MacBook Air M3 (Programming & Music)?

[MacKeyboard]

Hello,

I'm interested in purchasing a Mac, but am not entirely sure which model to pick from. I briefly owned an i5 2018 MBP, but don't have much experience with them otherwise. For context, I'm coming from a PC desktop.

What I'll be doing:

• Webdev, and probably some java/python in the future. Still a beginner.
• Music production. I wouldn't say I do anything too intensive here as far as projects go, but at the very least I want to be able to run piano VSTs live and with minimal latency for at least an hour of constant use, otherwise it will mostly be synthesizers. Seems like music producers have had success with the M1/M2 Airs with more intensive music tasks.
• This will also be my primary computer for general use as well.

I've mostly been looking at the MacBook Air M3 24GB + a thunderbolt dock from CalDigit. It will likely be hooked up to 2 external displays while in clamshell mode for 75% of the time it's in use, give or take.

My main concern is that it's fanless. If this shouldn't be a problem, it will likely be the Mac I will order. I do know the M4 Macs are around the corner, but likely won't come to the Air until 2025. Can definitely consider something else, though, especially if active cooling is recommended.

 

[theMarble]

I've mostly been looking at the MacBook Air M3 24GB

Good choice. Unless you specifically want the ProMotion (120Hz) display that the 14" Pro has, along with active cooling and extra ports built-in, the M3 Air will be great.

If your budget allows for the base-model M3 Pro 14" ($1999 - 18GB/512GB) then I would get that instead, however if it is between an M3 Air w/ 24GB of RAM and a 14" regular M3 w/ 8GB of RAM, I would take the Air any day.

My main concern is that it's fanless. If this shouldn't be a problem, it will likely be the Mac I will order.

It will be fine. M-series chips in general run much cooler than the Intel chips they replaced. The M3 series does run slightly hotter than the original M1 series, however it is nothing to worry about.

For your usecase, passive cooling (no fan) shouldn't be a problem. There are heaps of people who use Air's for way more intensive workloads and have zero issues with thermals.

 

[Fishrrman]

For music, I'm thinking you want a MacBook Pro, with an mXpro CPU.

My recommendation:
Wait until the m4 MBP's are introduced later this year, and get one of those.
Actually, the m4PRO version is what to look at.
1 tb SSD, and...
More than 16/18gb of RAM ("next step up"...).

 

[SiegeDamage]

I would agree with the above Air recommendation. I have a similar but more intensive workflow, and the M3 Air with 24 GB has been smashing it. I’ve never had issues with heat or slowdown. Go for it. You won’t regret it!

 

[iHorseHead]

I don't understand what's the point of this thread tbh.

 

[theluggage]

I've mostly been looking at the MacBook Air M3 24GB + a thunderbolt dock from CalDigit. It will likely be hooked up to 2 external displays while in clamshell mode for 75% of the time it's in use, give or take.

Probably fine - these days, the higher-powered Macs are mainly about video and 3D (and the new kid on the block, AI) and "modest" audio production isn't such a big deal.

My main reservation with the Air or low-end Mac Pro for Music would be the small number of USB ports (A or C) if you're going to be using external audio hardware - odds are the first thing you'll want is an audio interface which, personally, I'd want to connect directly to a USB port on the machine to minimise latency. keyboard controller, maybe some hardware synths... it's an application which can call for loads and loads of USB 2 ports (not even USB 3 - and sometimes they're only USB 1!), and occasionally you hit a device that doesn't like connecting via a USB hub.

It's worth noting that although USB 2 devices work fine over USB 3/USB C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, its still only USB 2, 480 Mbps per host port - there's no magic bandwidth increase or latency reduction from using a Thunderbolt/USB-C port. In the case of "Thunderbolt 4" hubs then, as far as USB 2 devices connected to it are concerned, they are just a USB 2 hub sharing a single USB 2 stream between all the devices. The advantage is that you could also connect Thunderbolt/USB4/DisplayPort devices to the same hub, and they do use the extra bandwidth.

I'm assuming you'd connect at least one display to the hub & use it to power the Mac - which justifies using a TB4 hub rather than a plain old USB hub and, as I said, I'd probably use the second host port for the audio interface, so you'd probably be in business with the Air.

However, if the money was available I'd probably go for a M3 Pro MacBook Pro to get the extra USB-C port & HDMI (which would take care of one of the monitors) & gets you a bigger/better display... but that's a lot of extra cash and I'm pretty sure the Air would get the job done.

If the internal display really isn't an issue and you're only really using it on the desktop, maybe consider the M2 Pro Mac Mini - which has somewhat better connectivity and will save you a bit of cash (since you're buying/already have two displays anyway).

My main concern is that it's fanless.

Not a bad thing if you use it for music.

 

[MacKeyboard]

Thanks for all the help!

If the internal display really isn't an issue and you're only really using it on the desktop, maybe consider the M2 Pro Mac Mini - which has somewhat better connectivity and will save you a bit of cash (since you're buying/already have two displays anyway).

This was my initial choice when I first started looking at buying a Mac a few months ago since I'm generally used to desktops, but I think I'd like to move around at this point. I figure it'd probably be worth waiting for an M4 if I do go the Mac Mini route, but I'm more than likely going with the MacBook at this point.

