Apple announces two MacBook Air laptops with the latest M3 chips. These devices are said to feature excellent battery life and significantly higher performance compared to previous MacBook Air models.

Apple is putting its latest self-developed CPU in two new laptops. Both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air have the M3 chip on board. Last year Apple launched the M3. When it comes to the CPU, the laptop manufacturer continues to build on the expertise from the ARM-based M1 and M2. Both chip families have been well received, not only for their efficiency, but also for the rapid speed with which Apple has convinced developers to support the ARM ecosystem.

Apple claims that its device is 60 percent faster than the generation with the M1 chip. The battery should also last up to eighteen hours. Like all other computer manufacturers, Apple also wants to position itself as an AI specialist. The M3 chip would make this device the best AI laptop. Since everyone has different arguments to support their AI qualifications, think about what you want.

Price and availability

The MacBook Air with M3 will be available in both sizes starting March 8th. The basic version of the 13-inch laptop costs 1,299 euros including VAT. For this money you get a very modest 8 GB of RAM and the base M3 CPU with eight cores, supported by eight GP cores. For an additional charge of 230 euros or 460 euros, you can configure the device with 16 GB of RAM or 24 GB of RAM. A slightly more powerful integrated GPU for the M3 (ten cores) costs 115 euros extra. The most robustly equipped MacBook Air 13 inch with M3 and 2 TB of storage costs 2,679 euros.

Apple is also pursuing the same pricing strategy for the 15-inch version. What is somewhat surprising is the significantly higher starting price (1,599 euros) and similar upgrade options. The upper price limit here is 2,979 euros including VAT. The devices ship with macOS Sonoma.