NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--B&H would like to take this opportunity to inform that Apple dropped a new product announcement today, in the form of an update to its line of MacBook Air laptops. Today's update finally brings Apple's latest in-house silicon M3 chip to the 13- and 15-inch versions of the Air. The M3 versions of the MacBook Pro dropped late last year, so Apple is finally getting around to updating the rest of its product lineup with M3 chips, most likely to keep in line with an increasingly competitive market.
So, exactly how much of a boost does the Air get from the new hardware? Apple claims that the M3 MacBook Air is up to 60 percent faster than a comparable M1 Air, and 13 times faster than Intel®-based ones. M3 offers dramatically increased performance speed and battery life, thanks to an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU and support for up to 24GB of unified memory. The brand also highlights improvements to the M3's GPU, which now supports hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, offering more accurate lighting, reflections, and shadows, allowing Air users to get the most out of their games.
Here’s just a quick look at how M3 might affect those who use the Air as their primary device, courtesy of Apple:
- Game titles like No Man’s Sky run up to 60 percent faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air with the M1 chip.
- Enhancing an image with AI using Photomator’s Super Resolution feature is up to 40 percent faster than the 13-inch model with the M1 chip, and up to 15x faster for customers who haven’t upgraded to a Mac with Apple silicon.
- Working in Excel spreadsheets is up to 35 percent faster than the 13-inch model with the M1 chip, and up to 3x faster for customers who haven’t upgraded to a Mac with Apple silicon.
- Video editing in Final Cut Pro is up to 60 percent faster than the 13-inch model with the M1 chip, and up to 13x faster for customers who haven’t upgraded to a Mac with Apple silicon.
- Compared to a PC laptop with an Intel® Core™ i7 processor, MacBook Air delivers up to 2x faster performance, up to 50 percent faster web browsing, and up to 40 percent longer battery life.
Aside from the swap to M3, both versions of the Apple's most popular laptop remain basically unchanged. They still feature Liquid Retina displays with up to 500 nits of brightness. Apple says the new Air offers 18-hours of battery life, which is six hours longer than a comparable Intel®-based one. They can also now support up to two external displays with the laptop closed. The Macbook Air with M3 also supports Wi-Fi 6E. Apple also claims the new chips are better suited to leverage AI, too, thanks to a 16-core Neural Engine along with accelerators in the CPU and GPU to boost on-device machine learning.
Expect the updated Airs to be available to order online starting today, with physical availability beginning March 8th. Pricing-wise, the 13-inch version starts at $1,099 while the 15-inch version starts at $1,299. Both are available in Midnight, Starlight, Silver, and Space Gray.
Learn more with B&H Explora https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/computers/news/macbook-air-gets-refreshed-with-m3-chip
Apple Mac Mini https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Mac-mini/ci/10009
Apple MacBook Pro https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/macbook-pro/ci/29069
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