I would agree with the above Air recommendation. I have a similar but more intensive workflow, and the M3 Air with 24 GB has been smashing it. I’ve never had issues with heat or slowdown. Go for it. You won’t regret it!

Sounds great! It's nice to hear that there aren't heat issues. How long would you say you typically use the Air for per day? The most intensive thing I plan on doing daily is using piano VSTs (live playback) for somewhat long sessions (up to a few hours a day outside of my other use cases, give or take).

Planning to order one of the models soon now that the back-to-school sale is up and running.

 

[jdb8167]

Hello,

I'm interested in purchasing a Mac, but am not entirely sure which model to pick from. I briefly owned an i5 2018 MBP, but don't have much experience with them otherwise. For context, I'm coming from a PC desktop.

What I'll be doing:

• Webdev, and probably some java/python in the future. Still a beginner.
• Music production. I wouldn't say I do anything too intensive here as far as projects go, but at the very least I want to be able to run piano VSTs live and with minimal latency for at least an hour of constant use, otherwise it will mostly be synthesizers. Seems like music producers have had success with the M1/M2 Airs with more intensive music tasks.
• This will also be my primary computer for general use as well.

I've mostly been looking at the MacBook Air M3 24GB + a thunderbolt dock from CalDigit. It will likely be hooked up to 2 external displays while in clamshell mode for 75% of the time it's in use, give or take.

My main concern is that it's fanless. If this shouldn't be a problem, it will likely be the Mac I will order. I do know the M4 Macs are around the corner, but likely won't come to the Air until 2025. Can definitely consider something else, though, especially if active cooling is recommended.

For webdev a MacBook Air is fine. I use mine every day building Reactjs/Nodejs projects. Java and Python will be very similar unless you are doing machine learning or something. I also use the MBA M3 as my personal computer (it's my laptop as I work as a contractor). I don't do music production so I can't advise on that front.

 

[chrono1081]

Hello,

I'm interested in purchasing a Mac, but am not entirely sure which model to pick from. I briefly owned an i5 2018 MBP, but don't have much experience with them otherwise. For context, I'm coming from a PC desktop.

What I'll be doing:

• Webdev, and probably some java/python in the future. Still a beginner.
• Music production. I wouldn't say I do anything too intensive here as far as projects go, but at the very least I want to be able to run piano VSTs live and with minimal latency for at least an hour of constant use, otherwise it will mostly be synthesizers. Seems like music producers have had success with the M1/M2 Airs with more intensive music tasks.
• This will also be my primary computer for general use as well.

I've mostly been looking at the MacBook Air M3 24GB + a thunderbolt dock from CalDigit. It will likely be hooked up to 2 external displays while in clamshell mode for 75% of the time it's in use, give or take.

My main concern is that it's fanless. If this shouldn't be a problem, it will likely be the Mac I will order. I do know the M4 Macs are around the corner, but likely won't come to the Air until 2025. Can definitely consider something else, though, especially if active cooling is recommended.

M3 Air is perfectly fine for all of this. I had an M2 Air and used to run Houdini, Logic (24 tracks just fine, never needed more but I'm sure it can do more), Blender, Final Cut, Unity, Godot, Xcode, Affinity Suite, and more. No slowdown, no overheating.

 

[iHorseHead]

Get a Windows PC and save yourself some money! Unity, Blender, Godot etc run better on Windows than on a Mac.For the price of MBA you could get ASUS Vivobook S 15 which has even better battery than m3 or you could get a PC with 64GB RAM at least.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Asking on an Apple fan forum is going to get you a LOT of people pushing whatever Apple has for sale right now. It's unusual to see a #10 post this early in a thread like this... but I'll second it. You are accustomed to using Windows/PC, you are obviously at least a bit price/value sensitive, etc. A Mac budget applied to PC options will buy you a LOT of PC. Or if you buy a "good enough" PC (for your immediate needs), you'll probably still have a solid amount left over towards a potential Mac Mini option on down the road. Furthermore, unlike any MBpro or air, that PC will probably offer you the easy flexibility to expand internal RAM and storage whenever you need more in the future. The only option for Mac owners is toss the Mac and replace the entire thing.

I've been an Apple everything guy for a few decades but adopting Silicon while still needing access to some Windows led me to buying a Mac Mini-like PC to pair with Mac.... and I find Windows 11 quite good. Why see 24GB as MAX when 32GB-64GB is common in PCs? Why look at insane (relative) pricing of Apple SSD upgrades when the price of only some of that storage could buy the entire PC, more RAM and as much storage or more?

If you are mostly happy with PC, consider putting your Mac budget towards a quality PC... and then maybe that M4 Mac Mini in the future.

 

[ChrisA]

The most intensive thing I plan on doing daily is using piano VSTs (live playback) for somewhat long sessions (up to a few hours a day outside of my other use cases, give or take).

Planning to order one of the models soon now that the back-to-school sale is up and running.

For just running one VST, you are not comming close to pushing an Apple Silicon Mac. Just one or two tracks will run on an iPad.

What causes people to add RM and move to more powerful chips is when they do orchestral scores with dozens of midi tracks and dozens of sampled instruments. For simply playing a piano VST any current Mac will be fine.