air offers a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina LCD display with support for DCI-P3 colours. While it may not have the professional levels of colour calibration as the MacBook Pro, you do get True Tone technology for maintaining the white balance despite the change in ambient lighting. Unlike most Windows laptops in its price range, the display offers a layer of scratch-resistant glass, which also helps with better light emission.
However, the LCD panel is limited to a standard refresh rate of 60Hz, which is a bummer considering Windows laptops offer at least 90Hz LCD panels in this price range. The notch also eats up into the space but when you consider the 1080p webcam, you tend to forgive its presence.
Battery
With a 52.6Wh battery, the MacBook Air promises to deliver up to 18 hours of battery life. Although it may sound like a marketing gimmick, the MacBook Air’s ARM-based M2 and M3 chips are super efficient. Hence, it is actually possible to leave your MacBook charger at home while you put your MacBook Air through a regular office day’s workload.
As for charging, the MacBook Air supports up to 35W fast charging, which roughly takes around an hour to fill up the battery. If you are clumsy with your charging cable, the MagSafe charger might help prevent accidental drops while walking away from the desk with the cable attached.
Now, the differences
Performance
One of the main reasons to consider the 2024 MacBook Air is its M3 chip. Based on the 3nm process, it packs more transistors than the 5nm M2 chip and therefore, offers slightly more raw performance in comparison to the older model. The M3 chip also gets a new GPU architecture with hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, a faster CPU clock speed, dynamic caching and 15 per cent faster neural processing than the M2 chip.
If you rely on your MacBook Air for video and photo editing, the extra horsepower under the hood of the MacBook Air M3 will come in handy.
Winner: MacBook Air M3
Wi-Fi speeds
The Apple M3 chipset also brings support for the faster Wi-Fi 6E format. If you have a Wi-Fi 6E router at your home or office, the MacBook Air M3 with Wi-Fi 6E compatibility can reach a delivery rate of 1.7Gbps compared to the MacBook Air M2’s Wi-Fi 6 speed of 1.1Gbps. The new model will also offer a lower latency as well as a dedicated fast channel when connected to a compatible router.
Winner: MacBook Air M3
Support for external display
Content creators and video editors may find the MacBook Air M3 more suitable for studio production needs. The M3 chip allows the laptop to connect up to two displays simultaneously while the lid is closed, thereby allowing for easy multitasking.
The MacBook Air M2 only allows a single external display to be connected.
Winner: MacBook Air M3
Microphone performance
If your work involves a lot of video calls and meetings, the MacBook Air M3 also comes across as a better machine to do that. The laptop features Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum mic modes from the iPhone 15 series, thereby allowing enhanced voice clarity during video meetings.
With the MacBook Air M2, you don’t get any isolation modes for the microphone.
Winner: MacBook Air M3
Anodisation seal on Midnight colourway
This only concerns if you choose your MacBook Air in the Midnight colourway. While the Midnight colour on the MacBook Air M2 was prone to fingerprints and smudges, the new MacBook Air M3 gets an anodisation seal on the paint to conceal them to a larger extent. There’s no such coating on the rest of the colourways.
Winner: MacBook Air M3
Price
If price is an important consideration, the older MacBook Air M2 might be a better deal. Apple is selling the base 8GB/256GB variant of the MacBook Air M2 with a 30W charger and the octa-core GPU for HKD 7,799. The top-end 8GB/512GB variant with a 35W charger and the 10-core GPU is selling for HKD 9,299.
On the other hand, the MacBook Air M3 in its base configuration of 8GB/256GB, octa-core GPU and 30W charger costs HKD 8,999. The other variant with a 10-core GPU, 512GB SSD and 35W charger costs HKD 10,499 and if you want to upgrade to 16GB RAM, you need to shell HKD 11,999.
Winner: MacBook Air M2
MacBook Air M3 vs MacBook Air M2: Our verdict
Winner: MacBook Air M3
With its superior chipset and other under-the-hood improvements, it was obvious to see the MacBook Air M3 nab victory in this comparison. If you want a lightweight premium laptop with lots of raw performance potential, great battery life and a good display, the MacBook Air M3 is undoubtedly the best option.
That said, the MacBook Air M2 offers a similar user experience for a much lower price. If you want a lightweight and sturdy laptop with a fast processor, great battery life, a nice display and a comfortable keyboard under a budget of SGD 1,500, the MacBook Air M2 is our top recommendation. Even if you are into video editing and CAD programming, there’s not much to lose with the MacBook Air M2 in terms of broader performance potential.
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(Hero and Featured Image Credits: Courtesy Apple)
