This morning We told you that the arrival of the new MacBook Air is fast approaching, which was supposed to happen this week and that on this occasion Apple did not plan to hold an event to announce it. And also that we expect news in relation to the iPad Air and iPad Pro families. Well, it looks like the latter will have to wait a few more days, but the long-awaited renewal of the ultralight notebook family from Cupertino is already official, as we can see on their website.

This renewal was more than logical, to the extent that we already expected it a few weeks ago, indicating that after the jump from the MacBook Pro to the latest generation of Apple Silicon, the next step in this regard should be the launch of this novelty. integrated device in some computers, which, thanks to its lightness and autonomy, have become an excellent choice for users who need a powerful and reliable device, but it is also a good companion to spend the day in tow.

However, we are earlier a refresh based almost entirely on switching to an M3 chip, which is the point Apple is focusing on when announcing this new generation of MacBook Air. For others, both in technical specifications and in design, we see that the technology company has chosen the continuity of a formula that has not really turned out badly so far. Of course, they focus on its suitability for fashion technology, which I think deserves some thought, which I will share later. But let’s take a look at its specifications first.

MacBook Air 13 and 15 inches with M3: technical specifications

If we start with the most visible element, the screen, we see the first sign of something that has been hinted at before, which is that Apple has decided to stick with what we have already seen before. So, We’re talking about Retina screens, both in the 13-inch and 15-inch models that keep multiplying., although it is true that the progressive arrival of laptops with 4K resolution, but also others with a higher pixel density, should be an incentive for Cupertino to start working in this regard. But it’s also fair to say that Apple’s screens aren’t just limited to resolution and density, and that anyone who’s worked with a laptop, AiO or monitor signed by the brand knows that there’s “something” that makes them special. .

Already inside we find the expected novelty, integrated Apple Silicon M3 with Octa-core CPU (four performances and four efficiency) accompanied by a A GPU that can have 8 or 10 cores in the 13.6-inch model, only 10 in the 15.3 and 16-core Neural Engine coprocessor (dedicated specifically to artificial intelligence tasks), as well as specific components for video-related tasks. This integrated can be supported by 8, 16 or 24 gigabytes of unified memory (shared) a 256 gigabytes, 512 gigabytes, one terabyte or two terabytes of RAM.

When it comes to connectivity, the main novelty (if not the only) of these MacBook Airs is support Wi-Fi 6E, together with Bluetooth 5.3, two high-speed Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports (up to 40 Gb/s) compatible with DisplayPort and with a charging function, for which we also have a specific MagSafe connector for this purpose. Its list of ports is completed with a 3.5 millimeter mixed minijack (headphone and microphone).

Apple has always emphasized, and even more so in the Air families, autonomy, a key factor for devices specifically designed with mobility in mind. So in the 13.6-inch model we find a xx.xx watt-hour battery, which increases to xx.xx watt-hours if we are talking about the 15.3-inch model. These, in conjunction with the optimization of its macOS Sonoma operating system, are able to provide autonomy of at least 18 hours video playback in the Apple TV app and 15 hours of web browsing over Wi-Fi.

In terms of design, Apple some time ago abandoned the more than characteristic wedge design that surprised us so much with the debut of the MacBook Air family in 2008. Now it is not so different visually from the MacBook Pro, but in fact Yes, there are still two key differences between them: thickness and weightwho still deserve (not as much as in their early days, mind you) the last name of Air.

And how about performance? For this ending Apple compares the MacBook Air M3 with models based on the integrated M1, saying it is up to 60% faster, and draws on history to also compare it to the fastest in the family when they integrated Intel processors, stating that it is no less than 13 times faster. However, it is interesting that at no point do they compare it to its predecessor, i.e. the MacBook Air equipped with the Apple M2. And that gets my attention even more when we consider that with this launch, Apple has removed the Air with the M1 from its store, which were available only a few hours ago, and that it is keeping the laptop variant with the Apple M2.

Now, when I indicated at the beginning that there was something that caught my attention, I mean the statement “And thanks to the M3 chip’s Neural Engine, it’s even faster and more efficient, The MacBook Air is still the perfect laptop for AI«. It’s true that Neural Engine “coppers” have been present for several generations in both the M-series and A-series chips from Apple, just check the history.

In addition to a specific component that can help with these types of tasks, What does Apple offer in terms of artificial intelligence to make such a statement? 2023 was the year of AI, but even though other tech companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft were very active in this regard, Apple was caught off guard by this situation and was unable to make any big announcements in this regard. A few days ago we had a new official confirmation that AI will play a key role for Apple in 2024 and I’m sure it will surprise us for the better in this regard. However, boasting about your AI competence at this point seems to me personally rather premature and a reaction to the latent need of users to start associating their image with this technology.

In a nutshell, We found ourselves with a recovery that concerns a file, with the main news of the jump to the Apple M3, but without anything else particularly noteworthy. Is it good or bad? Well, actually the answer to this question is not as simple as it may seem. It is true that if we talk about technology, and even more so if we talk about Apple, it is common to expect flippers of innovation in every new device, but this is neither sustainable nor necessarily appropriate, since there are many users who feel comfortable. with the design and that they appreciate keeping its general lines. In other words, continuity also has its benefits.

New MacBook Air 13 and 15 inches can now be booked on Apple’s website, and the first units will ship from next year Friday, March 8.

• Price of models 13 inches part 1,299 euros for the version with an 8-core GPU, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage and can go up to 2,679 euros model with a 10-core GPU, 24 gigabytes of unified memory and two terabytes of storage.
• For its part, the price of the models 15 inches part 1,599 euros from a model with 8 gigabytes of memory and 256 gigabytes of storage up to 2,979 euros model with 24 gigabytes of memory and two terabytes of storage.